Nosocomial TB infection remains an urgent public health problem that requires a relentless effort to overcome. In general, healthcare workers (HCWs) have a significantly higher risk of suffering from active and latent TB due to their daily TB occupational exposure. The risk is indeed more severe in high TB burden countries, such as Indonesia. In this research, we aimed; (1) to investigate underlying factor structure of risk characteristics, specifically the risk of nosocomial TB transmission in health care facilities; (2) to estimate the effects of work-related determinants and risk characteristics to risk perception; and (3) to compare occupational risk perception of contracting TB with expert risk assessment. A paper-based questionnaire was administered to 179 HCWs who were working for ten public health centres and two hospital in Surabaya, Indonesia. An exploratory factor analysis to nine risk characteristics revealed two-factor solution (knowledge-evoked dread and controllability of damage). A structural equation modelling indicated a suggestive evidence that controllability of damage was positively affected risk perception, while knowledge-evoked dread did not. Perceived safety condition yielded positive and moderate association to controllability of damage, implying that safety infrastructure could be perceived as ‘a cue’ of the presence of dangerous hazard. Intensity of exposure to TB patients was negatively corelated to controllability of damage, indicating that more experience in handling TB patients could lead to underestimation of risk. Our research showed that HCWs tended to accurately estimate the risk of contracting TB on the basis of their specific profession/duties, yet overestimated the risk of contracting TB when it was aggregated to health care facility level. Although further research is necessary to include the prevalence of latent/active TB as a part of risk assessments, our research highlights the importance of addressing risk perception, especially for encouraging HCWs for becoming more active in advocating necessary allocation resources for their workplace or even helping to raise communities’ awareness of TB transmission. **Keywords:** nosocomial TB, risk perception, risk characteristics, psychometric paradigm, healthcare workers.