Iranian Journal of Ergonomics
Year:2017 | Volume:5 | Issue:3 |Papers Count:10

Background: Attention to the workstations of the employees and their quality of work life has become increasingly important due to the increased competition in the organizations. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between the ergonomic situation of the workstations and musculoskeletal disorders with the quality of work life and demographic variables in the administrative staff of the Tehran Municipality.Methods: The present study was a descriptive and analytical one. The statistical population included a total of 600 persons, working in one of the regions in the Tehran Municipality. Of the 600 staff, a total of 255 were selected as the available sample group. The instruments consisted of the questionnaires, including the individual and occupational information, the Nordic questionnaire, the Walton Quality of work life, and the checklist of the ergonomic indices of the working environment for the administrative staff. In order to analyze the data, Student’s t-test and multiple regression analysis were used.Results: In this study, the majority of the samples were females (56.9%) with a mean age of 33 years. A significant positive relationship was observed between all the ergonomic indices and the quality of work life. Significant correlations among the parameters such as age, education, sleeping at night, psychological conditions, musculoskeletal disorders of the neck, shoulder, and foot were observed simultaneously with the quality of work life. The quality of work life of an employee could be predicted through the musculoskeletal disorders and demographic variables but could not be predicted by the ergonomic indicators.Conclusion: In this study, a relationship existed between the ergonomic condition of the workstations and musculoskeletal disorders with the quality of work life and demographic variables. Therefore, the physical condition and the quality of the work life of the employees would be positively affected by the improvement of the ergonomic condition of the workstations.

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of the heel wedges on the electromyography activities of the selected left and right lower back muscles during load lifting.Methods: A total of 17 male subjects voluntarily participated in this quasiexperimental study. The selected subjects lifted a box, weighing 10% of their body weight, above the height of their hip joint, descending as far as the thigh, parallel to the ground, and then ascending to the starting position. The above task was performed nine times in two conditions, including with and without the heel wedges. Using the ME6000 electromyography system, the activity level variables were normalized and the median frequencies of the erector spinae (ES) and the multifidus (MU) muscles were recorded. The subjects also held the box for 30 s in the standing position with stretched hands. The paired t-test was used for the data analysis.Results: The results showed that during static load lifting using the heel wedge, the median frequency of the right ES muscle changed significantly (P<0.05). Also during dynamic load lifting using the heel wedge, the activities of the left and the right ES muscles as well as the left MU muscle decreased significantly (P<0.05). However, no significant differences between the two conditions were observed for the other variables (P>0.05).Conclusion: During such occupational tasks, a decrease in the activities of the selected lower back muscles with the heel wedge might result in a delay in the onset of muscle fatigue. The above findings might be used in the design of shoes, suitable for the work environments. However, further investigations are needed in this area in order to provide more accurate results.

Background: Sitting for long periods of time is a part of the illness, which can happen in the workplace and the lack of attention to the ergonomic principles causes musculoskeletal disorders such as backache, pelvic ache, shoulder ache, elbow ache, arm ache, wrist and ankle ache, and muscle aches in the other parts of the body. The present research was carried out according to the ergonomic principles and designs, in order to design an ergonomic chair, suitable for the computer users in the monitoring room of one of the industries in the Mazandaran province.Methods: The participants in this study included a total of 32 male staff from the monitoring room of one of the industries in the Mazandaran province. A total of 24 anthropometric parameters were measured from the body of each of the subjects, sitting in a vertical position on an adjustable chair, using anthropometric calipers and meters and the data were analyzed with the Excel and the Minitab statistical programs.Results: The mean age of the subjects was 42.59±5.34 years and the 5th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 90th, and 95th percentiles of their anthropometric dimensions and Pearson' s correlation coefficients were obtained to design the height, the depth, the height, and the width of the ergonomic chair. All parts of the chair had two degrees of freedom. The neck and back supports, adjustable for this type of chair were designed specifically. Also, using MIT standards, the level of seat compressibility was measured to be 4.26 cm, based on the 95th percentile weight.Conclusion: Considering that other countries design and produce suitable chairs, focusing on the anthropometric characteristics of the individuals, studies, similar to this research could be recommended in the different parts of the country, in order to design and produce appropriate chairs for the physical dimensions of the people and their needs.

Background: Focusing on the organizational conflict and the depression in the main trainers of an educational system, the faculty members are very necessary because the increased negative organizational conflicts lead to a lower public health. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the job depression and the organizational conflict in the faculty members.Methods: The present study was a correlation type research and the statistical population included seven faculty members of the department/school/institute of medical sciences in the city of Hamedan with 244 faculty members as per the census of 2017. For the collection of the data, the Goldberg and Hiller questionnaire was used for measuring the depression and the organizational conflict inventory. Using descriptive statistics such as Pearson's correlation coefficient and regression analysis, the data were analyzed for modeling by the SPSS Statistics 24 software.Results: The mean scores of the depression, the organizational conflict, the conflict with the manager, the similar degrees, and the control were 0.8, 22, 6.7, 7.4, and 7.9 respectively. The results showed a significant and positive correlation between the depression and the organizational conflict (P=0.001, r=0.42). Such correlations were also observed in the two dimensions of conflict with the others (P=0.001, r=0.62) and conflict with the control (P=0.001, r=0.43). However, no significant correlation was observed in the dimension of conflict with the manager.Conclusion: The different factors of conflict studied in the society must be focused on, addressed, and improved in light of the positive and direct correlations observed between the organizational conflict and the job depression.

Background: The tool designing plays an important role in the development of work-related problems in the forearm area. By improving the ergonomic features of the device, the health of users and their satisfaction may be positively affected. The purpose of this research was to assess the local discomfort caused by the use of common pencils used by elementary students and their comparison with the ergonomic pencil.Methods: In this study, 50 female students who were all right-handed participated in the study of localized discomfort when using their usual pencils and designed ergonomic pencils. With each type of writing tools, they wrote a paragraph containing five lines of Persian script. Finally, their opinions were collected using LPD questionnaire (Local Situational Discomfort) and analyzed using SPSS23 using Mann-Whitney and independent t-tests.Results: The results from the LPD scale showed that this scale could be very useful for assessing the local conditions discomfort among school students. Also, the results of the comparison of the mean of data from the LPD questionnaire showed that there was a significant difference between the common pencils and the designed pencil for the local condition discomfort.Conclusion: It was found that common pencils cause pain, pressure, inflammation and numbness in the hands and forearm and shoulder and the use of designed ergonomic pencil will reduce the pressure and pain on the hands and shoulders.

Background: Undesirable sit-up and deviation from desirable status is one of the factors affecting the health of students in the classroom. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between posture and musculoskeletal pain in boys 9 to 13 years old.Methods: In this correlation study, the population consisted of all boy students in the primary city of Birjand.60 students were selected as a sample group based on random-cluster method. Two video cameras were recorded 30 minutes of sitting position for every student. The anthropometric characteristics of subjects including height, weight, etc., were measured with a standard tool. The back and neck pain were collected using a modified Nordic questionnaire. Moreover, the kinovea software was used to analyze the flexion and rotation angle during sitting. The statistical calculations were applied by Kolmogorov-Smirnov normality test. The ETA correlation coefficient also was used to identify the relationship between variables. All statistical calculations performed using SPSS version 21.Results: The result indicated significant relationship between bending and rotation angles with both neck and back pain (P£0.05). Therefore it would be noticed that improper sitting can be accounted as a cause of muscle-skeletal pain in boy students based on bad postures during sitting.Conclusion: According to the results, the posture of students while sitting in class is inadequate and harmful. Thus performing some intervention and education for students is recommended.

Background: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between proactive personality with networking by mediating role of job satisfaction.Methods: The research design in this study was a correlation model, through structural equation modeling. The target population in this study was all nurses working in public hospitals in Hamadan that 300 people of them were selected as the sample by simple random sampling. The data collection tools were Proactive Personality Scale (Bateman and Crant), Proactive Behavior Questionnaire (Networking, Ashford and Black) and Job Satisfaction Questionnaire (Brayfield & Rothe). The proposed model was evaluated using correlation and path analysis method using SPSS18 and AMOS18 software.Results: Pearson correlation showed that there is a positive and significant relationship between proactive personality with job satisfaction and networking. The path analysis results support the pattern's fit with the data. The findings showed that job satisfaction mediates the relationship between proactive personality and networking.Conclusion: Job satisfaction strengthens the efforts of proactive person in networking and broadens the career communication network.

Background: The aim of this study was to compare personality characteristics, job satisfaction and mental health of the personnel who experienced and didn’t experience a disaster in Zamyad Company.Methods: This is a casual-comparative study. The population consisted of all company personnel in Tehran (2500). Using random sampling, 120 people were selected, of whom 60 people had already experienced an accident and 60 had never experienced one. To collect the required information the mental health questionnaires GHQ, job satisfaction and Ruth Barry field and 5-factor personality inventory (NEOFFI) were used. For data analysis, statistical methods, measures of central tendency (ANOVA) and independent t-test and chi-square test were used to compare each variable between personnel were who injured and those who weren’t.Results: Results showed that there is a significant difference among three characteristic components (agreement F: 23.158, being open to experience F: 6.902, nervousness F: 5.476) of the people who were or were not injured. There is also difference between the two groups in job satisfaction (0.000); those who had never experienced an accident were more satisfied with their jobs. The health components (physical symptoms F: 4.804, stress disorders F: 8.652, depression symptoms F: 7.559) also were significantly different between the two groups.Conclusion: Planning for control and improvement of mental and psychosocial factors and factors such as job satisfaction, personality traits and mental health in the workplace seems necessary. This can achieve higher levels of health and safety for the staff.