Iranian Journal of Ergonomics
Year:2017 | Volume:5 | Issue:1|Papers Count:9

Introduction: Nine percent of all available packaging are jars with steel lids. However, some consumers have trouble with jar opening. The aim of the current research was to analyze the exerting force on jar lids regarding the torque input to the anthropometric and physiological characteristics of the consumers.Methods: In this study, the force distributed on the fingers and the palm was examined using a special tester consisting of Force Sensing Resistors (FSR). This tester included 19 sensors, 14 of which were installed on the fingers and 5 on the palm. Each sensor was connected to a driver via 2 wires and then to a computer by a USB port. A full jar with 1100 g weight and 85 mm lid outer diameter was used and the forces exerted by 20 participants, including 10 male and 10 female students, was recorded. Next, the Minitab 17 software was used and the mathematical relationship between the torque and anthropometric and physiological characteristics was investigated.Results: It was found that the force is mainly exerted by the index finger. The calculation of the torque based on the force measurements showed that the maximum torque applied by males was 10.63 Nm and by females was 7.66 Nm. Statistical F test for the torque (response variable) at a significance level of 0.05 resulted in P values equal to 0.011 and 0.008 for male and female participants, respectively. Therefore, it can be concluded that the measured values are statistically significant.Conclusions: Statistical analysis revealed that hand dimensions and grip strength play major roles in applying torque. Additionally, the results indicated that packaging conditions for the particular jar in this study must be adjusted such that the consumers with the lowest physical ability (5.11 Nm torque) could open them.

Introduction: Content analysis is amongst common methods of scientific research of journals. According to the paucity of such studies in the ergonomics scope and the need for information on the direction and characteristics of conducted research and in order to gain more detailed plans, this study aimed to perform a content analysis of scientific outputs regarding occupational Health with an emphasis on ergonomics.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on articles published by Persian and interior Latin journals with a minimum track record of 3 years for a period of 10 years, from 2005 to 2015. Data were collected via a researcher-made checklist, using census and based on the content analysis method.Results: The extracted data, from 927 articles during the period of 10 years, from 5 specialized journals, showed that the largest share of researches was related to the ergonomics scope (24.27%). The main research tools used in ergonomics articles were questionnaires (69.77%). Based on the types of studies, only 15.55% of ergonomic researches were based on interventional studies.Conclusions: Articles with the subject of ergonomics have increased over the past decade. Most research has been conducted with an emphasis on physical health; however, psychological and social aspects of health have been somewhat neglected. Most research in ergonomics scope was descriptive, analytical, and cross-sectional. In this regard, more attention should be paid to interventional studies.

Introduction: The working population spends an increasing amount of waking times at work that is full of social relationship and meaningful resource of social capital. With regard to relationship between workplace social capital and employee health, this systematic review was performed with aim to evaluate the effects of workplace social capital in health workforce.Materials & Methods: This is a systematic review study. The articles were in full text and in English language that were cited in Pubmed, Scopus, and Google scholar database with key words such as "workplace social capital", "health", "hypertension", "diabetes", "depression" without time limit were selected, at least 14 articles were eligible.Results: Workplace social capital was related with cardio-vascular disease, hypertension, diabetes and depression among the employees.Conclusions: Workplace social capital should be considered as one of the most important issue in health promotion.

Introduction: One of the most important issues in industries is accident. Various factors affect these events, one of which is individual features. This study aimed at investigating the role of human resource personality on human reliability in accident outbreaks using DISC behavioral approach modal in automotive industry.Methods: This was a descriptive-analytical research. The relationship of person vulnerability with human personality with fallibility was investigated. In order to determine human personality disk standard model was used and to estimate the degree of human fallibility heart techniques were used. Then, the relationships of natural personality, human reconcilable dimensions, human reliability and fallibility were found. Also, the relationship of accident repetition with personality and human fallibility was determined. This research was conducted among 98 personnel of one of the biggest production units during 2013 to 2015.Results: The results indicated that there was a high correlation in human personality and fallibility dimension with accidents outbreak. There was a significant relationship between persons with influential personality, inherent stability, adapted stability, adapted dutiful, and accident outbreak repetition.Conclusions: According to the results, the personality of individuals with high sensitivity in their job and less adaptation to changes made in work environment, has a higher possibility of accidents outbreaks. Perhaps, this issue is created because of the inconsistency between the management system that is ruling the industry of developing countries and personality features of those people.

Introduction: Leptin, generated by the obesity gene, acts as an anti-obesity hormone that plays a key role in regulating weight. We aimed to investigate the effects of eight weeks of selected aerobic training on serum leptin levels, anthropometric indices and maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max) in obese men.Methods: Twenty healthy elderly men were selected by convenience sampling method and were randomly assigned to control (n=10) and experimental (n=10) groups. The program training included 45 minutes per session, three times per week for eight weeks of participation in aerobic exercise classes with 55-60% HRR. Pre- and post-aerobic exercise, serum leptin levels, anthropometric indices and VO2max were evaluated. To make intra and intergroup comparisons, t-test for dependent and independent samples were used. For all statistical comparisons, the level of significance was set at P<0.05.Results: Eight weeks of aerobic exercise led to a significant increase of Vo2max (P= 0.01). The amount of leptin (P=0.007), weight (P=0.002), BMI (P=0.003), body fat percentage (P=0.002) and WHR (P=0.013) in sedentary obese men in the experimental group significantly reduced. The variations of weight, BMI, BFP, WHR and Vo2max in the two groups had differences.Conclusions: The results of this study showed that the selected aerobic training had a favorable influence on improvement of serum leptin levels and VO2max in obese men.

Introduction: Muscle-skeletal disorders are one of the most common job-related disorders in industrial workplaces due to different reasons. The current study performed an ergonomic assessment using the key indicator index (KIM) in order to reduce injuries in the bottle-making salon of one of the detergent-producing industries of Qazvin province.Methods: This study was an interventional study and consisted of 25 workers and was done in a bottle-making salon of one of the detergent-producing industries, during year 2016. For data collection, the Cornell questionnaire and key indicator index assessment method were used before and after the ergonomic interventions. Data was analyzed by descriptive analytical tests using the SPSS 16 software.Results: According to the results, in the bottle production task (risk score: 4), the risk score decreased significantly by redesign (risk score: 2). Also, regarding the bottle' s material, supply task that workers used to do it by manual material handling (risk score: 3), by redesign, risk score decreased significantly (risk score: 1).Conclusions: In this study, musculoskeletal disorders decreased meaningfully by workstation ergonomic redesign after 5 months from the intervention.

Introduction: A significant number of employees of any organization experience burnout, in many different countries. It is obvious that burnout prevention and mental health promotion play an important role in the improvement of the quality of services.One of the strategies that could be useful in reducing premature aging is deployment of a total ergonomics (ergonomics micro and macro). The main objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between variables considered in the context of total ergonomics and burnout.Methods: The sample was selected from one of the hospitals in Yazd, including various departments with 506 employees. The sample size of 216 was determined according to Morgan. The data were collected through questionnaires and samples were selected through a stratified random sampling method.Results: The results showed that moderate job burnout and perceived organizational support by the employees was lower than average, and there was a significant negative relationship between burnout and variables involved in comprehensive ergonomics. The study showed that demographic variables of burnout were effective on employees.Conclusions: This study investigated burnout level, organizational support, organizational justice and physical environment. The reduction of Burnout was assessed by improved total ergonomic (macro and micro ergonomic) conditions. The results obtained in this study correspond with the results of various research studies. At the end of the study, based on the results, suggestions were made to reduce burnout.

Introduction: Metro driving is one of the newest jobs in Iran. Due to the lack of studies about train drivers’ workload, there is no comprehensive information about factors that effect workload. This study aimed at analyzing the factors that may effect driver workload, in order to recommend control measures.Methods: In this mixed method study, data generation was done through field observations, document reviews, individual interviews, focus group interviews, and focus group discussions. In order to perform field data collection, the institute for occupational ergonomics and CCD Design and Ergonomics Ltd’s developed tools were used. Directed content analysis was used for qualitative data analysis.Results: Overall, 65 factors were extracted as the factors that may effect driver workload.The extracted factors were drawn on a fishbone diagram, over 8 categories, including management, supervision and organizational climate, infrastructure, job design, journey, and environmental as distal factors and time pressure, information exchanges, and individual factors as proximal factors.Conclusions: Some of the distal factors are the nature of an urban transport system, so the only amendment is compensatory programs, and some of them could be resolved by longterm plans. Workload of train drivers could be reduced with a focus on the proximal factors in the short-term, and the distal factors in the long-term.