IRAN OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH JOURNAL
Year:2008 | Volume:4 | Issue:3-4|Papers Count:11

Background and aims: Unsafe attitude are the offset of occurring an accident. Although conducting few studies regarding to systematic measurement on requirement and attitude in the field of safety in organization. One of the critical factors in order to make attempts to provide some programmers increasing safety behaviors is acknowledging the safety climate of working environment. In this study we are intending to evaluate the relationship between safety climate and safe behaviors and the relationship between these two variables and personal factors as well as.Methods: Safety climate is measured by questionnaire and in order to determine the rate of safe behaviors the direct observation has been used. This survey has been conducted on 178 workers of a production line a certain industry j.e.metalic heavy industry.Results: In trying to specify the reliability of questionnaire the internal consistency was measured. The rate of a crombach was reched to 91% to determine the structure of safety climate the factor analysis method was used. The analysis resulted a 4 factor answer which defines 60/30% of the total variance. There was a clear correlation between factors consisting the safety climate and safe behaviors.Conclusion: In general, there was no clear correlation between the factor climate and personal factors. There was a clear correlation between safe behaviors and two personal factors, e.g. age and work experience. There was no clear correlation between safe behaviors and educational degrees.

Background and aims: The Rula procedure was based on the model of OWAS which, developed by the Finish Institute of Occupational Health and the Ovako Steel Company to investigate problems of lifting and of back injuries. This process required that segments of the body by judged on a simple scale, producing a sequence of numbers which were matched against a grid. The value of the numbers and their position of the number improved the situation. Rula extends this assessment process to the control upper limb disorders. This method was designed for rapid assessment of posture in Neck, Trunk, Legs and Upper Limbs that includes a scoring system. In this method we use posture diagram and scoring tables for the purpose of presenting encounter evaluation with risk factors.Methods: Rula will execute in three steps: posture register, scoring system, identifying action levels. This research performed in an electronics and electricity device manufacturing company with the aim of studying and evaluating posture by Rula method. First the incidence of Musculoskeletal disorders between 120 men and 120 women in assembling units of the said factotum would be studied then 35 job groups are identified and evaluated by Rula method.Results: The obtained results show that, except knee’s pain, the incidence of different types of musculoskeletal disorders in women is more than men. Aslo both groups have fairly grat amount of incidence of disorders in neck, trunk, limb, and upper limbs.

Background and aims: Beside the vast usages of styrene in different industries, this compound can be considered as an important organic air pollutant. Styrene, in one hand, can adversely affect on workers and on the other hands can cause air pollution in the environment. In this study, Tabriz Petrochemical Complex was selected for evaluation of styrene.Methods: Measurements were performed separately in production lines of olephin and styrene and sampling sites were selected randomly in both olephine and styrene lines. For evaluation of styrene, occupational sampling was performed based on method number 834 recommended in the book "Air sampling analysis". The method was extended using some correction factors. Sampling process was performed in seasons Summer and Autumn. To draw isoline curves of Pollution, Surfer software version 504 was used.Results: The results showed that, there were no significant difference between concentration of pollutants and seasons. Agreement between styrene concentration and prailing winds showed a significant difference between styrene and prailing winds.

Background and aims: Each year many people die from accidents at work. Enormous costs of these accidents have forced specialists looking for ways to prevention of accidents. This study focuses on evaluation the safety of glucose production unit by energy trace and barrier analysis (ETBA) and present approaches to prevention of accidents.Methods: Steps to perform ETBA method was completed in the field study. Data was collected by interview with workers and supervisors, document surveys and direct observations. 41 ETBA worksheets were completed for seven fold parts of production unit. Most unacceptable risks were found in starch site.Results: Findings showed that unwanted flow of potential energies create the most unacceptable risks in production unit. We concluded that the human factors would play main roll in reduction of risks and control hazards. Also, administrative controls are suggested, especially establishment of repairing and preventive maintenance system, organizing team for investigation and record keeping of accidents, reporting and scientific analyzing of accidents and incidents would reduce the total risk of industry.Conclusion: It will be useful to use the techniques that research human role in accidents associated with ETBA method.

Background and aims: Awkward posture has been recognized as one of the important risk factors of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSD). The current study aimed at determining ergonomic risk level, WMSDs ratio and exploring working postures contribution to WMSD. During the study, working postures were phased and then they were scored using the REBA tool from observing the work.Methods: To perform the study, workers of a home appliances manufacturing factory were assessed. In order to collecting required data, each part of the body was scored and work frequency, load/force, coupling were considered to achieve a REBA score. Nordic Questionnaire was used to determining WMSD ratio and its relationship whit REBA score. 231 working phases were assessed and 13761 questions using Nordic Questionnaire were answered. Percentage of the workers in press, spot welding, grinding, cutting, assembling, and painting was 15.8, 21.6, 25.9, 34.5, 89.9%, respectively. Workers were 18-54 years old and their work recording average was 52 month.Results: REBA score was 4-13 in under study tasks. REBA score=9 had the most frequency (20%) and REBA score=13 had the least frequency (1.4%). Risk level in press, cutting, and painting was high (25.5, 100, 68.2%) cases). This shows that cutting has the highest risk level. On the other hand 38.5% of the workers in past 12 month had problem in different parts of their body.Totally 11.7% of the workers had problem in neck, 19.4$ in leg, 10.7% in foot, 82.5% in lower back, 87.6% in upper back and 7.8% in shoulders.10.7% of the workers had previous illness that 8.7% of them were non occupational and 1.9% were caused their previous jobs. The REBA score mean and ergonomic risk level is not equal in tasks (p-value<0.05) and there is a relationship between age, work recording, REBA score and risk level. (p-value<0.05, r>0). Action level was necessary soon in others.Conclusion: Risk level should be reduced specially in cutting. The heavy workload and working height poor design, awkward posture such as twisting with bending and sometimes carrying objects, standing/sitting for a long time during working shifts are some of the ergonomic risk factors.

Background and aims: There are numerous types of health hazards in every workplace which threaten the health and well-being of employees. Therefore, various types of engineering and administrative control approaches have been developed in industry. Control of hazardous agents can be difficult in most conditions due to economical and technical limitations. However, certain types of administrative control methods can be implemented in these cases instead of engineering or process controls. Since creating a safe environment with zero chance of occupational exposures to hazardous agents is practically impossible, it can be expected that every employee may have a certain level of exposure to one or more of hazardous agents. The probability and extent of these exposures will depend on job's demands or work environment's conditions. Under this condition, a "job severity score" as a quantitative value can be determined in order to choose and employ the best possible control methodology and also to create a long-term occupational health plan.Methods: In this study, the main goal is to develop a questionnaire as a model for assessment of job severity and tasks harmfulness. This questionnaire has five sections in which there are numbers of questions each with a specified quantitative score.These scores have been identified according to the brainstorming among the some experienced experts in the fields safety, occupational health, and industrial psychology. When the final questionnaire was completed, two well-known industrial sectors were selected as pilot plants for final verification of questionnaire in order to obtain valid questions.Results: The result of this study was providing a questionnaire which might be used in similar studies for determination of job severity level at any industrial plants.

Background and aims: Overexposure to industrial noise pollution induce hearing loss workers. Occupational hearing loss may cause interference whit oral communication, so it may increase the risk of occupational accidents in workplace as well as affects whit social activities.This study was conducted on Lavan Island, are of oil extracting regions in the south of Iran. The object of this study was to evaluate noise pollution and determining the effect of noise enclosure on noise abatement.Methods: The noise sources were recognized and noise pressure level was measured by CEL-440. Noise dose of the exposed workers in high level noise area were measured by CEL 272.Results: Major noise sources were gas turbines, diesel generators, compressors, fans and gas containing pips, noise contour map revealers that noise level were higher than the recommended national exposure limit. The results of workers noise dose show that their noise exposure were higher than the recommended value, (p<0.001). Finally, by using the results of noise frequency analysis of different noise sources, the noise pressure level of each sources was determined in terms of enclosing them.Conclusion: By enclosing the noise sources, noise pressure levels can be lowered douse to acceptable levels but limitation of applying enclosure should be regarded.

Background and aims: Fatigue is one of factors to cause Disorders and many of diseases. Fatigue to fatigue can due to increase the occupational accidents. The chronic fatigue can cause the decrease of National production. Because of above reasons we decided to survey the fatigue of workers of tile factories in yazd city.Methods: This Cross-sectional study was carried out in spring and summer of 1383, among the workers of factories in yazd city. The number of cases was 380 person that were selected by random cluster sampling method. Data were analyzed by SPSS and EP12 program and used the x2 test.Results: The cases were 78.9% male and 12.1% female. About 47% of workers all of the day were fatigue. about 30.7% some of the time days were fatigue. only the fatigue 22.3% of workers was less. There was not any worker with no fatigue. The due of fatigue of 50% of workers was cammulative trauma disorders (CTD). The 99% of workers believed that the best way for reducing and controlling the fatigue is short time rests in a day, showering with the cold water, drinking the cold liquids and having tea and coffee.Conclusion: The results of many studies that were carried out in Iran and out of Iran about the fatigue are same as the result of current study.

Background and aims: The fluoride of water can increase the resistance of enamel of teeth against dental caries. In places with low fluoride level in potable water, dental caries is very high before puberty. The aim of this study was to determine the fluoride level of potable water of Ilam-Iran and it's relation to DMF criteria in workers of industrial city of Ilam.Methods: This study was done in fall of 1999 on the 320 workers which their age was between 20-34 (x±SD: 28.1±1) years old by descriptive analytical method. The factories were selected by cluster sampling and workers were selected by random sampling from different socio-economic status.Results: The mean concentration of fluoride in potable water was 0.28 mg/l which is lower the standard limit. The average value for DMF Index was 4.3 in workers. There was a significant negative correlation between fluoride control of potable water and number of DMF teeth (r=0.1, p=0.01). The lowest value of DMF index was in range of 20-23 years old. When the fluoride content of water was higher, the dental caries was lower.Conclusion: The addition of fluoride to potable water to about 1mg/l, health educational programs and fortification of foods in Industrial regions and factories is recommended.