Iran Occupational Health
Year:2009 | Volume:6 | Issue:1|Papers Count:10

Background and aims: Background and Aims: MSDs are very common in public vehicle drivers. As regards, drivers spend long time to this occupation, these disorders will be chronic and results to MSDs. According to the past researches, one of the main reasons for accidents is MSDs and low back pain. In this research, we survey the relation between anthropometric indices and Musculoskeletal Disorders in public vehicle drivers.Methods: for this descriptive and analytic study 95 bus drivers were selected. Instruments for this project were contains: body discomfort chart (BDC), digital scale, stadiometer, anthropometric calipers and chair. Drivers questioned about age, work and their past occupations. Then measuring of weight, length, hand-arm length, popliteal length and height, knee length and height were done. Then the data were analyzed by spearman test on Spss software program.Results: The statistic tests result show that: there is a relationship between drivers MSDs and its length, weight and age. That means with increasing of drivers weight and age or shortness in length, MSDs probability will be raised.Conclusion: It seems strain and stretch that driver bears for reaching to vehicle role, age rising and its effects on the person physical condition are their MSDs reasons. Consequently, our recommendation is: on examination for selecting drivers they should be selected among long, thin and proportional (without over weight) volunteers. This measure can be an effective step toward preventing drivers MSDs, driving crashes and accidents.

Background and aims: Respirators are widely employed as the only measure against respiratory hazards. However, it is well known that unless workers wear respiratory continuously and properly, its efficacy will be very low. The purpose of this study was to determine the risk perception and effective factors on proper use of respirators among workers exposed to chemical containments in a petrochemical industry.Method: In this cross-sectional study a structural questionnaire was administrated to 81 randomly selected workers in a petrochemical industry and collected data were analyzed by SPSS package with descriptive statistics and Chi-Square test.Results: This study showed that only 8.6% of employees claimed to wear respiratory protectors all the time when they exposed to chemicals. The most common cause for not always wearing respirators was being uncomfortable.In this study there was a significant relationship between use of respirators and worker’s risk perception (p<0.05). While the relationship between worker’s risk perception and Proper Use of Respirator Index (PURl) wasn’t statistically significant (p>0.05). Also the relationship between age and experience with use of respirators wasn’t statistically significant (p>0.05).Conclusion: The results of the study showed that for promoting the proper use of respirators, the company should remove the barriers to compliance respirators by workers (Such as their uncomfortably) and promote the workers’ risk perception about respiratory hazard and also training workers about effective factors of proper use of respirators. To achieve these purposes, implementing of Respiratory Protection Program (RPP) was suggested to the company.

Background and aims: Nursing provides a wide range of potential workplace stressors as it is a profession that requires a high level of skill, teamworking in a variety of situations and provision of 24-hour delivery of care.Occupationa1 stress is a major factor of Staff sickness and absenteeism. This study investigates the main occupational stressors in nursing profession in the hope of identification and reducing it.Methods: In this study a questionnaire consisting of three parts: demoghraphic data, the nurses background and questions about occupational stress from Revised index fulfilled by 140 nurses.Results: Lack of reward for work well done (48.6%), Heavy work10ad (46.4%), lack of Participation in decisions (39.3%), poor Control of work p1ace (38.4%) and lack of job development (36.4%) have been the main sources of Occupational stress for nurses. chronic diseases, Night Shift working and working hours were positively associated with occupstional stress.Conclusion: Analysis indicated that effects of work factors on occupational stress are more than demoghraphic data. The findings of this study can assist health service organisations to provide an attractive working climate in order to decrease side effects and consequences of occupational stress. Furthermore, understanding this situation can help to develop coping strategies in order to reduce work-related stress.

Background and aims: AIDS as a re-emergent disease and Viral hepatitis (B and C) as one of The Background and objective: Fire safety is an important problem in hospitals. Movement less, lack of awareness and special situation of residents are the reasons of this subject. In more countries such as Iran, fire protection regulations have compiled within the framework of national building codes. Current building codes don' t create sufficient safety for patient in the hospitals in different situations and more of the advanced countries in the world effort to establish building code, base on performance. This study to be accomplished with this goal that determination of fire risk level in the wards of a hospital and survey the efficiency of the national building codes.Method: Fire risk assesses is done, using "engineering fire risk assessment method" with the checklist for Data gathering. In this manner, risk calculate in all compartments and in the next stage for survey the effect of building codes, with this supposition that all compartment is conforming to building code requirement, risk level calculate in two situation.Results: The results of present study reveals that, risk level in all wards is more than one and even though risk less than one is acceptable, consequently minimum of safely situations didn’t produce in most wards. The results show the national building code in the different conditions don’t have appropriate efficient for creation of suitable safety.Conclusion: In order to access to a fire safety design with sufficient efficiency, suitable selection is use of risk assessment based on, design methods.

Background and aims: Bread is considered one of the most important nutritional sources in all societies. To prepare the ground for enrichment of floor and bread, the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education was required in 2001 to enforce elimination of baking soda from the process of preparing traditional breads. Various legal and statutory means have been used in the past years to enforce the elimination, including inspections, taking legal proceedings against infringing bakers, etc. The results, however, have been far from satisfactory in large cities.Methods: The aim of the present Quasi -experimental study was to design and develop a participative model for elimination of baking soda from processing of traditional breads and to determine knowledge, attitude, and practice in study and control groups, performed in Andisheh New City in 2008.Results: The statistical analysis showed that the knowledge, attitude, and practice of bakers in intervention group differed significantly after the intervention was made (p-value<0.001).Conclusion: Focusing solely on legal and statutory measures seems insufficient in fully eliminating baking soda from processing breads and inter-sectoral cooperation merits further attention. Besides, the currently applied educational programs should be revised to meet real learning needs with further emphasis on participative aspects of public health programs.

Background and aims: The paper presents the results of an investigation on the acoustic performance of tilted profile parallel barriers with quadratic residue diffuser tops and faces.Methods: A 2D boundary element method (BEM) is used to predict the barrier insertion loss.The results of rigid and with absorptive coverage are also calculated for comparisons. Using QRD on the top surface and faces of all tilted profile parallel barrier models introduced here is found to improve the efficiency of barriers compared with rigid equivalent parallel barrier at the examined receiver positions.Results: Applying a QRD with frequency design of 400 Hz on 5 degrees tilted parallel barrier improves the overall performance of its equivalent rigid barrier by 1.8 dB (A). Increase the treated surfaces with reactive elements shifts the effective performance toward lower frequencies. It is found that by tilting the barriers from 0 to 10 degrees in parallel set up, the degradation effects in parallel barriers is reduced but the absorption effect of fibrous materials and also diffusivity of the quadratic residue diffuser is reduced significantly. In this case all the designed barriers have better performance with 10 degrees tilting in parallel set up.Conclusion: The most economic traffic noise parallel barrier, which produces significantly high performance, is achieved by covering the top surface of the barrier closed to the receiver by just a QRD with frequency design of 400 Hz and tilting angle of 10 degrees. The average A weighted insertion loss in this barrier is predicted to be 16.3 dB (A).

Background and aims: Some social systems if necessary’ are obliged to recruit their personnel in rotation shifts. On the other hand working rotatedly disrupts persons biological rhythms and this may cause some disorders in their body physiology and make to be affected to physical 'psychological' and social disorders. So’this research is accomplished to determin the level of Serum cortisol and aldestrone in shift working nurses.Methods: This research is a descriptive analytic one that is samplized by objective-based method. The subjects involved the total nurses working in critical care units in various shifts. The sampling was accomplished in two times in two week distance by getting blood samples and utilizing questionnaire’ data were gathered and analyzed by spss software.Results: This research accomplished on 45 nurses working in critical care units.the result of testes indicated a significant difference between work shift with the mean of the first time cortisol. Also ‘there were relationship between the number of the night work shift with the rate of the first time cortisol and aldestrone. Cortisol and aldestrone were high in nurses who haven’t participated in their work planning.Conclusion: Findings of research showed that nurses who had more night shifts’in their work program and ones who had slept less than 2 hours in their night work ‘and they who haven’t participate in their work planning. Regarding the findings of this research we can accept hypothesis of the research.

Background and aims: AIDS as a re-emergent disease and Viral hepatitis (Band C) as one of the five Top Infective causes of premature death, confront the world to many economic and psychosocial consequences. Beauty salons and hairdressers if dony’t practice properly to Infection control techniques may help to HIV, HBV and HCV transmission as revealed by many studies.Methods: This study Aimed to assess the knowledge and performance of beauty salons regarding to HIV, HBV, HCV and infection control before and after training. By this cross sectional study that was conducted from August 2008 to May 2009, 125 beauty salons of Shiraz-Iran selected by cluster randomized sampling Among 625 salons. One person of each salon interviewed by filling Valid and Reliable Questionnaire before and 2-3 months after training them about above Items.Results: All interviewed persons were female by mean age 38±11 years.89 (72%) had education higher than intermediate school. Their mean of occupation period was 13±9 years. Mean score know ledge about HIV, HBV and HCV transmission was 30.81±4.6 and 38.7±2.06 (of total 41) before and after education respectively and knowledge toward Infection control Changed from 9.77±3.36 before to 12.73±0.42 (of total 13) after training. Practice to Infection control changed to 12.35±0.78 (of total 13) after education in comparison with 9.82±2.15 before that.Conclusion: Continuous education and training of all hairdressers and employers and employees of beauty salons regarding HIV, HBV, HCV and Infection control is necessary and should be monitored regularly.