Journal of Health and Safety at Work
Year:2013 | Volume:3 | Issue:2|Papers Count:8

Introduction: In developing countries, promotion of road safety is of crucial importance. This paper presents the status of road safety in Iran during 2001-2006.Material and Method: The status of road safety in Iran was surveyed in this descriptive study using road safety indicators a in macro level. Firstly, 46 indicators were identified after studying almost all indicators related to the road safety. After consulting of views with road safety experts and considering the reliable existing data, 11 indicators were selected to study the safety status of the roads. Then, all essential data for determining each indicators were collected from related organizations and institutes. All indicators were determined and evaluated in the last step.Result: The results revealed that during the period of 6 years, death toll has been increased by 9 deaths per 100000 person of the population. Moreover, application of seat belt and safety helmet has been increased by 20% and 18%, respectively. It also indicated that the number of motorists and the length of paved roads have been increased by 20%, and 10%, respectively. The net income per capita has also grown from 5884 US$ to 7968 US$ and the life expectancy has gone up from 68.9 years to 70.9 years, the percentage of the literate population has grown by 2% (from 76% to 78%) and the human development index has increased from 0.721 to 0.759. The results of the present study showed that the increased level of death toll per 10000 vehicles and the increased level (%) of seat belt as well as helmet application, paved roads, urbanization, the net income per capita, life expectancy, literacy and human development index were statistically significant and R2 coefficient for this factors was 0.84, 0.9, 0.994, 0.9, 0.97, 0.82, 0.69 and 0.84 respectively.Conclusion: According to result of the present study, roads safety were not in an appropriate level. The roads safety status can be determined using road safety indicators to be applied for road safety promotion.

Introduction: previous studies have shown approximately 90% of accidents in the workplace are due to unsafe behavior and human errors. Identifying predictors of unsafe behaviors would be unsafe in accidents prevention.The purpose of this study was to investigate personality characteristics, cognitive and organizational variables of line workers in an industrial company in bojnurd.Material and Method: The sample, in the main stage, consisted of 300 employees and in the validation stage 100 They were selected thought stratified random sampling. Firstly, participants were divided into two groups (safe and unsafe) using safety behavior scale. Next, each group was evaluated using the five-factor personality questionnaire, safety efficiency questionnaire, regulatory focus at work, safety climate, safety motivation and safety competency scales and also perceived work pressure questionnaire. In order to analyze the data, the discriminate analysis, the confirmatory factor analysis and the Pearson's correlation coefficient were applied.Result: According to the result of the present study, unsafe behaviors of employees can be predicted by neuroticism, extroversion, agreeableness, consciousness, safety efficiency, regulatory focus and its dimensions, safety climate and its dimensions, safety motivation, safety competency and role overload variables.Conclusion: The results of this study showed the importance of safety competency, prevention focus, safety rules and procedures, safety efficiency and consciousness as predictors of unsafe work behaviors. Therefore, it is recommended to rely on these variables in the safety training courses and also in selecting people for high risk environments.

Introduction: Musculoskeletal disorders are the most prevalent problem in the workplace. Unsafe manual material handling is amongst important causes of such disorders. Unsafe manual material handling can result in different musculoskeletal disorders such as acute physical injuries and increase of strain in back, shoulders and arms. United state society of orthopedic surgeons ranked back pain as the most costly disorder, which workplaces are considered to be responsible for most of them. Few studies compare related national and non-national standards in Iran. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to compare Iranian manual material handling regulation, NIOSH equation and MAC method in one of metal casting industries in Tehran, 2001.Material and Method: In this cross-sectional study, participants were randomly selected among men workers, working in industry. Data collection was done using MAC data sheet, NIOSH equation and Iranian MMH regulation. Data were Analyzed using stata software and P-value of 0.05 or less was considered significant.Result: Results showed an acceptable agreement between Iranian regulation and MAC method as well as Iranian regulation and NIOSH equation. However, no acceptable agreement was observed between MAC method and NIOSH equation.

Introduction: The power tiller is a multipurpose hand tractor designed primarily for rotary tilling and other farm operations. Vibration, transmitted from the handles of the tiller to the operators’ body, causes many injuries such as, pain, musculoskeletal disorders and white finger syndrome. The aim of this study was to evaluate the hand-arm vibration exposure in the operators of tiller model HT900, as the most frequently used model of tillers.Material and Method: In this study, 40 operators tiller of model HT900 in the city of Kashmar, Khorasan Razavi were examined. Hand-arm vibration measurement was done according to ISO 5349-1 and ISO 5349-2 in three different modes including, static and neutral (mode), transition to the ground mode and plowing the land mode in different gears. In order to measure the vibrations, human response vibration meter of B and K model 2512 was utilized.Result: Results of the present study indicated that in all measured situations, exposure to hand arm vibration was higher than the standard limit suggested by Iranian occupational health committee and there was risk of vibration-induced disorders. The maximum exposure to vibration is in plowing ground. Exposure to hand arm vibration in three modes of plowing, transmission and natural, were respectively 16.95, 14.16 and 8.65 meters per second squared. Additionally, in all situations, vibration exposure was highest in the X-axis in comparison with Z- and Y-axes.Conclusion: This study emphasizes on the need to provide intervention and controlling and managing strategies in order to eliminate or reduce vibration transmitted from tiller to operators hand and arm and also prevent to serious problems including neurovascular disorders, discomfort and white finger syndrome. Meanwhile, more studies are necessary to identify the sources of vibration on different models of tiller.

Introduction: Introduction: Thermal comforts are one of the most human concerns in working as was as living environments in the past half century. Thermal comfort is the condition in which people are satisfied with the thermal environment, mentally. One of the new heating system employed in individual units is radiant heating system. The purpose of this study was to investigate the performance of radiant ceiling heating system and its impact on thermal comfort of workers.Material and Method: In the present analytical-descriptive study, the designed radiant heating systems were investigated in two repair and maintenance units, in Hamadan gas pipeline operation center. Firstly, the environment parameters, witch impact thermal comfort, were measured before and after using radiant heating system, in both understudy units. Then, wind chill index, thermal comfort indices, PMV and PPD were calculated. In addition, PPD and PMV were determined, based on workers subjective feeling by a questionnaire distributed among 22 workers.Results: According to the results, the radiant heating system in unit 1, has reduced the wind chill index by 42.3 Kcal/ m2.h, witch is not considered to be significant. In unit 2, wind chill index has been decreased by 109.3 Kcal/ m2.h, witch mean that thermal comfort has been changed from cold to an optimum environment. PMV n unit 1 went up by 37% after turning the system on, witch is equal to 17.24% increase in workers satisfaction. However, in unit 2, the workers satisfaction was 14.3% higher in comparison with unit 1.Conclusion: Due to large space of these industrial units, producing appropriate heating by convection mechanism is too difficult and expensive. The results confirmed that if radiant heating system applied based on scientific design principles they could be effective in promotion of thermal comfort due to heating surrounding surface by radiant and also reducing fuel consumption.

Introduction: Human and environment exposed to harmful factors, as the result of industrial pollutants. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) play important role in photochemical reactions in troposphere layer of atmosphere and results in production of ozone and photochemical oxidants.Material and Method: In this study, a miniature stirred tank bioreactor was designed for treatment of waste gas containing xylene. In the next step, the bioreactor incubated with microbial consortiums with ratio of 1 to 3. The performance of bioreactor in treatment of xylene vapors in presence of 10% silicone oil, as an organic phase was assessed in concentrations ranging from 551 mg/m3 to 3330 mg/m3 for 432 hours.Result: The results of xylene biodegradation showed that removal efficiency up to the concentrations of 2756 mg/m3 was 82 percent. Moreover, adding 10% silicone oil increased removal efficiency of BTX by 85.7% in comparison with context without organic phase. The microbiological experiments on the bioreactor media showed that three spices of Pseudomonas putida, Chryseobacterium and Ralstonia pickettii were found, in the presence of xylene.Conclusion: Overall, the results of the present research revealed that application of two phase stirred tank bioreactors (TPPBs) for xylene from contaminated treatment of streams was successful.

Introduction: Following the presentation of Domino model by Heinrich in 1931 this idea was formed that human is the most important cause of accidents. According to Heinrich, unsafe behavior (88%), unsafe condition (10%) and unexpected factors (2%) are involved in accidents causation. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigates workers safety, culture and its influencing factors in detergent and cleaner company.Material and Method: In order to determine the level of safety culture in the understudy detergent producing company a questioner developed in 2010 was used. It was included dimensions of management commitment, training and information exchange, protective environment, inhibitory factors and priority to safety. After collecting the questionnaires, data were analyzed using SPSS version 17.Result: The mean age of the participants of 37.5 years old and the mean work experience 13.7 years.52.3 % of workers had not experienced any accident during their working year. Moreover, mean (SD) score of safety culture was 180.51 (±35.216).Conclusion: The difference of safety culture score were statistically different among occupational groups and also between workers with and without accidents.

Introduction: In Iran country, small enterprise with less than 10 workers comprise about %90 of all industries and 80% of working population. Noise, higher than the permissible level is among the hazardous agents, workers in these plants facing with. The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation between screening estimation and noise measurement in small plants.Material and Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 51 plants with less than 5 workers. Noise screening was done using screening from. Next, noise level was measured in all the plants by TES-1358 sound level meter and regular grid method. Data were analyzed using chi-square test and linear regression in SPSS version 16.Result: The mean (SD) scores of sound pressure level and screening form were 86.5 dBA (4.5) and 64.2 (9.4) in 51 understudy plants, respectively. According to the results of sound measurement, sound level in 34 plants (66.6%) exceeded the permissible level and in 17 plants (33.33%) was below the limit. The results of screening forms showed that 47 plants (92.16%) had permissible level of noise while noise in 4 (7.84%) was not in permissible level. Chi square test revealed no significant relationship between the results of the two methods, based on the permissible and impermissible limits (p-Value=0.288). Furthermore, according to the regression analysis, R2 was obtained 0.357.Conclusion: No correlation was shown between the results of the two methods used. Thus, it is recommended to change the parameters used in the noise screening form for small plants, with less than 5 workers.