Journal of Safety Promotion and Injury Prevention
Year:2014 | Volume:2 | Issue:3|Papers Count:12

Backgrounds and Objective: Using helmets reduces the rate of death and head injury in accidents. No study has yet been done in Iran to estimate the rate of helmet use. Hence، this study is to survey the rate of helmet use and its related factors among motorcyclists in Kerman city.Materials and Methods: In this cross sectionalstudy data collection was done by two people، an observer and a person completeing the check list، in winter and summer of 2012، on holidays and work days، morning and afternoon، main streets، bystreets and freeways. Descriptive and analytical analysis (the Chi - Square and Regression logistic tests) were done in SPSS16.Results: Among 2880 motorcyclists، 324 people (11.2%) used helmets. This number was significantly less on holidays; (p<0.001) and higher in winter in comparison to summer; (p<0.001). There was not a significant difference among the main streets، bystreets and freeways. (p=0.206).Conclusion: Comparing this research to similar statistics in different countries shows a low rate of helmet use in Iran. In addition to legislation exertion، more education and planning for increasing the use of helmets must be performed.

Backgrounds and Objective: In last ten years the number of deaths in Iran due to car accidents reported is 235050 individuals which this statics comparing to developed countries is very high. Recent study is aimed to investigate the relationship between personality and attitude to safety in driving. Materials and Methods: This is a correlation study. In this study 384 people from interior taxi drivers of Urmia city were selected for study that 192 people as the case group and 192 people as control group. The Data collected through a questionnaire. The questionnaire includes 3 parts: 1-demographic characteristics 2-safety attitude 3- specialty of personality. To investigate the relationship between personality and attitudes to safety، Spearman correlation analysis was used. Between anxious personal specialty and traffic toward obedience to laws، statistically significant correlation was found (p= 0.001).Results: Between emotional personal specialty and traffic toward obedience to laws، fast driving and exciting driving، statistically significant correlation was found (p=0.001). between altruism personal specialty and traffic toward obedience to laws، fast driving and exciting driving، statistically significant correlation was found (p=0.05). between anomaly personal specialty and traffic toward obedience to laws، fast driving and exciting driving، statistically significant correlation was found (p=0.05).Conclusion: People with anxious، anomaly and emotional specialties have negative attitude to safety. People with altruism specialties have positive attitude to safety.

Background and Objective: Working in uranium mines is arduous. Attitude and culture are among the root causes of unsafe behaviors that can lead to accidents. Safety climate which is considered as an appearance shape of safety expresses employees shared perceptions toward safety. The aim of this study was to survey the safety climate in Iran's uranium mines.Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional Descriptive analytical was conducted among the 550 employees staff in two ground and underground uranium mines that have at least one year Work Experience in 2012. For gathering demographic information (age، education، experience and working group) and for surveying safety climate factors the 11 factors safety climate assessment questionnaire was used. thesss data was transferred to SPSSv16 After data gathering and was analyzed whit t test and one way ANOVA.Results: Safety climate score in underground and ground mines was obtained 5.99 and 6.02 respectively and Knowledge of safety regulations (6.75) and management commitment (4.98) factors was identified as the strongest and weakest factors respectively. There was no significant relationship between safety climate factors and demographic information (P>0.05) whereas there was significant relationship between safety climate factors (P<0.05).Conclusion: Due to low safety climate score، measures to improve safety climate in this mines Should be done to don’t occur more and more intense accident in the future

Backgrounds and Objective: Road traffic accidents are one of the world’s largest health problems and trauma is the leading cause of death among young people in developing countries. The present study aims to demographically investigate the trauma resulting from road traffic accidents in patients referred to Taleghani Hospital in Mashhad (Khorasan razavi، Iran).Materials and Methods: In this descriptive and cross-sectional study، 4699 cases injured in road accidents and referred to Taleghani hospital from March 2012 to February 2013 has been investigated (Mashhad، Iran). Substantive data entry form including demographic factors (age، sex، history of hospitalization، date of admission، and discharge status of the patient) was data collection tool. Data were collected through enumeration method and were analyzed using descriptive statistics (frequency، percentage، mean، standard deviation) and SPSS (18).Results: 73.2% of injury cases were male and most injuries occurred between the ages of 20 and 30. Most accidents (48.41%) occurred in summer in September. In terms of patients’ required services، 59.4%، 23.7%، 7.2%، 8.1%، 0.9%، 0.6% and 0.1% of patients were hospitalized in the emergency department، the accident ward 1 and 2، neurosurgery ward، general and men’s surgical ward، ICU، orthopedic ward and neurology ward، respectively.Conclusion: Considering the significant importance of road accidents as a social، predictable and controllable problem، roads’ safety and standardization should be deeply considered and planning and basic actions should be taken in this area.

Backgrounds and Objective: Due to increasing number of elderly people in different countries، fall and related injuries have been increased. Fall and its injuries are common health problems of the elderly and they are cause of long-term disability and dysfunction، mortality and cost to the person and community. The aim of this review is to update the evidence-based knowledge of prevention of falls in elderly adults.Materials and Methods: In this narrative review، trials and reviews from 2000 till 2013، using falls، elderly and prevention or their synonyms as key words with "AND" and "OR" in electronic resources such as PubMed and Cochran were extracted. Validity of the articles were assessed by CONSORT and PRISMA checklist and valid papers was included in the review. The effectiveness of the interventions were assessed.Results: Various methods and programs have been implemented to prevent fall and its consequences in the world and classified in single interventions and multifactorial interventions. Individual and group exercise، home assessment and modification، supplements of calcium and vitamin D، withdrawal of psychotropic drugs، cataract surgery، hip and other protectors، cardiac pacemaker and multifactorial prevention programs that simultaneously focus on multiple risk factors، are the most common interventions.Conclusion: Individual and group exercises and home assessment and modification in high risk persons، reduce the rate and risk of falls. Cataract surgery، cardiac pacemaker and multifactorial interventions reduce fall rate and Tai chi reduces fall risk. Vitamin D consumption in people with vitamin deficiency، hip protectors in high risk patients and footwear modifying in winter conditions have an effect on reducing fall. Educational interventions، withdrawal of psychotropic drugs، fluids and electrolyte therapy، vision correction with glasses and psychological interventions have not been effective.

Background and Objective: Traffic accidents involving pedestrians have become a major concern all over the world، particularly in developing countries. Pedestrian’s bridges are one the most important safety vehicle which provides the safety crossing for pedestrians. The aim of this study is the identification of factors which affect in use or non-use of escalator or bridges.Materials and methods: The qualitative approach was used in this study to obtain depth understanding of pedestrian reasons in using or non-using of escalator or bridges for safety crossing. In order to having relaxing interview، the male and female interviewees were used.Results: Three main themes emerged in interviewing with pedestrians who use bridges for crossing: the risk perception of pedestrians، social pressure and existence of fence in street which make it difficult to passing. Also، among those who had crossed the street without using the bridges، responses were categorized in tow themes: first، factors related to escalators and bridges such as: being off escalators and failure of bridges and the other one; factors related to individuals، such as: hurrying steps.Conclusion: Exploring the pedestrians experiences about the barriers and facilitator in using and non-using of pedestrians bridges، show that implementing some programs such as; training programs، improvement the culture of safety behavior among pedestrians in crossing the street and installing the fence along the streets can have a positive influence on using of pedestrians bridges in crossing the street.

Background and Objectives: Prenatal maternal anxiety has adverse effects on the mother and fetus and child. Use of anxiety-reducing techniques for pregnant mothers plays an important role in decreasing maternal and child Psychological problems. Relaxation exercise could be improve pregnancy outcome in High Risk pregnancy and High Risk Delivery. This study aimed to determine the effect of relaxation training on anxiety in High risk mothers.Materials and Methods: The present study was done as a clinical trial on 150 High Risk Pregnant Women 32-35week (75 subjects as relaxation group،75 subjects as control group)referred to Health and Medical Center in Shahreza city. Data were collected using personal data form and Spielberger anxiety Inventory questionnaire .In addition to routine pregnancy care، four 90minute sessions of relaxation active Jacobsen training courses were held during 4weeks (once a week).The control group only received routine pregnancy care .Anxiety score before the intervention and at the end of the intervention were analyzed in all two groups .Data analysis was done using Ttest ، tabs analysis.Results: In this study، the mean anxiety scores were not significantly different in the two groups before the intervention ،but there was significant differences in relaxation group after the intervention (pvalu<0/001). There was a decrease in the mean anxiety score in relaxation group after the intervention whereas there was a slightly increase in the control group.Conclusion: The results of this study indicated that relaxation training could reduce anxiety in Pregnant High Risk Women.  

Background and Objective: With increasing population growth and industrialization and the need to service communities continually shift will increase. Due to the effects of shift work on health and sleep quality and given that it can contribute to the production and productivity، review and consideration of these problems is necessary. Therefore، the present study investigated the relationship between sleep quality and mental health in staffs that have shifts.Materials and Methods: This study is a cross-sectional study was conducted on employees of a Pipe company. The community of 230 people randomly selected from the staff. Tools used include demographic questionnaire، Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Inventory and General Health Questionnaire، respectively. Data analysis was performed by spss 18 software and descriptive and inferential statistics.Results: The results of the comparison between shift and non-shift indicated that there is a significant relationship between the mean scores of mental health and quality of sleep and these disorders are higher in shift workers.Conclusion: Due to the adverse effects of shift work on the one hand and the large number of workers employed، sensitivity، high risk operations and industrial processes in the country on the other hand، Study and suggested strategies appropriate to formulate the optimal shift in order to eliminate or reduce the adverse effects of shift work systems is necessary.

Background and Objective: The construction industries are considered as the high risk industries mainly because of their higher rate of accidents. The analytical data of the accidents play a significant role in risk management، safety promotion and preventive programs. The objectives of the present study was to describe the epidemiology of work related accidents and determine the distribution of accident based on personal factors، job groups، injured body part، unsafe actions and conditions in two sites of a construction firm in Tehran.Materials and Methods: This cross sectional study was carried out in a construction firm in Tehran in 2011. All accidents recorded in previous year were studied. The required information was extracted based on the study design. Descriptive statistic tests، t-test، and chi square statistic test were applied to analyze the data and investigate the relationship between factors related to the distribution and structure of accidents.Results: From 915 recorded accidents، 47.1% (431 accidents) were happened in site No.1 and 52.9% (484 accidents) were related to site No.2. Contact with objects and caught in or between the equipment were the main reason for the injuries. The highest accident frequency was related to reinforcement bar benders. Most accidents were caused by workers unsafe acts. Finger injuries were the most common injury among the employees.Conclusion: Poor safety conditions were apparent in both sites and the studied firm can be classified as a high risk industry.

Backgrounds and Objective: Road traffic injury cost should be calculated continuously connecting benefit to public resource allocation. Study aimed determine the cost of traffic injuries by willingness to pay method using weibull analysis.Materials and Methods: In a cross sectional study in 2013، the portions of pedestrians، motorcyclists، passengers، and drivers were 28%، 23%، 26%، and 23%، respectively، based on global report for Iran 2013. 846 road users were randomly selected. The research questionnaire was prepared considering WTP method standard: Contingent value، stated preference، revealved preference and perceived risks، especially in Iran، and its validity and reliability was determined. The questionnaire was collected along with four scenarios for passengers، pedestrians، drivers، and motorcyclists.Results: Mean age of the subjects was 33.4±9.9 years old. Mean willingness to pay was 2،612،050 IRR among these road users. For total death cases in 2013، according to 20408 death cases، 402،314،106،073،648 IRR was calculated (equivalent to 13،410،470،202 $). Injury cost was 2،412،582،500 IRR per injury (considering annual traffic volume 113،518) and 318،802 injured people in 2013، this rate was 769،136،126،165،000 IRR (25،637،870،872 $.) In sum، death and injury cases amounted to 1،171،450،232،238،648 IRR (39،048،341،074$). Moreover in 2013، costs of traffic accident constituted 6.46% of gross national income، which was 604،300،000،000$ based on world Bank report.Conclusion: Costs of traffic injuries in Iran contribute significant portion of gross national income. If policy making and resource allocation are made based on the scientific pieces of evidence، an enormous amount of capital can be saved through reducing death and injury rates.