Journal of Health and Safety at Work
Year:2020 | Volume:10 | Issue:2|Papers Count:9

Introduction: Fall from height is one of the main causes of death in the construction workers. Therefore, this study aimed to identify and prioritize the factors affecting falls from height accidents in construction industry. Material and method: A descriptive-analytical study was conducted on five constructional projects in Pars Jonoobi industrial region, Iran. All of the reported events from 2011 to 2015 were investigated and 74 out of 377 occupational accidents were considered as falls from height accidents. The identified factors and sub-factors were divided into 3 main factors including individual, organizational and environmental factors and 14 sub-factors based on the experts’ opinion. Then, AHP method was used to determine and prioritize of the factors and sub-factors. Results: The results of hierarchical analysis of fall from height accidents causes showed that environmental, individual, and organizational factors with weights of 0. 359, 0. 351, and 0. 290 were in the first, second, third priorities, respectively. Meanwhile, among all examined sub-factors, work platform elevation, mental/ occupational stresses and safety culture had the highest priority. Conclusion: Paying attention to the strategies that enhance the safety culture of employees and reduce their occupational stress levels in the workplace can be very effective in preventing of fall from height accidents.

Introduction: This paper aims to explore the main effect of night shift rotation speed on the pattern of melatonin secretion and the sleepiness, among control room operators (CORs) in a petrochemical industry Material and method: In this study, 60 CORs operators within two different patterns, including 7 nights and 3 nights shift works were selected from a petrochemical industry to investigate the influence of rotation speed on their melatonin secretion and the sleepiness pattern. Thus, melatonin was sampled from saliva, and the sleepiness and sleep quality were assessed using Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS) index. Data analysis was carried out using spss18, Chi square, t-test, and GLM model. Results: Melatonin values and their general changes during shift were noticeably different in two proposed patterns (P <0. 05). The sleepiness index was significantly different only at 3: 00 in both patterns, whereas the interaction of light and caffeine on both melatonin changes and sleepiness was not significant (P <0. 05). Moreover, a significant difference was observed between the process of melatonin changes and sleepiness in the two studied patterns (P <0. 05). Conclusion: Adopting slower shift schedules rotations would be more appropriate, from the viewpoints of the importance of alertness and performance for human error prevention, among people working in serious worksites such as control rooms.

Introduction: One of the most common psychiatric disorders in nurses is job stress. Regarding the inconsistency of the studies conducted in nurses working in Iran, the present structured review and meta-analysis study was conducted to determine the prevalence of job stress in nurses working in Iranian hospitals. Materials and Methods: The present study is a systematic review and meta-analysis conducted during 2001-2017. Articles related to job stress were obtained by searching SID, MEDLINE (PubMed), Science direct, and Google Scholar databases, and data were analyzed using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis software. Results: Having investigated 17 studies, the overall prevalence of Job stress in nurses working in Iranian hospitals was obtained 60% (48. 1%-70. 7%: 95% confidence), meta-regression test was conducted to investigate the heterogeneity of meta-analysis results. It was reported that increasing sample size decreases the prevalence of Job stress (P <0. 05). Conclusion: Regarding the high prevalence of job stress among nurses working in Iranian hospitals, health policymakers have to take effective measures to remove and reduce the stress causes in nurses to reduce the prevalence of stress in nurses and enhance work efficiency.

Introduction: Risk identification and investigation is an appropriate and practical approach for the occupational health professionals. This paper aims to determine exposure to the gases and metal fumes and to perform risk analysis in three common types of welding activities in a shipbuilding industry. Material and method: This analytical cross-sectional study was conducted in a shipbuilding industry and three types of welding were considered including SMAW, MIG and MAG welding. Sampling of Mn and Cr fumes was carried out using NIOSH 7300 standard method, and NIOSH 6014 method NO2 sampling, and also direct reading devices for CO and O3 gases. Moreover, SQCRA risk assessment method was adopted to specify the level of exposure risk. Results: The results of risk analysis showed that among gas pollutants, O3 and NO2 in all welding processes had a very high-risk level, while among the metal pollutants; Mn metal showed a high and very high risk level in MIG and SMAW welding. Conclusion: According to the both sampling results and risk analysis, MIG process welders are more dangerous position than other types of welding.

Introduction: Patients’ safety culture indicates the extent to which the staffs prioritize the safety of patients. In medical centers, it is very important to pay attention to the patients’ safety. Hence, the patients’ safety culture should be examined and improved. One of the factors which lead to the improved patients’ safety culture is structural empowerment. Structural empowerment refers to adjusting workplace structures by managers and facilitating the staffs’ access to organizational facilities. In other words, structural empowerment refers to the staffs’ access to four environmental factors (i. e., opportunity, information, support, and resources) in the organization. The objective of the present study was to investigate the relationship between the dimensions of structural empowerment and patients’ safety culture. Material and method: The current study was descriptive-correlational research method, and the population included all staffs (i. e., 275 individuals) in the nursing department of a public hospital in Ahvaz. The research sample included 221 staffs who were selected through stratified random sampling. The data were collected through standardized tools, including Effective Working Conditions (the second version), and Patients’ Safety Culture in Hospitals questionnaires. The reliability of the questionnaires was examined through Cronbach’ s alpha. Pearson correlation coefficient, multiple regression analysis (simultaneous method) and one-way analysis of variance were used to analyze the data through SPSS software, version 16. Results: The dimensions of opportunity, support and resources have a positive and significant relationship with the patients’ safety culture. However, the information dimension is not significantly related to the patients’ safety culture. The results of multiple regression analysis showed that the dimensions of structural empowerment predict 59% of the variance of the patients’ safety culture, and from among all dimensions of structural empowerment, opportunity and information in the model do not have a significant effect on the patients’ safety culture. In addition, support and resources are the most important predictors of the criterion variables. The results of one-way analysis of variance showed that the score of safety culture among the midwives has the highest value, and the lowest value is attributed to the sitters. In other words, midwives pay more attention to the safety of patients and patients’ safety culture. Conclusion: Structural empowerment is one of the factors affecting patients’ safety culture which increases patients’ safety. Focusing on structural empowerment improves patients’ safety culture because when the staffs are structurally empowered, their accuracy and performance would improve, and they would provide more safe services to the patients. Therefore, hospital managers are advised to pay attention to the issue of structural empowerment in order to strengthen the patients’ safety culture, and to provide the necessary training and equipment to improve the structural empowerment of their staffs, especially nurses.

Introduction: Chlorpyrifos is an organophosphorus insecticide that can produce reactive oxygen species, and oxidative stress in the kidney. On the other hand, rosemary extract is an antioxidant playing a protective role against free radicals. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the oxidative stress in rat kidney due to the exposure to chlorpyrifos and to assess the antioxidant effect of two concentrations of 100 and 200 mg / kg rosemary extract on the nephrotoxicity caused by this pesticide. Material and method: In the current study, 30 male Wistar Rats, weighing 200-220 g were used. They were randomly divided into five groups and selected as the study groups, each group including six rats for further comparison. They were as following groupd: Group І : served as control (received dissilated water, i. p), Group П : the chlorpyrifos exposure group (13. 5 mg / kg, i. p. ), Group Ш : the group exposed to rosemary extract (100 mg / kg) by gavage, Group І V: the exposure group with rosemary 100 mg / kg concentration (by gavage) and after 30 minutes exposure to chlorpyrifos (13. 5 mg / kg, i. p. ) and Group V: simultaneous exposure of rosemary 200 mg / kg concentration (by gavage) and after 30 minutes exposure to chlorpyrifos (13. 5 mg / kg, i. p. ). After 2 and 4 weeks, the rats were weighed and killed. A section of kidney tissue was examined for changes of Malondialdehyde (MDA) and Glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and another section was tested for histopathological alterations. Results: The results showed that chlorpyrifos significantly damaged the kidney tissue and altered the activity of GPx and MDA compared to the control group, as well as it damaged the kidney tissue. Moreover, the simultaneous exposure to chlorpyrifos and rosemary extract with concentration of 100 mg/kg significantly made modifications to the MDA and GPx levels. In addition, with the increasing of rosemary doses from 100 to 200 mg / kg, changes in the levels of MDA and GPx were closer to those of the control group. Conclusion: The rosemary extract can reduce the oxidative stress caused by chlorpyrifos and, therefore, can be used to treat the poisoning caused by this pesticide.

Introduction: Although noise characteristics such as intensity and frequency are the main cause of detrimental effects, it is important to pay attention to the personality traits of individuals as the host of adverse health effects. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of personality traits on sensitivity, annoyance and loudness perception due to exposure to high frequency sound. Material and method: This interventional and experimental study was carried out among 80 undergraduate and postgraduate students in 2017. First, examinee were exposed to a high frequency noise at 65 dBA for one hour in an acoustic room. Then, to determine amount of annoyance, sensitivity, loudness perception and to investigate personality traits, questionnaire of noise annoyance, noise sensitivity, loudness perception and Eysenck personality inventory was used, respectively. Finally, Chi-square, independent t-test and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) were used to data analyze. Results: The mean± SD of sensitivity, annoyance and loudness perception were 54. 08± 7. 71, 7. 0± 1. 53, and 2. 79± 1. 13, respectively in this study. The mean scores of sensitivity, annoyance and loudness perception were significantly different in terms of personality traits, so that their average was higher in the neurotic and introverted. Based on MANOVA test results, personality traits had a significant effect on sensitivity, annoyance and loudness perception of individuals. In a way, the neuroticism and introversion had the greatest effect on the sensitivity and annoyance, respectively. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that personality traits such as introversion and neuroticism can affect the sensitivity, annoyance and loudness perception of individuals.

Introduction: In this study, Zn3(Btc)2 (metal organic framework) sorbent was introduced for sampling of Benzo[a]pyren from the air. The purpose of this study was to develop the sampling and analysis method by needle trap, with no sample preparation step. Material and method: Zn3(Btc)2 sorbent was electrochemically synthesized and its properties were specified by FTIR, FE-SEM, and PXRD techniques. A glass chamber with a temperature of 120° C was used to make the certain concentration of Benzo[a]pyren. Factors affecting the efficiency of needle trap were evaluated and optimized using a response surface method considering a specific operating interval to achieve the highest efficiency. The performance of the proposed method was also investigated using the real samples. Results: The highest desorption efficiency of Benzo[a]pyren was obtained when using the needle trap containing Zn3 (Btc)2 sorbent at 379° C and 9 min retention time. No significant reduction was observed in the analyte concentration by maintaining the sampler for 60 days. The limit of detection and limit of quantification of Benzo[a]pyren were obtained 0. 01 and 0. 03 mg/m3, respectively. The percentage of standard deviation of the measured values of Benzo[a]pyren in diesel exhaust was calculated 4. 1%. Conclusion: The highest desorption efficiency of Benzo[a]pyren was obtained when using the needle trap containing Zn3 (Btc)2 sorbent at 379° C and 9 min retention time. No significant reduction was observed in the analyte concentration by maintaining the sampler for 60 days. The limit of detection and limit of quantification of Benzo[a]pyren were obtained 0. 01 and 0. 03 mg/m3, respectively. The percentage of standard deviation of the measured values of Benzo[a]pyren in diesel exhaust was calculated 4. 1%.