Journal of Health and Safety at Work

Investigating workload and its relationship with fatigue among train drivers in Keshesh section of Iranian Railway Company

Introduction: Train driving is a high responsibility job in railway industry. Train drivers need different cognitive functions such as vigilance, object detection, memory, planning, decision-making. High level of fatigue is one of the caused factor of accidents among train drivers. Numerous factors can impact train drivers’ fatigue but high level of workload is a key factor. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate workload and its relationship with fatigue among train drivers in Keshesh section of Iranian Railway Company.

Material and Method: This descriptive analytical study was done among 100 train drivers in Keshesh section of Iranian Railway industry. They were selected by simple random sampling. The NASA-TLX workload scale and Samn-Perelli fatigue scale were respectively used to investigate workload and fatigue. Data were analyzed by Paired t-test and Spearman correlation coefficient.

Result: According to the NASA-TLX results, effort and mental workload with the mean score of 74/22 and 73/31 were respectively the most important attributes of workload among train drivers. No significant relationship was observed between workload and level of fatigue before departure and half an hour before reaching the destination station (P>0.05). However, the relationship between of workload and level of fatigue half an hour before the end of shift (on the way back to the origin station) was statistically significant (P=0.048) among the sample population.

Conclusion: Effort and mental workload were the most important attributes of workload among train drivers. By focusing on these two variables and adopting fatigue management programs, fatigue and workload can be controlled and the efficiency of the whole system can be enhanced accordingly.

Studying the influence of vibration exposures on digestives system of workers in a food processing company

Introduction: Today’s, defective and faulty equipments lose a large part of them energy as noise and vibration which beside their financial costs can be hazardous to the health of people. Vibration as a physical agent can cause an adverse health effect on human to nervous system. These effects, based on body region can be as specific or general systems. Digestion system has a natural vibration of 3-8Hz frequency. When the digestive system is exposed by such vibration, it can make impairment on that system. This study aimed to study vibration effect on digestion irregularities.

Material and Method: This was a retrospective case-control study conducted in a food industry. The number of 103 workers digestive problem and 431 healthy workers were selected as population study. Exposure to the vibration in the different parts were measured. People with more than 100 dB was considered exposed group. Then, after determining the number of exposed and non exposed groups, data were analyzed using statistical methodologies.

Result: The acceleration level of vibration was 109.8 dB in the packing section, which was less than standard limit (118.8 dB). Study population had a managed of 24-57 years old with 4-15 years of job tenure. In 59.2% of case comparing to 22.7% of control group were exposed to the vibration. The odds ratio (OR) of prevalence rate of digestive problem among exposed group was 6.3 times more than non exposed group people, in risk of gastrointestinal complications.

Conclusion: Beside of the other risk factors of digestive problem, vibration can be also an effective cause of adverse health problem: Even by lower level of digestive problem can be seen in the exposed people. So, we suggest in the workplace with vibration risk factor, a digestive health exam be take general medical beside periodic examination. Moreover, it is recommended that researches related to the vibration is widely developed and the vibration standard limits is revised, accordingly.

Assessment of occupational exposure to the respirable fraction of cement dust and crystalline silica

Introduction: Exposure to respirable fraction of cement dust and its crystalline silica content is the most important occupational risk factor in cement industries requiring more evaluation and monitoring. This study aimed to assess exposure to crystalline silica and cement dust among workers of a cement industry in Saveh city, Iran.

Material and Method: In this cross-sectional study, 62 samples of respirable dust were collected from breathing zone of the workers in different sections of factory. Determination of respirable fraction of cement dust concentrations carried out using gravimetric method according to the NIOSH method no. 0600. Visible absorption spectrophotometry was used according to the NIOSH method no. 7601 to determine crystalline silica content of respirable dust samples.

Result: The highest exposure concentrations to respirable fraction of cement dust was observed in the Raw Mill and Cement Mill, and the lowest exposure in Administrative Department and Kiln the range of workers exposure in the production sites were 1.77 to 18.89 mg/m3. The range of workers exposure to the crystalline silica in the production sites was 0.011 to 0.104 mg/m3. The highest and lowest mean of exposures was observed in the raw Mill and cement mill respectively. Occupational exposure to the crystalline silica in 57% of site samples exceeded adjusted TLV recommended by NIOSH and Iranian of Occupational Health Technical Committee (0.05 mg/m3). The average of free SiO2 fraction in whole site samples was 1.17% varying from 0.49% in the cement Mill to 1.53% and 1.7% in crusher and Kiln sections, respectively

Conclusion: Levels of exposure to cement respirable dust in all productive sections were significantly higher than the adjusted TLV. However, in administrative and control departments it was lower than the TLV level. Regarding crystalline silica, levels of exposure only in “Raw mill” and “kiln” were significantly higher than the adjusted TLV. Highest exposure concentrations to respirable fraction of cement dust recorded in Raw Mill and cement mill, and exposure to crystalline silica in raw Mill, Crusher and kiln, Therefore, preventive measures should primarily be targeted at these units.

Human errors evaluation for muster in emergency situations applying human error probability index (HEPI), in the oil company warehouse in Hamadan City

Introduction: Emergency situation is one of the influencing factors on human error. The aim of this research was purpose to evaluate human error in emergency situation of fire and explosion at the oil company warehouse in Hamadan city applying human error probability index (HEPI).

Material and Method: First, the scenario of emergency situation of those situation of fire and explosion at the oil company warehouse was designed and then maneuver against, was performed. The scaled questionnaire of muster for the maneuver was completed in the next stage. Collected data were analyzed to calculate the probability success for the 18 actions required in an emergency situation from starting point of the muster until the latest action to temporary sheltersafe.

Result: The result showed that the highest probability of error occurrence was related to make safe workplace (evaluation phase) with 32.4 % and lowest probability of occurrence error in detection alarm (awareness phase) with 1.8 %, probability. The highest severity of error was in the evaluation phase and the lowest severity of error was in the awareness and recovery phase. Maximum risk level was related to the evaluating exit routes and selecting one route and choosy another exit route and minimum risk level was related to the four evaluation phases.

Conclusion: To reduce the risk of reaction in the exit phases of an emergency situation, the following actions are recommended, based on the finding in this study: A periodic evaluation of the exit phase and modifying them if necessary, conducting more maneuvers and analyzing this results along with a sufficient feedback to the employees.

The relationship between job satisfaction and occupational safety and occupational health status of nurses in a hospital

Introduction: Job satisfaction of nurses hasalwaysbeenconcernedin hospitals. It influences the quality of services offered by the nurses. Many nurses leave their job mainly due to the lack ofjob satisfaction.Different factors including the health and safety at work influencejob satisfaction. Thisstudy aimed to evaluate the occupational safety and health status of Khorram Abad’s Shohada hospital and to study its relationship with job satisfaction of nurses there.

Material and Method: This descriptive-correlation study was carried out in Khorram Abad’s Shohada hospital. All (239)nurses working in 18wards of the hospital were participated in the study. The required data including individual and job characteristics, occupational safety and healthstatus as well as job satisfaction in terms of hospital nurses were collected using standard questionnaire. Collected data was analyzed with SPSS.19, using Kruskal-Wallis,Mann-Whitney and Spearman correlation tests.

Result: The results showed that the occupational safety and health status of the hospital in 4 different studied areas were in a low level (with an average point of 23.2±5.3) from the participant’s point of view. The job satisfaction of nurses was also low (with an average point of 31.8±5.4). The safety and occupational health status of the hospital had a significant relationship with the nurse’s job satisfaction (P=0.001).

Conclusion: The job satisfaction of the nurses as well as the occupational safety and health status of the hospital need to be promoted.

A Survey of eye discomfort and headache associated with computer use among dormitory students of Tehran University of Medical Sciences

Introduction: Eye discomforts and headache are prevalent among computer users. The aim of present study was to determine eye discomforts and headache associated with computer use among dormitory students of Tehran University of Medical Sciences.

Material and Method: In this cross – sectional study, data were collected using MIRTH (Musculo skeletal Injury Reduction Tools for Health and Safety) questionnaire. The results were Analyzed using SPSS Software and with descriptive statistical indexes as well as correlation test.

Result: of the 744 distributed questionnaires, 631 students completed the questionnaire (84.4%). The mean age for the studied population was 22.72± 3.6 years. The relative frequency of eye discomforts for the female and male student was 76.38% and 70.11% respectively. The correlation test showed significant relationship between eye discomforts as well as headache with gender, work hours’ with a computer per day and glass use (P-V < 0.05). Also, the correlation between eye discomforts and headache was statistically significant (P-V < 0.01).

Conclusion: Eye discomforts and headache relating to the computer uses are prevalent among students. The condition is more prevalent among females and prolonged computer users. Interventional and training programs should be considered to prevent and reduction of related problems.

Transformational Leadership Style and Safety Consciousness as Predictors of Occupational Injuries among Esfahan Steel’s employees

Introduction: Occupational injuries are among factors that cause death and disability of thousands individuals in the workplace. Thus, identifying the influential factors of occupational injuries is of paramount importance. Previous researches have indicated that transformational leadership style has an essential role in occupational injuries. Consequently, the aim of the current study is to investigate the role of transformational leadership style in predicting occupational injuries among Esfahan Steel’s employees.

Material and Method: The current descriptive-correlation study was conducted among 189 Esfahan Steel’s employees in 2012. They were randomly selected through Stratified sampling. Data were collected using transformational leadership style questionnaire (Bass and Avolio, 1990), safety consciousness inventory (Barling, et al., 2002) and safety-related events and occupational injuries questionnaire (Barling, et al., 2002). The obtained data were analyzed thorough descriptive Statistics methods, Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients, and regression analysis by SPSS 18.

Result: The findings of the study showed that transformational leadership style had a significant correlation with safety consciousness and safety-related events (P< 0.05). The Results of regression analysis showed that transformational leadership style reduced the occupational injuries through increasing safety consciousness and reducing safety-related events.

Conclusion: The present study emphasizes the importance of transformational leadership style and its instruction to mangers and supervisor. The consequences as well as the suggestion for the further study are discussed in this article.

The relationship between organizational culture and personnel HSE performance in a production company: A case study in Saipa Car Company

Introduction: The compliance of Health, Safety and Environment Management System (HSE-MS) requirements and proper HSE performance of employees, are the affecting factors on the organizations prosperity. The objective of present research was to determine the relationship between organizational culture and personnel HSE performance at Saipa Car Manufacturing Company.

Material and Method: The present research was a deccriptive – correlative study. The Study population of this research were the manufacturing employees of Saipa car manufacturing company (N= 4865). Among the manufacturing employees, 365 employees were chosen as the sample beside on statistical estamination. Data was collected using a questionnaire which had three parts: demographic data, organazational culture and personnel HSE performance indicators. In order to convert the qualitative values of the questionnaire to the quantitative ones, the triangular Fuzzy numbers has been used. The data collected by observation and self- answering method then be analyzed using descriptive statistical tests and Spearman correlation coefficient, considering the relative importance of the indicators obtained form HSE experts’ comments.

Result: Among the organizational culture indicators of Siapa car manufacturing company, control indicator (with the average score of 0.55) and among the personnel HSE performance indicators of Saipa company, performance indicator (with the average score of 0.66) had better situation, compared to other variebles. The results showed that there is a significant relationship between personnel HSE performance and organizational culture indicators except for Bonus System indicator (with the significant level of 0.112).

Conclusion: Considering the significant relationship between personnel HSE performance and organizational culture in the studied company, paying more attention to the organizational culture will accordingly improve the personnel HSE performance. Moreover, by improveing and optimizing the cultural indicators, which have the greatest impact on personnel HSE performance a better organizational culture and personnel HSE performance mey be achived in the Saipa company in the future.