Journal of Health and Safety at Work

Introduction: Neighborhood environment plays an important role in the health of residents. This study was conducted to assess health, safety and environment (HSE) in poor and rich vicinities in order to improve health levels of the neighborhoods, using Community-Based Intervention (CBI) approach.

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Material and Method: In the present field study, HSE variables were assessed by a checklist (NHSES) through observation, interviews with neighborhood residents as well as document review.Of the 374 vicinities in Tehran, ten regions were selected through cluster sampling. The Control Chart approach was used in order to compare the field data and the possibility of decision-making about the neighborhoods.

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Results: Overall, results showed that status of health, safety and environment in both rich and poor neighborhoods in Tehran was in the warning level.

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Conclusion: The CBI is an appropriate model for empowerment of neighborhoodsin a way that promote HSE status.

Introduction: Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) belong to one of the groups of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) which are the result of incomplete combustion of organic materials, volcanic eruptions and forest and agricultural fields’ fires in the environment. However, human factors are main source of these pollutions. Nowadays, these compounds are among the main concerns related to the pollutants which, can easily enter into the land and water systems. Absorption of aromatic hydrocarbons and poly-aromatic molecules on the surfaces of carbon nano-tubes (CNTs) have increased in recent years. In this study, absorption of phenanthrene (as a representative of aromatic hydrocarbons groups) on multi-walled carbon nano-tubes was investigated in organic environment.

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Material and Method: All experiments were performed in a laboratory environment with a temperature of 24±2.Different variables including the type of solvent, solvent volume, pH of the environment, the absorption time of optimal phenanthrene concentration, and the highest removal efficiency under optimized parameters were obtained. Samples were analyzed using HPLC.

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Result: Findings showed that methanol with the volume of 10 ml, and the absorption time of 1.5 hours and 1.3 ppm concentration had the maximum absorption efficiency. Environmental pH had no effect on the absorption efficiency.

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Conclusion: Multi-walled carbon nano-tubes have high absorption capacity for the absorption of phenanthrene. Moreover, in an organic environment, the level of phenanthrene absorption on multi-walled carbon nano-adsorbent was more than 90% and according to the material used was 92%. Day-to-day and within-day reproducibility confirmed the mentioned results.

Introduction: In recent years, a growing attention has been paid to assess the physical characteristics of rich and poor urban districts to understand social health differences. Urban districts environment play a major role in health of the residents. Previous few studies have considered some aspects of limited neighborhood environment. The current study was designed to investigate the reliability of the Neighborhood Health, Safety and Environment (NHSE) tool in one of Tehran city neighborhoods.

Material and Method: Dimensions and related items of the NHSE were extracted based on the previous studies and interviews with city experts. Five observers completed the NHSE in a selected neighborhood in order to test inter and intra-rater reliability of the tool. Data analysis was done using the Cronbach’s alpha, Interclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) and kappa coefficient.

Result: The ICC and Cronbach’s alpha were estimated 0.86 for all dimensions of the NHSE. The calculated kappa values were in the range of 57%-66% for inter-rater reliability and 0.47-0.62 for intra-rater reliability.

Conclusion: The NHSE tool was shown to have a desirable inter and intra-rater reliability and a good level of internal consistency for assessing the health, safety, and environment (HSE) of the neighborhoods.