Showing 28 results for Performance
Taleb Askaripoor, Majid Motamedzade, Rostam Golmohammadi, Mohammad Babamiri, Maryam Farhadian, Hamed Aghaei, Mohammad Ebrahim Ghaffari, Elahe Kazemi, Mehdi Samavati,
Volume 11, Issue 4 (12-2021)
Abstract
Introduction: Recent evidence indicates that lighting can affect physiological and neurobehavioral human functions, referred to as non-image forming (NIF) effects of lighteffects. This study aimed to determine the effects of illumination levels and correlated color temperature (CCT) on alertness and performance under NIF conditions.
Material and Methods: In this study, 22 participants were exposed to light at various levels of illumination, including very low illuminance (<5 lux, control) and light conditions with correlated color temperatures (CCT) of 4000 K, 8000 K, and 12000 K at 300 and 500 lux. The data collection process included recording the power of brainwaves (alpha, alpha-theta, beta, and theta), sleepiness and mood scales, and cognitive performance tests for sustained attention, psychomotor vigilance task (PVT), working memory, and inhibitory capacity.
Results: The results indicated that 500 lux light conditions at correlated color temperatures of 8000 and 12000K significantly reduced normalized alpha, alpha-theta power, subjective sleepiness, and performance compared to the dim light condition. Under illumination levels of 300 and 500 lux, there were no significant differences in the measured values of the variables.
Conclusion: Lighting interventions can be used as a supplement to other strategies for increasing alertness and performance in the workplace.
Azar Mehrabi Matin, Mahsa Alefi, Mohammad Reza Monazzam, Adel Mazloumi, Kamal Azam,
Volume 12, Issue 1 (3-2022)
Abstract
Introduction: The noise could affect some aspects of human health, including the cognitive performance. In addition to sound pressure level and exposure time, the psychoacoustic features of noise may cause destructive effects on humans. A few recent studies have been conducted on effect of sound quality on cognitive performance. This study aims to find the noise loudness and sharpness levels as the most destructive effects on human cognitive performance.
Material and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study on 10 male students of Tehran University of Medical Sciences. The Noises were generated in two channels that the left channel produced the pink noise as a background noise. The pink noise loudness and sharpness were 19.7 sone and 2.49 acum, respectively. The right channel generated noises with different loudness and sharpness levels the noise loudness ranged from 8.87 to 67.9 sone and the noise sharpness ranged from 1.07 to 6.4 acum. Finally, ten noises with different loudness and sharpness were applied. The students were exposed to ten different types of noise and a silent condition. The Mathematical Problem Solving Task (MPST) test was performed to assess cognitive performance. The reaction time and the accuracy rate were measured after 5 minutes of noise exposure. Data were analyzed by SPSS (ver. 22). P< 0.05 was considered as significant level.
Results: The mean reaction time and the mean accuracy rate increased with the sharpness level. However, alteration in the loudness and sharpness levels had no significant effect on the speed and accuracy of students. Performance speed increased in noise 3 with the highest loudness (L=67.9, SH=1.07) in comparison with the silent condition (p-value=0.05). The mean accuracy rate in exposure to the noise 9 reduced in comparison with silence (p-value=0.04)
Conclusion: Different levels of psychoacoustic features had no significant effect on the cognitive performance parameters. Although, the accuracy rate and the reaction time decreased in noises 9, the sharpest noise, and 3, the loudest noise, in comparison to the silence, respectively.
Seyed Mahdi Mousavi, Ali Karimi, Seyed Abolfazl Zakeriyan, Mehrdad Mehravar,
Volume 12, Issue 1 (3-2022)
Abstract
Introduction: Permit-to-work system (PTW) system is a documented system to control the activities with inherent risks and probability of accident occurrence. To inform the performance and efficiency of a system, it must be periodically monitored and evaluated, and the permit to work system is no exception of this principle. The aim of the present study was to design and develop software for evaluating the performance of the PTW system.
Material and Methods: This study included two main stages. At the first stage, based on the literature review and interview to the academic and industrial experts, the PTW questionnaire for evaluating the performance was created. The second stage involved the design and implementation of an initial version of a software and the investigation of its usability. Designing the software was performed using system development life cycle (SDLC). The usability of this software was evaluated by Think -Aloud method. Finally, the users’ satisfaction was measured using the Questionnaire for User Interface Satisfaction (QUIS) questionnaire.
Results: Based on the results of the QUIS questionnaire, the overall satisfaction of the designed software was 7.71 in a nine-point scale. The scores of the software performance, display and user interface features, software terminology and information, learning, and overall system capabilities were obtained as 7.58, 7.37, 7.75, 8.11, and 7.74, respectively. Also, the outputs of the excel and SPSS software were in accordance with those of designed software, which show the reliability of the outputs of the designed software.
Conclusion: The designed software facilitate the proper and systematic analysis and it is flexible to evaluate the PTW system and represent types of reports in predefined structures that can be a useful tool in the process industries such as oil and petrochemical refineries and other similar industries.
Leila Omidi, Hossein Karimi, Saeid Mousavi, Gholamreza Moradi,
Volume 12, Issue 3 (9-2022)
Abstract
Introduction: Safety climate potentially affects safety performance in high-hazard industries. Resilience is a developing concept and is defined as the ability that can affect the continuous improvement of safety performance. The present study assesses the influence of organizational resilience on workers’ safety performance in a steel-manufacturing industry. In this regard, the safety climate mediates the effect of organizational resilience on safety performance.
Material and Methods: A cross-sectional study was accomplished in the steel manufacturing industry in 2021. The survey included three parts: (1) organizational resilience, (2) safety performance, and (3) safety climate. Besides, the organizational resilience was measured by a scale with six dimensions and 19 items. Also, safety performance was assessed by six items regarding two performance dimensions (i.e., safety compliance and safety participation). In addition, safety climate was measured by 19 items, comprising four dimensions (i.e., safety communication, supervisor safety perception, coworker safety perception, and work pressure).
Results: The structural equation modeling results showed that the organizational resilience and safety climate had significant impacts on safety climate (β = 0.23, P ≤ 0.05) and safety performance (β = 0.43, P ≤ 0.05), respectively. Also, the indirect results indicated that safety climate mediated the relationship between organizational resilience and workers’ safety performance.
Conclusion: The increment of organizational resilience and safety climate improves workers’ safety performance. Besides, organizational resilience and related dimensions (e.g., reporting culture, learning, and awareness) improve the safety performance dimensions (i.e., safety compliance and safety participation).
Ali Mohammad Mossadeghrad, Alireza Sadraei, Mohammad Reza Monazzam Ismailpour, Seyed Jamaleddin Shahtaheri, Seyed Abolfazl Zakerian, Adel Mazloumi, Monireh Khadem, Mahya Abbasi, Ali Karimi, Farideh Golbabaei,
Volume 12, Issue 4 (12-2022)
Abstract
Introduction: Universities play a key role in creating a knowledge-based society and its sustainable development. Strategic planning by strategically analyses internal and external environments of the organization, forecast its future, identifying its strategic direction, and strengthening organizational structures, processes, and outcomes, creates and sustains competitive advantages. This study aimed to formulate a strategic plan for the Occupational Health Engineering (OHE) department of School of Public Health (SPH) at Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS).
Material and Methods: In this participatory action research, a strategic planning committee was formed. The strategic planning committee used the strength, weakness, opportunity and threat (SWOT) matrix to evaluate the internal and external environments of the OHE department. Then, the mission, vision, values, goals and objectives of the OHE department were defined. Finally, the operational plan including actions to achieve the goals and objectives were formulated.
Results: Experienced professors and staff, specialized laboratories, professional journals, and high ranked postgraduate students were the most important strengths; and theoretical and non-practical courses, lack of educational protocols, poor communication with industries, lack of resources, and low motivation of employees were some of the weaknesses of the OHE department. The support of senior managers of TUMS, industry liaison council at school and university, facilities of the university faculties, comprehensive research laboratories of the university, capacities of the private sector and increasing the demand for research in the industry were the opportunities. High inflation, political sanctions, the absence of consulting engineering companies and the uncertainty of research priorities of industries were important threats to the OHE department. Therefore, the OHE department is in a conservative strategic position. The strategic direction of the department, including the mission, vision, values and goals, until 2025 was determined. Improving the structures, working processes and performance of the occupational health department were determined as objectives and 81 actions were formulated to achieve these objectives.
Conclusion: The educational departments, schools and universities must have a strategic plan for progress. The strategic plan of the occupational health department of TUMS was formulated in line with the four-year plan of the university and coordinated with the operational plans of the educational, health and research deputies of TUMS and school of public Health. Proper implementation of this comprehensive and evidence-based strategic plan will improve the performance of the occupational health department.
Zahra Ghanbari, Seyed Abolfazl Zakerian, Alireza Choobineh, Mohammad Nami, Faramarz Gharagozlou,
Volume 12, Issue 4 (12-2022)
Abstract
Introduction: Cognitive emotion regulation (CER) strategies define as cognition-based responses according to emotion-eliciting experiences that can change the type and severity of individuals’ reactions and behaviors. This modification may positively or negatively affect cognitive performance and therefore, it is a defining issue in the workplace. Notably, industries such as combined cycle power plants need to hire staff with a high cognitive ability to perform their duties in a highly efficient way. Since CER is of great importance for overall health and cognitive performance, we aimed to evaluate the state of CER among control room operators (CROs) in the Fars combined cycle power plant.
Material and Methods: The CER questionnaire (CERQ) measures nine cognitive coping strategies (i.e., self-blame, other-blame, rumination, catastrophizing, positive refocusing, planning, positive reappraisal, putting into perspective, and acceptance) that are followed when an individual confronts negative events. The CERQ (short version) was administered to 57 male CROs at the Fars combined cycle power plant. The questionnaire also collected demographic data. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS Version 25.0. For the normality test, Shapiro-Wilk was the method of choice.
Results: Results of the CERQ scoring showed that the median with interquartile range (IQR) in appropriate and inappropriate categories were 3.50 (3.30-4.00) and 2.62 (2.25-3.06), respectively. Of note, age (39.07 ±6.19) and work experience (14.49±6.26) were not significantly correlated with the results of CERQ.
Conclusion: Taken together, adaptive cognitive strategies (acceptance, positive refocusing, planning, positive reappraisal, and putting into perspective) were reported to be used more often than less adaptive strategies. In general, staff strategies were appropriate while facing a negative event. Although assessing CER in high-demand workplaces is necessary, factors such as managerial styles, job engagement, job satisfaction, and larger sample size should be further studied.
Younes Mehrifar, Majid Abasi, Kazem Samimi, Saber Moradi Hanifi, Mostafa Pouyakian,
Volume 13, Issue 2 (6-2023)
Abstract
Introduction: Many general indicators have been proposed to assess an organization’s safety performance. However, due to their holistic nature, these indicators may not always reflect safety-specific aspects of an organization’s performance. In other words, the nature of an organization’s activities necessitates the use of specific criteria to better reflect safety performance. This study aimed to identify and measure key safety performance indicators using the Delphi method in Alborz Province Electric Power Distribution Company.
Material and Methods: This descriptive, survey-based study utilized the Delphi method to collect the opinions of 11 safety experts in the electric power distribution industry. Opinions were gathered in four phases, and key indicators were determined in the last phase of the study. These indicators were subsequently used to evaluate the safety performance of Alborz Electric Power Distribution Company for three months.
Results: This study identified and documented 34 safety activities. The expert group proposed 20 indicators in the first phase of the Delphi method. In the second and third phases, four and one indicators were eliminated, respectively, because they did not receive the required score. The content validity ratio (CVR) and content validity index (CVI) were calculated for the remaining 15 indices in the fourth phase. The results revealed that the mean quarterly performance scores of Alborz Province electric power distribution districts and departments in 2016, including Nazarabad, Savojbolagh, Mehrshahr, Fardis, West, East, Taleghan, and Eshtehard, were 78.9, 54.7, 78.8, 75.9, 75.7, 80.8, 61, and 83.5 out of 100 points, respectively.
Conclusion: The Delphi method is useful for identifying key safety performance indicators. The indicators discovered using this technique are active indicators (pre-accident) that are crucial in determining Alborz Electric Power Distribution Company’s safety performance. These indicators are suggested for use in evaluating the safety performance of other electric power distribution companies.
Mr Alireza Azarmehri, Dr Ali Karimi, Dr Omran Ahmadi,
Volume 15, Issue 1 (3-2025)
Abstract
Introduction: Barriers are critical to mitigating risks and preventing catastrophic incidents in process industries. Human and Organizational Factors (HOFs) significantly impact safety barrier performance. This systematic review investigates existing frameworks and methods for assessing HOFs' influence on safety barrier performance.
Material and Methods: A systematic search was conducted across Scopus and Web of Science databases, adhering to the PRISMA guidelines. The search aimed to identify studies that presented methodologies for evaluating the impact of HOFs on safety barrier performance in process industries. Subsequently, data were extracted from the 16 included studies.
Results: The 16 studies included in this research presented methods and frameworks that examined the impact of human and organizational factors on various types of safety barriers, including technical, operational, and human barriers, across a wide range of industries such as oil and gas, chemical, and steel. Barrier and Operational Risk Analysis (BORA) was identified as the predominant framework among studies. Studies on operational and human barriers, which rely on human actions and procedures, often identified factors such as competence, training, communication, and supervision as influencing their performance. Regarding technical barriers, studies emphasized the need to assess factors such as maintenance management and procedures.
Conclusion: Thorough HOF assessment is crucial for developing effective risk management strategies in process industries. While progress has been made, the scope of assessment methods should be expanded to cover a wider range of industries and barrier types. To make assessments more objective, integrating data from multiple sources and using techniques based on fuzzy logic and Bayesian networks (BN) can help reduce reliance on expert judgment. The presented methods should also be complemented by dynamic assessment of HOFs with continuous monitoring to ensure the ongoing effectiveness of safety barriers.