Journal of Health and Safety at Work

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Introduction: Nowadays in all human societies, sport is considered as a human-training matter, which often occurs in sport fields. Many people, including students in schools, occasionally deal with these fields. Therefore, a standard tool is required to frequently inspection of sport fields. The aim of this study was to standardize checklists for sport fields in schools.

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Material and Method: This study is a kind of tool and technique evaluation was done in Zanjan in 2013. The studied population included indoor and outdoor sport fields in governmental boys’ high schools in Zanjan city. The checklists’ items selected based on existing regulations, standards and relevant studies. Standardization of all tools was done applying the face and content validity and reliability tests.

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Result: The primary checklist for outdoor sport fields in high schools, which considered by the expert panel, consisted of 75 items. Based on CVI (2 to 3.9) and CVR (.5 to .78), modifications were done and 6 more items were added. And the same process for the primary checklist for outdoor sports fields (85 items) was repeated. Based on CVI (2 to 3.9) and CVR (.5 to .78), items increased to 92.

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Conclusion: The safety checklist for sport fields in schools are matched with the properties of them. The safety checklist developed in this study has an acceptable reliability and validity for useful applying in sport field inspections.

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Introduction: Work conditions in kerbside ticket booths intensify the risk of health threats. In this research, it is aimed to introduce solutions for improving ergonomics conditions of these booths, by ranking and analysis the risk factors.

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Material and Method: Demographic information as well as physical, mental, and safety conditions of 47 booths are collected through questionnaires, interview and video recording. Following, critical index was identified using a hybrid method including QEC checklist, ANOVA statistical test and innovative methods for determining ergonomic indices. Improvement strategiesfor the critical index were analysed,using CATIA V5 R20 software and RULA technique, and solutions were presented.

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Result: Based on F-test at the 0.05 significance level, anthropometric characteristics and personal informationshowed no difference betweenmale and female vendors, except for weight. Comparison of ergonomic indices manifested the maximum occupational exposurefor physical-motor factors (45.39) and environmental factors (41.28). Additionally, the highest risks determined by Nordic questionnaire and QEC checklists belonged to arms and shoulders (38) and wrist (26). Three dimensional model of vender with current and suggested postures were analysed using RULA and accordingly it was found that risk levels were improved for right and left side of the vendor body from 7 and 5 to 3 and 1, and for customers from 6 to 1.

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Conclusion: Vendors of electronic ticket booths are exposed to musculoskeletal and environmental health threats, in Mashhad. Relocating the booths, adjustingcounterand desk height can significantly reduce the risk of mentioned hazards

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Introduction: The Surgical Safety Checklist has been introduced by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a tool for reducing medical errors. Reviewing the results of the checklist application indicates significant reduction in mortality and complications in surgery. Thus, this study aimed to customize and validate surgical safety checklist in order to complying with the surgical protocol in Iran.
 

Material and Method: In this cross-sectional and descriptive study, the WHO Safety Surgery Checklist was first translated. Next, through interviews with specialists and direct observation of activities, those tasks that were susceptible to the incident, identified, prioritized and analyzed using Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA) and the results presented in form of HTA charts. Then, using Tabulate Task Analysis (TTA) and based on the recommendation and modification commented by expert panel, some questions added to the checklist and a customized version of the Surgical Safety Checklist was provided.  Hence, the faced validity, content validity and reliability of the checklist have been evaluated.
 

Result: In the surgery, four major tasks identified for analyzing using the HTA chart. Accordingly, 41 subtasks obtained and analyzed by TTA. The Lavashe method was used to determine the content validity ratio (CVR) and the content validity index (CVI). The question from the checklist, in which, CVI was less than 0.79, modified and replaced with appropriate question. Also, the scores for 3 questions were less than 0.49, and they were removed from the checklist due to the low CVR score. In the reliability assessment, the intra-observer method is used, and the Kappa coefficient obtained was acceptable and it was higher than 0.6, which confirmed the validity of the checklist.
 

Conclusion: In this study, the surgical safety checklist customized in terms of content validity and reliability, in a field study. Considering the compliance of the checklist items with the surgical protocol in Iran, we hope to use it to improve the quality of teamwork and reduce the complications and mortality caused by surgical errors

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Introduction: Occupational back pain is one of the musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) caused by manual load-lifting among women involved in manual lifting activities. Limits for lifting loads are used to assess the risk and prevention of occupational back pain. The Washington Industrial Safety and Health Act (WISHA) checklist is used as a permissible load assessment limit in Iran. The present study aimed to evaluate the reliability of using the WISHA checklist to determine the allowable limits of manual load-lifting among women based on biomechanical and psychophysical methods.
Material and Methods: In this study, ten women workers aged 20-30 years with a history of manual load-lifting were asked to perform 21 load-lifting tasks designed according to the permitted limits of Iran. A wireless electronic clinometer was used to determine the flexion angles of the trunk while lifting the load. Anthropometric information, load weight, trunk angle, and posture were entered into 3DSSPP software to obtain biomechanical forces for each task and compared them with the recommended National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) limits. After performing each task, the rate of perceived exertion of each person for each task was collected by using the Borg scale.
Results: The flexion angle for 47.61% of the lifting tasks were more than 20 degrees. The estimated average compressive force for the six tasks exceeded NIOSH’s recommended limits. The average Borg scale was determined hard for 33.33% of lifting tasks and hard to very hard for 9.52% of tasks.
Conclusion: It was found that the manual load-lifting standard for some tasks might not be sufficient to control and prevent low back pain caused by manual lifting in women, and some non-compliance was found with the allowable lifting limits. Manual load-lifting with anthropometric and biomechanical features may increase the biomechanical force on the women’s low back. Therefore, it seems that the allowable lifting limits of Iran for women based on the WISHA checklist should be reviewed and redesigned based on anthropometric and biomechanical characteristics.