Journal of Health and Safety at Work

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Introduction: Due to the increasing population and the need for setting in cities, we witness an increase in high-rise building in Iran. Moreover, because of the ambiguity and complexity, they have various risks potential. Health problems are among this risks for the residents. These risks have short term or long term effects,which can cause illness or even death.

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Material and Method: In the present study, health risks in high-rise buildings are identified, assessed and ranked. Health issue are identified by conducting interview with experts in high-rise building an using specific health and safety related checklists. Due to ambiguous nature of risks and existence of uncertainly, fuzzy logic technique with trapezoidal distribution was used for quantification. Finally, after risk evaluation and calculation of critical degree of each risk, the risks were ranked.

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Result: Risk factors obtained over 0.5 for most of the risks that indicate the importance of Health in high-rise projects during construction phase. The results also showed that the health risks should be assessed before the start of the project in order to reduce or eliminate their impacts.

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Conclusion: Safety risks in High-rise Building projects is very important. These risks have many impacts directly and indirectly on the time, quality and costs of projects. Therefore, evaluating and controlling each health risk in the design and implementation phases are essential. Most of the risks factors identified in this study, can be prevented by using personal protective equipment. The role of the training people involved in this projects are essential to use personal protective equipment.

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Introduction: Each year, many people suffer from numerous injuries and damages in construction industry. Determination of factors that cause the most problems in a process is the most important step to improve the situation. Pareto chart can be used to explore factors causing most of the problems. The aim of this study was to survey construction accidents in Qom city using Pareto chart.

Material and methods: In this descriptive-analytical study, all accidents related to construction industry registered during 2009-2012 in the social security organization of Qom city, were analyzed using Pareto chart and mini-tabs software.

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Results: According to the results, 73.3% of accidents are due to objects and workforce being fallen. About 73.3% of the events occurred among 20-40 years old people. Hands and feet injuries comprised 53.4% of the accidents. Approximately, 61.8 percent of accident occurred in the first six months of the year. Moreover, the highest percentage of accidents was happened on Wednesday (19.4), Saturday (18.8), while Friday (8.4) and Thursday (10.5) had the lowest percentage of incidents.

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Conclusions: Employing Pareto charts as a method for analyzing and identification of accident causes can have an effective role in the management of work-related accidents, proper allocation of funds and time.

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Introduction: Safety in construction needs not only operating the executive laws and instructions but also the safety culture of all the workers in workshops. Safety culture is a factor by which all the workers are committed to having a positive share in the safety of their coworkers and themselves. Therefore, the aim of this study is identification of safety culture factors and ranking occupations in jobsites in order to improve the safety condition and promote the safety culture of high-rise projects.

Material and Method: In this descriptive-analytical study, first, safety culture criteria in construction projects are identified by a literature review. Then, 8 factors of safety culture are weighted using fuzzy analytic hierarchy process. Finally, 10 different occupations in high-rise workshops are ranked from the point of view of safety culture using fuzzy TOPSIS method.  

Result: Results of ranking the criteria show that the most important criteria are safety attitude, supervision, policy of organization and safety training. Moreover, in high-rise construction the site superintendent and supervisor occupations have the highest and laborers have the lowest safety culture.

Conclusion: In this study, after evaluating different construction occupations by hybrid FTOPSIS-FAHP method, the results are compared with the results of previous researches. Here, it was found that the findings are consistent with previous studies. On the other hand, low level of safety culture of construction laborers among the investigated occupations shows weakness in safety training and attitude; hence, the factors such as more safety supervision and training must be considered in order to create a positive safety culture for the workers.

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Introduction: Using diesel generators is necessary for activities like welding in construction sites and it is often accompanied with noise pollution. The aim of this study was to evaluate noise pollution induced by diesel generators in construction activities in one of the districts of Tehran city.
 

Material and Method: In this descriptive study, 14 construction sites were selected for the evaluation of noise pollution in Tehran, district 4. Background and diesel generators sound pressure level were measured in accordance with BS 5228(2015) and noise guidance in the area around the construction sites. Diesel generators sound pressure level at 4 points and also the audio frequency analysis, one meter away from the device was measured at a random locations around it. TES-1358, Type 2(Taiwan) sound level meter was used to measure sound pressure level and calibration was performed before and after noise measurement. The validated Noise annoyance questionnaire adopted from ISO15666 standard, completed by the residents. T test, correlation and analysis of variance was performed to analyze data using SPSS software ver. 22.
 

Result: The mean equivalent sound level of diesel generators background noise were respectively 76 ± 4.05 dB(A) and 46.2 ± 1.09 dB(A) around the construction sites. Diesel generators noise around the construction sites was higher than the noise limit (background noise plus 5 dB)(P Value <0.05). The highest (95.3 ± 0.33 dBA) and lowest (90.9 ± 0.63 dBA) average sound pressure level was related to Benz355 and Perkins generators. One-way ANOVA statistical analysis showed significant differences in the average sound pressure level of various diesel generators between the devices (P Value <0.05). The mean sound pressure level among 190 sound monitoring stations in the interior parts of the construction sites were about 81.11 ± 4.6 dB(A). The experienced noise annoyance was evaluated higher than the average by 73.4 percent of residents. Residents’ noise annoyance and noise level around construction sites were significant using Pearson correlation (R=0.486, P value <0.05). Dominant noise frequency and associated sound pressure level of diesel generators were measured 63 Hz and 84.4 dBA, respectively.
 

Conclusion: Diesel generators noise in the area around the construction sites was higher than the environmental noise limit and it was accompanied with abundant noise annoyance for residents around these construction sites. Therefore, due to the lack of environmental rules related to construction industry noise pollution in Iran, assessment and approving of such rules is essential to reduce noise annoyance in urban areas.

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Introduction: Construction industry plays a major role in the economic development of all countries and among the various occupations, this industry is one of the most dangerous industries, particularly respiratory contaminants, around the world. The aim of this study was to evaluate the respiratory capacity of construction workers, working in different workshops in Tehran city and developing a regression model to examine the relationship between pulmonary capacities with the type of occupation, work experience and tobacco smoking.
Material and Method: This study was a cross-sectional descriptive study conducted among 628 construction workers in Tehran city in 2017. After data collection, data analyses were performed using statistical independent t-test, one way ANOVA and correlation tests by SPSS software version 22. Also, multiple backward regression was used to check the effect of independent variables on lung function.  
Result: According to the results of this study, a significant relationship was found between age and work history with the pulmonary function indexes (FVC, FEV1, FEV1/FVC and FEF25-75%) (P-value<0.001). The average of FEV1/FVC% was significantly different among various occupational groups (p-value<0.001). In the analysis of the findings of the pulmonary function test in the exposed group a separate model was made using multiple linear regression for each of the pulmonary functions, and the independent variables including age, work experience, job type and cigarette addiction were entered into the model.
Conclusion: The present study showed a significant change in the pulmonary function parameters of the construction workers and the chance of pulmonary disorders might be high among these individuals.

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Introduction: Safety at workplaces is an important issue, and lack of effective and efficient safety management methods based on scientific studies could cost the construction industry. An effective accident investigation and root causes analysis could prevent the occurrence of incidents at minimum cost and time.
Material and Method: First, major accidents in road construction projects were identified by interview and literature reviewing techniques. Then, fault tree was drawn for each main risks. In the next step, in order to calculate occurrence probability and severity of each accident type, a questionnaire was designed and distributed among the participants. Fuzzy logic was employed in calculations, due to the existence of uncertainty in linguistic variables. Fuzzy Fault Tree Analysis (FFTA) was used for calculating the occurrence probability, and importance of each criterion was determined using Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchical Process (FAHP) to calculate the severity of each accident. Finally, risk factors for each accident type was calculated and the risks were ranked accordingly.
Result: Accidents related to crusher and asphalt plant, traffic accidents, heat exhaustion and lack of hygiene and hit by machinery were identified as the most important risks among the eleven investigated accident types.
Conclusion: The findings in this research and also implementing effective safety management techniques, could be helpful on reduction of the probability of accidents root causes and to mitigate related risks.

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Introduction: Physical workload is one of the main risk factors in developing of musculoskeletal disorders in construction workers. The current study was carried out to determine the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders and its relationship with demographic characteristics and physical work load index (PWLI)in construction workers.  
Material and Methods: This investigation was a descriptive and cross-sectional study in which 162 subjects including 75 rebar and 87 bricklayer workers were participated. Nordic musculoskeletal and physical workload questionnaires were employed as the tools of this study. Chi-squared and logistic regression tests were used for statistical analysis in SPSS 21 software.
Results: The mean of age and working experience of construction workers were 34.6±8.6 and 11.2±6.8 years, respectively. The most prevalent symptoms were in the body regions of upper back (57.4%), lower back (35.8%), and neck (30.2%). In the univariate analysis, the musculoskeletal symptoms of shoulders, low back, feet, knees, and thighs with PWLI and the upper back pain with age, working experience, and working hours had significant relationships (P<0.05). According to logistic regression analysis, with the increase of the value of PWLI to more than 90 percentile, the chance of having symptoms of musculoskeletal disorders in low back, knees, and feet and also with the increase of working hour to more than 8 hours, the chance of having symptoms in low back and feet increased significantly.
Conclusion: The prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders was high in the studied construction workers. Most of the musculoskeletal symptoms were correlated with PWLI. Therefore, PWLI could be used to determine the construction jobs with the high risk of musculoskeletal disorders. To reduce the symptoms of musculoskeletal disorders in construction workers, the reduction of sources of physical workloads such as heavy material handling and awkward postures are proposed. It is also recommended that the working hours be limited to less than 8 hours.

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Introduction: Cranes are of the major causes of accidents in the construction industries. As human error mostly causes crane accidents, this study aims to investigate the human errors of tower crane operators in the construction projects using SHERPA and CREAM techniques.
Material and Method: In this research, first, all of the tasks of the tower crane operator were identified and analyzed. Then, adopting SHERPA technique, probable operator errors were identified in each task and the control modes and error probability were determined by CREAM technique. Finally, all the human errors risks were assessed and the actions for risk control were defined to control them in the acceptable level.
Result: According to the SHERPA technique, 148 errors were identified in the crane operator tasks. The human error assessment showed that monitoring the anti-collision system with the risk probability of 0.0003 has the highest control factor, while monitoring the existing guards with the risk probability of 0.056 has the lowest control factor. Also, the important tasks with high human errors were monitoring the guards with the cognitive risk probability of 0.07 and the tasks with cognitive risk probability of 0.05.
Conclusion: The findings in this study indicated that using complementary qualitative and quantitative methods can provide identification and prioritization of identified errors. This can help the organization   to allocate limited organizational resources to control unacceptable risks and increase the efficiency and effectiveness eventually.

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Introduction: Each country needs to preserve its human capital through preventing accidents for its development. Therefore, this study is carried out to study the relationship between safety investments and safety performance indices considering the interactive effect of the project hazard level in construction industry.
Material and Methods: This study was conducted using multiple case studies in 5 major construction worksites, in Tehran, in 2019. Data was collected using questionnaire, checklists and interview as well as evaluating the safety documents. The data analysis in this study was carried out using SPSS 18.
Results: There was a strong inverse correlation between safety investments (total safety investment, basic safety investment, and voluntary safety investment) and accident frequency rate (AFR) (r=-0.936, P-value<0.05), and there was a direct strong correlation between safety investment and safety performance (P-value<0.05, r=0.939). Also, the effect of various safety investments on safety performance indices under various project conditions (project hazard levels) was not the same; when the project hazard level was high, the effect of safety investments on safety performance was higher.
Conclusion: Increasing safety investment improves safety performance through decreasing the accidents. Also, investment in both safety components (basic safety investment and voluntary safety investment) might improve safety performance. The results of the current study can be used as a basis by the contractors and construction companies to invest in safety and to determine proper budget for managing safety of construction projects.

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Introduction: Comprehensive and reliable performance evaluation of organizations has always been one of the main concerns of stakeholders and managers of organizations. Performance evaluation can raise awareness of the progress made in improving the performance of any organizations, especially in the field of health, safety, and environment (HSE) and thus, create the necessary motivation and opportunity to improve the quality of HSE performance. National quality awards and excellence approaches emphasizes the fact that survival in global competition requires improving the performance of organizations on a global scale. The EFQM enterprise excellence model, as a comprehensive tool with a comprehensive approach to all aspects of organizations, helps managers to understand their organization well.
Material and Methods: This study was conducted in Tehran Industrial Group in 2018, during which the performance of this industrial group in the design and construction of one of the dams in the south of the country was evaluated and analyzed. The data collection tool was a standard self-assessment questionnaire based on the EFQM enterprise excellence model, the validity and reliability of which was tested by Cronbach’s alpha coefficient at 0.971.
Results: In terms of “enablers” criteria, the leadership dimension, with a score of 76.36, obtained the best percentage of scores, while the processes criterion with a score of 72.04 had the lowest percentage of scores. This dimension, along with staff, resources, and partnership dimensions, needs to be improved. In the field of “results” criteria, the key performance results with 79.77 points had the best percentage and the customer result dimension with a score of 69.13 had the lowest, indicating that the organization should improve these sectors.
Conclusion: The results indicated the suitable status of the organization in terms of the criteria of excellence model. The results of this model are generally used for systematic analysis of the organization in order to achieve a comprehensive view of the organization and its challenges.

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Introduction: Maintaining and improving organizational safety requires a strong safety culture. Following the occurrence of occupational incidents, proper registration, reporting, and investigation is a key requirement for safety culture to provide an appropriate learning culture. As a result, this study was carried out to assess the culture of occupational incident registration, reporting, and investigation in the province of west Azarbaijan’s industries.
Material and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, data on the culture of registration, reporting, and investigating occupational incident were collected using a 68-item questionnaire. A total of 420 employees from a number of construction and mine companies, as well as hospitals participated in this study.
Results: The results of study showed that the average total score for the culture of registration, reporting, and investigating occupational incidents was 3.08 (±0.38), with the factor of corrective action had the highest 3.17 (±0.72) and the reasons for lack of reporting had the lowest 2.90 (±0.54) scores. There was also a significant relationship between the average score of the culture of registration, reporting, and investigating occupational incidents with education, industries, and companies. Employees who attended training courses had a lower mean score for the culture of occupational incident’ registration, reporting, and investigation than those who did not take training courses. The mean score of the culture of registration, reporting, and investigating occupational incidents of the employees who had experienced an occupational accident was lower than those who had not experience occupational accidents in the past.
Conclusion: The findings of this study revealed that corrective actions is necessary after the occurrence of occupational incidents. Attending training courses and having an occupational accident experience had no positive impact on promoting culture of registration, reporting, and investigating occupational incidents.

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Introduction: The purpose of the current study was to predict the percentage of the sway index from the static balance point based on the anthropometric dimensions of construction workers.
Material and Methods: This descriptive-analytical study was conducted on 114 construction workers. First, the construction workers were asked to complete the demographic questionnaire and the inclusion criteria were determined. Then, the anthropometric dimensions were measured. Afterward, the static balance of participants was assessed with their open eyes and standing position using a Stabilometer device. The obtained data were analyzed using Pearson correlation and multiple linear regression.
Results: 29.8% of construction workers were in weak and very weak classes in terms of static balance. The Pearson and spearman’s correlation coefficient showed a significant relationship between age, weight, and sway index of individuals. In addition, multiple linear regression showed that age, weight, and foot surface of construction workers can predict the percentage of the sway index from the static balance point among construction workers.
Conclusion: The results of the current study indicated that demographic information such as age, anthropometric parameters of weight, and foot surface are effective factors on static balance in a healthy construction workers’ community with a normal body mass index.

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Introduction: Nearly half of occupational accidents in Iran occur in construction sites. Therefore, modeling of occupational accidents in these sites is one of the solutions to design safety strategies to reduce occupational accidents in the field of construction. This study was designed and conducted with the aim of modeling the cause-consequence of accidents in construction sites.
Material and Methods: This study was conducted based on a retrospective analysis of 10-year accident data (2010-2019) in Iranian construction sites in 2020. The main variable included the types of occupational accidents in construction sites. The study tool included accidents checklist as well as a detailed report of the studiedaccidents. The required data were collected based on a conceptual model designed to model the cause-consequence of accidents in the construction sites. Cause-consequence modeling of the studied accidents has been done based on the structural equation modeling and using IBM SPSS AMOS v. 22.0.
Results: The frequency of the studied accidents was 3854 accidents. The annual averages of AFR and ASR indices were 17.27 ± 8.54 and 322.42 ± 44.23 days, respectively. The results of cause-consequence modeling of these construction accidents showed that individual and occupational, safety training and risk assessment factors as well as variables related to these factors have a negative and significant relationship with the indicators of the construction accidents, and the factors of environmental conditions and unsafe acts and variables belonged to these factors have a positive and significant relationship with these indicators (p < 0.05).
Conclusion: The findings of the study revealed that the highest impact factors on accident indicators were related to safety training, risk assessment and unsafe acts and their variables. Therefore, the results of this modeling can help to design safety strategies in construction sites.

 

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Introduction: Steel erection is known as one of the most hazardous construction activities. From an occupational health and safety perspective, this process carries high risk. Therefore, this study aims to conduct a qualitative risk analysis of steel structure assembly and model it using the Functional Resonance Analysis Method (FRAM).
Material and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the construction site of a high-rise building steel structure was first visited to identify the main processes involved. Then, semi-structured and open-ended interviews were conducted with 33 workers partaking in this process. Data from the interviews and process identification were entered into FRAM Model Visualiser (FMV) software to investigate and model complex relationships and interactions between daily tasks.
Results: Of the 19 major system component functions identified, four functions had potential instability and defects due to complex human, organizational, and technological function interactions. By intensifying the FRAM graphic model, risks may be imposed on the system if the interactions of these four functions are neglected. These include coordination with the experienced rigger, preparation of the tower crane, attachment of parts at the installation site, and execution of the rescue rope.
Conclusion: The findings demonstrate that conducting qualitative risk assessment and modeling the steel frame construction process using FRAM allows for an in-depth understanding of nonlinear conditions and dynamics resulting from escalating technical-social interactions. This approach enables a comprehensive analysis of system safety status.
 

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Introduction: The safety harness is a critical device for preventing falls from height, particularly in the construction industry. This study aimed to identify the factors contributing to the non-use of safety harnesses during work at height and to evaluate the comfort, satisfaction, and usability of these harnesses among construction workers in Tehran using a custom-designed tool.
Material and Methods: A semi-structured interview was conducted with construction workers to identify the factors influencing the non-use of safety harnesses. The collected data were analyzed using MAXQDA 10 software. Based on the results, which revealed dissatisfaction with the current safety harnesses, the levels of comfort, satisfaction, and usability were assessed using the Safety Harness Usability and Comfort Assessment Tool (SHUCAT) questionnaire.
Results: The reasons for not using safety harnesses were categorized into four main groups: management factors, worker attitudes, comfort, and harness design. These were further subdivided into 27 subgroups. The average satisfaction and comfort scores for safety harnesses were 26.8 ± 6.25, indicating that workers generally felt uncomfortable and dissatisfied with their harnesses. The average usability score was 38.70 ± 5.60, reflecting poor usability of the harnesses.
Conclusion: Improving the safety harness design could enhance workers’ comfort and satisfaction, increasing their willingness to use the equipment. Incorporating feedback from users and experts into the design process can help address the identified shortcomings and result in better product development.