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: 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.

Introduction: Efficiency of hoods for local exhaust ventilation system is influenced by hood geometry, its situation relative to the process and the air volume exhausted by it. The aim of this study was to present a simple and practical method based on the standards for assessment of potential problems of ventilation system in a steel making company.  

Material and Method: In this cross-sectional study, a checklist based on the ACGIH ventilation standards was developed for investigating potential problems related to the three types of hoods in an oxide screen process. This checklist has completed in order to feasibility study of corrective changes in evaluation of the hood hardware parameters. The differences between design and current status to the standards were considered as noncompliance. Finally, differences were analyzed statistically.   

Result: Based on statistical analysis, the average of current status of hoods, plans and design documents and standards were for variables of conveyors downstream enclosure (1.6, 2.38 and 2.41m), vertical distance from hoods to conveyors (0.39, 0.37 and 0.61m), conveyor longitudinal enclosing after hood (1.225, 1.288 and 0.296 m) and hood numbers (18, 17 and 31), respectively. Comparing the results between current status of hoods with plans and design documents showed no significant differences (0. P-value≤ 0.05). But, the results between current status of hoods and design documents with standards have significant difference (0. P-value≥ 0.05). A significant difference  (0. P-value≥ 0.05) revealed between the average of the current status of hoods, plans and design documents and the standards for variables of hood flow (813.3, 2276.9 & 3085.9 cfm) and duct velocity leading to the hoods (2289.3, 5083.5 & 3500 fpm), respectively.

Conclusion: This method can be applicable for the local ventilation systems with extensive pollution sources and hoods. One of the advantages of this method can be easily application of this system, as one of the requirements for delivering ventilation systems from contractors and the use of it for studying potential problems of the hoods that they have standards. Also, by comparing current status of hoods with the design specifications and standards, the mismatches/ unconformities in the lifetime and maintenance process of the system can be understood.