Journal of Health and Safety at Work

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Introduction: Occupational accidents are of the main issues in industries. It is necessary to identify the main root causes of accidents for their control. Several models have been proposed for determining the accidents root causes. FTA is one of the most widely used models which could graphically establish the root causes of accidents. The non-linear function is one of the main challenges in FTA compliance and in order to obtain the exact number, the meta-heuristic algorithms can be used.

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Material and Method: The present research was done in power plant industries in construction phase. In this study, a pattern for the analysis of human error in work-related accidents was provided by combination of neural network algorithms and FTA analytical model. Finally, using this pattern, the potential rate of all causes was determined.

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Result: The results showed that training, age, and non-compliance with safety principals in the workplace were the most important factors influencing human error in the occupational accident.

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Conclusion: According to the obtained results, it can be concluded that human errors can be greatly reduced by training, right choice of workers with regard to the type of occupations, and provision of appropriate safety conditions in the work place.

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Introduction: By industrialization, work-related accidents emerged as one of the most threatening factors of human life therefore analyzing the causes of accidents and providing control measures to prevent reoccurrence of similar accidents are of crucial importance.
 

Method and Materials: This is an analytical-descriptive study in which the collected data were analyzed using Ishikawa and SCAT methods and results related to the relationships between variables were examined. In this sense, first, accidents leading to amputations associated with operating with press machines (stuck between two objects) were analyzed by Ishikawa method and the obtained causes were classified into three groups: direct causes, interface causes, and root causes. Then, the obtained causes and the control measures were placed in SCAT table. The effect of causes of accidents and their ranking were determined using Chi-Square Test and Friedman's test, respectively. Accordingly, appropriate control measures were provided based on the accidents causes.
 

Results: The most significant interface causes is hurry at work the most significant root causes is inappropriate and ineffective supervision and the most important control measures is establishing effective HSE management system in the organization.
 

Conclusion: According to results, the main interfce causes of accidents leading to amputation due to operating with press machines is hurry at work because of increased production volume particularly by contractor companies. Furthermore, non-dynamic HSE system accompanied by ineffective supervision of personnel’s unsafe acts by the first layers of management are recognized as the basic causes of such accidents.

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Introduction: Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are prevalent in work settings and are associated with high rate of prevalence and costs. Musculoskeletal conditions have multifaceted nature, and occupational factors play an important role in their development. The aim of this study was to identify the risk factors of work-related musculoskeletal disorders in the working population in Iran during 2000 to 2015.
Material and Methods: Using the appropriate search terms, articles published in the journals, student thesis, and those presented at the conferences were searched through authentic English databases (Google Scholar, Scopus, PubMed) and Farsi ones (Magiran, SID, IranMedex, Irandoc). Following removal of duplicate citations and irrelevant studies, the full texts of the remaining publications were prepared and assessed for more detail.
Results: Perceived discomfort in low back region obtained the highest score in workers of industrial, administrative, service, and agricultural settings. However, in the handicraft and educational groups, the highest percentage of discomfort was belonged to neck (66.7%). Findings showed that the most commonly used techniques for evaluation of musculoskeletal disorders and risk factors were, respectively, Nordic questionnaire (NMQ) (76%) and REBA (13.9%). Moreover, all identified risk factors were classified into eleven groups including: biomechanical, work environment design, tools, equipment, temporal aspects of job design, job content, organizational aspects, economic and financial issues, social aspects, individual characteristics, and training.
Conclusion: Overall, a wide range of risk factors reported in the previous studies were categorized in the present review. The results are suggested to be considered by managers and decision makers as a framework to take measures for controlling musculoskeletal disorders to accomplish the goal of ergonomics, which is productivity and well-being.

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Introduction: Occupational accidents are one of the most important risk factors for developing countries. In addition to designing preventive measures to prevent accidents, comprehensive research of accidents is considered as an undeniable necessity to reduce the risk of accidents. Thus, the first step is to find the root causes of their occurrence, which will certainly be possible with the use of appropriate techniques.
Material and Methods: In this study, first, the appropriate criteria for designing the accident analysis method were collected. In the second step, commonly used techniques were collected through known databases. In the third step, the collected techniques were scaled based on the selected criteria using the TOPSIS method, and ultimately, the new method (FAM) was developed. Finally, by analyzing three different accidents with the developed technique and four other common techniques, as well as using the ANP method, the developed technique was tested and confirmed.
Results: Based on the studies conducted to identify appropriate criteria for comparing accident analysis techniques, finally 6 criteria were selected for to be used in the study process. According to the findings, the FAM method with a normal final weight of 0.2684 was considered the priority in occupational accident analysis.
Conclusion: The output of this study was the introduction of the FAM technique. Using the strengths of the four techniques and covering their weaknesses, this technique can help identify and determine the causes of accidents graphically, systematically, and by minimizing the work attitude of analysts at three levels.

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Introduction: Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) are a prevalent occupational health concern, influenced by both physical and psychosocial factors. Valid questionnaires offer a cost-effective and efficient means of evaluating WMSDs. This study aimed to validate the Persian version of the MDRF questionnaire, assess its applicability in Iran, and investigate the prevalence of WMSDs among employees in an automotive industry.
Material and Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 100 employees (50 production line workers and 50 office workers) in Kerman province. The linguistic validity of the questionnaire and its translation were ensured using the Backward-Forward method. Content validity was assessed through CVI and CVR indexes. To evaluate the questionnaire’s reliability and agreement, Cronbach’s alpha and ICC were employed. User responses from the first and second series of the questionnaires were validated using Kappa and Spearman’s tests.
Results: Results indicated high reliability which was achieved by Cronbach’s alpha and ICC values of 0.960 and 0.925, respectively. The questionnaire’s validity was acceptable based on CVR and CVI tests. The prevalence of WMSDs was the highest in the lower back for both production line and office workers over the past year. The job satisfaction factor exhibited the highest risk level among the questionnaire’s four subgroups. Approximately 85% of participants were classified as having a high or very high-risk level, reflecting concerning conditions among the employees. The prevalence of WMSDs in different body parts significantly correlated with all physical and psychosocial stress factors.
Conclusion: This research highlights the influence of diverse physical and psychosocial risk factors on the occurrence of WMSDs among both occupational workers and office employees. Also, the MDRF questionnaire, whose high applicability in assessing the WMSDs risk factors was proven in this study, is an effective tool for prioritizing, planning, and executing educational and preventive measures within the workforce community to mitigate and prevent WMSDs. 

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Introduction: Lifting loads in awkward postures is a main cause of low back musculoskeletal disorders. In this context, researchers have used various indicators to determine the relationship between biomechanical variables and the risk of these disorders. This study aimed to investigate the correlation between plantar pressure distribution and the values of UTAH back-compressive forces (BCF) and lifting index (LI) during symmetrical load-lifting tasks.
Material and Methods: Thirteen healthy men, aged 25 to 35, took part in this study. The participants were instructed to symmetrically lift loads weighing 7.5 kg and 15 kg in 15 different postures, considering three horizontal distances (A, B, C) and five different heights (1-5). Pressure on the foot soles was recorded using 16 force-sensitive resistors (FSR) corresponding to eight anatomical areas on each foot. The BCF and LI were also calculated using the UTAH method and the NIOSH equation, respectively. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS (version 21) software.
Results: Based on the results, when the load was closest to the body (A1-A5), the highest pressure was recorded in the heel and the 4th and 5th metatarsal of both feet. In lifting a load of 15 kg in the A2, B1, B2, C1, C2 postures and lifting a load of 7.5 kg in the C2 posture, the average BCF exceeded 700 pounds. The LI was greater than 1 for specific postures (B1, B2, B4, B5, C1-C5) at 15 kg and (C1, C2, C4, C5) at 7.5 kg load-lifting. During the 7.5 kg and 15 kg load-lifting, there was a significant correlation between the plantar pressure and the values of LI and UTAH (p-values < 0.05) in most postures.
Conclusion: The results showed a significant correlation between plantar pressure distribution and load-lifting postures. The study findings, which identify risk levels associated with lifting postures, lay the groundwork for future research aimed at categorizing safe and unsafe plantar pressure patterns.

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Introduction: The increasing advancement of technology in the field of digital technology and automation has led to a change in the line of work and job content, and it seems that organizations are pushing their employees towards harder and longer work, which affects the health of employees. This study investigated the impact of job demands and resources on overtime and work-related health through the mediation of workaholism and work engagement.
Material and Methods: The work is a descriptive survey in terms of purpose and nature. The study’s statistical population consisted of employees of Isfahan Metro Company (320 people), of which (175 people) were studied by Simple Random Sampling. To collect the required information, Spence and Robbin’s (1992) Addiction Questionnaire, Lodahl and Kejner’s (1965), Langseth-Eide’s (2019) Perceived Health-Related Questionnaire, and Bryson Bangers’ Caricature Content (1998) were distributed and supplemented based on a Likert scale. A Structural equation model (SEM) was used to test the hypotheses.
Results: The results showed that job demands on workaholism (β=0.394, T=5.969, P <0.05) and job resources had a positive and significant relationship with work engagement (β =0.502, T =7.832, p <0.05), and workaholism and work engagement on the relationship between job demands and resources over time and health. Mediating work-related perceptions (Z= 4.383, Z= 2.189, Z= 3.797). In addition, job resources did not moderate the relationship between job demands and workaholism (β= -0.049, T =1.333, p> 0.05). 
Conclusion: The results of this study showed that there is a distinction between workaholism and work engagement as two different types of hard work (i.e., negative and positive) in the health process in the JD-R model.