Reza Kazemi; Hematoola Bahredar; Sajad Mousavi; Amin Norozi
Volume 5, Issue 4 , October 2017, , Pages 158-163
Abstract
AbstractBackground: Human errors play a crucial role in the incidence of industrial accidents. Hence, human reliability assessment (HRA) is essential as the most significant element of the system. The present study was conducted aiming at assessing human reliability in steering a blast furnace in an ...
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AbstractBackground: Human errors play a crucial role in the incidence of industrial accidents. Hence, human reliability assessment (HRA) is essential as the most significant element of the system. The present study was conducted aiming at assessing human reliability in steering a blast furnace in an iron melting industry.Methods: The study comprised all HRA stages, namely data collection (through questionnaire), determination of the scope of the study (using interviews and questionnaires), task analysis (through hierarchical task analysis (HTA), determination and identification of errors (SHERPA ), screening, error quantification (HEART), and analysis and effect assessment of human error reduction.Results: A number of 169 errors were identified among 140 Bottom-Level Tasks obtained from HTA diagrams. Among the 38 error producing factors, 22 were identified as effective factors, among which low workforce spirit (19%), excess team members (15.7%), operator inexperience (12.4%), and the poor quality of data transmission through instructions and through person-to-person interaction (11.75%) accounted for the highest effect on the whole operation.Discussion: Human errors in operations for steering blast furnace occur due to a variety of factors, often rooted in various management levels, instructions for steering operations and repair, operators-panels interaction levels, and some factors affecting performance. As a single approach, the techniques used in this study yielded fruitful results. These techniques enjoy high validity though there were signs of technical immaturity, which led to failure in providing consistent control methods.Conclusion: Despite the technical weaknesses in the HRA techniques, currently the HRA is a useful method to enhance the reliability of crucial operations, such as the steering operation of blast furnace.
shiva madahian; alireza manzari tavakoli; sanjar salajegheh; seyed morteza seyed ahmadi
Volume 5, Issue 1 , January 2017, , Pages 22-31
Abstract
Background and goal: The interaction between university and industry, due to its highly constructive and positive effects on technical, economic and social changes, was traditionally at the center of policy makers’ and planners’ attention. The aim of the present study was to explain barriers and ...
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Background and goal: The interaction between university and industry, due to its highly constructive and positive effects on technical, economic and social changes, was traditionally at the center of policy makers’ and planners’ attention. The aim of the present study was to explain barriers and challenges existing in the interaction between medical sciences universities and industry.Method: This present descriptive-correlational study used measuring method fto investigate the interaction among Medical Sciences University (School of Public Health). 1468 individuals participated in this study. Using Morgan scale, 321 people were selected as the sample. Two questionnaires were prepared by the researcher. The proper governance questionnaire contains political, economic, social, legal and cultural dimensions composed of 69 questions. The barriers between university and industry questionnaire covering 3 dimensions of individual interaction barriers, organizational interaction barriers and environmental interaction barriers is composed of 40 questions. Data analysis was done using SPSS, version 21.Results: Based on factor analysis of the data, the main dimension of proper governance respectively was cultural factors and among various factors of barriers between university and industry, environmental interaction dimension was considered as the most important one. Moreover, the results showed that there was a direct and meaningful relationship between dimensions of proper governance and interaction between university and industry variable.Conclusion: Based on the results of the present study, considering culture and cultural differences can help improve the interaction between university and industry.Keywords: Medical Sciences University, interaction, industry, governance.
Zahra Zamanian; Reza Rostami; Kiana Nikeghbal
Volume 3, Issue 1 , January 2015, , Pages 45-49
Abstract
Background: Noise is one of the most important hazardous physical factors in industrial environments. This study aimed to determine the effects of noise exposure on serum cortisol level and some blood parameters among male workers of a steel production company.Methods: This cross-sectional study was ...
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Background: Noise is one of the most important hazardous physical factors in industrial environments. This study aimed to determine the effects of noise exposure on serum cortisol level and some blood parameters among male workers of a steel production company.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 50 male workers in a steel production company. In order to assess the changes in blood parameters, such as serum cortisol level, lipid profile, and blood sugar, blood samples were taken from the participants before and after the work shift. Besides, CEL 440 sound level meter was used to measure the equivalent sound pressure level (LAeq) and analyze the noise in octave band frequencies. Analyses of data were performed by SPSS software (version 16) using the Paired sample t-test.Results: The laboratory findings indicated an increase in serum cortisol at all exposure levels. However, the changes were not statistically significant. An increase was observed in blood sugar levels at all the three noise levels and the increment was statistically significant at 95 dB noise level.Conclusion: The present study showed that exposure to high sound levels leads to changes in biological parameters, although under the scenario explained in this study these changes did not reach statistical significant.