Vahid Gharibi; Mohammad Ghaedi Jahromi; Mohammad Reza Mohammadnia; Seyedeh Mahsa Hosseini Gharbi
Abstract
Background: Environmental risk assessment, the process of qualitative analysis of potential hazards and coefficients of potential risks in the project, as well as the vulnerability of a peripheral environment need to be taken into account. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to identify and investigate ...
Read More
Background: Environmental risk assessment, the process of qualitative analysis of potential hazards and coefficients of potential risks in the project, as well as the vulnerability of a peripheral environment need to be taken into account. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to identify and investigate the potential hazards and make practical suggestions in order to eliminate or reduce the environmental hazards related to gas wells drilling effluents and wastewater in southern cities. Methods: This is an applied research using descriptive-analytical method. The required data were categorized into two groups including: a review of written sources and a field study of one of the oil and gas wells based on the available components and variables. Data analysis was done using EFMEA (Environmental Failure Mode and Effects Analysis) and the components and variables were analyzed using Analytic Network Process model (ANP). Analysis of variance and correlation coefficients were also used to investigate the relationship between the components. Finally, a strategy model was developed based on the studies conducted to determine the effectiveness of corrective and control measures. Results: Research findings based on EFMEA environmental risk assessment of oil and gas drilling effluents and wastewater showed that 83.4% of the risk scores, in this case, were placed at the medium risk level and 16.6% at the low-risk level. The results of the network analysis model also showed that drilling effluents and wastewater caused by drilling wells of Oil and Gas had the highest impact (0.124) on the degradation of vegetation and also on the destruction of the natural habitats in this region. Conclusion: Accordingly, some strategies such as integration of EFMEA and ANP Models which were developed to reduce the environmental crises in oil and gas drilling have been very useful and appropriate.
Vahid Gharibi; Nafiseh Nasouhi; Mahshid Badrian; Mahdieh Nikoo; Mehdi Jahangiri
Abstract
Background: Teachers are prone to Voice Disorder (VD). The present study aims to investigate the onset of VD symptoms and their effects on the job performance of the elementary school teachers. Methods: This cross-sectional, descriptive-analytical study was conducted on 121 male and female elementary ...
Read More
Background: Teachers are prone to Voice Disorder (VD). The present study aims to investigate the onset of VD symptoms and their effects on the job performance of the elementary school teachers. Methods: This cross-sectional, descriptive-analytical study was conducted on 121 male and female elementary school teachers in Mobarakeh County during the academic year 2018-2019. Data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire. In doing so, the researchers talked to 10 people composed of qualified experts in occupational health, ergonomics, and health education and a number of teachers about how to design the questions as well as the answer scale for each section. Results: In the present study, the prevalence of VD was higher among female teachers (41%) compared to male ones (20%). That is to say, the prevalence of the VD symptoms in female teachers was more than twice that of the male teachers. The study results demonstrated a significant relationship between having a silent resting place and coughing (p=0.028). Accordingly, the prevalence of the symptoms of cough was significantly higher in the teachers who did not have a silent resting place in comparison to those who benefitted from a quiet resting place. Conclusion: Thus, it is recommended that safety, occupational health, and ergonomic programs should be designed for teachers at the Ministry of Education in collaboration with concerned specialists. Periodic examinations, identification of teachers with disorders, culturalization, and education are among the themes of these programs.
Amin Jafari; Alireza Choobineh; Mehdi Jahangiri; Sareh Keshavarzi
Volume 5, Issue 2 , April 2017, , Pages 86-93
Abstract
Background: Most workers are exposed to a variety of hazards in their workplace. Devising a comprehensive checklist and developing an index for Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) assessment could be useful. This study was conducted in a heavy automotive company with the aim of developing and validating ...
Read More
Background: Most workers are exposed to a variety of hazards in their workplace. Devising a comprehensive checklist and developing an index for Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) assessment could be useful. This study was conducted in a heavy automotive company with the aim of developing and validating an OSH assessment index.Methods and Materials: We used the experiences and comments of OSH experts to devise a checklist for OSH assessment. Weighting various harmful factors was done using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique. Intra-class Correlation Coefficient (ICC) was applied to measure the reliability of the checklist (SPSS version 20). In the studied industry, 150 workstations were assessed using the developed comprehensive checklist. In order to validate the total index, we assessed its correlation with 4 groups of occupational statistics (i.e. accident frequency, severity rates, lost working time rate, and occupational disease incidence rate). A p value of < 0.05 was considered significant.Results: Among 7 sub-indices, sub-indexes of occupational health and the workplace order (w=0.21) and housekeeping (w=0.04) had the highest and the lowest AHP weights, respectively. The mean of ICC was found to be 0.978. The total index (OSHITotal) and the Accident Severity Rate (ASR) had a strong inverse significant correlation (r = -0.774, P=0.002).Conclusion: The developed index covered important occupational hazards. The inter-evaluator reliability for this index was high.
fariba kiani; Ahmad Borjali; Kyomars Farahbakhsh; Noorali Farrokhi
Volume 3, Issue 2 , April 2015, , Pages 64-70
Abstract
Backgrounds: Situation awareness is an important factor in industrial accidents. Improving situation awareness may help to prevent occupational accidents. Determination of factors influencing situation awareness will help to plan and take measures for betterment of working condition and development of ...
Read More
Backgrounds: Situation awareness is an important factor in industrial accidents. Improving situation awareness may help to prevent occupational accidents. Determination of factors influencing situation awareness will help to plan and take measures for betterment of working condition and development of a safer workplace. In this study, we examined the role of work overload and job stress in predicting work situation awareness among workers. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study. A sample consisting of 180 employees in National Petrochemical Company in 2014 was selected using stratified random sampling method; the participants filled out the questionnaires containing questions on demography characteristics, work situation awareness of Sneddon, Mearns & Flin (2013), work overload of Beehr, Walsh & Taber (1976), and job stress scale of Cohen and colleagues (1983).The data were analyzed by SPSS software using coefficient correlation and stepwise regression. Statistical differences were considered significant at P<0.001. Results: The results showed that there were internal correlation among work overload, job stress and work situation awareness. Also, the results of stepwise regression analysis revealed that work overload and job stress significantly predicted, respectively, almost 11% and 35% of variances of work situation awareness among workers. Conclusion: Work overload and job stress are two main factors for predicting work situation awareness. To improve workplace safety, interventional measures should focus on enhancing the situation awareness via workload and job stress reduction.
Mostafa Barzideh; Alireza Choobineh; Hamidreza Tabatabaee
Volume 2, Issue 2 , April 2014, , Pages 66-71
Abstract
Background: Evidence shows that job stress potentially has adverse effect on individuals’ health and organizational productivity. It has, therefore, become an important issue in the occupational health context. The aims of this study were to investigate job stress dimensions among nurses of Shiraz ...
Read More
Background: Evidence shows that job stress potentially has adverse effect on individuals’ health and organizational productivity. It has, therefore, become an important issue in the occupational health context. The aims of this study were to investigate job stress dimensions among nurses of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences (SUMS) hospitals and comparing the results with the findings of the previous studies conducted in other countries. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 385 randomly selected nurses of SUMS participated. The Persian version of Job Content Questionnaire (P-JCQ) and demographic questionnaire were used for data collection. The linguistic validity and psychometric properties of P-JCQ have been assessed and approved in a previous study. One sample t-test was used to examine the differences between means of job stress dimension scores of the present and those of the previous studies carried out in other countries. Results: The means (SD) of decision latitude, psychological job demands, social support, physical job demands and job insecurity were found to be 58.15 (6.50), 38.19 (5.14), 22.67 (3.67), 16.03 (2.58), and 7.74 (3.85), respectively. The results revealed that decision latitude and social support dimensions were in a low level among the study subjects. In contrast, psychological job demand, physical job demand, and job insecurity dimensions were shown to be in a high level. Conclusion: The SUMS hospital environment collectively imposes higher job stress on the nurses as compared to that of other countries. To prevent harmful effects of job stress on the nurses’ health and job performance, developing macro-ergonomic strategies in this working environment, such as enhancing job control, reducing job demands, and providing supportive climate, seem necessary.