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Background: Noise as one of the common hazardous factors in the work environments, causes adverse effects on the mental health of individuals in addition to physical problems. This study was conducted to measure the exposure of workers to noise in a construction workshop and assess its association with noise disturbance. Methods: A total of 96 employees of a construction workshop were considered in this study and were divided into four working groups: executive, administrative, supervisory and machinery. Noise exposure of workers assessed according to ISO 9612: 2009. The noise disturbance questionnaire was also completed by participants. Results: The results obtained from the noise exposure measurement showed that the mean of equivalent sound level in employees of administration section was 82.28, in administrative section was 66.52, in supervisory section was 76.43 and in machinery section was 78.45 dB. The results of noise disturbance showed that 25% of workers rated noise in the work environment as very disturbing. The results of regression analysis showed that the type of occupation associated with disturbance of subjects with correlation coefficient of 0.413. Conclusion: According to the results of dosimetry and self-reported disturbance, the noise exposure level and noise disturbance of work environment due to sound sources are high. Administrative solutions need to be provided to reduce the exposure of workers to noise.
 

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Background: Noise pollution is considered as a major threat to human society that may affect life quality, efficiency, physical and mental health. Therefore, the present study was aimed to investigate the effects of noise exposure and noise sensitivity on psychological distress in an automobile parts manufacturer's employees. Methods: In this descriptive-analytical study, 325 employees of an automobile parts manufacturer who were exposed to different noise levels in seven groups were investigated. Daily personal noise exposure for each group was measured using calibrated sound level meter (SVANTEK-971) based on ISO-9612 standards. Then employees' mental disorder and noise sensitivity were determined using Kessler Psychological Distress Scale and Weinstein's Noise Sensitivity Scale (WNSS), respectively, and data was analyzed using SPSS v. 23. Results: Mean psychological distress was significantly different between noise sensitivity and noise exposure groups (P-value <0.05). Based on the results of multiple regression analysis among four variables including age, work experience, noise exposure and noise sensitivity, noise exposure and noise sensitivity had significant effect on psychological distress and could explain 0.36 and 0.25 of variance of response variable, respectively. Age and work experience at the level of 5% error had no significant effect on psychological distress status. Conclusion: It can be argued that the worsening of psychological distress in these employees is often due to noise exposure and noise sensitivity. As an individual variable, noise exposure has the greatest effect on increase of psychological distress compared to noise sensitivity level and demographic characteristics studied.

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Background: Analysis of accident data based on social and economic factors can be useful in determining injury patterns and establishing operational policies to improve safety and health. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of socio-economic factors in accidents. Methods: This descriptive-analytical study was conducted based on information obtained from the Labor Inspection Office of Qom Province in 2017. In this study, the required information was extracted from recorded accident forms of 1048 accident cases occurred among victims who were over 18 years old. In this study, the dependent variables include the outcome of accidents divided into two groups of accidents leading to death and injury. Data were analyzed using Stata Software version 23 (Stat Crop. USA). Results: Based on the results, the presence of a safety officer in the industry reduced the risk of accidents leading to injury (AOR = 0.87, 95% CI: 0.72-0.91, P<0.05), people who had received safety training were 0.0009 times less likely to experience accidents leading to injury compared to the other group (AOR = 0.009, 95% CI: 0.0-0.16. P<0.05), and people with undergraduate education were 1.98 times more likely to experience accidents leading to injury (AOR = 0.009, 95% CI: 1.25-2.2. P<0.05). It was further found that people who have experienced the accident beforehand are less likely to have accidents leading to injury than the other group (AOR = 0.05, 95% CI: 0.005-0.72. P<0.05).Conclusions: Therefore, as indicated, many factors have domino effects on different social damages and problems. Accordingly, to lower accidents and modify workforce cul­ture, multi-faceted strategies should be applied properly.

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Background: This study aimed to investigate the association between demographic, social, and economic factors of employees and hearing loss. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the required data were extracted from the periodic medical examination of 987 workers in an automotive industry. Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests were used to study the associations. The data were analyzed in the SPSS software. Results: In this study, most of the subjects were in the age group of 30-49 years and also had less than 10 years of working experience. In terms of education level, most of them had a diploma. The relationship between work experience and hearing loss indicated profound hearing loss among a workers with 10 to 20 years of work experience. According to age, the subjects over the age of 55 years had the highest prevalence of hearing loss (p = 0.04). Conclusion: Age and work experience, education, income, and type of job are among the factors that could predict the at risk population for hearing loss.