Showing 8 results for Occupational Health
Mohammad Javad Zare Sakhvidi,
Volume 1, Issue 1 (10-2017)
Abstract
The world is changing and the landscape of factories, workshops, and industries also changed. Many of new businesses and job titles did not exist in even ten years ago. In other words, our lifestyles, prosperities, and resources have changed since the last decade. However, on the other side, human beings are encountered with new challenges and hazards. The speed of change in the world is much higher than the change speed in identification, assessment, and regulation of the exposure to new hazardous situations or materials. So, harder work is required on the identification and assessment of these emerging situations to investigate possible unwanted health effects of new technologies and work relationships. On the other side of the coin, the occupational health problems in under-developed and less developed countries are caused by production methods and instruments that in some cases have several centuries of age. Since Asian and Middle East countries are somewhat different from European and North American countries, most of applied studies and health system researches conducted in the former region are not considered valid by the later countries.
Regarding the above mentioned points, Archives of Occupational Health (AOH), is aimed to publish applied studies on all relevant fields about occupational health. The most important issue in this journal is the quality and applicability of the findings. Archives of Occupational Health targets at publishing the high-quality applied researches in the fields of occupational and environmental health and safety, inhalation exposure assessment, method development, ergonomics, and epidemiology. The accepted manuscripts will be published on the journal’s website as well as printed version of the journal in English (However, we are working hard to add Arabic abstract, because one of the most important missions of our journal
is to disseminate the results to the less developed countries, mainly Middle East countries). Our success in this mission largely depends on the kind support of all researchers and practitioners of the relevant fields. We are looking forward to see your valuable manuscripts in AOH.
Kamal Ad-Din Abedi, Ebrahim Darvishi, Sara Karimi, Hossein Ebrahimi, Reza Charkhandaz Yeganeh, Sonya Salimi,
Volume 1, Issue 1 (10-2017)
Abstract
Background: Heavy vehicle drivers are at risk of musculoskeletal disorders due to risk factors that are present in their job. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and risk factors of musculoskeletal disorders in bus and truck drivers. Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out on 275 bus and 272 truck drivers using random sampling method. Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ) was used to assess the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders. All analysis was performed by R software. Results: The mean age of bus and truck drivers was 42.74 and 39.76 years, respectively. In total, 26.9% of bus drivers and 31.6% of truck drivers reported pain in one of their nine body parts at least once during the previous year. The waist and knee with a prevalence of over 17% had the highest frequency. The results showed high frequency of exposure to vibration and smoking in the both groups. About 61% of drivers in both groups reported lack of job satisfaction. Conclusion: The prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders, especially low back pain in drivers was high. It seems that the development of an appropriate program for improving occupational health in drivers especially ergonomic interventions is necessary.
Saeed Yazdaniraad, Amirhossein Khoshakhlagh, Hossein Fallah, Zahrasadat Keyvanian, Vali Sarsangi,
Volume 1, Issue 1 (10-2017)
Abstract
Background: Occupational accidents occur every day across industries. One of the probable causes of this occurrence is the sleep disorders. This study aims to investigate the relationship between the sleep disorders, and occupational accidents in a group of Iranian workers. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 366 workers of steel parts production industries in Kashan, Iran. A three-part questionnaire was used in the study. The first part covered the demographic characteristics of the workers, the second part was related to the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index for sleep disorders and the third part was related to the information on the accident occurrence in the workplace. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS software and analyzed with Pearson correlation coefficient, ANOVA and t-test. Results: The results of this study showed that the average score of sleep quality was 5.84 (standard deviation: 2.66). The sleep quality of 53.7% of the subjects was poor. Over the past year, 27.4% of the workers had an occupational incident. There was no significant relationship between sleep disorders and occurrence of occupational accidents (p> 0.05). Conclusion: Our results showed that more than half of the workers suffered from poor sleep quality. However, there was no significant relationship between sleep disorders and occupational accidents.
Bahram Kouhnavard, Gholamhossein Halvani, Mohammad Reza Najimi, Hamideh Mihanpour,
Volume 2, Issue 1 (1-2018)
Abstract
Background: The basis of welfare and health in all individuals is their work ability. Many factors such as work and working conditions, fatigue, and individual characteristics affect the work ability. In the present study, we evaluated the work ability among workers employed in a ceramic industry and determined the relationship between fatigue areas. Methods: The present study was a descriptive cross-sectional study. 200 subjects were randomly selected and investigated. This study was conducted using two standard questionnaires of Work Ability Index (WAI) and Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI). Data were analyzed by SPSS software. Results: Mean general fatigue score was of 9.65 (SD=2.88) and the mean motivation score was 7.11 (SD=2.45). There was a significant difference in fatigue in different job groups in terms of work experience (P <0.05). The mean of fatigue in different occupational groups was higher for those without experience than those with skill. The mean of the work ability index was 39.69 (good level). The highest correlation was found between the score of work ability index and fatigue index among job titles belonging to the operational group (r = 0.97). Conclusion: With the increase of the fatigue score, the score of the work ability index decreased. Better recognition of factors creating fatigue and providing appropriate strategies can be effective in reducing this factor.
Ali Firoozi Chahak , Mohammad Javad Fani , Ali Akbar Alinaghi Langari , Mohammad Hossein Beheshti,
Volume 2, Issue 1 (1-2018)
Abstract
Background: Welding industry is one of the most dangerous industries in the world. Because of the nature of their jobs, welders are exposed to serious injuries. The present study aimed to investigate the effective factors on the use of respiratory protection devices in welding workshops. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 180 welders were studied in Gonabad city. A respiratory protection inventory was used to investigate the effective factors on the use of respiratory protection devices based on the health belief model in welders. Data were analyzed using SPSS software. Results: The working hours were 1.39 (8.25, the respiratory protection score was 10.12 (91.25). In this study, which was carried out on 180 people, there was a significant correlation between the score of respiratory protection and marital status and working shift. However, there was no significant relationship between respiratory protection score and the level of education and type of employment. Conclusion: The results of this study revealed that the respiratory protection score in the studied welders is moderate and should be considered by managers and the relevant authorities
Ashish Trivedi, Alice S.c Lai, Mahmud Tasim, Nik A.a Tuah,
Volume 5, Issue 1 (1-2021)
Abstract
Background: The mining and quarrying industry is considered a hazardous work sector due to occupational exposure to quarry dust and particulate matter, resulting in workers' respiratory illnesses. These occupational respiratory illnesses tend to have a long latency before the diagnosis is made, and therefore early detection of respiratory symptoms is crucial to prevent the development of chronic irreversible respiratory conditions. This study aimed to assess quarry workers' self-reported respiratory symptoms and their health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in Brunei. Methods: A descriptive study using a convenient sampling method was involving 23 quarry workers from three quarry companies in Brunei. The data were collected using the adapted St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ), which was self-administered to all participants. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results: Cough was the most typical reported symptom (26.1%) among quarry workers, followed by cough with phlegm (8.6%), shortness of breath (4.3%), and chest discomfort (4.3%). The mean total SGRQ score was 7.51 (±11.70), while the sub-domain scores for symptoms, activity, and impact were 10.60 (±12.37), 6.30 (±11.43), and 7.35 (±15.87), respectively. Conclusion: The key findings revealed that there was a low prevalence of respiratory symptoms in quarry workers. Prevalence of respiratory symptoms was higher among workers who were smokers, those who were exposed to quarry materials, and those who had been employed longer. The study's findings can be utilized by health professionals to plan, implement and evaluate preventative measures for mining and quarrying work settings.
Azam Biabani, Mojtaba Zokaei, Mohsen Falahati, Shahla Ziamanesh,
Volume 5, Issue 3 (7-2021)
Abstract
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.
Fereydoon Laal, Yahya Mohammadi ,
Volume 6, Issue 4 (12-2022)
Abstract
Background: In today's academic society, the need for new educational methods and their application in teaching and learning seems highly necessary. The present study aims to design, produce, and evaluate the model of earth well with the Kirkpatrick model. Methods: The studied population included 22 occupational health engineering students who had completed an electrical safety course the previous year. The present study was carried out in four phases of design, production, implementation, and evaluation of the educational program. The assessment was based on Kirkpatrick's model in four basic stages: reaction, learning, transfer (behavior), and results. Learning evaluation was done before and after the test using Kolmogorov-Smirnov and paired t-tests in SPSS. Results: The results demonstrated that people's satisfaction in achieving educational goals, attracting attention, and creating motivation for better learning and internalizing knowledge had values of 63.6%, 59%, and 54.5%, respectively, and provided a high (high) satisfaction. The mean and standard deviation of the scores obtained before and after were 3.77±0.57 and 4.47±0.62. Findings indicated a significant difference before and after practical training with the earth well model (P<0.001). Conclusion: The design and production of the model have had a beneficial effect on the satisfaction, attitude, and behavior of the students. Therefore, it is recommended to pay more attention to the topics of new educational technologies in occupational health and safety, because these things facilitate students' learning and skills and make students' knowledge deeper.
