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Showing 5 results for Occupational Health
Monitoring One Decade of Scientific Output Regarding Occupational Health with Emphasis on Ergonomics Researches
Aram Tirgar, Seyed Ehsan Samaei,
Volume 5, Issue 1 (6-2017)
Abstract

Introduction: Content analysis is amongst common methods of scientific research of journals. According to the paucity of such studies in the ergonomics scope and the need for information on the direction and characteristics of conducted research and in order to gain more detailed plans, this study aimed to perform a content analysis of scientific outputs regarding occupational Health with an emphasis on ergonomics.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on articles published by Persian and interior Latin journals with a minimum track record of 3 years for a period of 10 years, from 2005 to 2015. Data were collected via a researcher-made checklist, using census and based on the content analysis method.

Results: The extracted data, from 927 articles during the period of 10 years, from 5 specialized journals, showed that the largest share of researches was related to the ergonomics scope (24.27%). The main research tools used in ergonomics articles were questionnaires (69.77%). Based on the types of studies, only 15.55% of ergonomic researches were based on interventional studies.

Conclusions: Articles with the subject of ergonomics have increased over the past decade. Most research has been conducted with an emphasis on physical health; however, psychological and social aspects of health have been somewhat neglected. Most research in ergonomics scope was descriptive, analytical, and cross-sectional. In this regard, more attention should be paid to interventional studies.


Ergonomic Evaluation of Traditional Date Fruit Harvesting
Afshin Marzban, Abdollah Hayati,
Volume 6, Issue 3 (10-2018)
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Fruit harvesting operation, one of the most important operations related to date palm production, is performed manually. Manual date palm harvest suffers from frequent occupational risk factors due to excessive need of physical work resulting in work related illness and productivity reduction.
Methods: Present study was undertaken with recruiting twenty three harvest workers to evaluate and compare upper-trunk (consisting of work tasks: climbing, cutting the bunch, and descending) and bottom-trunk operations regarding physiological (heart rate and heart rate ratio) and physical (body pain) strains to identify onerous critical operations to address with simple and inexpensive interventions by future attempts.
Results: Upper trunk operation posed a more physiological strain as heart rate (29.4%) and heart rate ratio (177.8%) higher than bottom trunk operation. Body pain was self-reported by the upper trunk workers in low back and sole, and by lower trunk workers in low back.
Conclusion: The upper trunk operation was the onerous critical operation in manual date palm harvest, and climbing was the most critical work task in upper trunk operation. Climbing causes the highest physiological strain because workers moved in converse of gravity force, whereas descending led to lowest one because of moving in the similar direction with gravity.
 

The Effect of Smoking on Cognitive Performance of Workers in the Automotive Industry
Iraj Alimohammad, Reza Pourbabaki, Kazem Rahmani, Mehrdad Souri, Fakhradin Ahmadi Kanrash,
Volume 7, Issue 1 (5-2019)
Abstract

Background and Objectives: Studies have shown the effect of smoking on mental and cognitive performance of the individuals who need to concentrate on their work. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of smoking on cognitive performance of the automotive industry workers. 
Methods: In this case-control study conducted in 2018, 280 automotive industry workers were selected through the simple random sampling and then assigned to  two groups of smokers (100 cases) and non-smokers (180 controls). All the subjects were selected from the environments with the sound levels of 82 to 88 dB. The workers’ cognitive performance was also tested using the CPT, Stroop and Tower of London tests.
Results: The mean age of the case group was 36/02 (3/7) and that of the control group was 36/25 (3/65) years. The results showed that the scores of the TOL test in the case group (smokers) were lower than those of the non-smokers (OR=0/903, P<0.01), and other items of the TOL test had no significant relationship with the individuals’ smoking status (P>0/05). The Stroop and continuous performance tests also had a significant relationship with the individuals’ smoking status in terms of the number of correct responses and the response time as well as interference (P<0.01). Other items had no relationship with the individuals’ smoking status (P>0/05).
Conclusion: The results of this study showed that the use of cigarettes and nicotine substances significantly decreased the workers’ mental and intellectual performance, and smokers were more likely to suffer from concentration interference, low brain processing speed in decision-making, and low precision at work, compared to non-smokers.
 


A Study of Mental and Physiological Effects of Chronic Exposure to Noise in an Automotive Industry
Fakhradin Ahmadi Kanrash, Iraj Alimohammad, Jamileh Abolaghasemi, Kazem Rahmani,
Volume 7, Issue 1 (5-2019)
Abstract

Background and Objectives: Noise pollution is one of the most harmful physical factors in working environments in developed and developing countries, which has significant impacts on the workers’ quality of life. The aim of this study was to investigate mental and physiological effects of chronic exposure to noise.
Methods: This is a cross-sectional study carried out randomly in 2018 on 250 workers in the automotive Industry. To measure the subjects’ aggression and annoyance levels, the Buss and Perry’s Aggression Questionnaire was used as well as an annoyance questionnaire. In this study, blood pressure measurement was also done using ALPK2 mercuric pressure gauge.
Results: The results showed that there was a significant difference in the systolic and diastolic blood pressure and noise annoyance in the groups with a lower-than-85 and higher-than-85 dB sound pressure levels (P<0.001). Besides, the results of multivariate regression showed that the annoyance level and sound pressure level had a significant relationship with the workers’ blood pressure (P<0.01). Also, there was a significant correlation between aggression components and sound pressure level (P<0.01).
Conclusion: The results of this study clearly showed that chronic exposure to noise in work environments was associated with psychological and physiological changes, such as increased blood pressure and aggression levels. Hence, implementation of preventive programs can help reduce the incidence of the psychological and physiological disorders.
 


Investigating Psychometric Properties, the Workers’ Psychological Burden from the Perspective of Occupational Safety and Health
Ali Salmaninejaad, Maryam Hasani, Sahar Rezaian,
Volume 11, Issue 2 (9-2023)
Abstract
Objectives: Psychological load, such as workload, not only disrupts work performance but can also directly affect employee safety leadin to accidents. However, despite this issue, not much effort has been made to develop an assessment tool to measure the psychological burden related to the occupational safety and health of employees. Therefore, the present study was designed to validate the psychological burden scale of workers by Kim et al. (2018) from the perspective of occupational health and safety.
Methods: The statistical population of the research consisted of all the workers employed in the Eastern Alborz Company of Shahroud city, and 349 workers participated in the research using a simple random sampling method. In the present study, the mental load scale by Kim et al. (2018), the Copenhagen psychosocial scale (COPSOQ), and the occupational stress scale (HSE) were used. The data were analyzed using Pearson's correlation coefficient tests and confirmatory factor analysis using SPSS version 22 statistical software and Lisrel version 8.5.
Results: The results showed that all the components of workers' psychological burden including the overall score and the psychosocial scale and occupational stress scale have a positive and significant relationship. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis also indicated a good fit of the model in determining the factors in the initial form as proposed by Kim et al. (2018). To determine the reliability of the scale, the value of Pearson's correlation coefficient was obtained at 0.82 in the test and retest phases. Additionally, the results of this study showed that 26.1 percent of workers experienced low psychological burden, 49.6 percent experienced moderate psychological burden, and 24.4 percent experienced severe psychological burden.
Conclusion: Based on the results of the current research, the workers' mental burden scale (Kim et al., 2018) is a valid and reliable tool that can be used to evaluate the psychological burden of workers in research and intervention studies.

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