کاظم صمیمی

The design of traffic signs should consider human cognitive abilities to enhance drivers’ understanding of the signs. Cognitive features, as one of the crucial principles of ergonomics, are among the influential factors in the design of signs. The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of graphic elements of eight new sign designs based on cognitive features on conveying the message “prohibition of using mobile phones.”

This study was conducted in six driving schools in Tehran in 2013. One hundred seventy-four participants, with an average age of 23.5 and a standard deviation of six years, participated in this study. Participants were then presented with the designed signs through a colored questionnaire. They were instructed to evaluate the signs’ cognitive features including simplicity, concreteness, meaningfulness, and semantic closeness—using a Likert scale ranging from 0 to 100. 

The results revealed that the average score of the cognitive features of the designed signs is higher than other traffic, industrial and pharmaceutical signs. In this study, “semantic closeness” was the best cognitive feature for predicting the message of the signs. The sign with the “hands-free” element had the best performance in transferring the message.

This research aimed to identify the most effective of eight proposed signs for banning mobile phone use while driving. Participants rated the sign featuring a button phone with a hands-free symbol as the top choice. Although most of the mobile phones in the market are of the touch screen type and the use of button phones has decreased a lot, the symbol of these phones as the dominant symbol still effectively conveys messages.

Many general indicators have been proposed to assess an organization’s safety performance. However, due to their holistic nature, these indicators may not always reflect safety-specific aspects of an organization’s performance. In other words, the nature of an organization’s activities necessitates the use of specific criteria to better reflect safety performance. This study aimed to identify and measure key safety performance indicators using the Delphi method in Alborz Province Electric Power Distribution Company.

This descriptive, survey-based study utilized the Delphi method to collect the opinions of 11 safety experts in the electric power distribution industry. Opinions were gathered in four phases, and key indicators were determined in the last phase of the study. These indicators were subsequently used to evaluate the safety performance of Alborz Electric Power Distribution Company for three months.

This study identified and documented 34 safety activities. The expert group proposed 20 indicators in the first phase of the Delphi method. In the second and third phases, four and one indicators were eliminated, respectively, because they did not receive the required score. The content validity ratio (CVR) and content validity index (CVI) were calculated for the remaining 15 indices in the fourth phase. The results revealed that the mean quarterly performance scores of Alborz Province electric power distribution districts and departments in 2016, including Nazarabad, Savojbolagh, Mehrshahr, Fardis, West, East, Taleghan, and Eshtehard, were 78.9, 54.7, 78.8, 75.9, 75.7, 80.8, 61, and 83.5 out of 100 points, respectively.

The Delphi method is useful for identifying key safety performance indicators. The indicators discovered using this technique are active indicators (pre-accident) that are crucial in determining Alborz Electric Power Distribution Company’s safety performance. These indicators are suggested for use in evaluating the safety performance of other electric power distribution companies.

Accidents may occur for varying reasons, including unsafe behaviors, which originate from the safety culture of the organization. Job stress and mental load may also be contributory to accidents. This study aimed to assess safety culture and its relationship with mental load and job stress in a national gas company in Iran.

This is a cross-sectional study conducted over a period of one year. This study used the NASA-TLX task load index, a standard questionnaire approved by the American National Institute of Mental Health to measure job stress, and the standard Health and Safety Executive safety culture questionnaire. All personnel was counted, and the total number of employees was 122. Statistical methods of t-test, correlation coefficient, and averaging have been used. Data were collected and analyzed in SPSS software and Microsoft Excel software.

The average mental load of employees was 61.51, i.e., moderate level. The average job stress and employee safety culture were 180.43, i.e., high level, and 331.34, i.e., desired level. The mental load was assessed as moderate, safety culture was optimal, and job stress was high. A significant relation was found between safety culture and mental load (correlation coefficient: -0.278; p = 0.03). Besides, the mental load was significantly related to job stress (correlation coefficient=0.293; p =  0.2).

Controlling stress and reducing the mental load in sensitive work environments is important and can lead to a higher level of safety culture in the organization

Changing of lifestyle in women and increasing their social activity especially in working places can affect women’s sexual quality of life (SQOL). This study was done to determine the affecting factors on sexual quality of life among hospital employee's women.
This descriptive - analytical study was carried out on 121 women who work in the two hospitals in Sabzevar city and Birjand city in Iran during 2014. Data was collected using two questionnaires including the Iranian version of sexual quality of life-female (SQOL-F) questionnaire and a researcher-made measure to assess demographic characteristics, health related, and work-related variables.
The mean±SD score of SQOL-F was 80.1±19.7. The univariate analysis showed that the mean score of SQOL-F significantly related with age (P This study showed that educational level, marital duration and quality of sleep were predictors of SQOL-F scores among hospital employee's women.

Background and AimsAgriculture is one of the oldest and high risk professions. Traditional agricultural production mainly depends on the physical power of farmers; thus, optimum efficiency in agriculture depends on the attention paid to the importance of certain measures to prevent diseases and accidents due to farming. This research was performed with the aim of survey of knowledge and attitude of farmers of Southern Khorasan province regarding agriculture related OHS issues in 2008. MethodsIn this cross-sectional study, 818 farmers were selected and a questionnaire that its validity and reliability had been approved was filled out through interviewing each subject. Data were analyzed using the SPSS program and appropriate statistical tests. P ≤ 0.05 was taken as the significant level. Results98% of the subjects were males and 2% females. Mean age of the subjects was 50.7±14.7 years with the mean working experience of 29±15.8 years. Knowledge score of farmers ranged from 10 to118 (out of 128) and their mean score was 89.55±15.58. Attitude score of farmers ranged from 81 to 141 (out of 145) and their mean score was 120.38±12.2. The correlation of mean knowledge score of farmers with education, age, and residence was statistically significant (P≤0.05) but, there was no significant correlation considering sex and mean farming experience (P>0.05). ConclusionConsidering the obtained results, improving health knowledge of farmers through appropriate training programs is necessary.

The occupational pesticide poisonings in farmers is one of the main health problems in developing countries. Increasing farmer's knowledge is particularly important in prevention. The aim of this study was to determine the knowledge of South Khorasan farmer's regarding occupational poisoning in 2009. In this cross-sectional study, 818 farmers of cites of the province were selected by cluster sampling method. For all subjects, a questionnaire including demographic information, the knowledge rate of precaution tasks (prevention), personal protective equipments and symptoms and complications of occupational poisoning, was completed through interview. The data were analyzed by SPSS version 11.5 and appropriate statistical tests at the significant level of P<0.05. Among the selected farmers for this study, 802 persons (98.04%) were males and 16 persons (1.96%) were females. Mean age and work experience of them were 50.7±14.7 and 29±15.8 years, respectively. The mean score of knowledge of precautionary tasks was 14.62 ± 2.07 out of 18; knowledge of protective equipments was 4.94 ± 1.78 out of 7 and knowledge of the symptoms of poisoning was 7.9 ± 4.02 out of 16. A significant relationship was found between the score of knowledge of precautionary tasks with education level (P=0.003), age (P=0.002) and location (P<0.001). Comparison of this score with sex and the work experience showed no significant relationship (P>0.05). Improving health knowledge of farmers about the hazards of banned pesticides, personal protective equipments and environmental compliance issues through appropriate training programs is necessary. Also implementation of appropriate pesticide spraying devices by relevant governmental agencies is recommended.