نشریه طب کار
سال یازدهم شماره 2 (پیاپی 35، تابستان 1398)

In recent years, sickness absence in industrialized societies has been accompanied by a lot of costs and problems and is still increasing. In addition, sickness absence is progressively used as a health indicator among the workforce. The aim of this study was to determine and compare the status of absenteeism due to illness in workers of a home appliance company.

This cross-sectional study was conducted on workers of a home appliance manufacturing company from September 2015 till September 2016. Information about the number of days and episodes of sickness absence and personal information was collected.

The sickness absence in blue-collar worker was higher than the white-collar groups (OR=2.20, and P-value < 0.001). In addition, the total and long-term absence in shift workers was higher than non-shift workers. Also, older age and higher body mass index was associated with lower sickness absence. Long-term sickness absence was more common among smokers than non-smokers.

Findings of this study show that sickness absence among workers can be affected by various demographic and occupational factors including age, body mass index, smoking status, and work group.

Today the rate of human beings exposed to electromagnetic fields is increasing deliriously and human beings are being more drowned in the ocean of electromagnetic fields each day. It has been a long time that the effects of electromagnetic fields on organisms has been studied by researchers and due to the long-term researches and the slow impact of fields on life-cycle processes, in a lot of cases a final opinion is impossible. Considering the detrimental effects of being exposed to electromagnetic radiations, this study aimed to determine the relation between electromagnetic radiations and the level of Melatonin and Cortisol hormones of serum (blood) of the male employees of the 230kV substations in Golestan Province.

this study has been accomplished with the cross sectional method (descriptive-analytic) on male employees of the 230 kilo-Volt substations in Golestan Province(1396). The results achieved from the serum sample of the case and control groups have been compared, and the measurements and the relation between them has been analyzed, using Spss22 software.

100 % of the measured electric field intensity and magnetic flux density of the 230kV substations in Golestan Province is less than Iran’s occupational limits. There was no significant difference between the average of the level of Cortisol hormone in the case and control groups. The average of the level of Cortisol in the substation job group was not significantly different. There is no significant difference in the average of Cortisol level and age category and work place

Electromagnetic radiations do not affect the level of Cortisol hormones of the male employees of the 230 kV substations in Golestan province and the electric and magnetic fields intensity of substations is in the occupational limits of Iran.

Musculoskeletal disorders are among the main occupational and work-related diseases with different impacts on general health status of employees. Present study was performed for assessment of association between general health and musculoskeletal disorders among beekeepers of Boroujen.

In this cross-sectional study, beekeepers were selected by census, in 2017. Nordic musculoskeletal questionnaire and general health questionnaire (GHQ28) were used to collect data. Then, the obtained data were analyzed using SPSS- software.

Mean of Ggeneral health score was (51.25±12.92) which was suspected to have disorders, and  somatic, depression, social and anxiety indices were 12.4± 3.62, 11.43± 4.08, 14.05± 2.63 and 12.55± 4.15, respectively. Also, the most frequent  musculoskeletal symptom, during the past 7 days, during the past 12 months, the deterrence of work in the past year was low back pain and knee pain. Although mean of general health score in beekeepers was poorer than normal. No significant correlations were found between general health and musculoskeletal disorder (p-value>0.05). Age, BMI, work experience were risk factor for musculoskeletal disorder.

Findings of our study showed that beekeepers were suspected to have general health disorders and the most frequent musculoskeletal disorder was low back pain and knee pain.

Musculoskeletal disorders are prevalent in work environments. Performing programs to identify and control the risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders and to carry out corrective actions to improve working conditions is important because of the impact on the health of the workforce.

In this study, the presence of various shifts in the operating rooms and the training and justification of the employees of this department regarding its study and its objectives, the steps of the work of the operating room staff in various occupations were observed and existing documents and guidelines were reviewed. The main steps, including hierarchical analyzes of businesses, identifying errors in terms of each task and sub task, completing other parts of the work sheet, and determining the probability of human error and providing the prioritized control strategies in the next steps, was carried out.

Based on the results of Nordic questionnaire, age, work experience and higher weight were associated with musculoskeletal pain in most of the organs. Also taller was associated with back and waist pain and older age with pain and discomfort in the palms, knees and ankles (p <0.05). Based on the results of posture assessment, RULA 2 has a risk level of 4, 2 tasks Risk level 3 and 2 were risk level 2, which after the implementation of the interventions, a number of risk levels were eliminated in general and a number decreased.

Despite the high risk of musculoskeletal disorders in this industry, ergonomic interventions reduced risk to the desired level.

Carpet industry is one of the most important, dangerous and traditional industries in Iran. Non-Ergonomic factors such as non-standard work tools, inappropriate physical postures, long hours of work and insufficient rest of carpet weavers can lead to musculoskeletal disorders. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of musculoskeletal discomfort and its relationship with posture in rural carpet weavers in Boshruyeh city.

This study is descriptive, analytical and cross-sectional. The sampling method was census-based and included all rural carpet weavers in Boshruyeh city who were active at least 6 months prior to the beginning of the study and were willing to cooperate (62 people). In order to investigate musculoskeletal discomforts, used from Cornell Musculoskeletal Discomfort Questionnaire (CMDQ) and for posture assessment, The Occupational Repetitive Action Index (OCRA) method was used. The collected data by using SPSS software IBM 24 (Pearson correlation test) was analyzed.

The results showed that 98.39% of the workers felt discomfort at least in one of the 20 assessed regions. The most common discomfort of carpet weavers was 72.88% in the lower back region and the lowest incidence of discomfort was 9.68% in the hip/buttocks. There was a significant statistical relationship between scores of musculoskeletal discomforts in 11of 20 assessed regions with OCRA score (p <0.05), There was also a significant statistical relationship between age, work hours and work experience with CMDQ score (p <0.05).

It seems Insufficient rest, Repetitive work, and incorrect posture are of factors affecting the musculoskeletal discomfort.observe the principles of ergonomics, especially having proper postures and regular rest along with stretching can be helpful in reducing the incidence of discomfort and musculoskeletal disorders.

Considering the importance of medical care and especially occupations in the operating room for the improvement of illnesses as well as the preservation of life, the consequences of failure and failure to perform the duties of the staff of these centers will be irreparable, so the findings of this study can be a useful guide to reduce Errors in operating room staff.

This study was performed by HEART method to investigate the human error in the operating room staff. To perform this study, presenting various shifts in the operating rooms, training and justifying the employees of this department regarding the study and its objectives, the staffing process The operating room was observed in various occupations and the existing documents and guidelines were reviewed. Also, the main steps, including hierarchical analysis of occupations, identifying errors in terms of each task and sub task, completing other parts of the work sheet and determining the probability of human error and providing Prioritized control strategies were carried out in the next steps.

According to the results, Fatigue factor with frequency of 164 (11.47%) and negligence with frequency of 160 (11.2%) were the most frequent errors in the occupations of operation rooms of this hospital. The inadequate work environment with frequency 1 (/0007%) The least factor is the error.

equipping the operating rooms with advanced equipment, employing and recruiting skilled and experienced personnel, adjusting the work schedule and resting the staff, providing training tailored to the needs of the staff, and improving the supervisory and management systems. The most important ways to improve existing conditions and reduce Human errors

Upper limb musculoskeletal disorders are prevalent and undesirable health consequences among workers in clothing industry. To improve working conditions, workplace ergonomic assessment is necessary. This study was conducted among workers of clothing manufacturing workshops to determine the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders and to assess ergonomic working conditions to identify major risk factors associated with musculoskeletal symptoms.

One hundred and fifty female workers from clothing manufacturing workshops of Yazd city participated. The Nordic questionnaire and an ergonomics checklist consisting of 6 sections were used as data collection tools. An index was calculated for each section of the checklist. Action categories indicating the priority of corrective measures were also defined. Data analysis was performed using the ANOVA and ROC curve tests by SPSS software (version 17).

The results showed a high prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders, especially in the upper limbs among the study population. In this study, a significant association was found between the calculated ergonomics index and MSDs in different body regions (p<0.05). The mean of this index among the workers who reported symptoms was less than those of the other group indicating undesirable ergonomic conditions. In addition, 68.7% of the workers were categorized in the first priority of intervention (requiring ergonomic intervention as soon as possible).

The prevalence of MSDs was high among the workers of clothing workshops. The developed checklist was considered as an appropriate and low cost tool for ergonomic evaluation of sewing workshops. The results also indicated that most ergonomic problems in these workshops originate from inappropriate general working conditions, work organization, manual material handling, hand tools, workstation and working post

Medical errors cause serious and often preventable injuries to patients. Studying human errors and their use as an opportunity for learning is a key factor in the effort to improve patient safety and quality of care in the hospitals. The purpose of this study was to identify and evaluate human errors to reduce their risks in nursing personnel using the Human Error Evaluation and Reduction (HEART) method.

This cross-sectional descriptive study was performed in one of the hospitals of Rafsanjan in 1977. Initially, hierarchical task analysis was performed using HTA method and nurses' tasks were identified. In the next step, the probability of their human errors during work for all tasks was determined using the HEART method and the factors and conditions that were effective in causing the error were determined. Finally, in light of these conditions, suggestions were made to reduce the likelihood of these errors occurring.

The mean (standard deviation) human error score for the different tasks of nursing job was 1.79 (3.44). The maximum likelihood of error occurring in relation to the task of regulating and applying DC shock in emergencies was determined as 14.48. The least probability of error occurring for skin care task was 0.0014. The results of this study regarding the conditions that can lead to human error in nurses showed that the most important error generating conditions in nurses were novice and inexperienced, high stress, unreliable work tool, lack of control system transparency, lack of clarity and timely and direct confirmation of action. The highest mean human error probability score for Type C tasks was 4.34. Also the mean human error probability score for D, E and G tasks were 0.225, 0.198, and 0.00206 from right to left, respectively. The results of Kruskal-Wallis nonparametric test showed that there was a statistically significant difference among the mean scores of human error probability scores of different groups (P-value <0.001).

Considering the critical consequences of human errors in nurses' work activities, developing specialized guidelines for their various activities, providing specialized training, as well as retraining of scientific and practical skills, increasing the workforce, reducing overtime, regular work shifts to improve the reliability of medical staff performance and familiarize staff with the risks that may result from errors in patients are necessary to reduce the likelihood of errors occurring in nurses.