مجله تحقیقات نظام سلامت
سال هفتم شماره 4 (مهر و آبان 1390)

In many work environments with sensitive and complex technologies, human errors are very important since they may lead to catastrophes. Therefore, it is necessary to recognize and find out causes of human errors to prevent and limit their dreadful consequences. This study aimed to identify, assess and control human errors in the distillation unit of Isfahan Oil Refinery.

This study was performed in 2010. Data was collected using task observation and interviewing safety authorities, unit and shift supervisors and operators. Finally, 8 critical tasks were determined. Then, Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA) was conducted and human errors in each task were identified by Systematic Human Error Reduction Prediction Approach (SHERPA) technique.

After analyzing SHERPA work sheets, 198 human errors were identified including 134 (67.64%) action errors, 23 (11.61%) checking errors, 11 (5.6%) communication errors, 24 (12.12%) retrieval errors and 6 (3.03%) selection errors. Overall, the possibility of 64% of human errors among control room operators was assessed as "low" while 36% had a "moderate" possibility. In addition, although 59% of the identified errors of control room operators required no recovery, 29% resulted in sensitive outcomes.

The results showed that SHERPA technique can be used as an effective method to detect human errors in the control room of sensitive units of oil refineries.

Early and late menopauses result in various physical and mental complications. On the other hand, family health primarily depends on mother's health. Therefore, the present study aimed to determine the social factors related to age of natural menopause in Zahedan. Methods and Materials: This cross-sectional study was carried out on 300 menopausal women in Zahedan during 2008. Subjects were randomly selected from 38 health centers. The sampling was started from a random point near each health center continued until 13 appropriate individuals were selected from every center. The data were collected by interviews with women. Data analysis was conducted in SPSS using independent t-test, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and principal component analysis.

This study showed mean ± SD and median age of menopause as 47.3 ± 6.3 and 48 years, respectively. The socioeconomic and menstrual-reproductive factors that were significantly related to early mean age of menopause were celibacy (44.6 years, P = 0.04), low income level (45.3 years, P = 0.043), low social class (45.2 years, P = 0.048), and smoking (45.8 years, P = 0.039).

In addition to genetic and menstrual-reproductive factors, social factors especially socioeconomic factors can also affect the age of natural menopause. Since of menopause is related with some diseases, complications and mortality among women, this phenomenon should be noticed as an epidemiological issue in societies and early menopause should be prevented.

Excessive salt consumption is associated with the severity of arterial hypertension and ventricular hypertrophy. This study tried to assess determinants of salt consumption based on reasoned action theory among women who referred to health care centers in Yazd.

This descriptive-analytic study was conducted on 247 women who referred to health care centers in Yazd. Subjects were selected by multistage random sampling. Data was collected by a questionnaire designed based on constructs of reasoned action theory on three salt consumption behaviors. Data were analyzed using student t-test, chi square test, one way analysis of variance (ANOVA), Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients and linear regression.

Mean age of participants was 29.91 ± 6.75 years. A significant correlation was seen between using less than 6 g of salt in cooking and its intention (r = 0.132; P < 0.05), and between table salt avoidance and its intention (r = 0.422; P < 0.05) and its attitude (r = 0.411; P < 0.05), as well as between salty food avoidance and its attitude (r = 0.169; P < 0.05). Regression analysis indicated that 43% intention of using less than 5 g of salt in cooking, 37% intention of table salt avoidance, and 18% intention of salty food consumption was predicted by attitude and subjective norms.

Since attitude is the most important predictor of salt-related behaviors, proper planning needs to be conducted to change of attitudes of people.