مجله بهداشت و ایمنی کار
سال یکم شماره 3 (بهار 1391)

In agriculture, people are exposed to numerous risks including exposure to various chemicals and physical agents like noise in this section. In this paper a model is proposed to identify the dominant noise source in the agricultural sector of sugarcane industry. We desired to recommend an index that can help us identify the sources deserving attention for sound control measures in the agricultural sector of sugarcane industry in southern Iran. For this purpose, the parameters considered to be the most important on the potential damage of noise were sound level, duration of exposure and the number of people exposed to noise. For measuring the sound pressure level in the ear area of operators, first a list of all machinery used in farming operations of the sugar cane industry was obtained from the relevant management. Then they were categorized into different groups based on the model and, the year made. A properly functioning machine was selected in each group. ISO5131:1996 was used to measure the operator exposure for this group of equipment. They were placed in the fixed state before measuring. There was not any obstacle and reflective vertical surfaces within 20 meters around them, and they were placed on a flat surface (ISO, 1996).When measuring noise, the cabin door and windows of machines that have a cab were closed completely and if there was a ventilation system, it was operated with maximum power and motor rotation. Using the basic acoustic knowledge, a formula has been proposed as an index of dominant noise source in the model. DSI is single-number quantity, higher the index indicates higher occupational noise risk. Index valuesfor harvester(case IH7000), tractor(Ferguson8160),tractor (Ferguson 399), bulldozer(Caterpillar D8N), tractor (Ferguson 285), grader (Caterpillar G14), scraper(V 300PH), loader(Caterpillar 90L) was 132.7, 122.7, 126, 105.6, 129.8,, 101.7, 99.1 and 118.4 respectively. Results show that harvester is the major noise source within various types of farm machinery in agriculture part of sugar cane industry in Khuzestan. Using this model is easy and fast. It is applicable on similar parts of agriculture industry and also offers valuable information for prioritizing noise control measures. For preparing the model, we tried to identify and select the important factors of main sound risk correctly. The Index presents the practical, scientific, simple and fast solution for occupational hygienists and other relevant specialists. The results will be unreliable if not all of the important influential factors involved in selecting the main source are considered.

”Exposing to danger” or in other words, “risk” is a process which is led to an uncertain result in every field. Project risks are uncertain contingent events or situations that if they occur will have positive or negative effects on project’s objectives. Todays, research and educational process and more complicated and the professional risk management become much more difficult, as a result. In this research, the health and safety issues have been studied and analyzed using ISO 14121 and the environmental issues by EMEA to determine the risk level separately for research laboratories and to prioritize corrective measure in each field (school). The finding in this study showed that from all the main risks within the rage of 38-86 percent have been decreased. Moreover average of the risk level for the health, safety and environment cases showed a significant decrease (Pvalue<0.0001) by implement controlling and protective countermeasures compariy to the priority state without any measures. The risk assessment with hazards control strategy based on ISO 14121 is a compatible method in laboratory site as universities and other reasearch sites.

work related musculoskeletal disorders are the most wide spread type of occupational diseases among workers. Awkward body postures during work and manual material handling are among the most important risk factors of musculoskeletal disorders in different jobs. Due to importance of recognizing these factors prevalence and risk factor of work related musculoskeletal disorders, this research was aimed to study the among employees of Kashan City’s Saipa automobile industry in 2011. This study is a descriptive-cross sectional study conducted among workers with manual material handling 37 activities and 84 work duties. To recognize musculoskeletal disorders, body map questionnaire was applied and occupational risk factors were evaluated using Key Index Method (KIM). Data was analyzed using SPSS and Excel software. Highest prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders was in low and upper back region (%92). Based on the results from KIM, workers in the installing the tire, shuttle-aided fitting of seat, and engine work station had higher risk level with the scores of 66, 52 and 52, respectively. Risk level among three individuals (%3.6) was at 1, 40 (%47.6) at 2, 38 (%45.2) risk level 3, and 3 (%3.6) at 4. Awkward body posture, improper twisting and flexion of low back were major risk factor among worker doing manual material handling tasks. Regarding the high prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders, appropriate ergonomic interventions such as engineering and organization interactions can reduce this risk factors (posture, heavy load, duration, workplace conditions) as much as the risk level reach to an acceptable level.

Nowadays, in many different fields of chemical agents several experimental researches is being done on volatile organic compounds using gas chromatography, which is time consuming and expensive methods. Photo ionization detector as an alternative method is used by researchers in this field. This feasibility study was conducted to replace the photo ionization detector with gas chromatography. In this study, after making pre-determined concentrations of Xylene, the results of measurements using photo ionization detector and reference method were compared. This comparison was done in 4 humidity levels and 3 concentration ranges. The results showed significant differences in photo ionization detector readout and the reference method. However correlation coefficient of two methods were more than 0.99 in all cases regardless of the humidity rate. Although the results obtained by the photo ionization detector are different from those extracted from the reference method in the current study, due to linear response of the method correlation coefficient was at good level. Consequently, in case of studying concentration changes in a research, this alternative method would be applicable, otherwise calibration of the photo ionization detector with the target material is recommended.

Emission of volatile organic compounds through industrial processes to the environment has been received more attentions currently. Photocatalytic oxidation process as a new emerging technique in air purification can be substituted for conventional techniques such as activated carbon adsorption. In photocatalytic oxidation process, pollutant molecules decompose to water and carbon dioxide molecules. The objective of present study was the examination of influencing parameters such as concentration, relative humidity, and superficial gas velocity on photocatalytic oxidation of Methyl Ethyl Ketone (MEK) in a fluidized bed reactor. In this study photocatalytic oxidation of MEK was examined in a fluidized bed reactor. Gamma alumina coated titanium dioxide particles under ultraviolet light were used as photocatalyst. The efficiency of photocatalytic oxidation process was determined using measurement of MEK concentrations at the inlet and outlet of the fluidized bed reactor. The study of MEKphotocatalytic oxidation was carried out in the concentration range of 100 to 800 PPM with 25% and 45% relative humidity. Photocatalytic degradation of MEK at the relative 45 % humidity was slightly lower than 25 %. Increasing MEK concentration from 200 to 800 PPM was led to decrease in degradation efficiency. At concentrations of 100 and 200 PPM MEK, increasing superficial gas velocity did not change the degradation efficiency, whereas, at concentrations of 200 to 800 PPM, increasing superficial gas velocity resulted in decrease in MEK degradation. In photocatalytic oxidation of MEK, there is a competitive adsorption between water and MEK and at higher relative humidity degradation of MEK decreases. In the fluidized bed reactor increasing superficial gas velocity causes decrement in MEK photocatalytic degradation.Increasinginitial concentration of pollutant results in decreasing ofphotocatalytic efficiency due to the limited number of active sites on the catalyst surface.

Low back pain (LBP) is a common and costly health problem. It has high prevalence in nursing job and caused shortage of nursing staff. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of LBP, knowledge level of LBP risk factors and assess relationship between LBP prevalence and nurses’ knowledge level of LBP risk factors among nurses of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences (SUMS). In this cross-sectional study, 118 randomly selected registered nurses participated from SUMS hospitals with at least one year of job tenure. In order to assess nurses’ knowledge of LBP risk factors, a self-administered survey questionnaire consisted of four parts was used as data collecting tool. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS (version 11.5). Duncan, T-test and ANOVA tests were used for data analysis. LBP prevalence rate was found to be 79.7% (94 nurses) during the previous year from which 12 nurses were male (63.2%) and 82 nurses were female (82.8%). Nurses’ knowledge level of LBP risk factors in different hospitals was not significantly different. The Results showed that nearly half of the nurses had poor knowledge about LBP risk factors and the remaining had good knowledge level. The main source of information about LBP risk factors among nurses were related to their university education. A high prevalence of the LBP was found among nurses working at SUMS hospital. Knowledge level of nurses about LBP risk factors needs improvement. In addition to university education, which is the main source of information of nurses about LBP risk factors, on-the-job training seems essential in this field.

In addition to direct and indirect costs of occupational accidents imposing on production companies, they impact the productivity of labor, too. However, gaining more profits and having less costs is always the main concern among industrial managers. Considering safety measures can be effective way to reduce occupational accidents and costs as well as negative impacts on production systems. In this paper, a risk assessment method using fuzzy and MATLAB software is presented to determine the safety level of production environments. The main parameters of this model include three items: accident probability, accident severity and current safety level. For this purpose, the statistical data of accidents and their causes published by Social Insurance Organization have been used in this study. Furthermore, expert judgments of safety and health professional have been used to determine the severity of accidents. In the fuzzy method, the Mamdani deductive fuzzy model has been adapted due to its easy applicability. Application of the model has been shown using a practical instance. The defuzzified value for RL is found to be 3.48. Linguistic risk level expression is 100% substantial high risk that is full membership for fuzzy average set. The application of the proposed method can reveal which safety items and factors are most important in improving workers safety, and therefore decide where to concentrate resources in order to improve the safety of the work environment.

The purpose of this study was prioritizing the noise control methods using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique in Hamadan glass industry. This is a cross-sectional – descriptive - analytical study. According to a survey of experts by questionnaire and Delphi method four criteria were selected including cost, efficiency, executive capability and not to interfere in the process and eleven alternatives for control options. Prioritizing of the items was conducted based on the study criteria as well as the importance ranking determined in this study. The results showed all that consistently Ratios were less than 10 % and compatibility of answers has been confirmed. According to expert’s views, the criteria of executive capability (0.277) and using the barrier between the two main sections (0.111) have achieved the highest priority among the criteria and control methods, respectively. In this study a pattern of decision-making structure was introduced based on Analytic Hierarchy Process for determining the method noise control. This method can improve the decision making process and prioritizing noise control methods as an efficient and effective approach.