سعید قانع عزآبادی

Musculoskeletal disorders are one of the most common causes of occupational injuries that mainly affect the low back, neck, and upper limbs. Preventing these discomforts requires assessing workplace posture using ergonomic job analysis methods. The aim of this study was to determine the rate of musculoskeletal injuries of mechanical repairs using REBA method in 2018 in Sarcheshmeh copper mine.

In this descriptive-analytical study, the workplace posture of 65 mechanical repairs were evaluated using REBA method. The prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders was also obtained using the Nordic questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS 20.

In this study, the prevalence of wrist discomfort was 43.07%, neck 18.46%, shoulder 33.84%, low back 53.85%, and leg 27.70%. Regarding the risk level of the right limb, 9.25% of the subjects were at a low level, 46.15% at a medium level, 32.30% at a high level, and 12.30% at a very high level. Also, regarding the risk level of the left limb, 4.62% of the subjects were at a low level, 64.61% at a medium level, 26.15% at a high level, and 4.62% at a very high level.

These results indicated that the workplace posture of the subjects needed to be improved. To prevent the occurrence of these disorders, education is required to recognize biomechanical risk factors and correct methods of working, use of appropriate tools and appropriate to the work process, and improvement and control of stressors and environmental factors.

 Disabled people experience worse situation in respect of the stress, health, and socio-demographic indicators than healthy people. Little knowledge is available about the way in which this disadvantage is patterned by employment status and occupation type, especially in employees with physical disabilities. Few studies have investigated the potential effect of employment status and occupation type on general health and occupational stress in physically disabled employees. This study investigated the role of employment status and occupation type and demographic factors in predicting general health and also, examined the relations between occupational stress and general health while adjusting for demographic factors among employees with physical disabilities in vocational centers of the State Welfare Organization in Tehran City, Iran.

This was a descriptive-analytical study with a cross-sectional design. The study was performed among 273 people with physical disabilities employed in the productive workrooms of vocational rehabilitation centers of Tehran, which were selected via convenience sampling. Data collection tools were Occupational Stress Index (OSI) developed by Belkic (1991) based upon cognitive ergonomics concept to measure the five key potential work-related stressors, Goldberg’s 28-item General Health Questionnaires (GHQ-28) (1979) to detect psychiatric illness as well as current psychological state in the past month and self-administered demographic form. Data analysis was conducted in SPSS software, using the independent t-test, one-way ANOVA and multiple linear regression.

 The Mean±SD age of the physically disabled employees was 33.65 (3.76) years. Most of them were aged 30 to 39 years. (55.2%), men (60.4%), married (60.4%), with part-time employment (67%) and engaged in productive affairs (30%). The relationship between general health and occupational stress with gender and marital status was found to be significant (P<0.05). Women and married subjects had more occupational stress. Moreover, there were significant differences in general health and occupational stress subscales regarding employment status (P<0.05). Part-time employees were exposed to more stressful physical conditions and accidents at work than others, causing a higher level of occupational stress. In addition, employees who were engaged in art-related jobs had higher rate of time pressure, problems and decision-making situations in their workplace, hence, overall more occupational stress. Multiple linear regression analyses were then performed on data to identify general health predictors while adjusting for demographic variables. Age had a significant independent direct effect on enhanced somatic symptoms (β=0.16). Disabled women had a higher score of somatic symptoms than men (β=1.97). Furthermore, part-time employment was directly related to somatic and depression symptoms (β=1.26 and 1.51). Productive works were significantly associated with a higher level of somatic symptoms, anxiety, insomnia and depression symptoms (β=1.28, 1.53 and 1.95, respectively). Therefore, being female, employing as a part-time worker and working in productive affairs were significant predictors of somatic and depressive symptoms in physically disabled employees. Moreover, the physical condition of the workplace, workplace problems and decision-making situations were positively related to somatic symptoms (β=0.7, 0.13 and 0.14, respectively). In overall, 49% of the variance in somatic symptoms (the best model fit) could be explained by independent variables.

 Employment status and occupation type are significantly related to occupational stress, which in turn, causes general health disparities among people with physical disabilities. With respect to the higher level of somatic symptoms and depression in part-time employees, it seems that changing their employment status to full-time, can reduce their stress load and improve their health. In addition, women and married subjects experience more occupational stress and have more somatic symptoms.

Usability is an index to assess a product from the viewpoint of users satisfaction, efficiency and productivity improvement. The main attributes of usability that are derived from the human factors are  and used  in usability design of the interfaces Include: compatibility, consistency, flexibility, minimal action, perceptual limitation, usefulness, learnability, ease of use, minimal memory load, user guidance, satisfaction and errors. The main aim of this study was to assess the usability of interface design tool for a ventilator utilized in the hospitals of Arak city, Iran; and study its validation and reliability. After constructing the initial questionnaire from the standard sources, specific techniques to determine the validity,  and Cronbach's alpha coefficient were used for the validity and reliability study. The study procedure was: determining the scope and dimensions of the questions, drafting questionnaire, assigning members of the expert panel, study, questionnaire data acquisition  and analysis methods, determining acceptance criteria of the questions and the content validity and reliability index. Final tool was a 42-items questionnaire. The content validity index (CVI) of questionnaire was 0.86. The results showed that the total Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.89 as an acceptable value for the reliability of questionnaire. After the final questionnaire design and the appropriate validity and reliability of it, adopting this tool to assess the usability of breathing apparatus (ventilator) is recommended. With usability assessment of such vital instruments, quality improvement, higher efficiency and productivity as well as errors reduction and good design user interface will be achieved.

work-related musculoskeletal complications are one of the causes of disability and risk factors such as manual handling and repetitive work can cause or exacerbate these disorders. Considering the fact that in the industry, people with a wide range of risk factors for these disorders and high mental health are facing, this study was designed to investigate the position of work posture and mental load and their relationship with the operating personnel of Sarcheshmeh copper.
In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 220 individuals were selected randomly from a population of 800 people based on the demographic distribution of the units and the field study of the working areas. Data were collected using demographic, Nordic and NASA mental workload index and QEC software. SPSS software was used to analyze the data.
In this industry, due to the nature of work, the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders was high in at least one region of the subjects. The prevalence of these disorders was related to the area of rest and back (38.6%) and back (38.2%) and The least of them was one or two females (2.3%) and there was a significant relationship between the mean total burden of mental health and the risk level and prevalence of disorders (p Due to the high risk of the occurrence and prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders and its relation with individual characteristics such as age and work experience and mental labor, it is necessary to control and reduce these disorders and the level of risk by implementing engineering controls such as mechanical appliances and tools. They stepped up and, with interventions such as a job rotation program, with the age and work experience of individuals, they were employed in jobs with different mental and physical needs that involve various muscle groups