iraj mohebbi

 Different instruments are employed to assess public behavior and understanding of COVID-19. The World Health Organization Survey Tool for Behavioral Insights on COVID-19 (WHO-STBIC) is an appealing and adaptable instrument for evaluating population behavioral insights. This research sought to translate, adapt, and content validate the Persian version of WHO-STBIC.

 Forward-backward translation of the English WHO-STBIC to Persian was done by four English language experts. The back-translated version was compared with the original version and disagreements were resolved by a team encompassing four translators and two experts in the field. To investigate the content validity of the preliminary Persian version, nine experts were invited to assess the tool through a content validity form. The internal consistency was evaluated using Cronbach’s alpha.

 A shortened through adaptation version Persian version of WHO-STBIC (90 items in 17 subscales) was derived with minor adaptations from the original version. In terms of content validity, the modified kappa (mK) index was calculated as excellent for 86 percent (n=78) of items (mK>0.9). The mean Content validity Index (CVI) of the whole scale was 0.87 ranging from 0.46 to 0.86 for 17 subscales. Cronbach’s alpha was calculated to be 0.86.

 The Persian version of WHO-STBIC was adapted and validated with minimum modifications to be used in Iran. It was hard to say that this tool is a fast one. So, the shortened through adaptation Persian version was developed. Researchers can use these tools to ensure culturally appropriate, relevant, valid, and reliable data collection.

Over the last few decades, organizations' productivity and occupational health and safety (OHS) performance have improved as a result of the adoption of innovative manufacturing technologies and new management approaches. Despite these improvements, OHS performance in developing nations remains unsatisfactory, and further research is needed to ascertain the factors that influence OHS performance. The purpose of this study was to determine the factors influencing OHS performance in Iranian manufacturing companies.  Twelve informants, including OHS inspectors and managers, were interviewed individually for this qualitative study. The interviews were semi-structured, and the data were analyzed using the grounded theory method. Management commitment, safety culture, OHS training, OHS regulations, economic and political issues, social factors, as well as personal and occupational factors have all been identified. The findings emphasize the importance of identifying influencing factors in order to improve manufacturing companies' OHS performance. Given the limited financial resources available to the companies, government assistance and effective OHS training may help in promoting OHS performance. Efforts to improve safety culture and to enforce OHS regulations may impact OHS performance.

Non-communicable diseases are of the major health challenges and the leading cause of death in Iran and at the global level. Moreover, Iran is a disaster-prone country and considering the exacerbation of diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases in natural disasters, its healthcare system is facing challenges. This study was designed to explore challenges in providing healthcare services to patients with diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases during disasters in Iran.
The conventional content analysis is used in this qualitative study. Participants included 46 patients with diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases, and 36 of stakeholders were experienced and had theoretical knowledge. Participants’ selection started by means of purposive sampling and continued to the point of data saturation. Data collection was carried out employing semi-structured interviews. Data analysis was performed using Graneheim and Lundman method.
Based on participants’ experiences, four major challenges in providing care to patients with diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases during natural disasters include integrated management (with three subcategories: control and supervision, patient data management, volunteer management), physical, psychosocial health (with three subcategories: psychological impacts, exacerbation of signs and symptoms, special patient characteristics), health literacy and the behavior (with three subcategories: risk perception, values and beliefs, education and awareness) and barriers to healthcare delivery (with three subcategories: facilities and human resources, financial and living problems and insurances, accessibilities and geographic access).
Developing countermeasures against medical monitoring system shutdown in order to detect medical needs and problems faced by chronic disease patients including those with diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), is essential in preparedness for future disasters. Developing effective solutions may result in improved preparedness and better planning of diabetic and COPD patients for disasters, and potentially promote health outcomes during and after disasters.

Iran’s health care system faces significant challenges in managing the growing burden of non-communicable diseases, and these are exacerbated during the frequent natural disasters. The current study was designed to understand challenges in providing healthcare services to patients with diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases during such crisis periods.

The conventional content analysis was used in this qualitative study. Participants included 46 patients with diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases, and 36 stakeholders with knowledge and experience in disasters. Data collection was carried out employing semi-structured interviews. Data analysis was performed using Graneheim and Lundman method.

Four major challenges in providing care to patients with diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases during natural disasters include integrated management, physical, psychosocial health, health literacy and the behavior and barriers to healthcare delivery.

Developing countermeasures against medical monitoring system shutdown in order to detect medical needs and problems faced by chronic disease patients including those with diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), is essential in preparedness for future disasters. Developing effective solutions may result in improved preparedness and better planning of diabetic and COPD patients for disasters.

Aerobic capacity has a significant impact on both health and work performance. Therefore, promoting the health and improving the performance of employees require examining and paying attention to their aerobic capacity. The primary purpose of the current study was to determine the aerobic capacity and to analysis individual factors associated with VO2max among university students.

One hundred and thirty male and female students with a mean age of 21.6 ± 0.4 years, voluntarily participated in the present study. Aerobic capacity was determined using ergometer and the Astrand protocol. Demographic information and body mass index (BMI) of participants were also collected. Data were analyzed by using single and multiple-regression techniques.

Mean maximum aerobic capacity was 2.18 ± 0.41 L/min. The maximum aerobic capacity was associated with weight, BMI and heart rate. The results of regression analysis indicated that BMI and heart rate could significantly predict the VO2max of the students. The best VO2max prediction equation has been developed based on regression analysis.

The mean of students’ VO2max is lower than the counterpart population in the same society. The lack of regular exercise and a subsequent increase in BMI may lead to a significant decrease in VO2max. The significant relationship between HR, BMI and VO2max could be used to predict VO2max in young people.

Objectives :

Due to the decline in the function of balance system in older adults and the importance of having an active old age, it is very important to maintain independence during daily living activities such as shopping, holding and carrying an external load. This study aims to determine the effect of external load magnitude and holding mode on the postural sway during standing in healthy community-dwelling older adults.

Methods & Materials:

 In this quasi-experimental study, 15 healthy community-dwelling older adults in Tehran, Iran (7 men and 8 women) with a mean age of 71.53±6.18 years who were independent in daily living activities such as shopping and carrying shopping bags were enrolled using a conveneince sampling method. The independent variables were holding manual loads with a magnitude of 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20 % of body weight in symmetrical (both hands) and asymmetrical (dominant or non-dominant hand) conditions, standing still on the force plate for 30 seconds. Dependent variables included the amount and velocity of the displacement of the center of pressure (COP) in two anteroposterior and mediolateral directions and the area of the COP displacement.

Results:

 The effect of holding manual loads symmetrically and asymmetrically and the manual load magnitude on the amount and velocity of COP displacement in anteroposterior direction was signifcant, while their interaction effect was not significant on any variables. The paired t-test results showed that the amount and velocity of COP displacement in anteroposterior direction at asymmetric condition was significantly different compared to the symmetrical condition, but there was no significant difference between holding with dominant and non-dominant hands. The amount of COP displacement in anteroposterior direction with 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% of body weight were higher and statistically significant compared to the load magnitude of 0% (P<0.05). The effects of load holding mode and load magnitude were not statistically significant on any of the COP variables in the mediolateral direction. 

Conclusion:

 Aging, Postural balance, External load Holding external loads asymmetrically with any magnitudes can increase the amount and velocity of COP displacement in the anteroposterior direction. For preventing falls, it is recommended for the elderly to pay attention to the fact that holding an external load with two hands is less challenging to the balance system than holding with one hand, whether dominant or non-dominant. In terms of the load magnitude, an external load with 5% of body weight can challenge the balance system compared to the situation without external load. With some exceptions, there is no difference between loads of 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% of body weight.

The severity of accidents and mortality rate varies between countries with different socio-economic statuses. This study aimed to model the socio-economic factors affecting the severity of injuries in traffic accidents of drivers referred to Imam Khomeini Hospital in Urmia using logistic regression.

This cross-sectional-analytical study included 250 drivers who had a traffic accident in 2020 and were referred to Imam Khomeini Medical Center in Urmia, Iran. For evaluating the relationship between socio-economic factors and the severity of injuries, the Injury Severity Score (ISS) scale was used to determine the severity of the injury, and logistic regression was used to model and study the relationship. The collected data were analyzed in SPSS software (version 16), and a p-value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

The results showed a significant relationship between the high severity of the injury with, marital status (OR=0.43, P=0.029), level of education (OR=4.45, P=0.005), monthly household income (OR=5.40, P=0.037), car monetary value (OR=3.22, P=0.011), and the share of health care costs (OR=0.31, P=0.004). In contrast, there was no significant relationship between job and the high injury severity.

The results showed a significant relationship between most of the socio-economic factors and the severity of the injury. It seems that paying attention to welfare and public health strategies, material and spiritual support for the recovery of patients, increasing the purchasing power of families, improving cultural views, specialized training, and upgrading the automotive industry may reduce accidents and the severity of injuries.

Despite the advancement of control mechanisms and automation in industrial processes, there is still the chance of human error and accidents. As a result, this study was conducted in the control room of a cement company to identify human errors and propose control methods to reduce them using the Systematic Human Error Reduction and Prediction Approach (SHERPA).

The data for this cross-sectional descriptive study were gathered through task observation, reviewing technical documentation, and interviews. For the selected tasks, a hierarchical task analysis (HTA) was done, and the human errors of each critical task were assessed using SHERPA. Finally, control methods for reducing the risk of identified errors were proposed.

In this study, 9 main tasks and 103 sub-tasks were assigned for the control room operators. The results of the SHERPA showed that out of 204 identified human errors, 45.1% were functional, 35.3% retrieval, 11.3% communication, 44% checking, and 9.3% were selection errors. C2 (55 cases), C3 (32 cases), and 2D (30 cases) had the highest risk levels, whereas 1E (1 case), 1B (2 cases), and 4C (3 cases) had the lowest.

The most common errors were those relating to performance and retrieval. Operator training, monitoring systems, smart control system utilization, effective instructions, and suitable control measures can help to significantly reduce the number of human errors that result in accidents.

In disasters, patients with chronic diseases, such as diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases, are considered to be a vulnerable population. This study aimed to examine the natural disaster preparedness knowledge of patients with chronic diseases in Iran with a focus on diabetic patients and those with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) admitted to Masih Daneshvari Hospital in Tehran, Iran.

This cross-sectional survey was administered from August 2020 to April 2021. A disaster preparedness knowledge questionnaire was devised and validated, subsequently. A total of 86 eligible patients were selected using the census method and completed the questionnaire. The questionnaire included items on patients’ knowledge of disasters (n=7), personal preparedness of patients in disasters (n=8), and family and community preparedness in disasters (n=4).

A total of 86 patients were included in this survey, including 44 (51.2%) males. In total, 64% (n=55), 34.9% (n=30), and 1.2% (n=1) of patients had diabetes, COPD, and both, respectively. Two-thirds of patients reported that they had no good knowledge of disaster and emergency awareness and preparedness.

Based on the obtained results and due to the low readiness of patients, it is necessary to make decisions to improve the patients’ readiness. Therefore, it is possible to help promote the level of knowledge and preparedness of patients with diabetes and COPD to improve the health results during and after disasters through the adoption of required strategies and comprehensive plans in different areas of public health.

Road traffic accidents are one of the serious public health problems in the world that need to be prevented. Socio-economic status is one of the important factors related to traffic accidents. The incidence and mortality rate of traffic accidents also vary between different countries and even within a country. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the severity of traffic accident injuries and socio-economic factors.

This study was a cross-sectional study involving 310 drivers caring following an accident in Imam Khomeini Hospital in Urmia, Iran in 2020. The trauma severity scale of ISS ((Injury Severity Score) and the statistical model of rank logistic regression were used for this study.

Data showed a positive and significant relationship between the severity of injury and socioeconomic factors including marital status (OR = 2.306, P = 0.024), education for high school (OR = 19.066, P = 0.013), and diploma (OR = 5.549, P = 0.011), household monthly income for 12.5 to 25 million Rials (OR = 4.87, P = 0.068), and for 25 to 37.5 million Rials (OR = 4.46, P = 0.079), occupation (OR = 2.491, P = 0.088), car monetary value for 0-550 million Rials (OR = 13.986, P = 0.001), and for 550-1100 million Rials (OR = 3.284, P = 0.016),  as well  the share of health care costs for 0-20% (OR = 22.389, P = 0.001) and  for 20%-40% (OR = 3.664 P = 0.001), while was not a significant association between the severity of injury and age (OR =0.889, P = 0.367), gender (OR = 1.391, P = 0.598), and monetary value of housing.

The data indicate that there was a relationship between most of the socio-economic factors and the severity of injury. Based on the results, intervention programs on marital status, upgrading education, increasing monthly household income, improving working and occupational status, improving monetary value and car safety, and increasing the share of health and care costs in total expenditures is recommended.

Volunteers' presence, as a critical issue in hospital response to disasters and emergencies, helps to readiness and quick response to the phenomena, preventing deaths caused by such incidences. This study aimed to determine the main factors affecting popular volunteers' presence in hospital response to disasters and emergencies in Iran.

This qualitative study, conducted on 31 semi-structured interviews during the years 2019 and 2020, concerningemergency specialist working in various health organization nationwide between June 2019 and April 2020. The non-structured and semi-structured interviews were adopted to gather concept code and analyzed using Graneheim recommendation method.

Four main categories, identified as effective factors on volunteers' presence in hospital response to disasters and emergencies, includingnine subcategories: (1) organizing and managing volunteers (with two sub-categories: (a) calling and registering volunteers, and (b) identifying volunteers' ability); (2) organizational structure (with two sub-categories: (a) operational planning and (b) coordination and communication); (3) training (with two sub-categories: (a) training in disasters and (b) volunteer training); and (4) volunteer challenges (with three sub-categories: (a) volunteer interaction with organizations, (b) volunteer logistics, and (c)volunteering culture).

Exploring effective factors as regards volunteers' presence in hospital response phase in disasters to adopt a policy based on the experiences of managers and heads of health can help planners to provide effective design and implementation. It can scientifically contribute to disaster risk management and hospital emergency response in Iran.

Patients with non-communicable diseases are vulnerable to disasters. This is a systematic review describing the impact of disasters on non-communicable diseases.

A systematic review was conducted using PRISMA standards. Relevant articles published from 1997 to 2019 collected by searching the Scopus, PubMed, Science Direct, databases. We specifically examined reports describing NCDs and including the key words “non-communicable disease and Disasters”. NCDs included cardiovascular, respiratory, diabetes, cancer and mental health diseases.

Of the 663 studies identified, only 48 articles met all the eligibility criteria. Most studies have shown the impact of all natural disasters on non-communicable diseases (39.8% n=19). The largest study was the effect of earthquakes on non-communicable diseases (29.2% n=14). For the NCDs targeted by this research, most of the included studies were a combination of four diseases: cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, diabetes and cancer (44% n=21). Followed by cardiovascular disease (14.6% n=7), chronic respiratory disease (12.5% n=6), diabetes and cancer (6.2% n=3) and mental health (12.5% n=6).

The incidence of disasters affects the management of treatment and care for patients with NCDs. Specific measures include a multi-part approach to ensuring that patients with non-communicable diseases have access to life-saving services during and after disasters. The approach of the health system should be expanded from traditional approaches to disasters and requires comprehensive planning of health care by policy makers and health professionals to develop effective strategies to enable patients to access medical, therapeutic and diagnostic services in natural disasters.

NCDs require an ongoing management for optimal outcomes, which is challenging in emergency settings, because natural disasters increase the risk of acute NCD exacerbations and lead to health systems’ inability to respond. This study aims to develop a protocol for a systematic review on non-communicable diseases in natural disaster settings.

This systematic review protocol is submitted to the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (Registration No. CRD42020164032). The electronic databases to be used in this study include: Medline, Scopus, Web of Science, Clinical Key, CINAHL, EBSCO, Ovid, EMBASE, ProQuest, Google Scholar, Cochrane Library (Cochrane database of systematic reviews; Cochrane central Register of controlled Trials). Records from 1997 to 2019 are subject to this investigation. Three independent researchers will review the titles, abstracts, and full texts of articles eligible for inclusion, and if not matched, they will be reviewed by a final fourth reviewer. The proposed systematic review will be reported in accordance with the reporting guideline provided in the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) statement. We select studies based on: PICOs (Participants, Interventions, Comparators, and Outcomes).

This systematic review identifies any impacts of natural disasters on patients with NCDs in three stages i.e. before, during and in the aftermath of natural disasters.

A comprehensive response to NCD management in natural disasters is an important but neglected aspect of non-communicable disease control and humanitarian response, which can significantly reduce the potential risk of morbidity and mortality associated with natural disasters.

The main aim of Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) regulations is providing safe conditions at workplaces. A literature review was indicated that no study has been reported on the implementation and enforcement of the regulation of committee for technical protection and health at work (CTPHW) in Iran. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess how workplaces fulfill the requirements of the CTPHW regulation and prioritization of OHS issues in CTPHW’ decisions using content analysis of CTPHW’ minutes. In this study, 817 minutes for duration of 2011-2016 were assessed in Iran. The content analysis was used to assess the available documents. The findings of this study indicated that the committees gave more priority to safety issues than others. Administrative control measures were suggested as more prevalent safety measures than engineering measures and personal proactive equipment (PPEs). The qualitative analysis of the data indicated that the minutes of the companies differed in terms of the quality of the writing, assessed OHS problems, and the decisions taken about OHS. The majority of the companies did not fulfill the requirements of the CTPHW regulation in an appropriate manner. This study was concluded that the OHS authorities may help to fulfill the requirements of the CTPHW’ regulation and promote OHS status in the companies by training and encouragement.

Human errors and consequently the occurrence of adverse accidents in industries is a possible mishap. The control room is the main center of an industrial system, and any errors during the tasks of the operators can have adverse consequences with irreparable damage. Therefore, this study was conducted to identify and evaluate the human error in the control room of one of a cement manufacturing companies using a cognitive reliability error analysis method to improve the safety status as a necessity.

This is a qualitative and cross-sectional study that was conducted using the cognitive reliability error analysis method in a control room of a cement manufacturing industry. After analyzing the tasks using hierarchical task analysis, the method worksheets were completed through observation; interviews with the
operators, the production manager and shift engineer, and analyzing the related documents of the company. Then, user probabilistic controls and cognitive probability errors were determined using the basic and extended cognitive reliability error analysis method for various tasks.

In this study, 7 tasks of control room operators were analyzed using hierarchical task analysis. The findings of the basic method indicated that the type of control style for tasks of action, control room operator, and shift engineer was opportunistic control and the task of the production manager was tactical control. Based on the results of the extended method, execution error (42.74%), interpretation error (23%), planning error (20.61%), and observation error (13.74%) were obtained from the total number of detected errors.

The positive features of the studied method for maximizing the likelihood of human performance along with the likelihood of recovery of human errors along with minimizing the risk of human error were quite evident in this study. Hence this method is recommended for the determination of the probability of cognitive errors in the control room of other industries

Macro Ergonomics is a socio-technical approach that deals with organizational, and work system design, as well as the design of human-machine, human-environment, and human-job interactions. Researches show that workplace macroeconomic’ conditions have undesirable effects on employees’ health, and hospital staff experience high levels of occupational stress and high prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders. This study aimed to investigate the relation between macroeconomic’ condition and prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders as well as outcomes of job stress among employees of hospitals affiliated to Urmia University of Medical Sciences.

This study was a descriptive cross-sectional study and 350 employees who randomly were selected from 5 hospitals participated in this study. Macro-ergonomic, Nordic and job stress outcomes questionnaires were used for data collection. Descriptive statistics, ANOVA and Chi-square tests were applied for data analysis.

The findings of the present study indicated that out of 350 participants 217 (62%) were female and 168 were nurses (48%). Their mean age was 36.63 (±8.13) years and their average work experience was 11.53 (±7.65) years. The results of ANOVA test showed that the status of macro-ergonomics was significantly different in hospitals and hospital 1 had favorable condition. The majority of musculoskeletal disorder symptoms were reported in the neck (75.7%), hip, and waist (73.7%). The average score of job stress outcomes for the participants was lower than favorable limit. Macro-ergonomic’ conditions had significant associations with musculoskeletal disorders and job stress’ outcomes.

Based on the results of the current study, macro-ergonomic conditions had significant effects on musculoskeletal disorders and job stress outcomes. Interventional efforts should focus on organization and developing macro-ergonomic training programs to reduce musculoskeletal disorders and job stress and improve job conditions in hospitals.

Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) regulations have been developed with the aim of crating safe conditions at workplaces. Employers are required by OHS laws to provide a safe working environments for employees. A common method to manage OHS in many workplaces is to enforce the requirements of the OHS regulations from inside and outside the organizations. Implementation of the OHS regulations plays a major role in enhancing OHS status in organizations, and safety management approaches emphasize on the compliance with the requirements of the regulations. However, studies show that OHS regulations are not fully implemented in workplaces, especially in the companies that located in developing countries. Therefore, assessing how organizations comply with the requirements of OHS regulations can help policymakers and managers to identify existing problems and to plan for better management of OHS. The Code of Committee for Technical Protection and Health at Work (CTPHW) has emphasized on the formation of committee meetings. According to the code, OHS issues in workplaces must be reviewed in the meetings so that decisions can be made to improve the status of OHS in organizations. The formation of OHS committees in workplaces has been associated with reduction of occupational injuries, facilitating senior management cooperation with workers, increasing worker participation in OHS affairs, and overall improving OHS status. Conversely, the lack of formation of OHS committees can lead to the absence of OHS policies and programs in workplaces.The collection, investigation, and reporting of occupational injury’ data is one of the important requirements of the CTPHW regulation. Recording and storage of OHS data can help to preserve the OHS knowledge of an organization and provide insights into the organization's OHS performance. However, occupational injuries as an imperative OHS data not properly reported to the relevant OHS enforcement agencies i.e., OHS authorities (Labor inspection offices and health centers) in Iran. Given the importance of establishing CTPHW in improving OHS, reviewing the available related documentation can lead to the identification of problems linked with the implementation of the regulation and providing comments for better implementation of it in the future.Analysis of OHS documentation in workplaces such as CTPHW’ minutes can be done using qualitative and quantitative research methods. Document analysis is a systematic way to study and evaluate paper and electronic documentation. Same as other qualitative research methods, document analysis is an important research method to study and interpret data in order to know the meaning, understand, and acquire empirical knowledge. The data is organized into topics, quotes, and categories, through content analysis. Content analysis is a technique that is used to infer the specific features of a text in a systematic and objective manner. It is a process of organizing information into categories according to the main research questions. Content analysis is also useful in providing a raw picture of the data that determines the number of words used in the text.Literature review has shown that no research studies have ever been reported on how to enforce the CTPHW regulation in organizations and to review the content of relevant documents in scientific journals. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the content of the CTPHW’ minutes using a quantitative approach in manufacturing companies. It also aims to discover how the companies fulfill the requirements of the CTPHW code. 

In this qualitative study, the records of CTPHW’ minutes related to the years of 2011-2015 were collected from the manufacturing companies i.e. 34 firms. The companies located in one of the northwestern city of Iran. Manufacturing activities in the companies include the production of food and dairy products, building materials, gloves, auto parts, electricity, furniture, mattresses, and metal equipment. All studied companies had been hired full-time or part-time OHS officers before the time of the study.Most of the minutes used in this study were collected from the archives of an OHS authority and some were gathered from the archives of the manufacturing companies. The contents of paper and electronic documentations of CTPHW’ minutes were organized into topics and categories using a quantitative content analysis method and based on research questions. In order to analyze the data, each of the minutes was coded word by word. The terms and number of the words related to safety, health, and ergonomics and the type of related approved OHS promoting programs were determined. Also, the types of approved projects by CTPHW’ members were analyzed in three separate sections. In the first part, the projects were examined in terms of the types of methods used to control OHS risks, including engineering controls, administrative controls, work practices, and personal protective equipment (PPE). The projects were then reviewed for being routine or non-routine organizational practices for management of OHS. The plans were also examined according to the subjects of safety, health, and ergonomics. Each of the minutes was reviewed several times to determine the number and type of control plans approved by the members of the CTPHW in the companies, and then the plans were classified according to the type of control procedures. 

The content analysis of the minutes showed that the highest number of them (241 cases) was related to 2015 and the lowest number (34 cases) was related to 2011. The total number of clauses was 4823; that the highest number of them (1431 clauses) was related to 2015 and the lowest number (383 clauses) was related to 2011. Thematically, the highest number of clauses was related to safety (2807 clauses) and the least was related to ergonomic (67 clauses). The total number of examined OHS related words was 4408; with the highest number (1271 words) was related to 2015 and the lowest number (515 words) was related to 2011. The highest number of words was related to safety (1353 words) and the least of the words related to ergonomics (31 words), and among the safety related words, fire-fighting word had the highest frequency. It should be noted that the number of ergonomic word in the years 2011 and 2012 was zero. The total number of approved projects was 2553, the most of them were related to engineering (958 cases) and the least were related to work practices (145 cases). The number of routine projects was 1217 cases and the number of non-routine projects was 1181 cases. Thematically, most of the projects were related to safety (1566 cases) and the least were related to ergonomics (41 cases). 

The findings of this study showed that the requirements of the CTPHW regulations were not properly implemented in the manufacturing companies. The number of minutes, clauses, and words was the lowest in 2011 and the highest in 2015. The safety topics had the highest frequency, and ergonomics had the least frequency in the analyzed minutes. Most of the control schemes adopted to reduce OSH risk were engineering controls. These findings indicated an increase in the number of minutes, clauses, and OHS control plans in the 34 studied firms during the studied years. The finding also demonstrates gradually improved compliance with one of the requirements of the CTPHW. According to the findings, this study emphasizes on more follow-up of OHS authorities to better enforce the requirements of CTPHW regulation in manufacturing companies. Training and encouragement of manufacturing companies by the OHS authorities can help to fulfill the requirements of the CTPHW code and the promotion of OHS status in the companies through making a proper culture of safety.

Public health monitoring and evaluation is one of the basic goals in every healthcare system. In this regard, registration system can be used as a powerful tool in disease monitoring, understanding the types of treatments and outcomes, testing effective factors in disease prediction and quality of life, describing care patterns such as care adequacy and care delivery differences, evaluating the effectiveness, and monitoring the safety, damage, and quality of care. In Iran, especially in the northwest of the country, significant steps have been taken in this field which could have important implications for the study design and planning of therapies in the future.

Physical workload is one of the main risk factors in developing of musculoskeletal disorders in construction workers. The current study was carried out to determine the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders and its relationship with demographic characteristics and physical work load index (PWLI)in construction workers.
Material and This investigation was a descriptive and cross-sectional study in which 162 subjects including 75 rebar and 87 bricklayer workers were participated. Nordic musculoskeletal and physical workload questionnaires were employed as the tools of this study. Chi-squared and logistic regression tests were used for statistical analysis in SPSS 21 software. The mean of age and working experience of construction workers were 34.6±8.6 and 11.2±6.8 years, respectively. The most prevalent symptoms were in the body regions of upper back (57.4%), lower back (35.8%), and neck (30.2%). In the univariate analysis, the musculoskeletal symptoms of shoulders, low back, feet, knees, and thighs with PWLI and the upper back pain with age, working experience, and working hours had significant relationships (P<0.05). According to logistic regression analysis, with the increase of the value of PWLI to more than 90 percentile, the chance of having symptoms of musculoskeletal disorders in low back, knees, and feet and also with the increase of working hour to more than 8 hours, the chance of having symptoms in low back and feet increased significantly. The prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders was high in the studied construction workers. Most of the musculoskeletal symptoms were correlated with PWLI. Therefore, PWLI could be used to determine the construction jobs with the high risk of musculoskeletal disorders. To reduce the symptoms of musculoskeletal disorders in construction workers, the reduction of sources of physical workloads such as heavy material handling and awkward postures are proposed. It is also recommended that the working hours be limited to less than 8 hours.

The lack of fit between tools and human hand could result in musculoskeletal disorders and decrease efficiency. Designing hand tools, anthropometric data of target population is necessary. A few studies have reported the hand anthropometric dimensions of Iranians. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to measure the most important anthropometric dimensions of hand in a population of office staffs in Urmia.
In this study, 20 dimensions of dominant hand were measured in 345 participants (217 males and 128 females) using a digital caliper and a plastic tape. The important percentiles were reported by gender. Independent t-test was used to compare the mean of male and female hand dimensions. The length and width of hand were compared with the corresponding data from published literature.
The values of 5th, 50th, and 95th percentiles were calculated and tabulated by gender. The hand dimensions of men were larger than those of women. The mean of hand dimensions of men was statistically different from those of women (P=0.001). In contrast to women, the hand length and breadth of the men of this study were significantly different from those of the most of the other communities.
The results of this study could be used by designers or importers of hand tools and gloves. Considering the significant differences of hand dimensions between men and women, it is recommended to use hand dimensions of each gender for designing their related products.

The most common type of injuries which occurr during the military training are physical injuries most of which are musculoskeletal ones. The propuse of conducting the present research was to determine the musculoskeletal disorders related to physical activities of the military training course and presenting a preventive ergonomic solution for them.
In this review study, at first articles which had studied on previous researches on Musculoskeletal disorders related to physical activities of the military training course were extracted from five national and international databases including: Google Scholar, Pubmed, Scopus, Magiran and scientific information database without time range limitations. Then, the collected materials were summarized and discussed in two topics: 1. Epidemiology of physical disorders related to the military training course, 2. Preventive ergonomic solution.
The results of the other studies in this field indicated that musculoskeletal injuries are the most common type of physical damages caused by military exercises during military training courses. Meanwhile, the most injuries occur in the lower extremities due to the lack of soft beds and a bumper on military boots as well as the nature and type of these trainings, especially during marching and running. As it has been proven, the usefulness of using in-shoe insoles in preventing injuries from lower limb dysfunction in various randomized clinical trials for soldiers, athletes, and people whose nature of work involve long standing periods and walking long distances. Therefore, the use of these insoles inside the shoes can be considered as one of the most inexpensive but optimal ergonomic solutions.
It issuggested that the Military Services and policy maker organizations consider using insole shoes along with other equipment and supplies for the soldiers right at the beginning of theit training period. This can be affective on financial issues and also on the efficiency of human resources which are considered as the most important capital in every society.

Noise is one of the most important harmful elements in industrial environments causing auditory and non-auditory disorders. One of the non-auditory effects of noise is reducing efficiency and production quality. The aim of the present study was to survey the effects of exposure on selected sound pressure levels in performing skill tasks.
In the laboratory environment, Gold Wave was used to create sound pressure levels of 40, 60, 80 and 100 dB, respectively. The participating subjects in the study were requested to carry out the test of Two-Hand Coordination with starting the noise and after 1 to 2 minutes pause. The testing time and number of errors were registered and recorded.
The results revealed that there was no significant correlation between the interaction of sound pressure level and gender in the testing time (P=0.96%). The findings also showed that the mean of testing time had no statistical significance for males and females (p=0.51%). However, a significant difference was observed by the average of the testing time in sound pressure of different levels (P Noise is an effective factor on accuracy and speed of skill tasks performance. Increasing sound pressure leads to higher error rates in performing skill tasks.

Background & Aims: Nurses working in intensive care units endure more workloads in comparison with other nurses. This workload may lead these nurses to a job burnout. The study aims to investigate and analyze the correlation between workload and job burnout dimensions among nurses working in ICU.
This descriptive – analytical study was performed on all intensive care units staffs of affiliated hospitals of Urmia University of Medical Sciences, with applying census method. A total of 220 nurses were invited to participate. NASA-TLX workload questionnaire and Maslach’s burnout inventory (MBI) were distributed among them. After gathering the questionnaires, the data were analyzed by analytical- descriptive statistics.
Of 220 ICU nurses about 82% with mean age of 35 years were participated in this study, 56.7% of them had a high degree in the field of emotional exhaustion, 40.9% and 35.6% of them a high degree in the lack of personal accomplishments and in depersonalization, respectively. There was a positive and significant correlation between workload and emotional exhaustion (r=0.416), lack of personal accomplishments (r=0.229), and depersonalization (r=0.192), 0.01(P Workload will lead to increase the occupational burnout especially emotional exhaustion in nurses. So it is necessary to apply human sources in ICU according to their workloads.

Professional drivers are apparently more involved in metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its complications due to their working conditions. The outcome may not only be harmful for drivers, but also can be harmful to community as they play critical role in transportation and traffic sectors. Occupational stresses, physical inactivity, prolonged working hours, and inappropriate dietary habits have all been reported as contributors to health risk factors in drivers. The present research was carried out to determine the prevalence of MetS among professional drivers in West Azerbaijan province in Iran. Medical documentation was the source of data for the reported study. It derived from medical examinations of 10000 among long distance drivers in West Azerbaijan province applying for driving license. The MetS was defined using International Diabetes Federation criteria. The average age of participants was 38.62±9.7 (20-74) years. The prevalence of MetS in subjects was %33.7 (95%CI: 32.7-34.6). The presence of central obesity was more common than other components %52.3 (95%CI: 51.4-53.2). The associations of MetS with BMI, age, and driving experiences were significant in the logistic regression. By increasing BMI, age, and driving experiences also odds ratio of MetS increased. The study suggests that MetS has become a noteworthy health problem among West Azerbaijan among long distance drivers. Based on these findings, it is recommended to consider training programs, establish pertinent health regulations, and focus on the MetS complications in high risk group to improve and maintain their quality of life and to promote their public health.