فهرست مطالب

Occupational and Environmental Medicine - Volume:7 Issue: 3, Jul 2016

International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
Volume:7 Issue: 3, Jul 2016

  • تاریخ انتشار: 1395/09/02
  • تعداد عناوین: 9
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  • A. Oke, P. Braithwaite, D. Antai Pages 125-147
    Background
    Precarious employment is a major social determinant of health and health inequalities with effects beyond the health of workers.
    Objective
    To investigate the association between precarious employment and sickness absence in 4 Nordic countries, Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden.
    Methods
    Logistic regression analyses were conducted separately for each country on data from 4186 respondents aged 15–65 years in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden derived from the 2010 European Working Conditions Survey. Sickness absence was based on self-reports and defined as absence of seven or more day per year. Precarious employment was operationalized as a multidimensional construct of indicators. Analyses were also conducted separately for men and women.
    Results
    The prevalence of sickness absence was lowest in Sweden (18%), and highest in Finland (28%). 3 precarious employment indicators were positively associated with sickness absence; the pattern being largely similar in the total sample. In the sex-disaggregated sample, 5 precarious employment indicators increased the likelihood of sickness absence; the pattern was heterogeneous, with women generally having significantly higher odds of sickness absence than men. “Low household income” and “sickness presenteeism” were strong predictors of sickness absence among both sexes in most of the 4 studied countries. Sickness absence varied between the Nordic countries in the sex-disaggregated analyses.
    Conclusion
    Precarious employment indicators predicted sickness absence in the Nordic countries. Findings emphasize the need to prioritize informed and monitored collective bargaining for all workers, increase working time flexibility, and improving work conditions.
    Keywords: Sick leave, Employment, Sex, Workplace, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway
  • S. Moitra, P. Thapa, P. Das, J. Das, S. Debnath, M. Singh, A. Datta, S. Sen, S. Moitra Pages 148-155
    Background
    Indian tea industry workers are exposed to various exposures at their workplace.
    Objective
    To investigate the respiratory health of Indian tea industry workers.
    Methods
    We administered a respiratory questionnaire to and measured lung function in workers of 34 tea gardens and 46 tea factories. We used correlation matrices to test the association between their respiratory symptoms and lung functions.
    Results
    The garden workers complained of shortness of breath 3 times higher than the factory workers. However, nasal allergy was more predominant among the factory workers compared to garden workers (69.6% vs 41.2%, p=0.02). The factory workers had higher total (median 107.3% vs 92.9%, p=0.05, as measured by R at 5 Hz) and peripheral airway resistance (143.8% vs 61.1%, p=0.005, as measured by R at 5–20 Hz) than the garden workers. Respiratory symptoms were inversely associated with airway obstruction as measured by the ratio between forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) and forced vital capacity (FVC) and positively correlated with increased overall airway reactance among the workers.
    Conclusion
    Respiratory symptoms and increased allergen susceptibility of Indian tea industry workers due to occupational exposures warrant routine systematic surveillance of their workplace air quality and health monitoring.
    Keywords: Morbidity, Epidemiology, Occupational exposure, Spirometry, Tea, Industry, Manpower, Impulse oscillometry
  • J. Mohd Ridzuan (Bd) Aziah, Wm Zahiruddin Pages 156-163
    Background
    Leptospirosis is a zoonotic disease that is recognized as a re-emerging global public health issue, especially in tropical and subtropical countries. Malaysia, for example, has increasingly registered leptospirosis cases, outbreaks, and fatalities over the past decade. One of the major industries in the country is the palm oil sector, which employs numerous agricultural workers. These laborers are at a particularly high risk of contracting the disease.
    Objective
    To identify the work environment-related risk factors for leptospirosis infection among oil palm plantation workers in Malaysia.
    Methods
    A cross-sectional study involving 350 workers was conducted. The participants were interviewed and administered a microscopic agglutination test. Seropositivity was determined using a cut-off titer of ≥1:100.
    Results
    100 of 350 workers tested positive for leptospiral antibodies, hence, a seroprevalence of 28.6% (95% CI 23.8% to 33.3%). The workplace environment-related risk factors significantly associated with seropositive leptospirosis were the presence of cows in plantations (adjusted OR 4.78, 95% CI 2.76 to 8.26) and the presence of a landfill in plantations (adjusted OR 2.04, 95% CI 1.22 to 3.40).
    Conclusion
    Preventing leptospirosis incidence among oil palm plantation workers necessitates changes in policy on work environments. Identifying modifiable factors may also contribute to the reduction of the infection.
    Keywords: Leptospirosis, Workplace, Risk factors, Agglutination tests, Agricultural worker's diseases
  • M. Mozafari, G. Azami, M. Lotfizadeh Dehkordi, S. Aazami Pages 164-171
    Background
    Several instruments have so far been developed in English language to measure the level of work-family conflict and further validation is required for non-English speakers.
    Objective
    To test factorial structure and construct validity of the Persian version of work-family conflict scale among Iranian nurse.
    Methods
    This study was conducted among 456 Iranian nurses working at public hospitals in 17 provinces from March 2015 to September 2015. We used a self-administrated questionnaire to collect information. Exploratory factor analysis was run using SPSS 21. Then, construct validity was evaluated using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), convergent validity, and discriminant validity by AMOS 21.
    Results
    Exploratory factor analysis extracted four dimensions that explained 65.5% of the variance observed. The results of confirmatory factor analysis showed that our data fitted the hypothesized four dimensional model of work-family conflict construct. The average variance extracted was used to establish convergent and discriminant validity.
    Conclusion
    The Persian version of work-family conflict questionnaire is a valid and reliable instrument among Iranian nurses.
    Keywords: Factor analysis, statistical, Reproducibility of results, Work, Family, Surveys, questionnaires
  • T. Alemayehu, A. Worku, N. Assefa Pages 172-180
    Background
    Health care workers are facing certain occupational hazards because of sharp injury and exposure to human blood and body fluids as a result of handling wastes. Though much attention is paid for the protection of these workers, the number of exposures and injuries do not show a sign of decline from time to time.
    Objective
    To examine the occurrence of sharp injury and exposure to blood and body fluids in health care workers in health care centers in Ethiopia.
    Methods
    In a case-control study, a randomly selected sample of 65 health facilities with 391 cases and 429 controls were studied. Data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire. Detailed analysis of exposure among the health care workers was done by logistic regression analysis with generalized estimating equations model to control correlation effects of responses within the cluster of health facilities.
    Results
    The number of health care workers who got sharp injury was 217 (26.5%). 296 (36.1%) had exposure to blood and body fluids. Working at Harari region (adjusted OR 0.44, 95% CI 0.26 to 0.75) and East Hararghea (adjusted OR 0.61, 95% CI 0.40 to 0.94), being male (adjusted OR 0.56, 95% CI 0.44 to 0.91), and a being nurse (adjusted OR 0.188, 95% CI 0.06 to 0.63) were independent risk factors of the exposure.
    Conclusion
    Regardless of the anticipated low self-reporting for exposure status, the number of health care workers reported having sharp injury and exposure to blood and body fluids was high. Such high exposures indicate that health care workers are at high risk of acquiring blood-borne viral infections such as hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and HIV.
    Keywords: Health personnel, Waste management, Health facilities, Needlestick injuries, Blood, Body fluid, Hospitals, Occupational exposure, Ethiopia
  • P. Tripathi, R. Tiwari, R. Kamath Pages 181-185
    Fisheries industry in India is an unorganized sector of occupation where considerable proportion of workers is female. However, the prevalent gender inequality in terms of task allocation, wages, and other welfare facilities makes the men as dominant workforce. Furthermore, there are occasions when incidents of workplace violence take place. The present study was conducted to find the prevalence of workplace violence at worksite and study gender bias in such events. In a cross-sectional study 171 fishermen and fisherwomen were interviewed to collect information about workplace violence. The overall prevalence of workplace violence reported was 14.6%. This included 2 (8%) cases of physical assault, 1 (4%) case of sexual harassment of fisherwoman by her colleague and 22 (88%) cases of verbal abuse. A significant (p=0.002) association was found between gender and verbal abuse at the workplace. In conclusion, this study highlighted the occurrence of workplace violence among fishery workers in India. There was a gender bias towards females that can be attributed to male dominance in this occupation.
    Keywords: Gender, Workplace violence, Sexual harassment, Fisheries, India
  • S. Raeisi, R. Osqueizadeh, M. Maghsoudipour, As Jafarpisheh Pages 186-192
    Operator's role in industrial control centers takes place in time, which is one of the most important determinants of whether an expected action is going to be successful or not. In certain situations, due to the complex nature of the work, the existing interfaces and already prepared procedures do not meet the dynamic requirements of operator's cognitive demands, making the control tasks unnecessarily difficult. This study was conducted to identify ergonomic issues with a specific industrial control panel, and redesign its layout and elements to enhance its usability. Task and link analysis methodologies were implemented. All essential functions and supporting operations were identified at the required trivial levels. Next, the weight of any possible link between the elements of the panel was computed as a composite index of frequency and importance. Finally, all components were rearranged within a new layout, and a computerized mockup was generated. A total of 8 primary tasks was identified, including 4 system failure handling tasks, switching between manual and automated modes, and 3 types of routine vigilance and control tasks. These tasks were broken down into 28 functions and 145 supporting operations, accordingly. Higher link values were observed between hand rest position and 2 elements. Also, 6 other components showed robust linkages. In conclusion, computer modeling can reduce the likelihood of accidents and near misses in industrial control rooms by considering the operator's misperception or mental burden and correcting poor design of the panels and inappropriate task allocation.
    Keywords: Industry, Human engineering, Computer-aided design, Human factors, ergonomics, Man-machine systems
  • H. Seifpanahi-Shabani, M. Abbasi, I. Salehi, Z. Yousefpour, A. Zamani Pages 193-194
  • Pages 195-196