Health in Emergencies and Disasters Quarterly
Volume:4 Issue: 4, Summer 2019

Health, safety, and environmental status of the parks are essential issues that must be addressed before accidents and the resulted complications. Given the importance of safety for people, especially children in parks and, on the other hand, regarding the traditional approach for managing urban parks in Iran, which focuses on the problems after a crisis and the associated significant physical and financial losses, this study attempted to systematically review the health, safety, and environmental (HSE) status of the urban parks in Iran.

A systematic search for the studies published in Persian until 2018 was conducted in Google Scholar, SID, and MagIran databases. Health and safety status was assessed using the factors, including a sense of safety, legible design, physical safety, lighting, physical accessibility, environment, special facilities, and health safety. Other information was collected using a questionnaire.

Twelve studies were included in the review. The results showed that the HSE status of the urban parks in Tehran City and other major cities of Iran was poor to moderate. In other cities, the poor HSE status was also observed.

Considering the poor HSE conditions of the urban parks in Iran, the implementation of a comprehensive HSE management program is recommended.

Every year, over 200 million people worldwide suffer from life-threatening emergencies and natural disasters. By participating in crisis management, different people and various sectors of the society can reduce the country’s vulnerability to natural disasters. One of the most critical issues in crisis management is the participation of people in all of its processes. This partnership is done by people without the legal requirements and to help themselves and others at risk. An adequate understanding of the critical factors affecting people’s participation in crisis management can result in controlling these factors, giving appropriate direction to the public assistance in the community and making the necessary coordination between governmental and non-governmental resources leading to greater synergy and effectiveness in activities related to the disaster response phase. 

The purpose of this qualitative content analysis was to identify and analyze the factors affecting social participation in natural disasters in Iran. Based on the findings of this study, we identified the social-intellectual authority of the community, the public’s perception of the state, the existence of trustworthy relief organizations, perceived social trust (trust in risk communication), cohesion, solidarity and social relations (social belonging), executive contexts of the community participation in crisis management, subjective perceptions and beliefs of the community members, people’s attitude towards society (fundamental trust) as effective factors in social participation in natural disasters in Iran. 

The findings of this study showed that an increase and improvement in the process of social participation in disasters requires modifying social interactions and relationships, redesigning the structure and functioning of the associated organizations, improving social and psychological behaviors, as well as providing the context. 

These are necessary for the active and efficient participation of individuals and social organizations in case of natural disasters.

Success and profitability of an organization as a social system depend on the effective use of human resources. Job satisfaction is one of the most important issues related to human resources and has long been the focus of attention in organizational studies. Although existing studies have identified several factors affecting job satisfaction, few studies have evaluated the status of Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) management and job satisfaction in Iran. Employees are exposed to various work-related hazards and crises. Hence, attention to various environmental threats and control of occupational safety and health risks should be considered as one of the major and indispensable goals of the organization. In this regard, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between OHS management and job satisfaction among employees of nongovernmental rehabilitation centers under the supervision of the Welfare Organization in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province using crisis management approach.

This descriptive correlational study was carried out on 220 employees of non-governmental rehabilitation centers in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, who were selected using the census sampling method. Data collection tools were the Persian version of the Job Descriptive Index instrument and a researcher-made questionnaire in Persian for the assessment of OHS management, which has acceptable validity based on by the opinion of several academic experts. It also has good reliability based on the value of the Cronbach alpha coefficient. The obtained data were analyzed in SPSS v. 20 at a significant level of P<0.05 using the independent t-test, linear regression analysis, and Pearson correlation test.

showed a significant relationship between OHS management in non-governmental rehabilitation centers and their employees’ job satisfaction (P<0.05). In general, the OHS management and job satisfaction in these centers were at a moderate level.

The job satisfaction level of the employees and the OHS management of the non-governmental rehabilitation centers in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad need to be improved. Also, since the OHS management of the workplace is one of the essential indicators of crisis management and safety during emergencies, it is necessary to implement effective management measures to optimize the assessment of OHS performance in the framework of crisis management and risk reduction in organizations.

One of the indicators for measuring the development of a country is its death rate caused by accidents and disasters. Every year, many people in Iran are drowned for various reasons. This study aimed to predict the trend of drowning mortality in Iran using statistical models.

This research was a longitudinal study using time-series data of drowning deaths obtained from the Iranian Legal Medicine Organization during 2005-2017. The Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) model was used for forecasting, which is based on the Box-Jenkins method consisting of the Autoregressive (AR) model, Moving Average (MA) model, and Autoregressive Moving Average (ARMA) model. The obtained data were analyzed in ITSM software.

A total of 14127 people have died due to drowning in Iran, during 2005-2017, with an average death toll of 1086 people per year. In 2017, the highest number of deaths caused by drowning was recorded in Khuzestan Province (n=161) and the lowest number in South Khorasan Province (n=1). Estimates of the drowning trend indicated that the number of drowning deaths in Iran would continue to decline in the coming years.

The high accuracy of prediction using the Box-Jenkins method indicates its effectiveness for experts and managers to predict drowning death rates.

Drivers play a crucial role in accidents. By paying attention to brake lights, a driver may find out about danger and react adequately. Rear-end collision accidents are caused by the driver’s inattention or slow reaction. This study aimed to determine the effect of dynamic flashing brake lights (7 Hz) on drivers’ brake reaction time using the driving simulator. 

This experimental study was done on 46 volunteer drivers (10 females and 36 males). After verification of drivers’ vision health by an optometrist (10/10 complete and non-color blindness) and responding to a demographic questionnaire, the participants were subjected to drive for an hour during day and night using a driving simulator system with the standard and dynamic flashing brake lights. 

The results indicated that for each 1 year increase in the drivers’ age, the brake reaction time decreased 11.585 ms. Women had slower brake reaction time than men (75.52 ms). No significant relationship was found between the driving condition and brake reaction time. Computer driving gamers had shorter mean reaction time compared with non-game players. The time elapsed since taking a driving license had no significant effect on reaction time. Using flashing brake lights reduced the brake reaction time of drivers (323.42 ms; P<0.001).

The current research using dynamic flashing brake lights with a flashing frequency of 7 Hz showed that flashing brake lights significantly reduced the brake reaction time. This reduction was equivalent to 10.78 m at a speed of about 120 km/h or 7.19 m at 80 km/h.

Human capital development in emergency departments of the country has been very slow despite all the efforts of scholars and experts. This study was conducted to investigate the organizational forgetting context and its role in improving the performance of emergency departments of the country through human capital in Shiraz emergency bases.

This study has a correlational research design. We used the Aledo Ruíz et al. (2017) questionnaire to measure research variables. The statistical population comprised all personnel of the Shiraz emergency bases. The questionnaire was randomly distributed among the staff of Shiraz emergency bases and 136 questionnaires were selected for statistical analysis. To investigate the research hypotheses, we used structural equation analysis with the partial least squares method in SmartPLS software.

The results of the data analysis indicated that the exogenous study variables of integration of concepts (β=0.226, P<0.05), coordination of insights (β=0.12, P<0.05), and changing personal habits (β=0.42, P<0.05) have a direct and positive effect on human capital. Also, human capital (β=0.73, P<0.05) was positively correlated with the performance of emergency bases.

Findings show that generating organizational forgetting has a positive relationship with human capital. If the employees can develop their skills by reflecting on their past, present, and future decisions or through a dialogue with their managers, they can change their behaviors and ideas and create new ones. So if managers encourage employees to transfer their knowledge to other coworkers and use their expertise to develop new ideas and solutions, they can develop human capital. The findings also indicate a positive relationship between human capital and organizational performance. Thus, if the emergency bases regard organizational forgetting as an early stage in the creation of human capital, they can improve organizational performance. Besides, the results showed that organizational forgetting has an indirect impact on organizational performance through the development and establishing of new capabilities and skills that increase the value of human capital.

Hospital and prehospital emergencies are the first lines of coping and dealing with emergencies as well as emerging crises of special status. Developing and improving the readiness of these centers is considered as the main component for success in the universities of Medical Sciences. This study aimed to assess the preparedness of the incident command system in Qom hospitals, Qom City, Iran.

This descriptive-analytic study was conducted on 120 senior managers, nursing directors, administrative and financial members of the Crisis Committee of 7 hospitals in Qom. The obtained data were collected using the standard disaster preparedness questionnaire with 4 domains. The researcher collected the study data through observation, interview, and review of the committee’s documents. The collected data were analyzed in SPSS V. 20 using descriptive-analytical statistics, such as mean, standard deviation, and independent t-test.

The mean knowledge scores of supervisors and members of the Disaster Management Committee were 14.51 and 14.62, respectively, which was not significantly different (P = 0.486). In addition, the mean attitude scores of the supervisors and members of the Committee were 69.66 and 70.70, respectively, which was not significantly significant (P = 0.437). Regarding practice, the mean scores of the practice of the supervisors and members were 9.62 and 12.0, respectively, which was significantly different (P = 0.045).

Proper management of crises is achievable by organizing, coordinating, and strengthening all members of the crisis team.

The lack of expressing opinions of employees working in organizations can cause a phenomenon called organizational silence. Organizational silence has a damaging effect on employee’s productivity. The organizational sound and silence about organizational performance are currently one of the fundamental organizational challenges.

In this descriptive, correlational study, regression analysis was used to analyze the relationship between the studied factors. Using the Morgan table and stratified random sampling method, 317 subjects were selected and assessed by the structural equation modeling (SEM) with SmartPLS software.

The results showed a significant relationship between organizational silence and performance with a path coefficient of 0.179 and a significant difference of 3.289. Also, there was a significant relationship between organizational voice and performance with a path coefficient of 0.393 and a significant level of 6.766. Besides, a significant relationship existed between organizational voice and ethical leadership with a path coefficient of 0.247 and a significance level of 3.883, and finally, between the focal variables (silence and organizational voice) and organizational performance with moral leadership with a path coefficient of 0.315 and a significance of 5,485. Accordingly, the results indicated the suitability of the model.

The results showed a significant relationship between organizational sound and silence and employee’s performance, considering the mediating role of moral leadership in the organization. It can be concluded that one of the essential tasks of firefighters and firefighting leaders and managers is to identify and break the climate of silence and motivate the employees to talk in their workplace for subsequently improving their performances.