Journal of Occupational

  Background: Millions of construction industry accidents occur in the world causing demages and injuries to workers and consequently economical losses every year. The aim of this study was to determine an estimator model for accidents among construction industry workers, in the years 2006 - 2011 for the first time, in Yazd city.

  Materials and Methods: In this descriptive study, the questionnaire included items asking about variables such as age, occupation, type of accident, injured organ and the outcome of the accident. Time Series Model was used in this study to estimate accidents among the Yazd construction workers up to 2011.

  Results: Fatality rate of workers who did not have insurance was more than those who had, which was statistically significant (p < 0.001). The greatest rate of accident was falling (48.58%) and the lowest was chocking (29%). The relationships of accident outcomes with type of occupation and also the injured part of body were statistically significant in the construction industry (p<0.001). After testing many models, time series model of quadratic form was the closest model to the trend of data.

Conclusions: This model estimation shows that if the situation is the same as now in 2011 the accident cases will be more than 300 per year in 2012 and later. So this model is recommended to make changes in the trend for preventing the accidents in the future.

Background: In spite of science and technology developments and their application in different industries, accidents occur in many work environments. Thus, this study was conducted in order to investigate factors affecting constructional accidents.

Materials and Methods: In this descriptive study, all workers who were injured in building construction during 2009-2010 and were registered in the Labor and Social Welfare Corporation were investigated. The data was collected through a checklist, and then, entered into SPSS software and analyzed using descriptive statistical methods.

Results: Most of the accidents (about 40%) have occurred in the 24-29 year age group. Improvidence and nonuse of protective and safety instruments are the cause of 42% and 30% of accidents, respectively. The most injured parts of the body were the head (about 60%) and hands (about 45%). The least number of injured individuals was in the insulation and formatting sections (each one about 5%). Most injured persons were hired for less than 1 month (40%) and had job experience of less than 5 years (45%). Approximately 0.5% of injured persons have died and 35% of events have caused bone fracture in different parts of the body.

Conclusions: The instructions related to protection, conforming to the related principles during work, and suggestion of solutions in order to prevent nonchalance, particularly for individuals with low job experience, will help to prevent accidents.

Background: There is a high prevalence of  occupational injuries due to accidents in construction industries which affect human health. Therefore, the exploration and analysis of contributing factors of such accidents can lead to their prevention and the reduction of their consequences. This study was conducted with the aim to identify factors related to occupational injuries and the severity of their consequences on large construction sites in Iran.

 Materials & Methods: This study was an cross-sectional investigation on five-sequential-year accidents on large construction sites. Data includeds the information of 500 human injuries due to accidents. Data analysis was carried out using SPSS statistical software and statistical tests such as linear regression, independent sample t-test, and one-way ANOVA.

Results: The mean accident frequency rate and accident severity rate was 4.71 and 216.28, respectively. The average age and job experience of injured workers were 29.18 ± 7.67 and 4.67 ± 3.9 years respectively, and had significant statistical difference with accident frequency rate and accident severity rate (P < 0.05). The association between accident indices and all factors related to accident type, equipment-related factors, unsafe condition and act and accident nature was found to be significant (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the results showed that accident frequency rate and accident severity rate had a significant association with all factors related to health, safety, and the environment (HSE) training, housekeeping and HSE control measures (P < 0.05).

Conclusions: The results indicate that the occurrence and severity of construction accidents were due to the combination of failures in a collection of different contributing factors including demographical and organizational factors, accident type, factors related to work conditions and equipment, unsafe actions and conditions, nature of accidents, HSE training and control measures, and accident time and place. Therefore, to prevent and reduce the rate of such accidents, all these factors should be regarded.

Background: Safety culture and attitude form an integral part of organizations' cultures and their improved levels are influential in the prevention of occupational accidents and injuries. The present study was conducted to assess the safety culture and attitude of workers in the mining industry in Iran.

Materials and Methods: The present cross-sectional study was conducted on 172 workers employed in GolGohar Mine in Southeast Iran. Data were collected using a standard safety culture questionnaire, and then, analyzed in SPSS software using ANOVA, independent t-test, and the linear regression model.

Results: Participants' mean age and mean length of work experience were 38.13 ± 7.11 and 9.95 ± 4.84 years, respectively. The level of education was found to be significantly related to management commitment (P = 0.003) and training (P = 0.001). Age was found to be significantly related to management commitment (P = 0.044), exchange of information (P = 0.020), and training (P = 0.047). In addition, work experience was found to be significantly related to training (P = 0.010) and safety prioritization (P = 0.002). However, employment and marital status had no significant relationships with the culture of safety (P > 0.050). Participants had experienced no occupational accidents during the course of their work.

Conclusions: The present study showed the effectiveness of the level of education, age, and work experience in promoting the culture of safety. Adopting measures to increase the employment of better educated individuals, providing safety training prior to recruitment, and using more experienced workers’ recommendations can promote the culture of safety in the organization and reduce occupational accidents.

Background: Injuries and accidents are one of the main problems in the present century. The purpose of this study was the identification and analysis of the characteristics of pre-hospital emergency motor vehicle accidents (MVA) in Rafsanjan, Iran, in 2014.

Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study was performed on all patients recorded by pre-hospital emergency during a period of one year (from 21 March 2013 to 20 March 2014). Our data were obtained from a crash record book kept at pre-hospital emergency dispatch. The crash database variables include age and gender of victims, vehicle type, type of collision, response time, location, and crash hotspots, and severity of injury. Accident data have been analyzed in SPSS software.

Results: In 2014, 1878 injured patients were transported to the general hospital by pre-hospital emergency dispatch. The mean age of victims was 29.10 ± 15.65 years, with the age range of 1-95 years. Among these cases, 85.8% were men and 14.2% were women. The majority of the patients (56.7%) were in the age range of 15-29 years, 30-44 years (20.6%), and 46-65 years (10.8%), respectively. Motorcycle accidents were the major cause of injuries (48.6%), and 4 patients (0.2% of all cases) died on the accident scene.

Conclusions: In the present study, motorcycle accidents constitute the majority of cases of MVAs. Therefore, safety training targeted at motorcyclists would be one of the best interventions for the prevention and controlling of trauma due to MVAs. This intervention could be the most efficient among younger drivers.

Background: Accidents, such as domestic accidents, and the resulting injuries are presently a matter of concern in communities. Some factors such as urbanization cause an increase in the incidence of accidents for recognized and unrecognized reasons. The aim of the present study was to investigate the incidence of domestic accidents among a group of families who had migrated to the determined urban aria (Rafsanjan County, Kerman Province, Iran) and compare the results with that of urban families in the last year.

Materials and Methods: In this descriptive study, we compared the 1-year incidence rate of domestic accidents among 115 families who had migrated to Rafsanjan County from rural areas and 100 families who had lived in Rafsanjan throughout their life. Data were collected during 3 years (2009-2012) using the study checklist during interview sessions. Families were recruited via urban health centers. All indoor accidents and injuries which were serious enough to require medical intervention were considered as domestic accidents. Data were analyzed in SPSS software using parametric and non-parametric tests.

Results: The mean age of injured individuals in migrated and urban families were 35.9 ± 18.7 and 30.7 ± 20.6, respectively. In addition, 22 cases of injuries were reported among urban families (1-year incidence rate = 220 cases per 1000 families) and 37 cases were reported among migrated families (1-year incidence rate = 322 cases per 1000 families). There was a significant difference between these incidence rates (P < 0.01).

Conclusions: Our finding showed that individuals who migrate to an urban area are at a higher risk of experiencing domestic accidents compared to those who are familiar with the urban lifestyle. This might be due to the novelty of the city lifestyle for those who have immigrated to the urban area from rural regions. More investigations are needed to shed more light on this phenomenon.

Background: In recent decades, ‎due to the increase in users of roads and inadequate attention to the creation and development of appropriate passageways for traffic, there has been a growing trend in traffic accidents and casualties caused by them. The traffic accidents among pedestrians to take necessary measures in a timely fashion should be well studied. This study was conducted with the goal of survey traffic accidents among pedestrians in 2014.

Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted using data from the National Accidents Record Program ‎regarding 2013. In this study, all traffic accidents in which the injured person was referred to a public or private ‎hospital in the country to receive health services or was transferred to the hospital by EMS 115 and ‎received remedial measures on an outpatient or inpatient basis in all provinces were considered‎. The incidence of pedestrian-vehicle accidents‎ was calculated per ten thousand. Map GIS software package was used for the mapping of occurrence of events and Microsoft EXCEL and Stata software were used for data analysis.

Results: In this study, the 82066 pedestrians who were injured in road accidents consisted of a total of 53240 men and 28826 women. The rate of traffic accidents was higher in men than in women (64.87% and 35.13%, respectively) and the majority of individuals affected were in the age group of 20 to 24 years. Most pedestrian-vehicle ‎accidents had occurred on the street (89.8%).

Conclusion: Pedestrians are at risk of the irreversible outcomes of traffic accidents; therefore, effective and regular training on the prevention of injury and secure environment is essential to reduce injuries.

Background: One of the challenges in construction is the occurrence of numerous accidents. In this regard, risk assessment can play an important role in reducing accidents. The aim of this study was to prepare comprehensive and quantitative checklists to determine the potential hazards in the construction phase.

Materials and Methods: The present descriptive and analytical study was carried out on petrochemical projects in the south of Iran in 2014. After the inspection of more than 50 construction projects, two types of technical and managerial checklists were designed. The managerial and technical checklists were designed with seven and 32 major subjects, respectively. Finally prepared checklist and ET&BA method were compared in term of their risk identification capability.

Results: The checklist and ET&BA methods, respectively, identified 300, 75, 125, and 48, and 107, 25, 12, and 0 risks related to hardware, design, mismanagement, and human error.

Conclusions: The checklist method can identify and assess human errors, while the ET&BA method cannot. Moreover, this method was more efficient than the ET&BA technique in identification and assessment of hardware-related, design-related, and managerial risks. Moreover, the duration and cost of implementation of checklist method were significantly lower than ET&BA method. This technique can be introduced as a quantitative risk assessment method in construction phases of projects and its weaknesses can be improved by future studies.

Background: A road traffic accident is an incident on a way or street open to public traffic, resulting in one or more persons being killed or injured, and involving at least one moving vehicle. The purpose of this study was to present the prevalence and factors associated with road traffic accident in Chuko town , Southern Ethiopia
Materials and Method: Community based cross sectional study was done in Chuko Town with a total sample size of 422 from March 27 to April 4, 2009 E.C Questionnaire consists of demographic characteristics like age, occupation, level of education and cause of RTA. The study employed chi-square analysis. Data from qualitative was analyzed manually then triangulated with the quantitative one. The result is presented using descriptive statistics using tables and graphs.
Result: A total of 422 respondents participated in our study with 100% respondent rate. Among the participants, 99(23.5%) of them had previous history of RTA. Concerning the causes of RTA, 141(33.4%) majority of them were caused by poor road condition followed by 119(28.2%) by over speed. The results from FGDs and interviews showed that the Town has traffic flow and motor bikes were most common causes of the accident.
Conclusion: The study found out that RTA is big problem of the Town The most common cause of RTA is poor road condition and Motor Bikes are most commonly involved in the accident.
 

Background: Accidents and injuries are one of the most important causes of disability and death in developing countries. This study was conducted to determine the incidence rate and epidemiological characteristics of accidents in the Khomein city.
Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study was done by national program of accidents and injuries registry data in the Khomein city (n=986(. To calculate the annually Incidence Rate (IR) and age-standardized incidence rate (ASR), the world standard population was used. Chi-square and independent t-test were used to examine the relationship or difference between variables.
Results: The mean age of the injured cases was 33.5±18.2 year. The annually Incidence Rate (IR) of accidents and injuries was 941.2 cases per 100,000, while the age-standardized incidence rate (ASR) were estimated 919 per 100,000 people. The sex ratio (male to female) in all accidents was 2.45. The most incidents occurred in both sexes were reported car accidents (32.55%), motorcycle accidents (31.8%), pedestrian accidents (16.5%) and poisoning (6.18%), respectively. Significant difference was observed between gender and type of incidents. Suicide attempts in the female group were 6.5 times higher than the male group.
Conclusion: The incidence rate of traffic crashes in the city of Khomein is several times higher than provincial and national levels. Therefore, should be In addition to the optimizing the roads and removing the Accident-prone spots. The high occurrence of poisonings and suicide attempt in the women's group is warning danger for the authorities to take preventive policies and applying cultural mechanisms to reduce this ratio.

Background: Non-organizational or non-occupational factors are among the most important risk factors that significantly influence the emergence of occupational accidents. This study aimed to investigate the association between non-organizational factors and occupational accidents.
Materials and Methods: In this descriptive study the structural equation modeling was applied on the data that was collected using a self-developed questionnaire. The random selected sample (n=360) included damaged people referred to the emergency department in Tehran province for treatment during a five-year period (2019-2015). The data analysis was carried out using IBM SPSS AMOS v. 23.0. The goodness of fit indices, including χ2/df, RMSEA, GFI, CFI, NFI, and TLI, were evaluated.
Results: The mean age and work experience of the experts' panel was 37.52±2.73 and 9.90±3.18 years, respectively. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the non-organizational factors of occupational accidents was calculated as 0.86. Generally, 35.3% of accidents were due to slip and fall, as well as falling the heavy object with 24.1%. The non-organizational index was estimated at 2.95. The factor analysis findings showed a statistically significant association between the non-organizational factors and the occupational accidents (p<0.05).
Conclusion: The results showed a reverse and significant association between the index of non-organizational factors with the title and type of accidents, cause of accidents, type of outcome or damage caused by accidents, and time of accident occurrence. Additionally, this index indicated a direct significant association with the gender, age, work experience, education, marital status, and the type of shift work schedule of the affected people.

Background: Occupational accidents cause death and disabilities among millions of workers around the world. The mining industry is among the riskiest occupations in this respect. This study aims to investigate interventions made and challenges faced by the health system in response to the Zemestan-Yurt Mine explosion in the Golestan Province, Iran, 2017.
Materials and Methods: In this article, being a field report, data were collected through direct observations and interviews with first responders involved in the response process, and by checking national and local reports from other organizations.
Result: On Wednesday, May 4, 2017, at 11:58 AM, an explosion occurred in the Yurt coal mine, Golestan Province, in which 126 people were affected directly or indirectly. In fact, 43 workers were killed immediately after the explosion of a coal wagon, 55 were dispatched to hospitals, and 28 received outpatient health services. In this incident, more than 100 teams from various organizations, including the health system, arrived at the scene and carried out relief and rescue operations.
Conclusions: The results of the current study indicate that the health system does not have specific instructions, training plans, as well as well-trained and prepared personnel for managing mine-related accidents. Besides, interactions are not integrated and coordinated among disaster management response teams. Therefore, developing preparedness instructions for responding to disasters, forming rapid response teams and training them for industrial accidents, as well as performing joint exercises and drills with responsible organizations can be effective in improving responses to such accidents.

Background: Road accidents, as the main causes of mortality and disability in the world, have been seriously endangering human health. Human factors are among the most significant causes of road accidents. This study aimed to investigate the association between high-risk behaviors among truck drivers with their fatigue and drowsiness in the occurrence of road accidents and near miss accidents.
Materials and Methods: This descriptive study was conducted recruiting 200 truck drivers in Tehran using two-stage cluster sampling method, in 2019. A standard driver safety questionnaire was used to collect data, with its reliability measured by the test-retest method. The Fisher's test, a chi-squared test, and the Pearson’s correlation were used to analyze the data.
Results: The mean age of the drivers and the mean hour of driving were 47.5 ± 9.05 years and 10.66 ± 2.52 hours, respectively. In addition, the number of accidents had a significant association with the drivers' age, drowsiness, talking on the cell phone, texting, eating snacks, and driving hours. However, it had no significant relationship with drinking tea and smoking. Furthermore, the rate of road accidents had a significant correlation with the drivers' driving time and rest hours.
Conclusion: Behaviors and factors, such as talking on the cell phone, texting, eating snacks, long hours of driving per day, long hours of nonstop driving, low rest hours, and drowsiness were among the major causes of accidents among trucks drivers. In this regard, authorities are recommended to run educational courses to modify high-risk driving behaviors so as to reduce road accidents.