Background: Fumes released form welding activities are capable of initiating several acute and chronic respiratory effects. Objectives: The aim of the present study was to evaluate respiratory symptoms and spirometry parameters in welders of a steel industry. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in a steel industry and involved 60 welders and 40 non-welders. A questionnaire was used to record participants' details, and to determine pulmonary function values the spirometric test was used. Pearson correlation, paired and independent t test as statistic tests were used for data analysis. Results:Comparison between pulmonary function values (PFV) showed a significant relationship between forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) and 25% -75% forced expiratory flow (FEF25 -75%) of the two groups. These values in the welder group had a significant reduction and declines were from 6 to 11 mL. Age and work experience showed a significant correlation with PFV in the two groups. Conclusions: All workers that participated in this study were relatively young and considering them being young and not having long history of work experience, our results revealed that welders had less respiratory capacity and this was related to increasing work experience and age, but inconsistent with smoking habits of the two groups.
Background: The perception that water treatment and supply systems are not safe against accident and human errors as well as disease outbreaks is growing. Many major events around the world have been attributed to human error. In general, human errors are defined as situations where planned series of mental or physical activities fail to achieve its desired result. Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed to predict human error in the Khorramabad water treatment plant. Human error in the telemetry control room as well as relevant units was assessed with standard charts, tables, and reference work sheets. At first, all different activities of the unit were considered after interviewing the workers as well as consulting with supervisors and also by hierarchical task analysis HTA. Then the SHERPA method was applied to identify potential human errors. Results: Seventy-nine human errors were identified in various job tasks. Results showed that 51.8% of them are action errors, 38.4% are checking errors, 7.59% are retrieval errors, 0.006% is communication errors, and 0% for selection errors. Conclusions: It can therefore be concluded that the most prevalent errors are checking and action errors. Thus, it is suggested that work instructions, staff training, and employing inspection operators to monitor the performances should be considered as a priority. Furthermore, it can be concluded that SHERPA is appropriate for many industries such as water treatment plants.
Background: The health service centers should have the ability to protect people while facing a natural or man-made disaster and present appropriate performance in disasters. Objectives: The current study was designed aiming at studying the performance, structural, and non-structural preparedness level of health service centers of Dashti city in Bushehr province. Methods: This study was performed in 2018. The data collection tool was the standard observational checklist of the world health organization. Sampling was done using a census method to study all health service centers. The data were analyzed with Excel software and descriptive statistics were calculated. Results: In terms of the performance and preparedness, the investigated health service centers obtained a total score of 39.40, which showed the poor level of preparedness. In terms of structural preparedness, a total score of 77.57 was measured that showed the health service centers were at a good level of structural preparedness. The score of 56.59 for non-structural preparedness revealed a moderate level of non-structural preparedness. Conclusions: The investigated health service centers in terms of performance were in a poor situation. In terms of the structural dimension, due to improvements accomplished in two recent years, the investigated centers were in a good level of preparedness; but, in terms of the non-structural elements, they were placed in the moderate level. Thus, strategic planning and promotion of health service centers' preparedness are necessary.
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