Iranian civilization is one of the oldest and most influential civilizations of history, and Iran as the origin of Persian civilization, has been ruled by numerous states throughout history. Some of ...them, while enjoying considerable glory and high level of economic and political power, have sometimes been declined and finally overthrown. It should be mentioned that various factors contribute to collapse and decline of a civilization, or its survival and life. In this study, it is attempted to reply to the study's questions by using historical analysis method, and observing ascent and descent of Iranian ancient government. The findings of this study imply that failing to reach justice, accountability, and public participation, as well as factors like despotism, narcissism, and discrimination speeds the decline. The results of the present study indicate, injustice is the main factor of Iranian states' collapse and reduction of their intelligence level in various civilizations.
Health needs assessment (HNA) is essential for allocation of limited resources to the most prioritized problems. HNA in work places has gained increasing importance. Kaveh industrial city is the ...largest and oldest industrial city in Iran, with a wide range of different industries, making it an exemplary industrial city in Iran. This study was done to conduct health needs assessment of workers in Kaveh industrial city.
In this study, intensive HNA approach and qualitative method were used. In-depth interviews and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) were conducted to collect information related to health risk factors, and Delphi method was used to prioritize these risk factors. A total of 74 key informants participated in this study, which constituted more than 80% of the total related experts of Kaveh industrial city.
The main identified health challenge was inefficiency of the existing Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) control and monitoring system. The most important physical health risk factors were smoking and obesity and the most prioritized psychosocial risk factors were stress and lack of appropriate management and organizational culture. Ergonomic issues and noise pollution were the prioritized work environmental factors and inappropriate placement of pollutant industries in the industrial city was the most prioritized bioenvironmental risk factor. Unsafe road to industrial zone and poor safety devices used by workers were the most prioritized occupational injuries risk factors.
Addressing the identified health needs of workers in Kaveh industrial city is of high importance. Also, redefining the HSE control and monitoring system should be prioritized.
Background and aims: The diversity of health, safety and environmental issues (HSE) and limitations of the resources hinders response to all the research needs in the field of HSE. HSE promotion and ...policy making require research based on the real needs and problems of the society. Although, the budget allocated to the research is limited, this budget is not optimally utilized in present situation of Iran. Therefore, setting research priority in HSE is important to direct the flow of resources to the real needs of the society. This study aims to define research priorities in the field of HSE with the use of experts’ and other stakeholders’ opinions. Methods: The qualitative research method was used in this study. The proposed model of Council on Health Research for Development (COHRED) was applied in five stages including stakeholder analysis, situation analysis, identifying research topics, scoring research priority using defined criteria and prioritizing researches based on maximum agreement. The first stage was stakeholder analysis, the centers, institutions, organizations and universities related to HSE field were identified through review of literature, investigating Iranian scientific journals and by asking the experts. Also, the contact information of 70 experts, professionals, and stakeholders who were members of health centers, institutions or universities in the field of HSE were collected. In the second stage, an extensive search was done on the literature and published scientific articles from 2014 to 2019 in google scholar. The articles were selected through investigating the title and abstract of the articles and then studying deeper into the texts. Also, the official websites of Ministry of Health and Medical Education, Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare, Ministry of Industry, Mine and Commerce were examined. The third stage was to identify the research topics and occupational areas, which was done by using the classification of International Labor Organization and also through brain storming of the experts. The fourth stage was scoring the priority of researches in each occupational area and research topic based on criteria such as necessity of research, appropriateness of the research to the target population, feasibility of researches based on the available resources and the research outcome. Scoring was done in a panel discussion based on a Likert scale of 1 to 9 by experts; one represented the lowest and represented the highest priorities. The fifth step was to prioritize the researches based on mean score given by the experts. Results: Situation analysis of studies in the field of HSE from 2014 to 2019 in Iran showed that most studies have been conducted in industries. According to experts, in the field of health and environment, the highest research priority was given to agriculture, fisheries, and livestock, and the highest priority to safety was given to workers in industry and mines, construction and driving. Also, workers in medium and small scale constructions and workers in small and medium industries and mines had the highest priority in the ten research areas in health and safety. Agriculture, fisheries, husbandry and poultry had the highest priority in most of the ten research areas in environment. Among the three HSE domains, in the managerial and sales jobs, the research priority was given to occupational health research. Priority research in health care, industries and mines and construction, service, armed forces and driving related jobs were given to safety related researches. In agriculture, fisheries and husbandry, the priority of research was given to environmental issues and then to occupational health. In the area of occupational health, the highest priority in managerial occupations was given to the researches that assess impact of different program. In sales jobs, the highest priority was given to the research area of developing new interventions or solutions. In large scale industries and mines, the highest priority was given to the researches that are related to developing interventions or solutions, but in medium and small industries and mines, the highest priority was given to the researches that assess the impact of a program or intervention. In the field of medium and small-scale construction workers, the highest priority was given to the research area of qualitative or quantitative situation analysis and assessing the causes of a problem. In the service occupations, the highest priority was given to the research area of qualitative or quantitative situation analysis. In the military occupations, the highest priority was assigned to the research area of developing new interventions or solutions. In large scale agriculture, fisheries, husbandry and poultry industries, the highest priority was given to the research area of determining the trends of a situation or problem. In agriculture, fisheries, husbandry and poultry industries of medium and small industries, the highest priority was assigned to the field of evaluation of the impact of programs. In the driving jobs, higher priority was given to the research area of developing new interventions or solutions. In the area of occupational safety research, the highest priority in managerial occupations was given to the research domain of cost effectiveness or cost benefit analysis. In the health care occupations, the highest priority was given to Evaluation of the interventions. In sales jobs, the highest priority was given to the research area of developing new interventions or solutions. In the field of large-scale mining and industrial workers, the highest priority was given to research in developing new interventions or solutions. In the field of medium and small-scale industrial and mining workers, the highest priority was given to evaluation of the interventions. In the field of large industrial construction, the highest priority was given to determining the trends of a situation or problems and developing new interventions or solutions. In the service occupations, the highest priority was given to the research area of developing new interventions or solutions. In the military occupations, the highest priority was devoted to the research of developing new interventions or solutions and evaluation of the interventions. In agriculture, fisheries, poultry, and small and medium-sized industries, the highest priority was given to evaluation of the impact of programs. In the driving jobs, the highest priority was given to the research area of developing new interventions or solutions. In the area of environmental research, the highest priority in managerial occupations was given to determining the trends of a situation or problems and developing plans or strategies. In the health care jobs, the highest priority was given to the evaluation of the interventions. In sales jobs, the highest priority was given to the qualitative or quantitative situation analysis. The highest priority was given to developing new interventions or solutions for workers in large-scale industries and mines. For workers in the field of medium and small industries and mines, the highest priority was given to developing plans or strategies. The highest priority was given to developing plans or strategies for workers in the field of medium and small scale construction. In service jobs, the highest priority was given to qualitative or quantitative situation analysis. In military jobs, the highest priority was given to determining the trends of a situation or problems and evaluation of the interventions. In agriculture, fisheries, husbandry and poultry industries, the highest priority was given to qualitative or quantitative situation analysis and determining the trends of a situation of problems. In agriculture, fisheries, poultry, and small and medium-sized industries, the highest priority was given to evaluation of the interventions and evaluation of the impact of programs. In the driving jobs, the highest priority was given to the determining the trends of a situation or problem. Conclusion: Most studies in the field of HSE have been conducted in industry. It is required to expand the HSE research based on the priorities set out in this study.
Background:
Health needs assessment (HNA) is essential for allocation of limited resources to the most prioritized problems. HNA in work places has gained increasing importance. Kaveh industrial city ...is the largest and oldest industrial city in Iran, with a wide range of different industries, making it an exemplary industrial city in Iran. This study was done to conduct health needs assessment of workers in Kaveh industrial city.
Methods:
In this study, intensive HNA approach and qualitative method were used. In-depth interviews and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) were conducted to collect information related to health risk factors, and Delphi method was used to prioritize these risk factors. A total of 74 key informants participated in this study, which constituted more than 80% of the total related experts of Kaveh industrial city.
Results:
The main identified health challenge was inefficiency of the existing Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) control and monitoring system. The most important physical health risk factors were smoking and obesity and the most prioritized psychosocial risk factors were stress and lack of appropriate management and organizational culture. Ergonomic issues and noise pollution were the prioritized work environmental factors and inappropriate placement of pollutant industries in the industrial city was the most prioritized bioenvironmental risk factor. Unsafe road to industrial zone and poor safety devices used by workers were the most prioritized occupational injuries risk factors.
Conclusion:
Addressing the identified health needs of workers in Kaveh industrial city is of high importance. Also, redefining the HSE control and monitoring system should be prioritized
During the past three decades, neonate, infant, and child mortality declined in North Africa and Middle East. However, there is substantial heterogeneity in mortality rates across countries.
This ...study is part of the Global Burden of Diseases study (GBD) 2019. We report the number as well as mortality rates for neonates, infants, and children by cause across 21 countries in the region since 1990.
Between 1990 and 2019, the neonate mortality rate in the region declined from 31.9 (29.8, 34.0) to 12.2 (11.1, 13.3) per 1000 live births. Respective figures for under 5 mortality rates (U5MRs) were 79.1 (75.7, 82.7) in 1990 and 24.4 (22.3, 26.7) per 1000 live births in 2019. The majority of deaths among children under 5 years were due to under 1 year deaths: 75.9% in 1990 and 81.8% in 2019. Mortality rates in males were higher than females. The mortality rate among neonates ranged from 2.4 (2.1, 2.6) per 1000 live births in Bahrain to 25.0 (21.6, 28.4) in Afghanistan in 2019. Similarly, in 2019, the U5MR ranged from 5.0 (4.2-6.0) per 1000 live births in United Arab Emirates to 55.3 (47.9-63.5) in Afghanistan. Neonatal disorders, congenital birth defects, and lower respiratory infections were the three main causes of neonate, infant, and child mortality in almost all countries in the region.
In 2019, most countries in this region have achieved the SDG targets for neonate and child mortality. However, there is still substantial heterogeneity across countries.
Background and aims: All construction projects carry some levels of risk. The construction projects involve numerous uncertainties, multiple intricacies, varies techniques, and divergent ...environments. So that, workers in the construction industry are at greater risk because of the dynamic nature of the activities and momentous changes in working conditions in comparison with other industries. The construction projects involve many factors, interdependencies, and correlations, which makes determination of exact cause and effect very difficult. Therefore, these factors play a significant role in decision making and may affect performance of a project. The construction process frequently requires workers to work at height. The risks associated with working at height are often increased by adding accessibility and mobility restrictions. Falling from height is one of the most important causes of workerschr('39') fatality in the construction industries and constitutes a paramount part of the safety plans in the construction projects. Identifying the effective factors and sub-factors in the occurrence of this accident will be helpful in setting priorities for preventing and providing solutions in reducing their severity. The purpose of this study was to investigate and identify the factors and sub-factors affecting falling from height accidents and to determine the cause and effect relationships among them in the construction projects, using the fuzzy-DEMATEL technique. Methods: In order to carry out this descriptive-analytical study, information of the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) department of five construction projects have been used. The statistical society of the present study was the workers of five construction projects of a gas refinery in the south of Iran, which 4000 people, on average, were involved in these projects from 2011 to 2015. After reviewing the scientific literature, project reports, and guidelines, factors and sub-factors affecting the occurrence of falling from height accidents in the construction projects were determined based on the experts opinions. Snowball method was used to identify experts and determine the statistical society. Fuzzy-DEMATEL technique, as one of the methods of decision making based on paired comparisons, was used to identify the cause and effect relationships among factors and sub-factors. Based on this technique, the pairwise comparison matrices of the factors and sub-factors were formed and sent to 10 health and safety experts. Next, the views of experts were aggregated via the mean fuzzy method, and then the cause and effect relationships were determined based on them. The step-by-step process of the research is as follows: Step 1: Identifying research factors and sub-factors All of the reported events were investigated between 2011 and 2015 and 74 out of 377 occupational accidents were considered as falling from height accidents. Considering the information of OHS department and literature review of effective factors in the occurrence of construction accidents, 70 factors and sub-factors were identified as effective factors in falling from height accidents. According to the objectives of the study and status of the projects, the identified factors and sub-factors divided to 3 main factors (organizational, individual, and environmental factors) and 14 sub-factors (management commitment, safety culture, mutual understanding, supervision/inspection, and size organization/project as an organizational factors; education, training hours, personal protective equipment (PPE), age/experience, and psychological/occupational stresses as an individual factors; thermal stress, interference, level smoothness, work platform height as an environmental factors). Step 2: Data analysis and use of DEMATEL technique In this research, Fuzzy-DEMATEL technique was used to construct a sequence of extracted data. This technique is one of the decision making methods based on pair comparisons with the benefit of expert’s judgment. The concept of this approach is based on the assumption that a system consists of a set of criteria and the pairwise comparisons of relationships between these criteria can be modeled by mathematical equations. DEMATEL technique is an approach to identify the cause and effect relationships among multiple factors in order to properly understand the problem. In general, it is very difficult to determine the opinion of experts with precise numerical values, especially in terms of uncertainty since the results of the decision depend heavily on unclear and subjective arbitrary judgments. These uncertainty conditions have led to the introduction of a fuzzy logic in the metamaterial technique. Therefore, in the Fuzzy-DEMATEL technique, fuzzy language is used which facilitates decision making in uncertainty conditions 37. All calculations were performed in Excel (version 2013). The steps to implement this technique have been presented step-by-step based on the study of Li et al. I) Calculation the direct relation matrix: After gathering the expertschr('39') view, a fuzzy direct relationship matrix ( ) was formed and the fuzzy mean method was used to aggregate the views of experts. Assuming that n experts have expressed their idea about the relationship between the indices and each component of the fuzzy direct matrix is displayed by then by can be calculated from Eq. (1) as follows: II) Normalizing the direct relation matrix: To normalize the values of the direct contact matrix, of each row must be calculated. Then, the fuzzy normal matrix ( ) can be calculated from Eq. (2) by dividing each component of by the maximum attained : III) Calculation of the total-relation matrix To calculate the total-relation matrix, the fuzzy normalized matrix is divided to three definite matrices as follows: Then, the identify matrix is formed and the following operations are performed: Then, the fuzzy total-relation matrix is computed by using Eq. (4). Results: The results of this research showed that among the main factors, organizational and individual factors were known as causal factors, which indicates importance of these factors and their impact on other effective factors in falling from height accidents. On the other hand, among various sub-factors, the management commitment, safety culture, monitoring and inspection, organization/project size, education, and work platform height had the highest effects on the falling from height accidents and were considered as causal variables. In the present study, management commitment, as one of the organizational sub-factors, had the highest impact and was considered as a causal variable. According to the findings of this study, it can be concluded that four organizational sub-factors of mutual understanding, management commitment, safety culture and organization/project size, one individual sub-factor of education, and work platform height as an environmental sub-factor had the significant impact and were among the causal variables, while the rest of sub-factors were the effect variables. Also, the monitoring/inspection sub-factor has the highest interaction with and impact on other sub-factors. Conclusion: Falling from height is considered as one of the most important accidents, leading to death and physical injuries in construction projects. The findings of this study showed that a greater attention to organizational factors and their dimensions (as hidden and effective causes to prevent falling from height incidents) is necessary since an organization plays an important role in the design of work processes, design and implementation of safety management systems, commitment to safety and employee participation, and choosing the best people according to the requirements for the health and safety programs of the projects. The results of this study also showed that it is necessary to pay more attention to the management commitment and awareness of the workforce by training them in the construction projects. Hence, a greater attention to organizational factors and their sub-factors in the construction industry is essential for preventing falling from height incidents. Therefore, more attention to the organizational factor and its sub-factors in the construction industry is required to prevent falling from height accidents. Keywords: Falling from height, Fuzzy-DEMATEL technique, Construction projects, Workers.
Background: Of common scientometric indices is evaluating the performance and scientific collaboration of journals and organizations. Iran Occupational Health Journal belongs to Iran University of ...Medical Sciences and committed to providing scientific evidence for improving occupational health. Based on the importance of health at work, this study aimed to evaluate the Journal’s performance and scientific collaboration in the field. Methods: This is a scientometric study using both citation and content analyses. Complete enumeration survey method and Scimago data were used to collect all information about published articles between 2012 and 2017. Content analysis was performed to find about the articles’ dominant subject area. The data on the number of authors, the authorschr('39') organizational affiliation, the type of articles, and the affiliated centers with the most number of articles were reported. Data were analyzed using Excel 2016 software. Results: The Journal’s performance in various indices such as reducing the time between receive and accept of papers has had an improving trend for 6 consecutive years. The Journal has published mostly in subjects of ergonomics (59 articles) and then safety (52 articles). The Journal’s SJR in Scopus has had an increasing trend from 0.101 in 2012 to 0.220 in 2017. Conclusion: Based on the collected data and Scimago indices, the performance of Iran Occupational Health Journal has shown an improving trend over the studied years. The priorities of published subjects in the Journal are in agreement with the research priorities for occupational health in Iran. Thus, the Journal’s continuous improvement regarding examined criteria is highly expected.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
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