Evaluation of Health, Safety and Environment status using SWOT matrix to provide continuous improvement strategies: A case study in municipality of Qazvin

AbstractBackground and aims: According to the identification of more than one hundred types of jobs in the municipalities, evaluation of adverse factors that each job face with them isn’t possible without systematic model of identifying hazards. In this study, weaknesses, strengths, opportunities and threats (SWOT) to the health, safety and environment (HSE) management was introduced. Based on the results obtained, the HSE situation in Qazvin municipality (12 units) was evaluated.Materials and methods: Two tables concerning internal and external factors are used in the SWOT analysis. The sum of scores in both tables is in the range of 1 to 4, and the status is appraised as positive when the score is higher than 2.5. All necessary arrangements made well in advance. Ethical issues were also all considered in all stages of research.Results: The scores obtained in the evaluation of internal and external factors were often less than 2.5. The mean scores of internal and external factors evaluation were 2.37 and 2.42, respectively. The highest score in internal factors was 2.95 belonging to Qazvin municipality's parks and green spaces. Also, the highest score of external factors was 3.1 belonging to the organization of transport and traffic administration of Qazvin municipality.Conclusion: The HSE situation in half of Qazvin municipality's units was considered undesirable based on SWOT matrix (district 4); and therefore, they should adopt defensive strategies to improve their HSE status. Other organizations were in the shift (2 units) or diversification (4 units) strategies. The results ofpresent study revealed that SWOT analysis can be used as an effective management tool to determine thestatus and management of HSE as well as continuous improvement strategies.Keywords: HSE, Strategic management, External factors, Internal factors, SWOT matrix, Qazvin municipalityFor downloading the full text please click her

The Burden of Diseases From Exposure to Environmental Cigarette Smoke: A Case Study of Municipal Staff in Qazvin, Iran

This study aimed to estimate the burden of diseases (BoD) from environmental cigarette smoke (ECS) exposure. More precisely, the study examined the prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) related to cigarette smoking in municipal staff based on a prospective cohort study. This cross-sectional study was designed among municipal employees, aged 25-55 years in Qazvin, Iran during 2019-2020. The data on cigarette smoking and environmental exposure were obtained using a standard questionnaire. Finally, systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), fasting blood sugar (FBS), triglyceride (TG), high-density lipoprotein, and low-density lipoprotein were measured to assess the relation between active cigarette smoking and the prevalence of NCDs, including hypertension and diabetes in workers. The prevalence of cigarette smoking was 16.2%. In addition, 15% of staff were exposed to ECS. The prevalence of anemia and high TG levels in current cigarette smokers was 2.71 (P=0.024) and 1.4 times higher than among non-smokers (P=0.027). The total number of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) caused by lung cancer, asthma, and ischemic heart disease (IHD) attributable to ECS was 0.65 per 1000 adults annually. Further, the number of 0.058 death was estimated per 1000 adults annually at the workplace. Most deaths were caused by IHD (79%), followed by lung cancer (12%) and asthma (9%). It was revealed that the number of DALYs and deaths attributable to secondhand smoke (SHS) was 0.34 and 0.3 vs. 0.028 and 0.029 per 1000 adults in men and women, respectively. The results demonstrated that exposure to ECS is an important factor in increasing the risk of the prevalence of NCDs and can increase the BoD attributable to cigarette smoking

Cyproheptadine for Prevention of Neuropsychiatric Adverse Effects of Efavirenz: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Cyproheptadine prevention of the neuropsychiatric adverse effects of an antiretroviral regimen including efavirenz has been evaluated in a randomized clinical trial. Twenty-five patients (16 males and 9 females with mean – SD ages of 36 – 9 years) in a cyproheptadine group, and 26 patients (17 males and 9 females with mean – SD ages of 34 – 7 years) in a control group completed the trial. Sexual contact and injection drug use were the main routs of HIV infection in both groups. The patients’ neuropsychiatric adverse effects were evaluated based on the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale, Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, Beck Depression Scale, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Inventory, Positive and Negative Suicide Ideation, and Somatization Subscale of Symptom Checklist 90 at baseline and 4 weeks after treatment. Cyproheptadine significantly decreased the scores of Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale, Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, Beck Depression Scale, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Inventory, Positive and Negative Suicide Ideation of the patients after 4 weeks in comparison with control group. All of the scores increased in control group following antiretroviral therapy. Although short duration of the patients’ follow-up was a major limitation of the study, the results of the study showed that cyprohepradine is effective in prevention of depression, anxiety, hallucination, aggressive behaviors, emotional withdrawal, poor rapport, poor impulse control, active social avoidance, suicidal ideation, and improved sleep quality of HIV-positive patients after initiation of antiretroviral therapy including efavirenz

Sleep Quality and Its Correlates in HIV Positive Patients Who Are Candidates for Initiation of Antiretroviral Therapy.

Objective: Based on Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index, it has been reported that most human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive patients suffer from various degrees of sleep problems. Sleep disorders can affect quality of life, physical and social functioning and can also cause chronic fatigue. Some psychological and physiological factors are related to sleep quality. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate sleep quality and its related psychological and physiological factors in Iranian human immunodeficiency virus positive patients who were candidates for initiation of antiretroviral therapy . Method: This was a cross- sectional study of 59 HIV positive out-patients in stages 2 or 3 of HIV disease who were candidates for initiation of antiretroviral therapy. Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS), Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HARS) and Somatization Subscale of Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90) were used to assess the patients’ sleep quality, depression, anxiety and physiological factors, respectively. SPSS software version 12 was used for data analysis. The Pearson correlation coefficient was utilized to analyze the correlation between PSQI and other quantitative variables. Results: Based on the sleep quality assessment, 47.5 % of the patients had PSQI > 5 that was defined as sleep disturbances. A significant correlation was found between sleep quality and HDRS (r = 0.531, p = 0.0001), HARS (r = 0.627, p = 0.0001) and somatization subscale of SCL-90 (r = 0.36, p = 0.05). Conclusion: This study showed that human immunodeficiency virus positive individuals suffer from sleep disorders at least as same as the general population, and that psychological variables including depression and anxiety and physiological variables including physical morbidities in different systems of the body lead to sleep disturbance in this population