The Prevalence of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in Radiotherapists

Background: Ionizing radiation is one of the hazardous agents in the work place. It can cause serious and irreversible damage to the people exposed to it. Working in such environments can also causes chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of CFS in radiotherapists. Methods: This study selected all men and women exposed to X-ray as the exposed group and nurses working in the same hospital as the control group. The sample size was considered of 46 radiotherapists and 46 nurses. Data on demographic characteristics and chronic fatigue syndrome were collected by the questionnaire. Results: The mean CFS score in all participants was 10.64±4.77. About 17.39% of them had fatigue syndrome. There was no significant difference between two groups in terms of fatigue syndrome (p=0.47). radiotherapists with more than 20 image taking per day had higher mean CFS; however, this relationship was not statistically significant (P>0.05). Conclusion: Chronic fatigue is multifactorial phenomenon in health care personnel. Workload is more important factor in development of chronic fatigue in radiotherapists

The Relationship Between Personality Traits, Stress and Job Satisfaction of Employees of Iran Telecom Companies

Background & Objectives: Job satisfaction is affected by several factors including personality characteristics and job stress. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between personality traits, job satisfaction, and stress-related. Materials and Methods: This analytical study was performed among the telecommunications industry workers. 254 persons were randomly selected as the population of the study . Eysenck Personality Questionnaire and job satisfaction and stress questionnaires were applied to gather the required data. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS statistical software. Results: There was an inverse relationship between job satisfaction and job stress. The results of job stress questionnaires showed that 176, 37, and 8 employees were under high, moderate, and low stress, respectively. Overall job satisfaction scores were 14.25 + 10.95. The relationship between job stress and scale E showed a significant positive correlation between two variables so that as the level of introspection increases, people will feel more jop stress. The two scale N and L have meaningful relationship with job satisfaction so that the more stable the character, the higher the job satisfaction . Conclusion: It can be concluded that in order for promoting the job satisfaction and reducing the job stress, self-confidence enhancing skills should be trained to the employees

Covid-19 Effects on the Mental Workload and Quality of Work Life in Iranian Nurses

Introduction: The mental health of people working in Covid-19 wards (nurses, doctors, etc.) may be compromised due to the specific conditions of the workplace and patients. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between mental burden and quality of work life in nurses in intensive care units of Covid-19 patients. Method: In this cross-sectional study, a sample of 200 people—100 nurses in care units for patients with COVID-19 (group 1) and 100 nurses in non-COVID-19 patient care units (group 2—in three university hospitals were obtained. These 200 samples were randomly extracted from the list of employees and selected. Data were collected using three questionnaires, including (1) a demographic, (2) the NASA-Task Load Index (1988) (Hart & Staveland, 1988) and (3) National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Quality of Life. Data were analyzed using SPSS-24 software and descriptive and analytical statistical methods. Results: The overall mean scores of nurses’ quality of work life were significantly different between the two groups (P < 0.05). The average score of quality of life in nurses caring for patients with COVID-19 is 92.57, more than nurses caring for patients without COVID-19, 79.43. Among the dimensions of mental workload: Performance and efficiency, with an average score of 77.32 ± 15.85, had the highest score, while discouragement and failure, with an average score of 58.04 ± 26.72, had the lowest score of mental workload. There is a significant difference between the mental load of work in the two groups (P = 0.001). There is a significant inverse relationship between total quality of work life and total mental workload (r = –14 and P = 0.01). Conclusion: In this study, it was observed that nurses caring for Covid-19 patients are in a more unfavorable situation in terms of the studied characteristics. Due to the work period, these nurses have a high workload and a low quality of work life to compensate for the mental and physical deficiencies required by a long presence in the work environmen

The Relationship between Fatigue and Work Ability Index (WAI) of Workers in a Ceramic Industry in Yazd Province, 2014

Background: The basis of welfare and health in all individuals is their work ability. Many factors such as work and working conditions, fatigue, and individual characteristics affect the work ability. In the present study, we evaluated the work ability among workers employed in a ceramic industry and determined the relationship between fatigue areas. Methods: The present study was a descriptive cross-sectional study. 200 subjects were randomly selected and investigated. This study was conducted using two standard questionnaires of Work Ability Index (WAI) and Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI). Data were analyzed by SPSS software. Results: Mean general fatigue score was of 9.65 (SD=2.88) and the mean motivation score was 7.11 (SD=2.45). There was a significant difference in fatigue in different job groups in terms of work experience (P <0.05). The mean of fatigue in different occupational groups was higher for those without experience than those with skill. The mean of the work ability index was 39.69 (good level). The highest correlation was found between the score of work ability index and fatigue index among job titles belonging to the operational group (r = 0.97). Conclusion: With the increase of the fatigue score, the score of the work ability index decreased. Better recognition of factors creating fatigue and providing appropriate strategies can be effective in reducing this factor

Investigation of human error by using THERP method in control room of incoiler department in a pipe manufacturing company

Background & Aims of the Study: Today, in many sensitive occupational environments, human error can lead to catastrophic events. Given that the sensitive task of a control area operator, which in the occurrence of malfunction or failure leads to irreparable events, it is important to predict human errors to reduce its adverse consequences. Therefore, the present study was  perform by aiming to identify human error of the control room operators in a pipe company of Ahvaz in 2017 using by using human error rate prediction technique. Materials and Methods: After numerous questions from the personnel and observing event sheets, important jobs were identified and then the Hierarchy Task Analysis, critical tasks was carried out and finally, the likelihood of  human error in every of the critical tasks was decided by means of the THERP technique. Results: Totally 5 main tasks and 21 subtasks were analyzed. Most of the errors recognized in this company were functional and among which factors affecting fatigue performance by 19.67% and experience by 18.03% and the training by 16.39% were the most influential factors. Conclusion: According that maximum of the identified errors are functional, so targeted training courses for personnel and the try to employ people with relevant education and experience can be effective in reducing probability of human error. Also, planning for shift workers can be effective in reducing fatigue

Application of Human Hazop Technique for Identifying Human Error in a Flour Company

Background: It is necessary to identify and determine the probability of human error in order to improve the level of health and safety of employees and reduce accidents.&nbsp;For this reason, this study was conducted to identify human error in the flour production process using the &quot;Hazard and Operability&rdquo; technique. Methods: Data collection was carried out through business case sheets and interviews with workers who have been involved in events as well as affected workers, and through the application of Human Hazop technique. Potential errors of people were predicted, analyzed and&nbsp;the controls were provided. Results: Human Hazop work-sheet analysis showed that the total number of human errors detected in the studied job tasks was 144, 75% of which were eliminated.&nbsp;The results of the study on the causes of the error show that the highest cause of the error is fatigue factor with 33.3%. Conclusion: With the precise application of the Hazard and Operability Method, possible types of operator errors and their consequences can be identified, and control paths to reduce human error can be provided. It canultimately create a safer environment and reduce the number of accidents. &nbsp

The Effect of Education on Improving the Working Conditions of Computer Users

Introduction: A large part of the compensation payments is allocated to the musculoskeletal disorders of the injured employees. The economic losses imposed by these disorders affect not only the individuals, but also the organizations and communities. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of educational intervention on improving the working conditions of the computer-using employees working in Yazd University of Medical Sciences. Method: This semi-experimental study was conducted among the employees of Yazd University of Medical Sciences. In this regard, 100 computer users were randomly selected and the study was conducted in three stages of investigating the current situation, implementing the educational intervention, and re-investigating the situation. We collected the information one month before and one month after the educational course. For this purpose, we used the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) checklist 1910/0900 (31 questions).We analyzed the data using SPSS version 19 and run Chi-square and descriptive statistics to determine the frequency. The significance level was also considered at 0.05. Results: We found that the postures of the participants were unfavorable before the intervention and they were unconscious about it. However, after the intervention, we observed a significant change in their postures (P 0.05). In other words, we cannot change the inappropriately designed desk or workstation by the training intervention. Conclusion: Interventions based on the ergonomic training had a positive effect on the improvement of participants' posture at work. This improvement one month after the intervention can confirm the sustainable effectiveness of such programs. In addition, educational intervention did not have any effect on the workstations; the training program could not change the workstations that were undesirable in terms of ergonomics

The relationship between fatigue, stress and job performance with some demographic variables in dental prosthesis technicians

Background and Aims: Making dental prostheses is sensitive and accurate work and requires powerful and skilled hands. Because of this, the dental prosthesis technicians may suffer harmful effects such as stress and fatigue during the course. The aim of this study was to investigate fatigue, stress and job performance and their relationship with some demographic variables in this community. Materials and Methods: The present study was cross-sectional and done in 2016. The study population was a group of dental prosthesis technicians that had participated in a national congress in Tehran. Sampling was done by census Two standardized questionnaires on the subjects of fatigue and stress which were distributed among 100 female and male participants and sampling was done by census. Then, the obtained data was analyzed using SPSS16 software and applying descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation test, and ANOVA, T-test. Results: From the 100 samples, there were 16 females and 84 males with mean age 34.71&plusmn;7.90 and average work experience of 10.82&plusmn; 9.01 years. 82 percent of the subjects were married and 42 percent of them were smokers. The results showed that 100 percent of dental prostheses technicians were facing with moderate to severe stresses. The stress and fatigue scores in married ones were higher than the single ones. The results showed a significant relationship between smoking, stress, and fatigue scores (P<0.05). Conclusion: According to the high level of job stress in the dental prostheses technicians, this problem must be considered, minimized, and more attention should be paid to their psychological and emotional problems