Comparison of the Impact of an Optimized Ice Cooling Vest and a Paraffin Cooling Vest on Physiological and Perceptual Strain

Background: Ice cooling vests can cause tissue damage and have no flexibility. Therefore, these two undesirable properties of ice cooling vest were optimized, and the present study was aimed to compare the impact of the optimized ice cooling vest and a commercial paraffin cooling vest on physiological and perceptual strain under controlled conditions. Methods: For optimizing, hydrogel was used to increase the flexibility and a layer of the ethylene vinyl acetate foam was placed into the inside layer of packs to prevent tissue damage. Then, 15 men with an optimized ice cooling vest, with a commercial paraffin cooling vest, and without a cooling vest performed tests including exercise on a treadmill (speed of 2.8 km/hr and slope of %0) under hot (40 ° C) and dry (40 %) condition for 60 min. The physiological strain index and skin temperature were measured every 5 and 15 minutes, respectively. The heat strain score index and perceptual strain index were also assessed every 15 minutes. Results: The mean values of the physiological and perceptual indices differed significantly between exercise with and without cooling vests (P 0.05). Conclusions: The optimized ice cooling vest was as effective as the commercial paraffin cooling vest to control the thermal strain. However, ice has a greater latent heat and less production cost

The survey of occupational accidents in Yazd gas agency (2013)

Background: Existence of coordinated and professional safety system to prevent occurrence of accidents and potential hazards seem to be essential in installing networks of gas distribution projects. Objective: To survey work-related accidents and safety performance indices in project implementation unit of Yazd gas agency. Methods: This analytical study was conducted on 197 of workforce in Yazd gas agency in 2013 that were selected by census and they were male. Demographic and accident information were gathered using a self-made questionnaire and face- to- face interview, and required information obtained from dossier to determine the safety performance indicators. Safety performance indicators were calculated in separately of 13 types occupations in project implementation unit of gas agency and data were analyzed using T-test. Findings: The highest accident frequency and severity rate were related to digging occupation and then metal line welding. Consequences of accidents were cuts (%56.7) and soreness (%14.9). The causes of accidents were related to uselessness of personal protective equipment (%25.2) and lack of precision in the task (%19.3). The highest rate of accident was observed among the age group 20-29 years with work experience of 4-6 years. Conclusion: According to the findings of this study and the risk of gas processes, it seems to be necessary the implementation of integrated management systems and training of workers about safety rules to improve the safety culture and prevent accidents. Keywords: Safety, Occupational Accidents, Gas Field

Investigating the Impact of Establishing Integrated Management Systems on Accidents and Safety Performance Indices: A Case Study

Background: Increasing the establishment of integrated management systems (IMSs) is done with the purpose of leaving traditional management methods and replacing them with modern management methods. Thus, the present study sought to analyze the events and investigate the impact of IMS on health and safety performance indices in an Iranian combined cycle power plants. Methods: This case study was conducted in 2012 in all units of the Yazd Combined Cycle Power Plant on accident victims before and after the implementation of IMS. For data analysis and prediction of indices after the implementation of IMS, descriptive statistics and Kolmogorov–Smirnov test, Chi-square, linear regression, and Cubic tests were conducted using SPSS software. Results: The number of people employed in the power plant in an 8-year period (2004–2011) was 1,189, and 287 cases of work-related accidents were recorded. The highest accident frequency rate and accident severity rate were in 2004 (32.65) and 2008 (209), respectively. Safe T-score reached to below −3 during 2010–2011. In addition, given the regression results, the relation between all predictor variables with outcomes was significant (p < 0.05), except for the variable X1 belonging to the accident severity rate index. Conclusion: The implementation of safety programs especially that of IMS and its annual audits has had a significant impact on reducing accident indices and improving safety within the study period. Accordingly, health and safety management systems are appropriate tools for reducing accident rate, and the use of regression models and accident indices is also a suitable way for monitoring safety performance. Keywords: Integrated management systems, Occupational accident, Power plant, Safety performance indice

The Study of Dangerous Behavior of Drivers in the Yazd City in 2013

Introduction: driving violations rate in IRAN are very high and adverse consequences resulting from it has led that driving violations are one of the most important social issues in the country. Due to increasing violations in Iran in recent years, present study has attempted to examine risky driving behaviors. Methods: This study was cross-sectional study. In this study, the target population was all light vehicle drivers in the Yazd city who have committed a traffic violation. The sample size for performing the study was 300 subjects. Sampling method was cluster. Data was collected using a questionnaire during the pilot study had proven the validity and reliability of different parts. After gathering, data was analyzed using spss18 software, Anova, T-test, correlation and regression. Results: Participants in this study were 288 men and 12 women. Average age of subjects was 33.29 years that 49% of subjects, were in age group 18-30 years. 73 (24.3%) of subjects were single and 227 (75.7 percent) were married. High-risk behaviors are reported while driving, talking with other passengers (73.6 percent), consuming foodstuff (42.7 percent), unfasten the safety belt (38.7 percent) and talk on cell phone (36.7 percent), non-compliance gap length (27.4 percent), the illegal speed (34 percent), illegal overtaking (22 percent) and driving fatigue (17%). Between age and risky driving behaviors, there was an correlation that dangerous behavior is increased by increasing age. there was an relationship between driving experience and risky behavior. Conclusions: Extraordinary expansion of driving offenses and&nbsp; its harmful consequences has made it as one of the country's most important social issues that should be considered. Therefore, it is recommended that driving offenses are more considered as a social problem in scientific public. According into the results of this study suggest that a systematic plan should be performed to train people about the traffic rules until to keep traffic under control

A model to analyze human and organizational factors contributing to pandemic risk assessment in manufacturing industries: FBN-HFACS modelling

This study presents a holistic model based on Fuzzy Bayesian Network-Human Factor Analysis and Classification System (FBN-HFACS) to analyze contributing factors in the pandemic, Covid 19, risk management under uncertainty. The model contains three main phases include employing a) HFACS to systematically identify influencing factors based on validation using content validity indicators, b) Fuzzy Set Theory to obtain the prior probability distribution of contributing factors in pandemic risk and address the epistemic uncertainty and subjectivity, and finally, c) Bayesian network to develop causality model of the risk, probabilistic inferences and handle parameter and model uncertainties. The Ratio of Variation (RoV), as BN-driven importance measures, is utilized to conduct sensitivity analysis and explore the most critical factors that yield effective safety countermeasures. The model is tested to investigate four large manufacturing industries in South Khorasan (Iran). It provided a deep understanding of influencing human and organizational factors and captured dependencies among those factors, while quantitative finding paves a way to efficiently make risk-based decisions to deal with the pandemic risks under uncertainty