Analysis of Hospital Costs in Road Traffic Injuries

Objective: To investigate the factors affecting the hospital costs in the road traffic injuries.Methods: This applied study examined the information of patients presenting to Yazd Trauma Center in 2018. The data were extracted from Comprehensive Traffic Injuries System affiliated to the center, which were described with frequency, percentage, mean, and SD, and then analyzed using independent t-test and one-way ANOVA.Results: Most injuries (%66.4) are caused by motorcycle and pertained to head region (%61.8). Some significant correlations were found among gender, type of injury, patient’s final status, site of road accident, patient’s nationality, type of vehicle used at the time of accident, length of stay (hospital stay), patient’s age, and hospital costs (p <0.05). Moreover, the costs were higher in men, and in those with head and neck injuries, dead casualties, suburban high-way accidents, motor cyclists, hospital stay longer than three days, and older patients.Conclusion: Given the significant correlations between demographic and social variables under study, the results may be used in planning and designing strategies for controlling road traffic injuries and reducing the related hospitalization costs

Application of FMEA and AHP in Elevated Highway Construction Project Risk Assessment

Background: By investigating accidents in industries, it can be concluded that a significant proportion of work-related accidents occur in the construction industry. The present study aimed to apply a hybrid model in identifying and prioritizing risks in a construction project with new machinery. Methods: In this study, the methodological shortcomings of the traditional failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) method and the need to prioritize control measures were modified by the analytical hierarchy of process (AHP). The FMEA was used for risk identification and risk assessment in the elevated highway construction project, then AHP accidents were prioritized according to their physical, psychological, economic, and socio-political burden. Results: In the AHP structure, several sub-criteria for each criterion were considered and weighted for each item. The five activities included crane collapse, falling from a height, collapse, and electrocution devices that their risk priority number is more than 250 weighted by the AHP. Discussion: Based on the literature, the traditional FMEA has many shortcomings that need to be corrected by other methods. This study aimed to modify the traditional FMEA method using a hybrid model. Conclusion: The findings of this study showed that in urban projects, hazards threaten workers, citizens, and company properties. In addition to accidents, deaths, and injuries, they have negative consequences, such as health, psychological, economic, and socio-political impacts. Accidents cause loss of human life, worker's mental health problems, damage to equipment or property, worker's productivity loss, and affect the profit and reputation of the organization. Due to many deficiencies of the conventional risk priority number (RPN) in the FMEA method, it was criticized, and to enhance the performance of the FMEA in risk analysis, various risk priority models have been proposed

Investigating Characteristics of Hospital Building Fires in Iran

Background: Building fires are the most common threatening and distressing hazard in hospitals. Fire is one of the top 10 hazards that threaten Iranian hospitals. Nevertheless, no study has been done on the features of fires in Iran hospitals. So, this study aimed to investigate the characteristics of fires taking place in Iranian hospitals. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, news related to fire broke out in Iranian hospitals was retrieved from the archive of 5 reputable Persian news agencies using the Persian search terms: “Fire”, “hospital”, and “clinic”. Quantitative content analysis was used to assess retrieved news text. Data gathered by the Emergency Operation Center of the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education were also studied.  Results: In total, 86 incident reports were assessed for the period spanning from 2005 to 2020, with more than half accessed just through reputable news agencies. The electrical short circuit was the most reported incident cause, and the medical care environment was the most reported place of incident. Twenty-five incident reports indicated that partial or complete emergency evacuation was executed.  Conclusion: It is imperative to raise awareness about the lack of an integrated mechanism for registering such incidents. Future research can be conducted designing a critical registry system that collects, analyzes, and disseminates hospital incident data

Climate change and heat stress resilient outdoor workers: findings from systematic literature review

Abstract Purpose Global warming has led to an increase in the number and intensity of extreme heat events, posing a significant threat to the health and safety of workers, especially those working outdoors, as they often have limited access to cooling strategies. The present systematic literature review (a) summarizes the current knowledge on the impacts of climate change on outdoor workers, (b) provides historical background on this issue, (c) explores factors that reduce and increase thermal stress resilience, (d) discusses the heat mitigation strategies, and (e) provides an overview of existing policy and legal frameworks on occupational heat exposure among outdoor workers. Materials and methods In this systematic review, we searched scientific databases including Scopus (N = 855), Web of Science (N = 828), and PubMed (N = 202). Additionally, we identified relevant studies on climate change and heat-stress control measures through Google Scholar (N = 116) using specific search terms. In total, we monitored 2001 articles pertaining to worker populations (men = 2921; women = 627) in various outdoor climate conditions across 14 countries. After full-text assessment, 55 studies were selected for inclusion, and finally, 29 eligible papers were included for data extraction. Results Failure to implement effective control strategies for outdoor workers will result in decreased resilience to thermal stress. The findings underscore a lack of awareness regarding certain adaptation strategies and interventions aimed at preventing and enhancing resilience to the impact of climate change on heat stress prevalence among workers in outdoor tropical and subtropical environments. However, attractive alternative solutions from the aspects of economic and ecological sustainability in the overall assessment of heat stress resilience can be referred to acclimatization, shading, optimized clothing properties and planned breaks. Conclusion The integration of climate change adaptation strategies into occupational health programs can enhance occupational heat resilience among outdoor workers. Conducting cost-benefit evaluations of health and safety measures for thermal stress adaptation strategies among outdoor workers is crucial for professionals and policymakers in low- and middle-income tropical and subtropical countries. In this respect, complementary measures targeting hydration, work-rest regimes, ventilated garments, self-pacing, and mechanization can be adopted to protect outdoor workers. Risk management strategies, adaptive measures, heat risk awareness, practical interventions, training programs, and protective policies should be implemented in hot-dry and hot-humid climates to boost the tolerance and resilience of outdoor workers