Iranian Journal of health, safety andenvironment

6

Authors: Gholamreza Goudarzi, Sahar Geravandi, Mehdi Vosoughi, Mohammad javad Mohammadi, Abdolkazem neisi, Sepideh sadat Taghavirad

Carbon monoxide is an odorless, colorless and toxic gas that emitted from combustion. Carbon monoxide can cause harmful health effects by reducing oxygen delivery to the body's organs (like the heart and brain), tissues, fibrinolysis effects, abortion and death at extremely high levels. The aim of this study was to assess health- effects of carbon monoxide exposure in Ahvaz city. Data were collected through Ahvaz Meteorological Organization and Department of Environment. Raw data processing by Excel software includes (instruction set correction of averaging, coding and filtering) and after the impact of meteorological parameters was converted as input file to the Air Q model. Finally, health-effects of carbon monoxide exposure were calculated. The results showed that the concentration of carbon monoxide was 7.41 mg/m3 in Ahvaz as annual average. Sum of total numbers of deaths attributed to carbon monoxide was 16 cases within a year. Approximately 4.3% of total Cardiovascular deaths happened when the carbon monoxide concentrations was more than 20 mg/m3. This could be due to higher fuel consumption gasoline in vehicles, Oil industry, steel and Heavy industries in Ahwaz. Mortality and Morbidity risks were detected at current ambient concentrations of air pollutants.

6

Authors: Homa Kheiri, Hossein Moshfegh, Hossein Hatani, M Ranjbarian

Musculoskeletal disorders may be observed in all industries and professions and most of these disorders are related to the back, upper and lower extremities of the body organs. In Pharmaceutical industry, almost lack of standard ergonomic conditions and sometimes can cause outbreaks of diseases and musculoskeletal disorders in various parts of the body. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between musculoskeletal disorders and working on the packaging section of the pharmaceutical industry. The Nordic questionnaire and Rula method were used for collection of data and 392 workers were selected as the subjects of study. Based on the results of this study, (28.5%) of workers working in Packaging Unit complained of severe pain and discomfort in their neck, (23.7%) in their shoulder, (27.9%) in their hand and wrist and (33.2%) complained of severe pain in their back. The results indicate that workers in this industry could show musculoskeletal disorders based on age, education, gender and working conductions.

9

Authors: Mohammad Malakootian, Hossein Jafari Mansoorian, Ahmad Reza Yari

Dyes are an important class of pollutants and disposal of them in precious water resources must be avoided. Among various methods adsorption occupies a prominent place in dye removal. The aim of this study is to evaluate adsorption of dye Reactive Red 198 and Blue 19 (RR-198 & RB-19 (on to Aloe Vera plant ash from aqueous solutions. In this research Aloe Vera ash was prepared at laboratory conditions and then after shredding, screened by ASTM standard sieve with 60 -200 mesh sizes and the effects of pH (3-12), adsorbent dose (0.1-1 g/L), contact time (10-60 min), initial dye concentration (10-160 mg/L) and temperature were investigated in the experiment. In different samples Dye concentration was measured by spectrophotometer at 592 nm and 520 nm wavelength for RR198 and RB19 respectively. Also the Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherms were determined in order to describe the relations between the colored solutions and the adsorbent. The results of this study showed that acidic conditions were more conducive to enhance the hydrolysis rate than basic ones as the decomposition was optimum at pH 3. The adsorption rate of RR-198 and RB-19 dyes was increased by increasing of initial dye concentration, increasing of adsorbent dose in 0.1 to 0.4 mg/L. Dye solution was decolorized in a relatively short time (20 min). The efficiencies for RR-198 and RB- 19 reactive dyes were 82.68% and 90.42% respectively. The maximum adsorption capacity (qmax) has been found to be 80.152 mg/g for RR-198 reactive dye and 88.452 mg/g for Blue 19 reactive dye. Adsorption isotherms were examined by Freundlich and Langmuir isotherm that finally showed the Freundlich multilayer isotherm has better accordance with dates. The results indicate that Aloe Vera ash plant as a natural and inexpensive adsorbent is a suitable adsorbent for the adsorption of textile dyes.