Journal of Occupational Health and Epidemiology

Number 1, 2012

1-8
A survey on occupational accidents among construction industry workers in Yazd city: Applying Time Series 2006-2011

Authors: GH Halvani , R Jafarinodoushan * , SJ Mirmohammadi , AM Mehrparvar

Abstract

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Background: Millions of construction industry accidents occur in the world causing demages and injuries to workers and consequently economical losses every year. The aim of this study was to determine an estimator model for accidents among construction industry workers, in the years 2006 - 2011 for the first time, in Yazd city. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive study, the questionnaire included items asking about variables such as age, occupation, type of accident, injured organ and the outcome of the accident. Time Series Model was used in this study to estimate accidents among the Yazd construction workers up to 2011. Results: Fatality rate of workers who did not have insurance was more than those who had, which was statistically significant (p < 0.001). The greatest rate of accident was falling (48.58%) and the lowest was chocking (29%). The relationships of accident outcomes with type of occupation and also the injured part of body were statistically significant in the construction industry (p<0.001). After testing many models, time series model of quadratic form was the closest model to the trend of data. Conclusions: This model estimation shows that if the situation is the same as now in 2011 the accident cases will be more than 300 per year in 2012 and later. So this model is recommended to make changes in the trend for preventing the accidents in the future.

9-16
Does shift work increase the levels of blood pressure and cholesterol among hospital nurses? A historical cohort study

Authors: R Vazirinejad * , A Esmaeili , GH Hassanshahi , L Razi

Abstract

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Introduction: Controversies exist in publications about the association between shift work and hypertension. This study aimed to explore the relationship between shift work and the level of systolic and diastolic blood pressure as well as serum cholesterol among nurses in Kerman province, Southeast, Iran. Materials and Methods: In this historical cohort study 100 hospital nurses who had been employed for more than five years were recruited. Respondents were divided into two groups based on their working schedule (shift work/day work). After one year follow up, both systolic and diastolic blood pressures were measured. A blood sample was also taken for recording the level of serum cholesterol. Data were analysed using SPSS (version 14) and paired t-test and Mann Whitney U test and relative risk with 95% CI was also calculated. Results: Demographic variables as well as the mean working years between shift working (10.98±3.6yrs) and day working (11.18±4.4yrs) nurses were not significantly different. The results of age-adjusted relative risk calculation showed that even after adjusting for respondents’ age, there was not any significant risk of suffering from higher blood pressure among shift workers. The mean levels of cholesterol in the serum of shift workers (192.18± 43.6) and day workers (186.7 ±47.7) were not significantly different. Conclusions: Our findings confirmed the previous studies’ results that reported no significant association between shift working and the level of blood pressure among nurses. More investigations are needed to explore factors, which could increase the risk of hypertension and cardiovascular diseases among shift working nurses.