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Abstract Introduction Job stress, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and negative psychological outcomes in firefighters can be caused, or aggravated, by their work. These mental disorders can impart musculoskeletal symptoms. This study aimed to investigate relationships between musculoskeletal and psychological disorders in a population of firefighters using a Bayesian network model. Methods This cross-sectional study, conducted in 2022, included 2339 firefighters who completed questionnaires during their rest periods. The questionnaires comprised of demographical information, the Occupational Stress Questionnaire-HSE, the PTSD Checklist, Maslach Burnout Inventory, Center for Epidemiologic Studies - Depression scale (CES-D), and Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire. GeNIe academic software was used to analyze the Bayesian network. Results High job stress and high PTSD each increased the probability of musculoskeletal symptoms by 34%. When combined, high job stress and high PTSD increased the probability of musculoskeletal symptoms by 37%. Among the mediator’s burnout and depression, depression had the highest association with musculoskeletal symptoms. Conclusions Job stress and PTSD can increase musculoskeletal symptoms and are influenced by psychological mediators (like burnout and depression). Adopting preventive and therapeutic measures to mitigate job stress and PTSD, mitigate and rehabilitate WMSD, and manage associated mediators are critical for the mental and physical health of firefighters.

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Introduction: Firefighting is one of the occupations that require high physical and aerobic power due to the nature of the job and the physical demands of this profession. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the relationship among Work ability index (WAI), mental workload, musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and their effective factors in firefighters. Methods: This study was a cross-sectional study, which was carried out on 250 firefighters in Tehran. Data were collected using WAI, NASA-TLX and Body Discomfort Chart (BDC). Data analysis was carried out using descriptive statistics, linear regression, Pearson correlation and Spearman tests. Results: The mean and standard deviation of the total WAI score was 38.85±1.17. Also, the highest amount of mental workload was devoted to the physical load dimension (93.49±8.93). Meanwhile, the total mental load was also 70.07 ± 6.58. The results showed that the WAI is increased by 0.14 by augmentation of one unit at the academic level of firefighters (P = 0.03). The most common discomfort was reported in the lower (20%) and upper (16.8%) regions of the back. The total WAI relationship with total mental workload was positive and insignificant (P>0.05). There was a significant and reverse association between WAI and discomfort in wrist, leg and ankle. Conclusion: Despite the low rate of MSDs, even mild symptoms of musculoskeletal pain should be considered. Given the high level of mental workload, improving physical, psychosocial and social working conditions is important in increasing the ability of employees and augmenting the ability of their occupational activity.

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

Introduction: Risk assessment an organized approach to detecting risks and estimating risk has been acceptable to reduce risk. Also, due to the increasing trend of implementation of the integrated management system (IMS) in different industries to improve the level of safety, health and environment standards, we determined to measure the impact of this system's deployment on safety performance monitoring indicators using the FMEA methodology for estimating risk and calculating the RPN. Methods: This study is an interventional study. In this study, first all the high-risk activities of the organization were identified, then, the value of RPN was obtained using the product of intensity (A), probability (B) and discovery (C) depending on the acceptable level of the organization and the Pareto chart (80:20), the organization's unacceptable RPNs were identified and corrective action was taken. Results: The mean of RPN decreased significantly between 2010 and 2014. Considering the fact that the number of activities has increased with the expansion of the production line, the calculations show that in the years 91 and 93, the amount of RPN significantly decreased compared to the previous years (P

Abstract Introduction: With ever improving technology and increasing the use of high voltage power in industrial environments, concerns about the destructive effects of electromagnetic waves on human health have increased. Thus the present study aims to evaluate the effects of electromagnetic waves on the general health of Zahedan gas power plant personnel. Materials & Method: The present case-control study investigated the health of people at one point of time and their amount of exposure to electromagnetic waves at the same time. The data collection tool in this study was 28-item general health questionnaire (GHQ-28). After measuring the electromagnetic waves at distances of 1, 1.5 and 3 meters at high voltage power substations and data extraction, the data were entered to SPSS software and analyzed by descriptive statistics, t-test and chi-square. Results: In this study, the age and experience variables were not significantly different in two groups (p> 0.05). The highest magnetic fields in high voltage power substations was at a distance of 1 meter in the substation 607 (28/1 mG) and in precision tool work units (7.03 mG). The results showed that the depressive and general health symptoms were significantly different between the exposed and unexposed groups (p = 0.04), however the difference was not significant in terms of physical performance, anxiety and social performance (p> 0.05). Conclusion: although the level of exposure was lower than standard level determined in Iran, the significant difference of the general health and depression between the two groups, explains the necessity of conducting more studies in this regard. Also by reducing the exposure time and increasing people’s awareness it is possible to take important steps to reduce exposure and complications.