Background: Patient safety culture is one of the main components of the quality of health services and is one of the main priorities of health studies. Accordingly, this study aimed to determine and compare the views of healthcare staff on the patient safety culture and the impact of effective factors on patient safety culture in public and private hospitals in Tehran, Iran. Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out on a sample of 1203 health care workers employed in three public and three private hospitals in Tehran, Iran. Stratified random sampling was used in this study. Data were collected using the Maslach burnout inventory and patient safety culture questionnaire (HSOPSC). IBM SPSS v22 and Amos v23 were used to perform path analysis. Results: Eight hundred sixty-seven (72.57%) females and 747 (27.43%) males with a mean age of 33.88 ± 7.66 were included. The average percentage of positive responses to the safety culture questionnaire in public and private hospitals was 65.5 and 58.3%, respectively. The strengths of patient safety culture in public hospitals were in three dimensions including non-punitive response to errors (80%), organizational learning—continuous improvement (79.77%), and overall perceptions of patient safety (75.16%), and in private hospitals, were three dimensions including non-punitive responses to errors (71.41%), organizational learning & continuous improvement (69.24%), and teamwork within units (62.35%). The type of hospital and work-shift hours influenced the burnout and patient safety questionnaire scores (P-value < 0.05). The path analysis results indicate the fitness of the proposed model (RMSEA = 0.024). The results showed a negative impact of a work shift (β = − 0.791), occupational burnout (β = − 0.554) and hospital type (β = − 0.147) on the observance of patient safety culture. Conclusion: Providing feedback on errors and requirements for the frequent incident reporting, and patient information exchange seem necessary to promote the patient safety culture. Also, considering the negative impact of the shift work and burnout on patient safety culture, by planning and managing these factors appropriately, correct actions could be designed to improve the safety culture.

Background: Musculoskeletal disorders are a major problem in all jobs. Several methods are available for assessing the exposure to risk factors associated with musculoskeletal disorders. This study is aimed at comparing three different ergonomic risk assessment methods—rapid upper limb assessment (RULA), loading on the upper body assessment (LUBA), and new ergonomic posture assessment (NERPA) method—to predict upper extremity musculoskeletal disorders. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted on 210 workers from three different industries including pharmaceutical, automotive, and assembly in the Isfahan province. A Nordic questionnaire was used for determining the levels of musculoskeletal disorders. Then, selected postures were evaluated with RULA, LUBA, and NERPA methods. Finally, data were analyzed with Kolmogorov–Smirnov test to check the normality distribution of data, Spearman's correlation test to investigate the correlation between the assessed levels with musculoskeletal disorders, and Wilcoxon test to identify significant differences between the values with SPSS version 16. Results: Wilcoxon test revealed a significant difference between the values related to NERPA and RULA (P < 0.001), whereas no significant relation between LUBA and RULA was shown by this test (P = 0.914). The correlation coefficients of the musculoskeletal disorders' level with RULA level, NERPA level, and LUBA level were 0.74, 0.73, and 0.69, respectively. Conclusion: Low-risk levels in NERPA, medium-risk levels in LUBA, and high-risk levels in RULA are evaluated better. The results showed that RULA was the best method for assessing musculoskeletal disorders among the three methods.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship among noise exposure, sensitivity, and noise annoyance with job satisfaction and job stress among the workers of a textile industry. In this study, Weinstein’s Noise Sensitivity Scale, Noise Annoyance Questionnaire (recommended based on ISO 15666-2003), Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Job Stress Questionnaire, and Job Satisfaction Scale were used to determine the degree of noise sensitivity, noise annoyance, occupational stress, and job satisfaction, respectively. The results showed that there was a significant difference in the mean of job satisfaction, job stress, noise sensitivity, and noise annoyance between case and control groups. The results of multivariate analysis of covariance showed that noise exposure, noise sensitivity, and noise annoyance can justify 0.09, 0.19, and 0.06 of the variance of job stress, respectively. These variables also could justify 0.09, 0.12, and 0.05 of the variance of job satisfaction, respectively. Noise sensitivity had the greatest effect on increasing the occupational stress and job satisfaction.

Lack of sleep can affect the health and performance of firefighters. This systematic review and meta-analysis estimated the global prevalence of sleep disorders and poor sleep quality among firefighters and reported associated factors. Four academic databases (Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, and Embase) were systematically searched from January 1, 2000 to January 24, 2022. These databases were selected as they are known to index studies in this field. The search algorithm included two groups of keywords and all possible combinations of these words. The first group included keywords related to sleep and the second group keywords related to the firefighting profession. The relevant Joanna Briggs Institute checklist was used to evaluate study quality. Data from eligible studies were included in a meta-analysis. In total, 47 articles informed this review. The pooled prevalence of sleep disorders and poor sleep quality in firefighters were determined as 30.49% (95% CI [25.90, 35.06]) and 51.43% (95% CI [42.76, 60.10]), respectively. The results of a subgroup analysis showed that individuals in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) had a higher prevalence of sleep disorders than those in high-income countries (HICs) but HICs had a higher prevalence of poor sleep quality than LMICs. Various factors, including shift work, mental health, injuries and pain, and body mass index were associated with sleep health. The findings of this review highlight the need for sleep health promotion programs in firefighters.

This study aimed to assess the possible non-cancer and cancer risks associated with BTEX in a composite manufacturing plant for the first time. Air samples of BTEX were gathered from the breathing zone of participants based on the method of NIOSH 1501 using an adsorbent tube containing activated coconut charcoal and a pump at the recommended flow rate between 50 and 200 milliliters per min. After the preparation, the samples were analyzed using GC mass spectrometry. To evaluate the non-cancer and cancer risks of the pollutants, the method proposed by the United States environmental protection agency (USEPA) was applied. The mean concentrations of BTEX were found lower than the threshold limit values (TLV). The non-carcinogenic risk values of benzene, ethylbenzene, and xylene were found to be 46.00, 6.96, and 22.4 times, respectively, higher than the threshold levels set by the US EPA. Whereas the risk of toluene was lower than the acceptable limit. Moreover, the results point to a specific risk of cancer for the workers exposed to benzene and ethylbenzene in this industry, indicating a potential for 1.66 and 1.91 additional cases per 100 workers exposed to benzene and ethylbenzene, respectively.