Journal of Health and Safety at Work

Introduction: Occupational injuries are among factors that cause death and disability of thousands individuals in the workplace. Thus, identifying the influential factors of occupational injuries is of paramount importance. Previous researches have indicated that transformational leadership style has an essential role in occupational injuries. Consequently, the aim of the current study is to investigate the role of transformational leadership style in predicting occupational injuries among Esfahan Steel’s employees.

.

Material and Method: The current descriptive-correlation study was conducted among 189 Esfahan Steel’s employees in 2012. They were randomly selected through Stratified sampling. Data were collected using transformational leadership style questionnaire (Bass and Avolio, 1990), safety consciousness inventory (Barling, et al., 2002) and safety-related events and occupational injuries questionnaire (Barling, et al., 2002). The obtained data were analyzed thorough descriptive Statistics methods, Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients, and regression analysis by SPSS 18.

.

Result: The findings of the study showed that transformational leadership style had a significant correlation with safety consciousness and safety-related events (P< 0.05). The Results of regression analysis showed that transformational leadership style reduced the occupational injuries through increasing safety consciousness and reducing safety-related events.

.

Conclusion: The present study emphasizes the importance of transformational leadership style and its instruction to mangers and supervisor. The consequences as well as the suggestion for the further study are discussed in this article.

Introduction: Gasoline is a complex mixture of more than 500 various hydrocarbons. The elimination of lead from petrol has been associated with the production of significant amounts of hepatotoxic and nephrotoxic monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons such as benzene, toluene and xylene (BTX). The main purpose of this study was to ascertain whether or not exposure to unleaded petrol, under normal working conditions, is associated with any hepatotoxic or nephrotoxic response.

.

Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study in which 200 subjects with current exposure to unleaded petrol working in Shiraz petrol stations as well as 200 unexposed employees were investigated. Using standard methods, atmospheric concentrations of BTX were measured. Additionally, blood and urine samples were taken from subjects for routine biochemical tests of kidney and liver function.

.

Results: The geometric means of airborne concentrations of BTX were found to be 0.24, 0.37 and 0.64 ppm, respectively. The result of blood chemistry tests showed that means of direct bilirubin, ALT, AST, urea and plasma creatinine were significantly higher in exposed subjects than in unexposed employees, although all of these parameters were in the normal range. Conversely, serum albumin, total protein and serum concentration of calcium and sodium were significantly lower in petrol station workers than in their unexposed counterparts.

 .

Conclusions: The average exposure of petrol station workers to BTX is lower than the current TLVs for these chemicals. However, clinical significance and long-term results of observed changes in liner and kidney of exposed workers needs more evident in comparison with unexposed group.

Introduction: Lead exposure is considered as a global health problem. The irreparable harmful effects of this heavy metal on human have been proven in various studies. Comparing to general population, workers in related industries are more exposed to lead. Several studies have investigated lead occupational exposure and its biological evaluation in Iran; however there is no overall estimate. Thus, the present study was conducted to determine the occupational exposure to lead and its biological evaluation in Iranian workers, using systematic review and meta-analysis.

Material and Method: This study was carried out based on information obtained from databases including Magiran, Iranmedex, SID, Medlib, Trials Register, Scopus, Pubmed, Science Direct, Cochran, Embase, Medline, Web of Science, Springer, Online Library Wiley, and Google Scholar from 1991 to 2016, using standard key words. All of the reviewed papers which met the inclusion criteria have been evaluated. Data combination was performed according to Random Effects Model using Stata software version 11.1.

Result: In the 34 qualified studies, the mean blood lead level (BLL) concentration in Iranian workers was estimated 42.8µg/dl (95% CI: 35.15-50.49). The minimum and maximum BLL were belonged to west (28.348µg/dl) and center (45.928µg/dl) regions of Iran, respectively. Considering different occupations, the lowest mean value was reported in textile industry workers (12.3 µg/dl), while the highest value was for zinc-lead mine workers (72.6 µg/dl). Mean breathing air lead level of Iranian workers reported in 4 studies was estimated 0.23 mg/m3 (95% CI: 0.14-0.33).

Conclusion: According to the high concentration of BLL and breathing air, it is recommended to increase protective measures and frequent screening. Scheduled clinical and paraclinical examination should also be performed for workers.