Document Type : Research articles
Authors
- Zahra Asad 1
- Hossein Akbari 2
- Alireza Dehdashti 3
- Milad Motalebi Kashani 4
- Hamidreza Saberi 1
- Masoud Motalebi Kashani 5
1 Environment Engineering Department, Islamic Azad University, Central Branch of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
2 Biostatistics and Epidemiology Department, Health Faculty, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran
3 Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran
4 New York College of Podiatric, New York, USA
5 Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran
Abstract
Background: Traumatic injuries are a leading cause of death and disability in the working population, worldwide. According to estimates, by 2020, traumatic injuries will be the second cause of disability in developing countries and the third cause of death and disability across nations, worldwide. Objectives: This study aimed at assessing work-related traumas and related risk factors that may contribute to the development of injuries among Iranian metal melting workers in Kashan industrial sites. Methods: Data were collected by a descriptive cross-sectional study on 178 Iranian metal melting workers in five manufacturing sites of Kashan, selected as a census. The data consisted of a three-year period from 2014 to 2016. Samples were selected as the census. The study used a demographic questionnaire, accident investigation reports, and interviews with workers that had experienced traumatic injuries, to collect data. Results: Overall, 58.43% of workers experienced traumatic events. The data indicated a significant association between ages, years of employment, and being a witness of an accident with work-related trauma (P < 0.05). Workers involved in smelting operations experienced more injuries than workers at other processing units. Most Injuries affected hands and wrists. The leading causes of work-related injuries were contacting with hot objects (42.3%), fall from height (26.9%), electrical shock (1.9%), strike (18.3%), stuck (3.8%), and strain (1.9%). Conclusions: These results may contribute to the nature of tasks in metal melting process, requiring the performance of hot pro- cesses and heavy manual tasks with hand tools. The results provide steps for developing prevention strategies. Metal workers in- volved in performing hot processes and heavy manual tasks might be considered as first targets for preventive interventions.
Keywords
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