[Effectiveness of a safety training course in changing employees attitude toward safety issues and its dimensions: a pathological study]

Millions of occupational accidents and disease cases are reported from work places annually causing considerable human and financial damages. Safety training is globally considered the best strategy to mitigate these damages. In this project a safety attitude questionnaire was used to obtain the required information. The questionnaire contained items about 13 relevant variables: job conscientiousness, fatalism, leadership, safety consciousness, role overload, work pressure, job safety perception, supervisor safety perception, coworker safety perception, management safety perception, safety program and policies perception, interpersonal conflicts at work, and job involvement. A total of 204 individuals [101 in the control and 103 in the experiment group] in the Isfahan Steel Company completed the safety attitude questionnaire. This was followed by a 4-hour safety training course attended by the experimental group. After 30 days both the experimental and control group completed the questionnaire again. Descriptive statistics and covariate analysis were used the compare the data between the 2 groups. Safety training in the workplace influenced positively the general attitude of the personnel towards safety issues. Further analysis of the data revealed that the training affected statistically significantly only safety consciousness, leadership, and management safety perception. Assessment of safety attitude in the workplace and its dimensions can be used to identify those areas of safety training that need more attention and a better design

[ study of changes in the serial peak flowmetery test in the workers of car painting workshops in Isfahan]

Workers working in car painting workshops are exposed to different contaminants including isocyanates. One of the most important sequelae of this exposure is occupational asthma. The aim of this study was to identify alterations in peak expiratory flow test in the workers working in the car painting workshops. This was a cross-sectional descriptive study. 43 workers were selected randomly from the car painting workplaces in Isfahan. The peak expiratory flow of the workers was measured by means of a peak flow meter set at the beginning and at the end of the work shift, for one week. The mean percentage of alterations in peak expiratory flow was 6.91% on the first day and 8.11% on the last day of week. The mean percentage of alternation of peak expiratory flow of the workers were 11.2 +/- 1.8 and 7.9 +/- 1.9 an the day of exposure to the contaminants after painting, and also one day after exposure respectively, which was indicative of pathological changes in the lungs of the workers, as shown by standard tests of pulmonary function. 72% of the workers after exposure to the contaminants showed alternation of more than 10% in the peak expiratory flow. This study showed there is high risk of occupational asthma and other lung diseases in the workers working in car painting workshops and peak flow meter test can be useful for assessment of pulmonary disorders