[Measurement of the illumination in irregular Geometric Libraries of Zanjan City with geospatial information system [GIS]]

Recommended illumination Engineering Society of North America [IESNA] methods were used to measure the illumination in regular geometric areas such as square or rectangular form areas. It seems that with using the GIS method which is used to save, manage and spatial data analysis and processing them by computer we would be able to examine the illumination in many situations and make new predictions. In this research the Testo 545 luxmeter sensor was put in height of 30 inches [76 cm] from the bottom of irregular geometric study saloon in libraries of Zanjan. Then total, natural and artificial illumination was measured in the center of each station in lux. These data were entered into Arcview software as input data for analyzing. Thus the illumination quantities, the area coverage percent and isolux curves were obtained for each station. The results showed that illumination quantities in the libraries studied were not suitable because, total, natural and artificial illumination in 51%, 80% and 99% of the libraries were less than 300 lux [IESNA recommended] respectively. Therefore it is necessary to redesign the artificial lighting systems or optimize them in order to achieve the standard illumination. It seems that GIS method could show the distribution of the illumination in the irregular geometric library halls. These data can also be showed as isolux curves with use of interpolation technique by ArcView software

[Effects of safety signs on the modification of unsafe behaviours]

In recent decades studies have shown that the main cause of accidents is unsafe acts. Installation of safety signs is a complementary corrective action for unsafe act control. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to investgate the effects of safety signs on the modification of unsafe behaviours. This interventional study was carried out in one of the turbine manufacturing industries in Iran, based on safety behaviour sampling technique. The unsafe acts was first determined and recorded, then 71 standard safety signs was installed based on [ANSI -Z535.2 and 3-2007] and 3 and 6 months after that the behaviours were evaluated. The behaviours before and after using the safety signs were compared. The frequency of unsafe behaviors was 41.7% before the intervention. The most frequent unsafe behaviours were not or incorrect use of personal protective equipments, taking improper postures and unsafe work at height. There and 6 months after the intervention, unsafe behaviours reduced to 27.3% and 31.3% respectively [p<0.005]. The findings showed that safety signs have a statistically significant effect on the reduction of unsafe behaviours. However, this effectiveness will be reducing over the time

Mental health in high-tech system

Stress and mental health at the place of work have received great attention by researchers. In spite of technology improvement in high-tech systems, the operators face new problems, which can affect mental health. There is hardly any published research about stress or mental health in such workplaces in developing countries. This paper presents the application of the self-rating scale General Health Questionnaire [GHQ-28] to study mental health of 160 controllers working in a part of Air Traffic Control [ATC] as a high-tech system in Iran. Logistic regression analysis showed that demographic variables did not exhibit a statistically significant effect on scores of the test. In order to compare mental health of these operators with general population, an exposure / non-exposure study was designed. Three age groups [less than 29 years, 30 through 39 y, and more than 40 y] were compared in exposed and non-exposed groups. The results of Fisher's exact test showed that mental distress symptoms were significantly higher in the exposed group. There were significant job effects on somatization, anxiety and depression as well as on the total score of GHQ-28 for the two first age groups [P<.05]. No significant effects of the job were found on social dysfunction symptoms in any age groups. The risk ratio of expressing depression and anxiety symptoms were more than three times greater in these operators than general population