ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Due to the type of activities and the long-term exposure to chemicals, hospital cleaning workers require the necessary knowledge about the chemicals used and proper safety culture. This study aimed to evaluate the safety culture and perception of hospital cleaning workers' warning signs of chemical hazards. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2022 with the participation of 68 cleaning workers with the mean age ± (SD) and work experience ± (SD) of 36.19 ± (7.619) and 9.21 ± (5.462), respectively, in four selected Tehran hospitals in Iran. After ensuring the confidentiality of the received information and completing the demographic information checklist, each participant completed Global Harmonization System (GHS) sign perception and the safety culture questionnaires in this survey. Data were analyzed using regression and Pearson correlation tests. RESULTS: This study showed that the participant's correct perception in nine cases (81.8%) of presented GHS signs was lower than the ANSI Z535.3 standard. Among the investigated signs, "Flammable substances" and "Harmful to the environment" signs had the highest, and "Skin irritant" signs had the lowest correct perception. In addition, it was found that 55 people (80.9%) had an overall positive attitude toward the safety culture. The levels of "Work environment" (83.8%) and "Information exchange" (76.5%) had the highest and lowest positive scores for safety culture. Furthermore, there is a direct and significant relationship between the overall score of safety culture and the overall perception of the symptoms of GHS (CC = 0.313, P = 0.009). CONCLUSION: According to the obtained results, it is recommended to take the necessary measures to increase the employees' perception of the signs of chemical substances and improve their safety culture.
Subject(s)
Hospitals , Safety Management , Humans , Cross-Sectional Studies , Iran , Surveys and Questionnaires , Perception , Organizational Culture , Patient Safety , Attitude of Health PersonnelABSTRACT
Background: Working in hot environments can cause diseases and reduce performance by upsetting the balance of physiological parameters of workers' bodies. Bakers are among the people exposed to heat stress continuously and daily. This review study aimed to investigate the effect of heat stress on bakers. Methods: In this review study, the related articles based on keywords were reviewed using "IranMedex", "Science Direct", "PubMed", "Scopus", "Web of Science", "SID", "Google Scholar", and "Magiran" databases from the years 2000 to 2021. The used search terms were "Heat stress", "Heat strain", "Heat exposure", "Heat waves", "Workplace", "Baker", and "health effects". In order to extract the required data, all parts of the articles have been reviewed. Results: Out of the 16 studies reviewed in this study, 43.75% were cross-sectional, 25% were descriptive cross-sectional, and 31.25% were performed according to other study designs. In all of the studies, the WBGT index was used to assess ambient heat stress. In most studies, the mean exposure temperature was higher than the WBGT-ACGIH limit, especially among traditional bakery workers. The findings showed that exposure to thermal stress significantly affects some hematological parameters of blood, oxidative stress, heart rate, and body temperature. Conclusion: The situation of heat stress in the bakery environment is worrying in terms of health and reduced productivity of employees. Therefore, it is essential to take the necessary preventive and control measures to reduce heat stress and the resulting strain.
