International journal of occupational safety and ergonomics: JOSE (INT J OCCUP SAF ERGO)

Publications in this journal

• Article: Validating a safety climate model in metal processing industries: a replication study.

  Paul Braunger, Hermann Frank, Christian Korunka, Manfred Lueger, Bettina Kubicek
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  ABSTRACT: This paper attempts to replicate a safety climate model originally tested in Australia to assess its applicability in a different context: namely, across production workers in 22 medium-sized metal processing organizations in Austria. The model postulates that safety knowledge and safety motivation mediate the relation between safety climate on the one hand and safety compliance and participation on the other. Self-report data from 1075 employees were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results of the replication study largely confirmed the original safety climate model. However, in addition to indirect effects, direct links between safety climate and actual safety behavior were found.
  International journal of occupational safety and ergonomics: JOSE 01/2013; 19(1):143-55.
• Article: Determining attenuation of impulse noise with an electrical equivalent of a hearing protection device.

  Rafał Młyński, Emil Kozłowski
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  ABSTRACT: Determining the effectiveness of impulse noise attenuation with hearing protection devices (HPDs) is an important part of their selection. Measuring impulse noise parameters under an HPD would involve exposing subjects to impulses with a high peak sound pressure level. This paper presents a computational method of determining impulse noise parameters under the cups of earmuffs. Calculations are done using the transfer function of earmuffs, determined with Shaw's electrical equivalent of an HPD, taking into account the design parameters of earmuffs. The developed method was used for calculations in the presence of impulse noise generated by gunshots. To verify the computational method, the results of these calculations were compared with the results of measurements.
  International journal of occupational safety and ergonomics: JOSE 01/2013; 19(1):127-41.
• Article: Health indicators of three rescue groups.

  Jose A Prieto, Vicente González, Miguel Del Valle, Paloma Nistal
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  ABSTRACT: The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between age, aerobic capacity (VO2 max) and other health indicators among 3 rescue groups. The type of training and the subjective perception of physical fitness obtained via the Assessment Questionnaire of Physical Fitness were also analysed. To obtain VO2 max, 37 firefighters, 22 lifeguards and 59 mine rescue workers had a treadmill test. Their body mass index and body fat percentage were also calculated. The results show a significant decline in VO2 max of the older participants, which affects the effectiveness of rescue work. Furthermore, the training of all groups was inconsistent and based on individual needs. Variable training and the decline in VO2 max with age affected the effectiveness of the rescue tasks of each group.
  International journal of occupational safety and ergonomics: JOSE 01/2013; 19(1):19-27.
• Article: Methodology of selecting the reference source for an active noise control system in a car.

  Zbigniew Dąbrowski, Bartosz Stankiewicz
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  ABSTRACT: At the end of the 20th century, a significant development in digital technologies of signal processing made it possible to apply active noise control methods in new domains. A proper selection of the reference signal source is a main problem in implementing such systems. This paper presents an estimation method based on an indicator of the coherent power level. It also presents a simple system of active noise control in a car, operating according to the proposed method of optimising the positioning of reference sources. This system makes it possible to considerably increase the comfort of work of drivers in various kinds of road transport without a great increase in cost. This is especially significant in the case of trucks and vans. Passive barriers are considerably more expensive in them, which results in a higher level of noise than in passenger cars.
  International journal of occupational safety and ergonomics: JOSE 01/2013; 19(1):117-25.
• Article: Application of SHERPA to Identify and Prevent Human Errors in Control Units of Petrochemical Industry.

  Mehdi Ghasemi, Jebrail Nasleseraji, Sedigheh Hoseinabadi, Mohsen Zare
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  ABSTRACT: Introduction. Studying human errors as a risk factor in the occurrence of accidents is necessary. Thus, the aim of this study was to identify, predict and control human errors in industrial control units. Method. This is a case study carried out using SHERPA in the first unit of Zagros Methanol of Asalooyeh, Iran, and its subunits. To collect the required data, various methods were used: observing, interviewing processing specialists and control unit operators, and studying technical documents and records. Results. In total, 222 human errors were identified in various occupational tasks. This study showed that 48.62% of them were action errors, 31.97% were checking errors, 6.75% were retrieval errors, 11.70% were communication errors and 0.90% were selection errors. Conclusion. It can be inferred that this method is appropriate for different industries, and it is useful for identifying human errors leading to hazardous accidents.
  International journal of occupational safety and ergonomics: JOSE 01/2013; 19(2):203-9.
• Article: Analysis of Working Postures at a Construction Site Using the OWAS Method.

  Tzu-Hsien Lee, Chia-Shan Han
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  ABSTRACT: This study used OWAS to analyze the working postures of construction workers on building the foundations of a log cabin. Three construction workers, with an average work experience of 40 years, participated in this study. Eight elementary jobs of building the foundations of a log cabin were videotaped at a construction site and analyzed later in the laboratory. For an overall distribution of trunk postures, OWAS identified that a bent and twisted trunk posture (34%), which fell into action category 3, was the major poor posture for construction workers. This study also identified that tying beams with steel bars, assembling column templates, and cement grouting of the ground were the 3 principal jobs in which workers building the foundations exhibited poor working posture. This article suggests ways to reduce and evaluate poor posture in a dynamic construction site.
  International journal of occupational safety and ergonomics: JOSE 01/2013; 19(2):245-50.
• Article: Postural loading assessment in assembly workers of an Iranian telecommunication manufacturing company.

  Mojtaba Kamalinia, Gebreal Nasl Saraji, Dohyung Kee, Mostafa Hosseini, Alireza Choobineh
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  ABSTRACT: Background. Changes in industries and work practices have coincided with work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of MSDs and to assess postural loading in assembly workers of an Iranian telecommunication manufacturing company. Methods. Data were collected from 193 randomly selected workers in 4 units of the company. The Nordic musculoskeletal disorders questionnaire and the UBC ergonomic checklist were used as data collection tools. Loading on the upper body assessment (LUBA) was used to assess postural loading. Results. Lower back symptoms were the most prevalent problems among the workers (67.9%). LUBA showed that most assembly workers (94.3%) had experienced considerable and high postural loading (postural load index, PLI > 5). Regression analyses revealed that lighting, rotation, contact stress, repetition, gender and age were factors associated with symptoms. Conclusion. Work-related MSDs occurred at a high rate among workers. Postural loading requires consideration. Any ergonomic intervention should focus on eliminating ergonomic factors associated with symptoms.
  International journal of occupational safety and ergonomics: JOSE 01/2013; 19(2):311-9.
• Article: Personality correlates of accident-proneness in auto-rickshaw drivers in India.

  Manglesh Kumar Manglam, Vinod Kumar Sinha, Samir Kumar Praharaj, Dipanjan Bhattacharjee, Anindya Das
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  ABSTRACT: Objective. We examined the personality correlates of accident-proneness of auto-rickshaw drivers in the Indian city of Ranchi. Methods. This was a cross-sectional study in which 50 male drivers aged 18-50 years, selected randomly from a list of licensed auto-rickshaw drivers in Ranchi, were assessed with a Hindi version of Cattell's 16 Personality Factors (16-PF) Questionnaire. Results. There was a significantly higher frequency of breaking rules, crossing speed limits, substance use and a trend towards a higher frequency of carrying extra persons (i.e., more than recommended) in accident-prone drivers. There was significant negative correlation of accident-proneness with 16-PF factors such as reasoning, rule consciousness, apprehension and emotional stability. Conclusion. Personality characteristics with lower scores of reasoning, rule consciousness, apprehension and emotional stability are common in commercial auto-rickshaw drivers with high accident-proneness.
  International journal of occupational safety and ergonomics: JOSE 01/2013; 19(2):159-65.
• Article: Injuries among slovenian physical education teachers: a cross-sectional study.

  Marjeta Kovač, Bojan Leskošek, Vedran Hadžić, Gregor Jurak
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  ABSTRACT: A cross-sectional study was carried out to examine the frequency and types of serious injuries in physical educators throughout their professional career, in relation to their gender, age and teaching level, certain factors causing the injuries and the consequences of those injuries on their working ability. The subjects (n = 468) answered a self-administered questionnaire. In men, one group's higher frequency of injuries was 1.8 (95% CI [1.26, 2.57]) times higher than in women. Every year in age increased the odds for moving into a group with a higher frequency of injuries by 7.6% (95% CI [1.06, 1.10]). The most common injuries for both genders were lower limb injuries. The most common cause of injury was the teacher's own mistake. Over 60% of teachers had to modify their teaching after an injury. It is necessary to further explore preventive strategies to reduce injuries in these workers.
  International journal of occupational safety and ergonomics: JOSE 01/2013; 19(1):87-95.
• Article: Musculoskeletal risk assessment in small furniture manufacturing workshops.

  Naser Hashemi Nejad, Alireza Choobineh, Hoda Rahimifard, Hamid Reza Haidari, Sayed Hamid Reza Tabatabaei
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  ABSTRACT: In Iran, furniture is mainly manufactured in small workshops, where most activities are performed manually. This study was conducted among workers of furniture workshops to determine prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms and to assess ergonomic working conditions to identify major risk factors associated with musculoskeletal symptoms. In this study, 410 randomly selected furniture workers participated. The Nordic questionnaire and an ergonomics checklist consisting of 6 sections were used as data collection tools. An index was calculated for each section of the checklist. Action categories indicating the priority of corrective measures were also defined. The highest prevalence of symptoms was reported in the knees (39%), lower back (35.6%) and wrists/hands (29.5%). It was found that manual material handling, poor workstation design and awkward working postures were associated with the reported symptoms in these regions (OR 1.77-4.52). Poor general working conditions and work organization showed association as well. Any interventional measures should focus on these areas.
  International journal of occupational safety and ergonomics: JOSE 01/2013; 19(2):275-84.
• Article: Effects of ultrasonic noise on the human body-a bibliographic review.

  Bożena Smagowska, Małgorzata Pawlaczyk-Łuszczyńska
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  ABSTRACT: Industrial noise in the working environment has adverse effects on human hearing; literature and private studies confirm that. It has been determined that significant changes in the hearing threshold level occur in the high frequency audiometry, i.e., in the 8-20 kHz frequency range. Therefore, it is important to determine the effect of ultrasonic noise (10-40 kHz) on the human body in the working environment. This review describes hearing and nonhearing effects (thermal effects, subjective symptoms and functional changes) of the exposure to noise emitted by ultrasound devices. Many countries have standard health exposure limits to prevent effects of the exposure to ultrasonic noise in the working environment.
  International journal of occupational safety and ergonomics: JOSE 01/2013; 19(2):195-202.
• Article: Performance on a work-simulating firefighter test versus approved laboratory tests for firefighters and applicants.

  Erna von Heimburg, Jon Ingulf Medbø, Mariann Sandsund, Randi Eidsmo Reinertsen
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  ABSTRACT: Aim. Firefighters must meet minimum physical demands. The Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority (NLIA) has approved a standardised treadmill walking test and 3 simple strength tests for smoke divers. The results of the Trondheim test were compared with those of the NLIA tests taking into account possible effects of age, experience level and gender. Methods. Four groups of participants took part in the tests: 19 young experienced firefighters, 24 senior male firefighters and inexperienced applicants, 12 male and 8 female. Results. Oxygen uptake (VO2) at exhaustion rose linearly by the duration of the treadmill test. Time spent on the Trondheim test was closely related to performance time and peak VO2 on the treadmill test. Senior experienced firefighters did not perform better than equally fit young applicants. However, female applicants performed poorer on the Trondheim test than on the treadmill test. Performance on the Trondheim test was not closely related to muscle strength beyond a minimum. Conclusion. Firefighters completing the Trondheim test in under 19 min fit the requirements of the NLIA treadmill test. The Trondheim test can be used as an alternative to the NLIA tests for testing aerobic fitness but not for muscular strength. Women's result of the Trondheim test were poorer than the results of the NLIA treadmill test, probably because of their lower body mass.
  International journal of occupational safety and ergonomics: JOSE 01/2013; 19(2):227-43.
• Article: Efficiency of filtering materials used in respiratory protective devices against nanoparticles.

  Agnieszka Brochocka, Krzysztof Makowski, Katarzyna Majchrzycka, Piotr Grzybowski
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  ABSTRACT: The basic aim of this research was to establish the efficiency of filtering materials widely used in respiratory protection devices with particular interest in their porosity, degree of electric and changeable process parameters, such as the flow rate of the test nanoaerosol and the size range of nanoparticles. Tests were carried out with an NaCl solid aerosol of 3.2 × 105 particles/cm3 for the range of particle size of 7-270 nm, at aerosol flow rate of 1800, 2700, 3600, 4500 and 5400 L/h. The tests showed that electrospun nonwovens were the most effective filtering materials for nanoparticles over 20 nm. Melt-blown electret nonwovens with lower porosity than electrospun nonwovens had higher values of penetration of 1%-4%. Those materials provided very efficient protection against nanoparticles of certain sizes only.
  International journal of occupational safety and ergonomics: JOSE 01/2013; 19(2):285-95.
• Article: Postural and muscular responses while viewing different heights of screen.

  Tzu-Hsien Lee, Tsung-Yu Liu
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  ABSTRACT: This study aimed to examine the effects of visual display terminal (VDT) viewing angle on human postural angle and muscular activity. The participants' neck, thoracic bending, and trunk inclination angles; and the activity of sternocleidomastoid, trapezius, splenius capitis, and erector spinae at 5 viewing angles (+40°, +20°, 0°, -20°, and -40°) of a VDT screen were collected for 1 min. This study showed that neck and thoracic bending angles increased with viewing angle, while viewing angle did not significantly affect trunk inclination angle. In addition, the activity of trapezius and erector spinae increased when viewing a higher or lower VDT screen height compared with viewing a horizontal VDT screen height; however, the activity of splenius capitis decreased with viewing angle.
  International journal of occupational safety and ergonomics: JOSE 01/2013; 19(2):251-8.
• Article: Construction workers' reasons for not reporting work-related injuries: an exploratory study.

  Jeffery Taylor Moore, Konstantin P Cigularov, Julie M Sampson, John C Rosecrance, Peter Y Chen
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  ABSTRACT: Although under-reporting of work-related injuries by workers is recognized as a significant problem in construction and other industries, little is known about the specific reasons for such occurrences. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used in this study to (a) identify reasons why construction workers may choose not to report work-related injuries, and (b) to investigate the frequency of the identified reasons. Twenty-seven percent of a sample of construction workers (N = 135) indicated that they had failed to report a work-related injury. The most frequent reasons given were related to perceptions of injuries as "small" and "part of the job" as well as fear of negative consequences, which may follow injury reporting. These findings are discussed in terms of practical implications. Strategies to overcome these reasons are suggested to decrease the under-reporting of injuries in the construction industry.
  International journal of occupational safety and ergonomics: JOSE 01/2013; 19(1):97-105.
• Article: Occupational exposure to solar ultraviolet radiation of polish outdoor workers: risk estimation method and criterion.

  Agnieszka Wolska
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  ABSTRACT: This paper presents occupational skin exposure to solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) of 122 Polish outdoor workers in spring and summer. In 65% of the cases, it was significant and exceeded 10 standard erythema doses (SED) during a work shift. The results provided grounds for (a) modifying hazard assessment based on the skin exposure factor proposed by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) and (b) developing a criterion of risk estimation. The modified method uses the UV index (UVI) instead of the geographical latitude and season factor. The skin exposure factor (Wes) of one is the criterion of risk estimation. Risk is low if the estimated value of Wes does not exceed one. If it does, suitable preventive measures are necessary and a corrected skin exposure factor (Wes *) is calculated to minimize its value to at least one. Risk estimated with that method was high in 67% of the cases.
  International journal of occupational safety and ergonomics: JOSE 01/2013; 19(1):107-16.
• Article: Driver Fatigue and Road Safety on Poland's National Roads.

  Kazimierz Jamroz, Leszek Smolarek
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  ABSTRACT: This paper presents an overview of factors causing driver fatigue as described in the literature. Next, a traffic crash database for 2003-2007 is used to identify the causes, circumstances and consequences of accidents caused by driver fatigue on Poland's national roads. The results of the study were used to build a model showing the relationship between the concentration of road accidents and casualties, and the time of day. Finally, the level of relative accident risk at night-time versus daytime is defined. A map shows the risk of death and severe injury on the network of Poland's national roads. The paper suggests to road authorities steps to reduce fatigue-related road accidents in Poland.
  International journal of occupational safety and ergonomics: JOSE 01/2013; 19(2):297-309.
• Article: The inversion method in measuring noise emitted by machines in opencast mines of rock material.

  Dariusz Pleban, Janusz Piechowicz, Krzysztof Kosała
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  ABSTRACT: The inversion method was used to test vibroacoustic processes in large-size machines used in opencast mines of rock material. When this method is used, the tested machine is replaced with a set of substitute sources, whose acoustic parameters are determined on the basis of sound pressure levels and phase shift angles of acoustic signals, measured with an array of 24 microphones. This article presents test results of a combine unit comprising a crusher and a vibrating sieve, for which an acoustic model of 7 substitute sources was developed with the inversion method.
  International journal of occupational safety and ergonomics: JOSE 01/2013; 19(2):321-31.
• Article: Identifying training deficiencies in military pilots by applying the human factors analysis and classification system.

  Wen-Chin Li, Don Harris
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  ABSTRACT: Without accurate analysis, it is difficult to identify training needs and develop the content of training programs required for preventing aviation accidents. The human factors analysis and classification system (HFACS) is based on Reason's system-wide model of human error. In this study, 523 accidents from the Republic of China Air Force were analyzed in which 1762 human errors were categorized. The results of the analysis showed that errors of judgment and poor decision-making were commonly reported amongst pilots. As a result, it was concluded that there was a need for military pilots to be trained specifically in making decisions in tactical environments. However, application of HFACS also allowed the identification of systemic training deficiencies within the organization further contributing to the accidents observed.
  International journal of occupational safety and ergonomics: JOSE 01/2013; 19(1):3-18.
• Article: Determining ultraviolet degradation of high-visibility warning clothing with photochromic indicators.

  Adam Pościk
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  ABSTRACT: The main purpose of this study was to select an appropriate photochromic dye and to develop a series of photochromic indicators showing ultraviolet (UV) degradation of selected background materials made from different polymers. The photochemistry of a series of photochromic compounds of oxazine and diarylethenes in thin polystyrene films were studied with spectroscopic methods. This paper also discusses the design and results of tests of UV photochromic indicators for high-visibility clothing.
  International journal of occupational safety and ergonomics: JOSE 01/2013; 19(1):79-86.