• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.735-745
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• 2022

In this study, a health assessment was conducted using the Benthic Health Index (BHI) to assess fish cage farms, where a fishery environment assessment was also performed. A total of 43 farms were evaluated located in the East Sea, West Sea, and South Sea in Korea. The results of the BHI health evaluation included 8 grade 1 farms, 4 grade 2, 12 grade 3, and 19 grade 4. The grade 1 farms included sandy sediment farms and those with low intensity aquaculture, while the grade 2 farms included those located in areas with active seawater circulation. The fish cage farms belonging to grade 3 and 4 included the majority of farms with high-intensity aquaculture activities. There was no significant difference in total organic carbon between grade 3 and 4 farms, but the results of polychaete community analysis show that organic matter concentration was significantly higher in grade 4 farms.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.158-168
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• 2011

Objectives: The present study aims to determine the causal relationship between self-rated depression and experiences of injury and accidents in municipal firefighters. Methods: A panel survey of 186 municipal firefighters measured with depressive symptoms according to the Beck's depression index (BDI) was conducted. The effects of job-related injuries and accidents were evaluated using self-administered questionnaires that were taken once in a 12-month period from 2005 to 2006. Firefighters were classified into the Depression Group or Control Group based on follow-up BDI results with a cutoff level that was set to having "over mild depression." Results: The depression Group was comprised of 17 (9.1%) workers, including 9 firefighters who met had sufficient BDI scores twice in the 2-year test period and newly sufficient BDI scores in the follow-up test. A significantly higher number of subjects in the Depression Group experienced injuries and accidents in the 2-year test period as compared to the Control Group (15.4% vs. 1.5%, p=0.04). Firefighters who experienced injuries and accidents in the 2-year test period had a 7.4 times higher risk of being in the Depression Group than those who had not. As compared to accidents, near-miss accidents revealed stronger risks related to being classified as in the Depression group (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 4.58, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.15-18.18 vs. Adjusted OR = 4.22, 95% CI = 1.08-16.58). Conclusion: The above results suggest that we should establish an effective program to promote mental health for groups at high risk for self-rated depression, including persons who have experienced consecutive injuries and accidents as well as near-miss injuries.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.317-324
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• 2023

Background: COVID-19 pandemic represented a unique stressful event that affected the physical health and psychological well-being (PWB) of individuals and communities. Monitoring PWB is essential not only to clarify the burden on mental health effects but also to define targeted psychological-supporting measures. This cross-sectional study evaluated the PWB of Italian firefighters during the pandemic. Methods: Firefighters recruited during the pandemic period filled out a self-administered questionnaire, the Psychological General Well-Being Index, during the health surveillance medical examination. This tool is usually used to assess the global PWB and explores six subdomains: anxiety, depressed mood, positive well-being, self-control, general health, and vitality. The influencing roles of age, gender, working activities, COVID-19, and pandemic restrictive measures were also explored. Results: A total of 742 firefighters completed the survey. The aggregate median PWB global score was in the 'no distress"" range (94.3 ± 10.3), which was higher than that observed in studies conducted using the same tool in the Italian general population during the same pandemic period. Similar findings were observed in the specific subdomains, thus suggesting that the investigated population was in good PWB condition. Interestingly, significantly better outcomes were detected in the younger firefighters. Conclusion: Our data showed a satisfactory PWB situation in firefighters that could be related to different professional factors such as work organization and mental and physical training. In particular, our results would suggest the hypothesis that in firefighters, maintaining a minimum/moderate level of physical activity (consisting of even just going to work) might have a profoundly positive impact on psychological health and well-being.

• Journal of Advanced Navigation Technology
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.159-162
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• 2024

This paper proposes a novel safety autonomous platform (SAP) architecture that can automatically and precisely manage on-site safety through ensemble artificial intelligence models generated from video information, worker's biometric information, and the safety rule to estimate the risk index. We practically designed the proposed SAP architecture by the Hadoop ecosystem with Kafka/NiFi, Spark/Hive, Hue, ELK (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana), Ansible, etc., and confirmed that it worked well with safety mobility gateways for providing various safety applications.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.129-150
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• 2018

This paper presents the structural performance monitoring of an urban footbridge located in Hangzhou, China. The structural health monitoring (SHM) system is designed and implemented for the footbridge to monitor the structural responses of the footbridge and to ensure the structural safety during the period of operation. The monitoring data of stress and displacement measured by the fiber Bragg grating (FBG)-based sensors installed at the critical locations are used to analyze and assess the operation performance of the footbridge. A linear regression method is applied to separate the temperature effect from the stress monitoring data measured by the FBG-based strain sensors. In addition, the static vertical displacement of the footbridge measured by the FBG-based hydrostatic level gauges are presented and compared with the dynamic displacement remotely measured by a machine vision-based measurement system. Based on the examination of the monitored stress and displacement data, the structural safety evaluation is executed in combination with the defined condition index.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.301-312
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• 2011

Firefighters and police officers have the third highest prevalence of obesity among 41 male occupational groups in the United States (US). However, few studies have examined the relationship of firefighter working conditions and health behaviors with obesity. This paper presents a theoretical framework describing the relationship between working conditions, health behaviors, and obesity in firefighters. In addition, the paper describes a detailed study plan for exploring the role of occupational and behavioral risk factors in the development of obesity in firefighters enrolled in the Orange County Fire Authority Wellness Fitness Program. The study plan will be described with emphasis on its methodological merits: adopting a participatory action research approach, developing a firefighter-specific work and health questionnaire, conducting both a cross-sectional epidemiological study using the questionnaire and a sub-study to assess the validity of the questionnaire with dietary intake and physical activity measures, and evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of the body mass index as an obesity measure in comparison to skinfold-based percent body fat. The study plan based on a theoretical framework can be an essential first step for establishing effective intervention programs for obesity among professional and voluntary firefighters.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.109-113
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• 2019

Background: In both developed and developing countries, noise is regarded as the most common occupational hazard in various industries. The present study aimed to examine the effect of sound pressure level (SPL) on serum cortisol concentration in three different times during the night shift. Methods: This case-control study was conducted among 75 workers of an industrial and mining firm in 2017. The participants were assigned to one of the three groups (one control and two case groups), with an equal number of workers (25 participants) in each group. Following the ISO 9612 standard, dosimetry was adopted to evaluate equivalent SPL using a TES-1345 dosimeter. The influence of SPL on serum cortisol concentration was measured during the night shift. The serum cortisol concentration was measured using a radioimmunoassay (RIA) test in the laboratory. Repeated measure analysis of variance and linear mixed models were used with ${\alpha}=0.05$. Results: The results indicated a downward trend in the serum cortisol concentration of the three groups during the night shift. Both SPL and exposure time significantly affected cortisol concentration (p < 0.0001, p < 0.0001). Conversely, age and body mass index had no significant influence on cortisol concentration (p = 0.360, p = 0.62). Conclusion: Based on the obtained results, increasing SPL will lead to enhancement of serum cortisol concentration. Given that cortisol concentration varies while workers are exposed to different SPLs, this hormone can be used as a biomarker to study the effect of noise-induced stress.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.358-367
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• 2023

Background: This study aimed to develop and assess the psychometric features of the Physical Activity at Workplace Questionnaire (PAWPQ) based on the Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) to evaluate employees' physical activity (PA) behaviors at the workplace. Methods: This psychometric cross-sectional study was conducted on 455 employees working in one of the gas refineries in Iran. The participants were selected using the proportional stratified sampling method in 2019. The data collection tools were a demographic information questionnaire, the short form of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), and a questionnaire developed based on the SCT, whose psychometric features were confirmed in terms of validity and reliability. Data were analyzed using SPSS₂₂ and AMOS₂₀ software. Results: The first version of PAWPQ-SCT had 74 items. After evaluating content and face validity, nine items were removed. The results of the content validity index (0.98), content validity ratio (0.86), and impact score (3.62) were acceptable for the whole instrument. In exploratory factor analysis, after removing seven items-58-item final version of the scale-six factors could explain 73.54% of the total variance. The results of structural equation modeling showed the acceptable fit of the model into the data (RMSEA = 0.052, CFI = 0.917, NFI = 0.878, TLI = 0.905, IFI = 0.917, CMIN/DF = 2.818). Cronbach's alpha coefficient and Intraclass Correlation were 0.90 and 0.86, respectively. Conclusion: This study confirmed that the psychometric features of the 58-item final version of PAWPQSCT constructs were acceptable in a sample of Iranian employees. This questionnaire can be used as a valid and reliable tool to evaluate Iranian employees' PA behaviors and develop effective educational interventions for workers and managers.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.341-346
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• 2019

Background: Although the concept of workload is important to nursing practice, only a few nursing researchers have focused on the issue of workload within the nursing context. Knowledge of how the dynamics of workload affects the job stress of nurses working in a specific unit or department in a hospital setting, and the influence of coworker support on this relationship, still remains limited. This study, therefore examined the effect of workload on job stress of Ghanaian outpatient department nurses and the moderating effect of coworker support on this relationship. Methods: A cross-sectional survey design was used, and questionnaire was used to collect data from a sample of 216 outpatient department nurses from four major hospitals in Ghana. The data collected measured workload, job stress, and coworker support using National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Task Load Index, job stress scale, and coworker support scale, respectively. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, correlation, and hierarchical regression. Results: High levels of workload were associated with high levels of job stress of the nurses. Also, higher levels of workload were related to higher levels of job stress for nurses who received high levels of coworker support, but this was not the case for those who received low levels of coworker support (reserve buffering effect). Conclusion: The finding reiterates the adverse effect of workloads on employees' health, and the reverse buffering effect implies that supporting a colleague at work should be conveyed in a positive manner devoid of negative appraisal.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.325-331
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• 2023

Background: Heat stress is a harmful physical hazard in many occupational settings. However, consequences of occupational heat exposure among workers in a sugarcane factory in Ethiopia are not well characterized. This study aimed to assess the level of occupational heat exposure-related symptoms and contributing factors. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, five workstations were selected for temperature measurement. Heat stress levels were measured using a wet-bulb globe temperature index meter. A stratified random sampling technique was used to select 1,524 participants. Heat-related symptoms were assessed using validated questionnaires. Results: The level of occupational heat exposure was 72.4% (95% CI: 70.2%-74.8%), while 71.6% (95% CI: 69.3%-74.9%) of participants experienced at least one symptom related to heat stress. The most common heat-related symptoms were swelling of hands and feet (78%), severe thirst (77.8%) and dry mouth (77.4%). The identified risk factors were a lack of reflective shields (AOR: 2.20, 95% CI: 1.53, 3.17), not-enclosed extreme heat sources (AOR: 1.76, 95% CI: 1.23, 2.51), a lack of access to shade (AOR: 9.62, 95% CI: 6.20, 14.92), and inappropriate protective clothing provision (AOR: 1.58, 95% CI: 1.27, 2.71). Conclusions: The burden of occupational heat exposure and heat-induced symptoms was high. Lack of reflective shields, the absence of enclosed extreme heat sources, a lack of access to shade, and inappropriate protective clothing provision were considerable attributes of heat stress. Therefore, the use of mechanical solutions to stop heat emissions at their sources and the key factors identified were areas for future intervention.