ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Respiratory protection equipment (RPE) is the last resort to control exposure to workplace air pollutants. A comprehensive respiratory protection program (RPP) ensures that RPE is selected, used, and cared properly. Therefore, RPP must be well integrated into the occupational health and safety requirements. In this study, we evaluated the implementation of RPP in Iranian petrochemical industries to identify the required solutions to improve the current status of respiratory protection. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 24 petrochemical industries in Iran. The survey instrument was a checklist extracted from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration respiratory protection standard. An index, Respiratory Protection Program Index (RPPI), was developed and weighted by analytic hierarchy process to determine the compliance rate (CR) of provided respiratory protection measures with the RPP standard. Data analysis was performed using Excel 2010. RESULTS: The most important element of RPP, according to experts, was respiratory hazard evaluation. The average value of RPPI in the petrochemical plants was 49 ± 15%. The highest and lowest of CR among RPP elements were RPE selection and medical evaluation, respectively. CONCLUSION: None of studied petrochemical industries implemented RPP completely. This can lead to employees' overexposure to hazardous workplace air contaminants. Increasing awareness of employees and employers through training is suggested by this study to improve such conditions.
ABSTRACT
This study examined the impact of various types of firefighting activities on firefighters' physiological responses and cognitive function. Each firefighter was engaged in three conditions: (1) Live-fire activities (LFA), (2) Typical firefighting activities (TFA), and (3) Rescue operations at height (ROH). The effects of various types of firefighting activities on the physiological responses and cognitive function were evaluated by heart rate (HR), temporal artery temperature (TT), and the correct response (CR) on a cognitive test. The results indicated that, compared to the baseline, physiological response increased, while information processing performance decreased after the activity. Furthermore, HR and TT were significantly lower at the end of the firefighting activity in the LFA (149.33 bpm; 38.08 °C) compared with the TFA (152.22 bpm; 38.17 °C) and ROH (159.28 bpm; 38.24 °C) conditions. Also, CR was significantly higher at the end of the activity in the LFA and TFA compared with the ROH condition. The results showed that rescue at height was more intensive than the other firefighting tasks in decreasing physiological and cognitive function capacity after the experiment. Practitioner Summary: We assumed that various types of firefighting activities would have different effects on physiological and cognitive functions during firefighting activities. The Findings suggest that rescue at height operations, performed without the use of special protective equipment, was more influential than other firefighting duties in changing firefighters' physiological and cognitive capacity. Abbreviations: CR: correct response; LFA: live-fire activities; TFA: typical firefighting activities; ROH: rescue operations at height; HR: heart rate; TT: temporal artery tempearture; PASAT: pased auditory serila addition teat; FPC: firefighting protective clothing.