Kolahi Hadi, Jahangiri Mehdi, Ghaem Haleh, Rostamabadi Akbar, Aghabeigi Mandana, Farhadi Payam, Kamalinia Mojtaba
Student Research Committee, School of Health, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Islamic Republic of Iran.
Research Center for Health Science, Institute of Health, Department of Occupational Health, School of Health, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Islamic Republic of Iran.
Saf Health Work. 2018 Mar;9(1):95-100. doi: 10.1016/j.shaw.2017.05.003. Epub 2017 May 19.
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.
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.
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.
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.
呼吸防护设备（RPE）是控制工作场所空气污染物暴露的最后手段。全面的呼吸防护计划（RPP）可确保正确选择、使用和维护RPE。因此，RPP必须很好地融入职业健康与安全要求中。在本研究中，我们评估了伊朗石化行业中RPP的实施情况，以确定改善当前呼吸防护状况所需的解决方案。
本横断面研究在伊朗的24家石化行业企业中开展。调查工具是从美国职业安全与健康管理局呼吸防护标准中提取的一份清单。通过层次分析法制定并加权了一个呼吸防护计划指数（RPPI），以确定所提供的呼吸防护措施符合RPP标准的达标率（CR）。使用Excel 2010进行数据分析。
根据专家意见，RPP最重要的要素是呼吸危害评估。石化工厂中RPPI的平均值为49±15%。RPP各要素中达标率最高和最低的分别是RPE的选择和医学评估。
在所研究的石化行业中，没有一家企业完全实施了RPP。这可能导致员工过度暴露于工作场所的有害空气污染物中。本研究建议通过培训提高员工和雇主的意识，以改善这种状况。
