An Investigation on the Harmful Biological Factors of Workplace among Administrative Workers of Power Plant in South of Iran

Abstract

Introduction: The working conditions, type of activity, and production or consumption of different materials expose the employees to harmful biological factors, which leads to infectious diseases. The purpose of this study was to investigate the harmful biological agents of the work environment among administrative personnel of a power plant in south of Iran.

Methods: This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted among 200 administrative workers of different sections of power plant in 2016. The participants used personal protective equipment and samples were collected from five parts of the participants' body including auricle, inside the ear, the area between the toes, palm of foot, toe nails. Finally, 1000 samples were collected.

Results: The mean age of the workers was  years and all participants were male. Of the 1000 samples cultivated in the laboratory, 192 (96%) people had negative and 8 (4%) had positive culture results. The results showed that auricle had the highest rate of opportunistic pathogenic fungi (87.5%). The most positive cases of opportunistic pathogens were associated with workshops, warehouses, and operational buildings.

Conclusion: Regarding the results of the study, we need to implement more health care in the mentioned places, observe personal hygiene in keeping the feet dry, not using protective handsets (air plug and earmuff) of other people, disinfecting the personal protective equipment, and daily washing to prevent the spread of the disease to other people.