Feasibility Study of Using Radio-frequency Identification Technology in Estimating the Time Pattern of Exposure to Causative Agents of Occupational Diseases

Sharifian, Zahra; Mansourian, Marjan; Rismanchian, Masoud

Feasibility Study of Using Radio-frequency Identification Technology in Estimating the Time Pattern of Exposure to Causative Agents of Occupational Diseases

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Department of Occupational Health Engineering, Student Research Committee, School of Health, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

² Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Health, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

³ Department of Occupational Health Engineering, School of Health, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

Abstract

Background: At workplaces, the workers exposed to several harmful agents such as physical, chemical, and biological pollutant that cause occupational diseases. There are a lot of jobs that not allow a certain pattern of exposure to this agent. In this article, we introduce a technology named radio-frequency identification (RFID) to estimate the exposure time of workers to harmful agent. Materials and Methods: This applied study was carried out experimentally in an industry in Isfahan province, Iran. Twenty-nine participants selected from the workers without a fixed pattern of exposure. Two methods used to measure the exposure time of them. The first method was based on a self-made RFID device and conducted by the workers. The second method performed by stopwatch, which was carried out by the occupational hygienist. The results were analyzed using SPSS 20 and descriptive statistics, Spearman correlation coefficient, and paired samples t-test. Results: The mean age of the participants was 36.48 ± 5.889 and job experience was 9.06 ± 6.316 years. Spearman correlation coefficient shows that there is a significant correlation between the exposure times measured by the workers and occupational hygienist (R in all zones was higher than 0.9, P < 0.05). Paired samples t-test shows that there are no significant differences between the mean exposure times measured by the workers and occupational hygienist in each zone and in all the zones (P > 0.05). Conclusion: RFID technology is an appropriate method to evaluate the exposure time of workers without fixed pattern of exposure to causative factors of occupational diseases. It can also be used in other fields of occupational health engineering.

Keywords

References

1.	Khanijazani R, Tabatabaeii S, Seyed Mehdi S, Kavousi A. Ergonomic study of the relationship between job stress and harmful factors in the cement industry. Iran Occup Health 2016;13:58-67.
2.	Dehghan H, Mortazavi SB, Jafari MJ, Maracy MR. Evaluation of wet bulb globe temperature index for estimation of heat strain in hot/humid conditions in the Persian Gulf. J Res Med Sci 2012;17:1108-13.
3.	Golbabaie F, Eskandari D, Azari M, Jahangiri M, Rahimi A, Shahtaheri J. Health risk assessment of chemical pollutants in a petrochemical complex. Iran Occup Health 2012;9:3.
4.	Landt J. The history of RFID. IEEE Potentials 2005;24:8-11.
5.	Weinstein R. RFID: A technical overview and its application to the enterprise. IT Prof 2005;7:27-33.
6.	Ansari R, Mehraeen E, Sabahi A. Need and priority assessment of Kerman's teaching hospitals to implementation of RFID technology. J Health Biomed Inform 2015;2:141-8.
7.	Fanberg H. The RFID revolution. Mark Health Serv 2004;24:43-4.
8.	Jahromi HM, Mosalanejad M. Explaining and analyzing RFID technology in the development of information technology engineering (IT); education, application and challenges. Iran Eng Educ Q 2008;38:137-68.
9.	Henrici D. RFID Security and Privacy: Concepts, Protocols, and Architectures. Germany: Springer, Science and Business Media; 2008.
10.	Gandino F, Montrucchio B, Rebaudengo M. Tampering in RFID: A survey on risks and defenses. Mob Netw Appl 2010;15:502-16.
11.	Pátkai B, Theodorou L, McFarlane D, Schmidt K. Requirements for RFID-based sensor integration in landing gear monitoring – A case study. Power 2007;5:4.
12.	Raei AA, Kamalabadi E. Application of radio waves identification system in the integrity of supply chain management (SCM). Seminar Logistics and Supply Chain; 2005.
13.	Baradaran J, Shakeri M, Khodabakhshian R. Application of RFID to monitor greenhouse conditions. First National Hydroponics Congress and Greenhouse Products. Vol. 10. 20: Iran. 2009. p. 56-7.
14.	Aliahmadi AR. Work Engineering & Time Management. Iran University Science & Technology: University Science & Technology; 2014. p. 774.
15.	Ilie-Zudor E, Kemeny Z, Egri P, Monostori L, editors. The RFID technology and its current applications. Conference Proceedings of the Modern Information Technology in the Innovation Processes of the Industrial Enterprises (MITIP); 2006.
16.	Yao W, Chu CH, Li Z, editors. The use of RFID in healthcare: Benefits and barriers. RFID-Technology and Applications (RFID-TA). 2010 IEEE International Conference. IEEE; 2010.
17.	Yao W, Chu CH, Li Z. The adoption and implementation of RFID technologies in healthcare: A literature review. J Med Syst 2012;36:3507-25.
18.	Mareshi N. Work and Time Study. Tehran: Karafarinan Basir; 2001. p. 448.
19.	Ebrahimipour H, Vafaei NA, Nouri GA, Esmaeili H, Jamili S. Studying Waiting Time of Patient during Discharge Process in Clinical Departments of Imam Reza Hospital affiliated with Mashhad University Of Medical Science In 2014;2015.
20.	Yousefi M, Ahmadi M, Fazaeli S. Staff management based on performance: Application of a work measurement model in hospital. J Payavard Salamat 2014;8:79-89.

Advanced Biomedical Research