Accidents, by their nature, are sudden events that may cause physical and emotional damage. There are usually several reasons for accidents. In general, the causes of accidents at work may be divided into two. First, unsafe conditions; second, attitudes to the work that cannot be guaranteed. It is the second cause that shows that in spite of good working conditions personal characteristics are very important factors in work accidents. This research examines the effect of personal factors on work accidents in a safe work place where 1200 workers work. Our experimental group of research participants were 50 injured workers who came to the infirmary in May—June 2000. The participants' demographic properties were determined with the help of a questionnaire, then they were given the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ), a Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), the Benton Visual Retention Test, the Brief Fatigue Inventory (BFI). A control group was formed from 150 randomly chosen workers who worked at the same place. The same tests were administered to the control group with a one to one interview technique. At the end of the evaluations it was found the injured experimental group participants had lower scores in Benton's test, higher scores in the EPQ questions on neuroticism and 24 h general tiredness. Differences between the experimental and control groups were statistically significant ( p<0.05). There were no significant differences for other variables ( p>0.05). As a result, we believe work entrance health examinations should be given more importance for those work places which have a high risk of accidents. Work entrance must depend on evaluation of the personal characteristics of workers.

Depression is a highly prevalent disorder that causes much personal distress and difficulties in functioning at home and the workplace. In the workplace, as elsewhere, depression can manifest as a variation in normal mood, as a symptom, as a disorder or as a disease. In this study we aimed to investigate the determining factors that affect the depression state among official workers. Workers from two tax offices were chosen through random sampling from the 62 tax offices in Istanbul. We used a questionnaire form to determine the demographic and socio-economic characteristics and health problems using face to face negotiations with the workers. We used: `Job Satisfaction Scale', `State and Trait Anxiety Inventory', and `Back Depression Inventory'. The results after statistical evaluation showed that the depression state could be regarded as composed of several factors: high trait anxiety scores, discord with co-workers, and low job satisfaction and backache. In conclusion, a reduction of anxiety levels and an increase in job satisfaction should be arranged, it seemed to be useful to decrease workload and to develop the labor divisions in order to enable the individuals to deal with specific jobs. Also, the relationship between the senior staff and the other employees should be improved. The layout of the work place could be re-arranged to remove the workers' musculoskeletal problems (low-back pain, etc.) and their causes. Finally, it is necessary to expand the occupational health service practices.

PURPOSE: This study was planned to assess the attention and memory-based performances of workers who used solvent as part of their job and therefore who had been exposed to this substance for a long time. METHOD: The participants of the study are 31 workers who were diagnosed with solvent exposure in the occupational diseases polyclinic of Istanbul Occupational Diseases Hospital and who were treated as inpatient treatment. These 31 participants were individuals who worked for at least 1 year in solvent use, and who did not have any physical, neurological, or psychiatric diseases prior to the study. Beside the aforementioned study group, 30 healthy volunteers also participated in the study as the control group. The verbal memory processes test (VMPT), cancellation test (CT) and Stroop test TBAG form (STP) were applied to all participants. FINDINGS: The data revealed no significant difference between the study and control groups in terms of their short-term memory scores based on the VMPT scores of the participants. However, long-term memory scores, learning achievement scores and the highest learning achievement scores of the study group were found to be significantly lower than the control group. Comparing the two groups on CT and its sub-sections, the scores of the study group were found to be significantly higher than the control group. These findings present that the study group needed more time to complete the mentioned test. It was also revealed that the study group particularly completed the fifth sub-section of STP, which focuses on selective attention, in significantly longer amount of time than the control group. CONCLUSION: Long-term solvent exposure affects attention and memory processes negatively.