Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) has not been investigated among Iranian industrial workers. The present paper aimed to study the influence of the socio-demographic, health and work-related factors on HRQOL among Iranian industrial workers. In this cross-sectional study, participants were 280 workers of two factories. The Persian version of World Health Organization Quality of Life-Brief (WHOQOL-BREF) was used to assess the HRQOL. A questionnaire was developed to assess the socio-demographic, health and work-related factors. Results showed that the means (SD) of physical health, psychological health, social relationships, and environment domains of HRQOL were 13.2 (2.7), 13.3 (2.6), 14.2 (3.5) and 12.6 (2.5), respectively. A multiple linear regression showed that types of job, exercise activity, working schedule, sleep quality, smoking, and conflict between work and social life were significantly associated with physical health domain; whereas, working schedule, marital status, working demand, sleep quality, BMI, and conflict between work and individual life were significantly associated with psychological health domain. Working schedule, working demand, sleep quality, conflict between work and individual life, and having children over two years were significantly associated with social relationship domain; however, working demand, working schedule, smoking, sleep quality, working hour, job satisfaction, marital sta-* Corresponding authors. S. M. Taghavi et al. 2251 tus and exercise activity were significantly associated with environment domain. Collectively, work-related factors including unhealthy working conditions, unsafe working environments, long working hours, irregular working schedules, and the lack of occupational training may negatively influence the HRQOL of workers. To improve workers' HRQOL, intervention programs should focus on improving work environment, working schedule, occupational training and restricting working hours.

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BACKGROUND:The role of psychosocial and physical work factors in predicting health related quality of life (HRQOL) has not been investigated among Iranian industrial workers. OBJECTIVE: The present study is designed to assess these relationships among Iranian workers from steel and cosmetic factories. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 280 workers from two factories. Psychosocial and physical work factors and HRQOL were measured by the Persian translations of the following questionnaires: Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ) and the World Health Organization Quality of Life-Brief (WHOQOL-Brief). An instrument was developed to assess socio-demographic, health, and other work-related factors. The data were analyzed using independent t-tests, Pearson product moment correlation and hierarchical multiple regression. RESULTS: Results revealed that the respondents generally had poor HRQOLs especially in the environmental domain. The steel factory workers who were exposed to higher levels of occupational risk factors suffered from poorer HRQOL compared to the cosmetic factory workers. The results of hierarchical regression for all participants revealed that social support, sleep quality, work schedule, smoking and exercise were significant predictors of all domains of HRQOL. CONCLUSIONS: To improve the worker's HRQOL, intervention programs should focus on promoting social support, sleep quality, exercise and smoking habits. Moreover, reducing hazardous work environments should be considered an important intervention to promote HRQOL.

BACKGROUND: Workers engaged in dairy farming are exposed to awkward and poor postures that may result in workrelated musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs). OBJECTIVE: This study carried out ergonomic interventions in order to eliminate and reduce awkward postures in dairy farming. METHODS: This quasi-experimental study applied rapid entire body assessments (REBA) to evaluate the risks associated with each posture while performing the assigned tasks on a dairy farm in Iran to identify high and very high-risk tasks. A participatory ergonomics model was used that incorporated suggestions by dairy workers to design the used interventions. RESULTS: In the first intervention, by using an automatic transmission system for pouring milk, one high and one very high-risk task-pouring milk into a bucket and pouring milk from a bucket into a tank, respectively-were eliminated. In the second intervention, two high-risk tasks-filling corn containers and pouring corn into the milling machine-were eliminated by using a material conveying vacuum pump to transfer corn from the ground to the opening of the milling machine. In the third intervention, a simple and cheap holding device for the bag was designed to reduce the posture risk score from very high to medium. The fourth intervention involved the use of a shovel with a handle appropriate to the anthropometric characteristics of the workers that reduced the posture risk from very high to medium. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicated that applying participatory ergonomic principles along with low cost and simple designs with high performance resulted in significant reductions in postural risks pertaining to of musculoskeletal disorders on Iran dairy farms.