Identification and Ranking of Job Stressors Among Firefighting Personnel: A Case Study in the Oil and Gas Industry
Subject Areas : Industrial Management
Saeed Razeghi
1
,
Ghobad Hekmat
2
,
Mahnaz Zarei
3
*
1 - Associate professor, Shiraz, Branch, Islamic Azad university, Shiraz, Iran.
2 - Department of Health, Safety, and Environmental Engineering, Shi.C., Islamic Azad University, Shiraz, Iran
3 - Assistant Professor, Department of Industrial Engineering, Shiraz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shiraz, Iran
Keywords: Firefighter, Ordinal Priority Approach, Oil and Gas Industry, Job Stressors, Human Resources.,
Abstract :
This study aims to identify and rank job stressors among firefighting personnel at Lavan Refinery Company. The research is applied in nature and employs a descriptive-analytical method. The statistical population includes firefighters and senior experts of LRC who are directly involved in firefighting operations. To collect data, standardized fuzzy Delphi and ordinal priority ranking questionnaires were used. Initially, a list of primary and secondary stressors was identified through a literature review, and a panel of experts was formed using the snowball sampling method. Subsequently, using the fuzzy Delphi method, expert opinions were gathered, finalizing 30 secondary stressors categorized into four main dimensions: managerial and organizational, operational (working conditions), individual, and interpersonal. Then, the ordinal priority approach was applied to rank the main and secondary stressors. The results indicated that the operational (working conditions) dimension ranked as the most significant, followed by the managerial and organizational, and individual dimensions. Additionally, the findings showed that toxic smoke and gases from fires, heat generated by fire, working at heights, and the fear of explosions at incident scenes—all classified under the operational (working conditions) dimension—were ranked as the top four secondary stressors. These findings can assist human resource managers and officials in mitigating firefighters' job stress, improving their working conditions, and contributing to the development of human resources in this field.
Afrasiabi, A., Tavana, M., & Di Caprio, D. (2022). An extended hybrid fuzzy multi-criteria decision model for sustainable and resilient supplier selection. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 29(25), 37291–37314. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-17851-2
Alroomi, A. S., & Mohamed, S. (2021). Occupational Stressors and Safety Behaviour among Oil and Gas Workers in Kuwait: The Mediating Role of Mental Health and Fatigue. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(21). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182111700
Asadi, N., Ahmadi, A., & Abbasi, A. (2021). The Relationship between Stress Management Training and Employees Self-Efficacy. Quarterly Journal of Training and Development of Human Resources, 30(30), 283–306. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.52547/istd.31448.8.30.283 (In Persian)
Ataei, Y., Mahmoudi, A., Feylizadeh, M. R., & Li, D.-F. (2020). Ordinal Priority Approach (OPA) in Multiple Attribute Decision-Making. Applied Soft Computing, 86, 105893. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asoc.2019.105893
Besse, C., Poremski, D., Laliberté, V., & Latimer, E. (2018). The meaning and experience of stress among supported employment clients with mental health problems. Health & Social Care in the Community, 26(3), 383–392. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/hsc.12527
Bolghanabadi, S., Mousavi Kordmiri, S. H., Mahmodi, A., & Mehdiabadi, S. (2019). The effect of mental workload on stress and Quality of Work Life firefighters. Journal of Sabzevar University of Medical Sciences, 26(5), 547–553. https://jsums.medsab.ac.ir/article_1221.html (In Persian)
Darabont, D. C., Cioca, L.-I., Bejinariu, C., Badea, D. O., Chivu, O. R., & Chiș, T. V. (2024). Impact of Personal Protective Equipment Use on Stress and Psychological Well-Being Among Firefighters: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Sustainability, 16(22). https://doi.org/10.3390/su16229666
Ebrahimi, S., & Bridgelall, R. (2021). A fuzzy Delphi analytic hierarchy model to rank factors influencing public transit mode choice: A case study. Research in Transportation Business & Management, 39, 100496. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rtbm.2020.100496
Farinha, V. M., Borba, E. F. de, Santos, P. P. dos, Ulbrich, A. Z., Ribeiro, E. J. F., & Tartaruga, M. P. (2024). Association of Physical and Emotional Parameters with Performance of Firefighters: A Systematic Review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 21(8). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph21081097
Foti, G., Bondanini, G., Finstad, G. L., Alessio, F., & Giorgi, G. (2023). The Relationship between Occupational Stress, Mental Health and COVID-19-Related Stress: Mediation Analysis Results. Administrative Sciences, 13(4). https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci13040116
Garg, S., & Bhardwaj, R. (2024). Exploring the influence of factors causing stress among doctoral students by combining fuzzy DEMATEL-ANP with a triangular approach. Scientometrics, 129(8), 4695–4719. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-024-05108-x
Gerding, T., Davis, K. G., & Wang, J. (2023). An Investigation into Occupational Related Stress of At-Risk Workers During COVID-19. Annals of Work Exposures and Health, 67(1), 118–128. https://doi.org/10.1093/annweh/wxac076
Ghanavati Nejad, J. (2022). The relationship between job stress and job burnout with the mental health of police force employees in Ramhormoz city in Khuzestan province. Journal of Psychology New Ideas, 13(17). http://jnip.ir/article-1-740-en.html (In Persian)
Ishikawa, A., Amagasa, M., Shiga, T., Tomizawa, G., Tatsuta, R., & Mieno, H. (1993). The max-min Delphi method and fuzzy Delphi method via fuzzy integration. Fuzzy Sets and Systems, 55(3), 241–253. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/0165-0114(93)90251-C
Khoshakhlagh, A. H., Al Sulaie, S., Mirzahosseininejad, M., Yazdanirad, S., Orr, R. M., Laal, F., & Bamel, U. (2024). Occupational stress and musculoskeletal disorders in firefighters: the mediating effect of depression and job burnout. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 4649. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-55468-w
Kim, B.-J., & Jung, S.-Y. (2019). The Mediating Role of Job Strain in the Transformational Leadership–Safety Behavior Link: The Buffering Effect of Self-Efficacy on Safety. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(8). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16081425
Lee, Y. H., Kim, H., & Park, Y. (2022). Development of a Conceptual Model of Occupational Stress for Athletic Directors in Sport Contexts. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(1). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19010516
Mahmoudi, A., Sadeghi, M., Deng, X., & Pan, P. (2023). OPA Solver: A web-based software for Ordinal Priority Approach in multiple criteria decision analysis using JavaScript. SoftwareX, 24, 101546. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.softx.2023.101546
Moshtagh Eshgh, Z., Aghaeinejad, A. A., Peyman, A., Amirkhani, A., & Chehregosha, M. (2015). Relationship between Occupational Stress and Mental Health in Male Personnel of Medical Emergency in Golestan Province. Journal of Research Development in Nursing and Midwifery, 12(1). http://nmj.goums.ac.ir/article-1-702-en.html (In Persian)
Quick, J. C., & Henderson, D. F. (2016). Occupational Stress: Preventing Suffering, Enhancing Wellbeing. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 13(5). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph13050459
Raišienė, A. G., Danauskė, E., Kavaliauskienė, K., & Gudžinskienė, V. (2023). Occupational Stress-Induced Consequences to Employees in the Context of Teleworking from Home: A Preliminary Study. Administrative Sciences, 13(2). https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci13020055
Rajabi, F., Molaeifar, H., Jahangiri, M., Taheri, S., Banaee, S., & Farhadi, P. (2020). Occupational stressors among firefighters: application of multi-criteria decision making (MCDM)Techniques. Heliyon, 6(4). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e03820
Rezaei, A., Zare Mehrjerdi, Y., Owlia, M. S., & Khademizare, H. (2023). Identifying and prioritizing ecosystem indicatorsusing Fuzzy Delphi and Fuzzy DEMATEL approaches. Research in Production and Operations Management, 14(2), 51–82. https://doi.org/10.22108/pom.2023.134879.1462 (In Persian)
Sazvar, Z., Nayeri, S., Mirbagheri, R., Tanhaeean, M., Fallahpour, A., & Wong, K. Y. (2022). A hybrid decision-making framework to manage occupational stress in project-based organizations. Soft Computing, 26(22), 12445–12460. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00500-022-07143-3
Soteriades, E. S., Vogazianos, P., Tozzi, F., Antoniades, A., Economidou, E. C., Psalta, L., & Spanoudis, G. (2022). Exercise and Occupational Stress among Firefighters. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(9). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19094986
Talebi, N. (2020). The Effectiveness of Aerobic Exercise Interventions and Stress Coping skills Training on the Reduction of Job Stress among Employees of the Organization. Clinical Psychology and Personality, 17(2), 11–18. https://doi.org/10.22070/cpap.2020.2904 (In Persian)
Wang, W., Lu, A., Zhou, A., & Zhao, W. (2024). Platform for Information Sharing, Prioritization, and Aggregation for Firefighters and Incident Command. SoutheastCon 2024, 1632–1637. https://doi.org/10.1109/SoutheastCon52093.2024.10500124
Zhou, Y., Guo, X., & Yin, H. (2022). A structural equation model of the relationship among occupational stress, coping styles, and mental health of pediatric nurses in China: a cross-sectional study. BMC Psychiatry, 22(1), 416. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-022-04061-4