Objectives: This study aimed to analyze patterns of multiple exposures to hazardous occupational factors using data from the 6th Korean Working Conditions Survey (KWCS) and to provide insights for improving workplace environments. Methods: 'Multiple exposure' was defined as exposure to two or more hazardous factors, either concurrently or sequentially, during at least a quarter of working hours. Hazards analyzed included exposure to vibration, noise, hot or cold temperatures, inhalation of dust or vapors, skin contact with harmful substances, and musculoskeletal risk factors. Statistical analyses included χ² tests to compare groups and multivariate logistic regression to identify factors influencing multiple exposures with R software (version 4.3.1). Results: Out of 50,538 original respondents, multiple exposure status could be determined for 50,405 individuals, and, after applying weights, 17,915 respondents (35.6%) were identified as being exposed to two or more hazardous factors (multi-exposure). A comparative analysis between multi-exposure and non-multi-exposure groups revealed statistically significant differences (p<0.05) in variables of gender, age, employment status, type of employment, workplace size, and occupation. 471 combinations of hazardous factors in multiple exposure were identified. 'high temperature' + 'low temperature' and vapor + skin exposure combinations had correlation coefficients above 0.5. Characteristics such as 'male workers', occupation of 'those in skilled trades', and industries of 'manufacturing' and 'construction' were associated with higher tendencies for multi-exposure. Conclusions: The findings highlight that many workers were exposed to two or more hazardous factors during their work, with certain occupations and industries showing particularly high tendencies for multiple exposures. When co-exposed, multiple factors may interact to adversely affect workers' health. Therefore, it is essential to pay attention to multiple exposures and establish and implement management strategies to address them.

Objectives: This study evaluated the reliability of the measurement of an arsine gas sensor based on changes in surrounding environmental factors. Methods: To remove the influence of sulfur dioxide or moisture, a tube containing silica gel was installed in front of the detector. A detector capable of detecting arsine gas was attached to the tube containing silica gel and used in the experiment. Results: It was confirmed that the arsine gas detector with silica gel installed falsely detected the presence of arsine gas, even when it came into contact with only sulfur dioxide in the absence of arsine gas. It was verified that the false detection level increased as the concentration of sulfur dioxide increased. Conclusions: These findings demonstrate that arsine gas detectors using electrochemical sensors may falsely respond to sulfur dioxide in the absence of arsine, and that the degree of false detection increases with SO₂ concentration and humidity. The use and replacement of silica gel significantly affect the accuracy of detection, highlighting the need for careful management of environmental conditions to ensure sensor reliability.

Objectives: The construction industry features an aging workforce, high-intensity tasks, and hazardous environments, exposing workers to various health risks. Since a legal mandate for appointing health managers was introduced in 2015, there has been a growing need to develop tailored educational materials to improve practical competencies. This study aims to analyze the gap between job performance and training needs among construction health managers and prioritize training areas using Borich's needs assessment and the locus for focus model. Methods: A total of 265 health managers from construction sites across South Korea participated in a survey originally conducted by the Catholic University of Korea in 2016 that was commissioned by the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency (KOSHA). The collected data were analyzed using independent t-tests and one-way ANOVA to examine differences between job performance and training needs. Priority training needs were identified through Borich's needs assessment and the locus for focus model. Results: 'Health diagnosis', 'confined space management', and 'occupational disease management' were found to be the top priorities by both analytical models. The largest gap was observed in the area of 'health promotion', which also showed the highest Borich value. Conclusions: The ongoing development and implementation of practical training programs for health managers are essential to minimize health risks and improve productivity through sustained work continuity. Given the dynamic nature of hazard exposures in construction, systematic improvement plans based on work environment monitoring must also be pursued.

Objectives: The climate crisis increasingly threatens workers' safety and health. Heatwaves, air pollution, infectious diseases, and extreme weather constitute multi-hazard occupational risks, with outdoor, platform, and migrant workers considered particularly vulnerable. This study synthesizes climate-related occupational safety and health (OSH) risks and maps international frameworks against South Korea's policy responses along three axes-scope (multi-hazard coverage), implementation (inspection/reporting/training), and evaluation (indicators). Methods: We conducted a narrative review of peer-reviewed literature and policy documents (2015-2025) retrieved from PubMed, Scopus, KISS, and DBpia, supplemented by citation snowballing. World Health Organization (WHO), International Labour Organization (ILO), European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA), and International Organization for Standardization (ISO) documents were analyzed and compared with current South Korean OSH laws and guidance. Results and conclusions: South Korea has advanced in heat protection (mandatory measures effective 2025), but multi-hazard legal coverage, standardized implementation tools, and evaluation indicators beyond heat remain partial or absent relative to international guidance. Protections for vulnerable workers (including women, older adults, platform workers, and migrants) are limited, and climate-justice considerations are not yet mainstreamed.

Objectives: This study examined the distribution channels and management systems for hazardous chemicals (dichloromethane, trichloromethane and tetramethylammonium hydroxide) within the electronics industry. The aim was to identify issues and suggest improvements by gaining an understanding of the perceptions of stakeholders. Methods: A literature review was conducted, alongside interviews with 20 stakeholders across the chemical supply chain, using a semi-structured questionnaire. Results: Significant gaps in safety management were identified during the distribution and use stages. Inadequate information transfer, a lack of safety awareness and limited management capacity were identified as major issues. Discrepancies in perception were observed between suppliers and users. SMEs encountered challenges when adopting alternative substances and improving facilities. Conclusions: A systematic approach that covers the entire lifecycle of chemicals is needed. It is crucial to establish a comprehensive management system for distribution and expand support for SMEs. The study recommends enhancing information sharing, strengthening education and technical support, and promoting collaboration among stakeholders. The study proposes a chemical substance passport system to enable transparent tracking and management of chemicals.

Objectives: This study explores how the automated work environment shapes risk perception among platform delivery workers and affects their individualized coping strategies for occupational health and safety. Methods: Seventeen platform delivery workers in Seoul were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire, and the data were analyzed through thematic analysis. Results: First, weather-based incentives encouraged workers to continue working in dangerous weather, increasing their exposure to accidents and promoting individual safety coping strategies. Second, individualized delivery payment rates pressured workers to deliver faster, creating tension and further pressure. This in turn led to risky driving behaviors such as speeding and running red lights. Third, while a 24/7 accessible workplace appeared to offer flexible work schedule control, this flexibility was often manifested as relentless work without breaks, leading to chronically accumulated fatigue and physical exhaustion. Fourth, call assignment-induced uncompensated waiting time was associated with feelings of helplessness while waiting on the streets, and increased tobacco use was applied as a means of stress relief. Conclusions: Platform delivery workers are subject to hidden control through automated systems, leading them to devise individual strategies to manage occupational health and safety risks. Our findings highlight the need for regulatory interventions that address the structural risks inherent in platform work arrangements and protect workers' occupational health and safety rights.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to develop a standardized exposure condition category (ECOC) coding system to facilitate the use of work environment measurement data in occupational exposure surveillance. Methods: We reviewed the conceptual exposure assessment model and the Exposure Control Efficacy Library to identify key modifying factors (MFs) affecting workplace exposure levels, and used them to develop standardized ECOC codes. A pilot application was conducted with ten industrial hygienists who retrospectively evaluated 11,781 measurement records drawing upon their knowledge of site-specific exposure conditions. Results: Based on three selected factors-source enclosure, local exhaust ventilation operation, and near-field work frequency-we defined twelve combinations that were later simplified into eight ECOC codes. Each ECOC was assigned a dimensionless MF score reflecting the relative exposure potential. Experts successfully classified nearly all records using the ECOC system, with high response rates across all categories. Among 2,918 detected chemical exposure records, the exposure index showed statistically significant differences across ECOC groups (ANOVA, P<0.001). ECOC8-representing the least controlled exposure conditions-was associated with the highest exposure index, while ECOC1-indicating highly controlled environments-had the lowest. Conclusions: The ECOC coding system effectively reflects workplace exposure variability based on key MFs. It provides a practical framework to supplement existing exposure databases with contextual information and can support more accurate exposure assessments, job-exposure matrix construction, and occupational disease prevention policies. Further validation across broader industry sectors is warranted.

Objectives: Recent environmental health research has expanded beyond traditional occupational hazards to examine the long-term health impacts of chemical exposures in everyday environments. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs), particularly benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene (BTEX), are commonly emitted from indoor sources such as household products, construction materials, and vehicle exhaust. Despite increasing concerns, limited evidence has been gathered on the health effects of BTEX exposure in the general population. This study aimed to quantitatively assess BTEX exposure using urinary biomarkers and investigate the associations between BTEX metabolites and key health indicators among South Korean adults. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis using data from 1,980 adults aged ≥19 years who participated in the "Indoor Air Quality and Biomonitoring of Environmental Chemicals" component of the KNHANES (2019-2021). Urinary concentrations of BTEX metabolites-including S-phenylmercapturic acid (SPMA), benzylmercapturic acid (BMA), phenylglyoxylic acid (PGA), 2-methylhippuric acid (2-MHA), and combined 3- and 4-methylhippuric acids (3-MHA+4-MHA)-were measured and creatinine-corrected. Health outcomes included blood pressure, fasting glucose, lipid profile and liver enzymes. Complex sample design elements were accounted for in regression analysis, adjusting for sociodemographic and life style confounders. Results: Higher urinary levels of SPMA and PGA were significantly associated with increased fasting glucose, and HbA1c. SPMA also showed a strong association with age and systolic blood pressure. PGA was linked with BMI and liver enzymes. Conclusions: Indoor BTEX exposure showed potential associations with certain metabolic and inflammatory markers in this cross-sectional analysis of a subsample from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. However, given the study design and limited representativeness, these findings cannot be generalized to systemic health outcomes at the population level and should be interpreted with caution.

Objectives: This study proposed and evaluated an artificial intelligence (AI) framework based on GraphRAG that integrates large language models with an industrial safety knowledge graph. This framework is designed to automate the analysis of accident investigation reports and support risk assessment and the planning of preventive measures. Methods: Accident-investigation texts, images and related legislation from the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency were processed and standardized. Key entities, relations, and visual risk cues were extracted using named-entity recognition, dependency parsing, and vision-language models, and were then incorporated into an industry-wide safety knowledge graph. A retrieval-augmented generation pipeline, combining vector search with graph traversal, provided a Korean large language model with multi-hop context, enabling explainable question-answering. Pilot tests compared AI outputs with expert judgements on historical cases. Results : The system suggested frequent risk factors for specific industries and processes in a contextual manner, automatically detected potential legal violations and shortcomings in proposed countermeasures within new reports, produced quantitative risk ratings by analyzing historical incident patterns and visualized causal networks to facilitate expert validation and iterative knowledge enrichment. Expert reviewers confirmed that the AI markedly reduced manual screening time while maintaining explanatory detail. Conclusions: The GraphRAG approach effectively combines unstructured accident narratives with structured safety knowledge to deliver transparent insights for proactive risk management. The continuous ingestion of new reports and phased integration with the KRAS platform could help to make data-driven safety governance the norm and speed up the transition to smart occupational risk control.

Objectives: This study aimed to analyze generational differences in the impact of digital device use on work stress in the rapidly digitizing work environment. The main objectives were to identify the direct impact of digital device use on work stress and to investigate the moderating role of generation in the relationship. Methods: This study utilized raw data from the 7th Korean Working Environment Survey (KWCS), which was conducted in 2023, with a final sample of 30,150 wage workers. A hierarchical regression analysis was performed to test the hypotheses. The model included digital utilization as the independent variable, job stress as the dependent variable, and generation as the moderator, while controlling for gender, educational attainment, and occupational group. Results: The analysis revealed two key findings. First, digital use at work had a significant positive effect on job stress (B=.061, p<.001). Second, a significant generational moderating effect was observed (B=-.018, p<.01). This means that older generations experienced significantly higher job stress than members of the Millennial or Generation Zgroups , depending on the amount of digital use at work. Conclusions: The results of this study emphasize that stress management in the digital age should not be applied similarly to all generations, but rather that a customized approach that takes generational characteristics into account is essential. The older generation needs systematic education and psychological support to adapt to technology, while members of the Millennial and Generation Z generations need to explore strategies for managing stress caused by excessive connectivity and securing autonomy.

Objectives: This study analyzes human-error-induced incidents during railway shunting operations performed by transport workers. It uses the Human Error Analysis for Railway (HEAR) framework to identify dominant error types, causal patterns, and severity. Methods: We reviewed Korea Railroad Corporation (KORAIL) investigation reports from 2012-2021. "Incidents" followed ILO/ISO 45001 usage and included accidents and near-misses. Shunting cases were isolated and coded by HEAR error type, simplified causal category, and outcome. The rating of severity (0-4: none, delay, property damage, injury, fatality) enabled cross-field comparisons. Results: Human-error incidents by field were: driving/operation 48.1%; facilities 21.5%; operations 17.8%; electrical 10.0%; and control 2.6%. Shunting accounted for 9.3%, but had the highest mean severity. In shunting, decision-making errors predominated (66.7%), followed by situation-assessment (21.7%), perception (8.3%), and execution (3.3%). Causes were chiefly work-method related (90.0%). Outcomes were mainly worker injury (83.3%), followed by train-operation faults (10.0%), derailments (3.3%), collisions (1.7%), and power-supply failures (1.7%). Conclusions: Despite reductions in overall accidents, yard shunting has been under-managed and requires focused control. Three priority conclusions are proposed: (1) strengthen personnel management and task-specific training for shunting staff (braking distance, hose handling, speed moderation, stop-signal timing), and standardize briefings, closed-loop communication, cross-checks, and human-factors-based procedures by using a data-driven learning system; (2) reinforce safety systems by upgrading to multi-party two-way radios (e.g., TRS/Infomobile) and deploying approach alarms and switch misalignment pre-detection sensors; (3) implement scientific programs to detect and mitigate individual vulnerabilities-self-assessment of error-proneness, boredom, fatigue, and stress; periodic screening with redeployment, rest, and counseling; and feedback training that links personal factors to organizational barriers.