• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.42-51
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to develop a checklist of risk factors for quantitative assessment of musculoskeletal complaints in shipbuilding workers. A key point was to develop comprehensive a checklist including the worker's physical ability, as ergonomic and workload factors. ln the first, through correlation analysis between musculoskeletal complaints and physical abilities in shipbuilding workers, risk factors related to physical abilities were selected. In the second, after the development of a checklist was composed of physical, ergonomic and workload factors, factor analysis was used to test the validity of the developed checklist. Each factors selected finally showed that physical factors were hand grip strength, spinal curvature, and flexibility (sit to reach), ergonomic factors were posture, total exposed time, duration, and force of working, and workload factors were physical and psychological workload perceived by worker. The results showed that musculoskeletal complaints was associated with physical abilities (p<.05). The developed checklist had a reliability of .761 (Cronbach=.761) and a validity and explanation of 54.9%. The criterion of management was classified in 4 stages by relative weights of each factor. It is suggested that active intervention is needed to reduce musculoskeletal complaints in workers with more than a 14.31 score.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.41-49
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• 2013

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to clarify the association between serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and type of work in the shipbuilding industry. Methods: 1,072 final study subjects were admitted to a general hospital from April through July 2010 for the purpose of medical examination. Data on general characteristics such as age, smoking history, alcohol history and exercise habits was gathered through structured self-administered questionnaires. Information on job factors was collected from a medical examination, by interview and through company personnel data. Serum CEA levels were measured after eight hours' fasting and were analyzed by a radioimmunoassay. Results: On univariate analysis, the mean serum CEA level was significantly higher among married (p=0.02), older age (p<0.01), longer work time (p<0.01), smokers (p<0.01), lower education (p<0.01), and indirect and direct exposure groups (p<0.01). On multiple regression analysis, serum CEA level was influenced by smoking (p=0.001), duration of work (p=0.019), and direct exposure group (p<0.001). However, among the direct exposure group, serum CEA level was not significantly different between welding, mounting, electro-device constructive work, grinding and cleaning, and painting. Conclusions: The goal of this research was to determine if there were differences between serum CEA levels according to occupational role among shipyard workers. The direct exposure group of shipyard workers had a relatively higher level of serum CEA than did the indirect exposure group and office workers, most likely due to occupational exposure.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.17-25
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• 2011

In this study, we examined the impact caused by chronic exposure to Mn by investigating the degree of brain activation based on the data of recognition activities using fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging). A questionnaire survey, blood tests, and fMRI tests were carried out with respect to two groups. Group 1 was an exposure group consisting of 15 male workers who are 34 years old or older, and who worked for longer than 10 years in a shipbuilding factory as a welder. Group 2 was a control group consisting of 15 workers in manufacturing industries with the same gender and age. The results showed that blood Mn concentration of Group 1($1.3\;{\mu}g/dl$) was significantly higher than that of Group 2($0.8\;{\mu}g/dl$)(p < 0.001), and Pallidal Index (PI) of Group 1 was also significantly higher than that of Group 2 (p < 0.001). PI value of the group whose blood Mn concentration was $0.93\;{\mu}g/dl$ or higher was significantly higher than that of the group whose blood Mn concentration was less than $0.93 \;{\mu}g/dl$ (p < 0.001). As for brain activity area within the control group, the right and the left areas of occipital cortex showed significant activity and the left area of middle temporal cortex, the right area of superior inferior frontal cortex and inferior parietal cortex showed significant activity. Unlike the control group, the exposure group showed significant activity on the right area of superior inferior temporal cortex, the left of insula area. In the comparison of brain activity areas between the two groups, the exposure group showed significantly higher activation than the control group in such areas as the right inferior temporal cortex, the left area of superior parietal cortex and occipital cortex, and cerebellum including middle temporal cortex. However, in nowhere the control group showed more activated area than the exposure group. As the final outcome, chronic exposure to Mn increased brain activity during implementation of arithmetic task. In an identical task, activation increased in superior inferior temporal cortex, and insula area. And it was discovered that brain activity increase in temporal area and occipital area was more pronounced in the exposure group than in the control group. This result suggests that chronic exposure to Mn in the work environment affects brain activation neuro-network.