• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
• /
• v.43 no.7
• /
• pp.1132-1137
• /
• 2014

The purpose of this study was to assess the need for nutritional education in male workers living in Busan, Korea. This study surveyed 310 industrial workers at five companies in Busan using a questionnaire. According to the results, need for nutritional education scored 3.60/5.00 points. The usage rate of mass media as a means of acquiring nutritional information was significantly higher (P<0.001) in subjects in their 50s compared to other age groups. Regarding scores on need for nutritional education according to theme, 'balanced eating habits' showed the highest score, followed by 'food safety', 'diet therapy related to a disease', and 'food hygiene and food poisoning prevention'. In terms of frequency of nutritional education, 29.0% of subjects considered 'biannually' to be desirable, whereas 25.8% and 21.0% considered 'annually' and 'quarterly' to be desirable, respectively. The results of this study suggest that nutritional education for industrial workers should be implemented in various ways in accordance with their characteristics. Furthermore, considering workers' low awareness levels of the need for nutritional education, employees are required to take the education in order to encouraged to improve their nutritional status and commit to a desirable diet.

• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• v.11 no.1
• /
• pp.33-40
• /
• 2020

Background: Exploratory study to investigate whether co-exposure to physical wrist stressors and chemicals is associated with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) in French male farmers and agricultural workers. Methods: Cross-sectional study of 711 men aged 30-65 years and working as either farmers or agricultural workers in 2009-2010 within a cohort covered by the French Agricultural Workers' and Farmers' Mutual Benefit Fund. CTS and exposure to physical wrist stressors and chemicals were assessed using a self-administered questionnaire. Associations between CTS and personal/medical factors, exposure to physical wrist stressors, exposure to chemicals, and co-exposure to physical wrist stressors and chemicals were studied using multivariate logistic regression models. Results: Forty-four men {5.6% [95% confidence interval (CI) 4.0-7.7]} reported that they had suffered from unilateral/bilateral CTS during the last 12 months. CTS was associated with age, current smoking [odds ratio (OR) = 2.1 (1.0-4.5)], and exposure to physical wrist stressors [OR = 2.6 (1.1-5.9)]. An association was found between CTS and co-exposure to physical wrist stressors and chemicals [OR = 3.3 (0.8-14.3), p = 0.044] in comparison with the no-exposure group. Conclusions: This exploratory study shows an association of CTS with exposure to biomechanical wrist stressors in male farmers and agricultural workers and suggests an association of CTS with co-exposure to physical wrist stressors and chemicals. Owing to the limitations of the study, this result must be confirmed by a prospective study with objective assessments of the outcome and exposure before drawing conclusions on the possible synergistic effects of mechanical stressors and chemicals on the impairment of the median nerve.

• Journal of the Korean Regional Science Association
• /
• v.35 no.2
• /
• pp.59-71
• /
• 2019

Korea's average annual working hours are among the highest in the OECD. Such long-term work has been a factor that reduces the quality of life by discouraging workers' productivity and interrupting the compatibility of work and family, prompting the government to encourage flexible work systems, such as increasing part-time jobs, but a lack of quality part-time jobs. Part-time work enables flexible labor for workers, but at the same time, workers will involuntarily opt for part-time work as they have poor working conditions and negative social views. In this respect, the effect of the working type on an individual's life is expected to be different. In addition, for women, gender gaps exist in the labor market and the impact of part-time work on life satisfaction is expected to differ from men in terms of working and family alike. Using the data from the 2017 "Seoul Survey Urban Policy Indicator Survey", the ordered logistic regression model was used to analyze the cross-effect of working type and sex on satisfaction. The analysis of the study showed that when other factors were controlled, life satisfaction was high in the order of fulltime female, full-time male, part-time female, and part-time male. In addition, further analysis shows that the parttime female workers have the highest probability of choosing low life satisfaction, while the probability of choosing high life satisfaction is the lowest, and full-time male workers have the lowest probability of choosing low life satisfaction, while the highest probability of choosing high life satisfaction is the highest.

• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• v.6 no.3
• /
• pp.240-248
• /
• 2015

Background: Recovery from fatigue is important in maintaining night workers' health. This study compared the course of self-reported recovery after 2-week 12-hour schedules consisting of either night shifts or swing shifts (i.e., 7 night shifts followed by 7 day shifts) to such schedules consisting of only day work. Methods: Sixty-one male offshore employees-20 night workers, 16 swing shift workers, and 25 day workers-rated six questions on fatigue (sleep quality, feeling rested, physical and mental fatigue, and energy levels; scale 1-11) for 14 days after an offshore tour. After the two night-work schedules, differences on the $1^{st}$ day (main effects) and differences during the follow-up (interaction effects) were compared to day work with generalized estimating equations analysis. Results: After adjustment for confounders, significant main effects were found for sleep quality for night workers (1.41, 95% confidence interval 1.05-1.89) and swing shift workers (1.42, 95% confidence interval 1.03-1.94) when compared to day workers; their interaction terms were not statistically significant. For the remaining fatigue outcomes, no statistically significant main or interaction effects were found. Conclusion: After 2-week 12-hour night and swing shifts, only the course for sleep quality differed from that of day work. Sleep quality was poorer for night and swing shift workers on the $1^{st}$ day off and remained poorer for the 14-day follow-up. This showed that while working at night had no effect on feeling rested, tiredness, and energy levels, it had a relatively long-lasting effect on sleep quality.

• Korean journal of food and cookery science
• /
• v.26 no.6
• /
• pp.791-803
• /
• 2010

This study was conducted to investigate and compare the breakfast habits of workers (189 males and 182 females) and college students (217 males and 225 females) living in Gyeongnam (Masan, Jinhae, Changwon) based upon gender in each group. Most college students were in their twenties and not married while workers were in their twenties, thirties, and forties. Age distribution was even and 58,0% of them were married. Exactly 77% of the subjects were middle class, and 35.1% answered that their monthly allowances were less than 200,000 won. Exactly 36.5% of the subjects had breakfast regularly, and workers had breakfast more regularly than college students (p<.05). Subjects chose lack of time as their biggest reason for skipping breakfast (41.7%), and workers better understood that having breakfast is important (p<.001). Exactly 62.7% of the subjects displayed symptoms of skipping breakfast, with college students more frequently susceptible than workers (p<.001). Subjects' most frequent symptom was decreased concentration (40.6%). Exactly 67.0% of the subjects ate bap, guk, and mitbanchan as breakfast; the ratio was higher for college students' compared to workers and female students compared to male students. When preparing breakfast, 35.3% of the subjects considered digestible food first. Exactly 54.7% of the subjects preferred bap for breakfast, and college students preferred it more than the workers. Subjects ate kimbap the most when eating breakfast outside of the home; 62.1% of them emphasized convenience and 36.7% answered 2,100-3,000 won is proper price.

• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• v.6 no.1
• /
• pp.56-61
• /
• 2015

Frozen food processing workers work under a cold environment which can cause several adverse health effects.This study explored factors affecting workers' health in the frozen food industry in Thailand. Participants comprised 497 workers exposed to a cold working environment and 255 office workers who served as the controls. Data were collected by a survey on the work environment, and the interview of workers for abnormal symptoms. The exposed group had the following characteristics: 52.7% male, overall average age of 27 (SD 6.6) years old, attained elementary education (Grade 4 and Grade 6) (54.1%), married (48.9%), smokers (21.3%), alcohol consumption (31.0%), duration of work was between 1 and 5 years (65.2%), working 6 days a week (82.7%), 1-5 hours of overtime per week (33.8%), office workers (33.9%); work category: sizing (6.9%), peeling (28.3%) dissecting (22.2%), and in the warehouse (8.6%). The temperature in the work environment ranged from $17.2^{\circ}C$ to $19.2^{\circ}C$ in most sections, $-18.0^{\circ}C$ in the warehouse, and $25^{\circ}C$ in the office areas. Warehouse workers had more abnormal symptoms than controls including repeated pain in the musculoskeletal system (OR 11.9; 95% CI 6.12-23.45), disturbance throughout the body (OR 4.60; 95% CI 2.00-10.56), respiratory symptoms (OR 9.73; 95% CI 3.53-26.80), episodic finger symptoms (OR 13.51; 95% CI 5.17-35.33). The study results suggest that workers' health should be monitored especially with regard to back and muscle pain, respiratory symptoms, episodic finger symptoms, and cardiovascular symptoms. Health promotion campaigns such as antismoking and reduction of alcohol consumption should be established because smoking and alcohol consumption are contributing factors to the pathogenesis of Raynaud's phenomenon and peripheral vascular disorders such as hypertension and heart disease.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• /
• v.11 no.2
• /
• pp.153-160
• /
• 2001

Objectives : The authors evaluated the effects on renal function of workers chronically exposed to low-level organic solvent mixtures. Methods : The authors measured the level of urine ${\beta}2$-microglobulin(${\beta}2$-MG) and microalbumin as biochemical markers of renal function and damage in 29 male workers exposed to organic solvents for more than five years and compared their results with those of 30 male office clerks as a reference group. Results : 1. The mean values of hemoglobin, hematocrit, SGOT, SGPT, ${\gamma}$-GTP were all within normal limits and there was no significant difference, except for hemoglobin(p<0.01), between exposed and reference group. 2. The values of BUN and serum creatinine were within reference limits and there was no significant difference between exposed and reference group. 3. The difference of mean values of urine microalbumin corrected by urine creatinine were statistically significant (p<0.01), but those of urine ${\beta}2$-MG was not. 4. There were no correlation of urine hippuric acids with BUN, serum creatinine, urine microalbumin and ${\beta}2$-MG. 5. There were no significant difference of BUN, serum creatinine, urine microalbumin and ${\beta}2$-MG upon work duration. Conclusions: It is assumed that chronic low-level organic solvent exposure in these workers shows early renal dysfunction, glomerular changes. The result corresponds to previous studies showing the relationship between hydrocarbon exposure and glomerulonephritis. For evaluation of impairment on kidney tubules, we need further study using more precise markers and long-term follow-up.

• Journal of Fashion Business
• /
• v.24 no.4
• /
• pp.63-84
• /
• 2020

It is essential to consider the heavy industrial working environment factors which are regarded as harmful to workers' health and safety and suitable work motion factors for the workers' motion while developing the work clothes for painting workers in the machinery and shipbuilding industries. This study suggests the use of 3D virtual clothing simulations as a solution to protect the human body from hazardous working conditions accompanying the development of painting work clothes and assessing the work motion performance associated with the comfort while workers wear them during the work clothes. The initial aim of the study is to examine a male avatar to run work motions simultaneously within a 3D virtual clothing simulator, secondly, to present the simulation images of coverall type men's painting work clothes with the application of two experimental painting work motions and one control motion to the avatar, and finally, to present the distance analysis images of the painting work clothes and the avatar body and air gap rates through the analysis of cross-sections of the avatar body while wearing the coverall work clothes according to the work motions. The results showed that the distance degree of painting work clothes to the avatar body for each part of the human body when performing painting work motions. Moreover, 3D virtual clothing simulations enabled the creation of a male model avatar to run painting work motions together and the painting work clothes developed were found to be suitable for the painting work motions.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
• /
• v.24 no.5
• /
• pp.604-613
• /
• 2014

This study was carried out to investigate consumption patterns of health functional foods (HFF) and analyze their related factors in male workers in order to provide basic data for appropriate understanding and optimal use of HFF. The subjects were 325 shipbuilding workers aged 20~50 in the Geoje area. About 84% of subjects reported that they were currently consuming or had experience of consuming HFF. The most commonly used type of HFF was vitamins (53.5%), followed by red ginseng (28.9%) and vegetable extract (15.4%). The major reasons for consuming and not-consuming HFF were 'to recovery from fatigue' (49.5%) and 'can not trust the effects' (39.4%), respectively. The intake period was 'less than 3 months' (35.5%), average monthly expense was 'less than 50,000 won' (49.1%), and purchase place was 'store of health functional foods' (32.2%) as the most common answers. The effects after consuming HFF were 'moderate' (51.3%) as the most common answer, and 16.1% of subjects experienced side effects, such as diarrhea, indigestion and nausea. Contributing factors for selecting and desire for future use of HFF were 'effectiveness' (52.2%) and 'when necessary' (67.8%) as the most common answers. Experience of using HFF was positively correlated with age (p<0.05), marital status (p<0.05), unbalanced diet (p<0.01), concern about health (p<0.05), and fear for disease (p<0.05). Purchase of HFF was positively correlated with fear of disease (p<0.01), whereas it was negatively correlated with frequency of exercise (p<0.05). The desire for future use of HFF was positively correlated with concern about health (p<0.05), fear of disease (p<0.01) and drinking (p<0.05). In conclusion, factors affecting consumption patterns of health functional foods (HFF) were age, marital status, unbalanced diet, concern about health, fear of disease and drinking.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
• /
• v.25 no.2 s.86
• /
• pp.89-104
• /
• 2007

The purpose of this study was to analyze the affecting factors on male salary workers' level of retirement planning. The focus was on the causal effects on salary workers' attitude toward retirement and their level of retirement planning. The major findings were as follows.: First, the salary worker's attitude toward retirement was neutral, neither positive nor negative, and they estimated their level of retirement planning relatively high. Second, the major factors affecting on attitude toward retirement were salary workers' age, their current economic status, and future perspectives for the post-retirement life. Third, the major affecting factors on level of retirement planning were salary workers' age, health status, and level of self-esteem, household net asset, savings and investment for elderly life, and attitude toward retirement. forth, the causal effects on the level of retirement planning was verified, and attitude toward retirement had direct effect as well as indirect effect on the level of retirement planning. From the findings, it can be concluded that the salary workers' attitude toward retirement played a important role in the process of retirement planning.