• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.29 no.3 s.54
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• pp.617-637
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• 1996

Occupational dermatosis is one of the most prevalent occupational disorders. However, the extent of the occupational dermatoses including incidences and prevalencies of each disease entity, and etiologic materials are not yet welt stated in Korea. Authors reviewed the literatures on the statistic data and reports on the occupational dermatoses, and surveyed on the occupational dermatoses in two factories, and surveyed the physicians responsible to the occupational dermatoses with formed questionnaire. The results are as follows; 1. Among medical journals published since 1964, there were 31 articles on the occupational dermatoses. Of 31 articles, 18 were case reports and all others were review articles. Of 18 case reports, 9 were epidemiologic survey. The Workers' Periodic Health Examinations revealed that prevalence of the occupational dermatoses was highest(4.36 per 10,000 workers) in 1974, but number of the cases reported were decreased sharply since 1978 with some tendency to increase since 1981. There were 2,240 reported cases of occupational dermatoses between 1966 and 1992, which is 1.90% of all the reported occupational diseases. Skin infection and injuries due to chemicals were most frequent and there were 6 cases of skin cancer. 2. In an epidemiological survey on the dermatoses among 995 workers in a metal product manufacturing factory and 225 workers in a coal chemical factory, there were 794 with dermatomycosis, 296 workers with acne, 130 workers with scar, 123 workers with deformity of toe nails. Scars, photosensitivity dermatitis, deformity of finger and toe nails, and acne were more prevalent in the metal product manufacturing factory(p<0.05). In the metal prouct manufacturing factory, workers treating organic solvents and oils had more dermatoses than those without treating the materials(p<0.05). On the skin patch performed on 16 workers in the metal product manufacturing factory, there were 8 cases of irritation dermatitis and 5 cases of contact dermatitis. Prevalence of contact dermatitis in the metal product manufacturing factory was 1.3%. 3. On the questionnaire survey, 34 dermatologists, 29 doctors of preventive medicine, and 22 family physician replied. The proportion of occupational etiology among all dermatoses assumed by the physicians were below 9%, and the most important occupational dermatosis in Korea was contact dermatitis. Main etiologic materials related to the occupational dermatosis were organic solvent, acid and alkali, and metals. The reason for the scarcity of report of occupational dermatoses were difficulty in diagnosis and physician's ignorance of the occupational etiology. They replied that to prevent the occupational dermatoses in the workplace, the use of protective devices was most important, and development of diagnostic criteria on the occupational dermatoses is urgent. Above results shows us that there is many workers with occupational dermatoses, but they are mostly unreported. Measures to prevent and manage the occupational dermatoses are not satisfactory at present. Hence, authors suggest measures for the precise diagnosis, report and prevention of the occupational dermatoses. a. Dermatologist, preventive physician, and industrial hygienist should work as a team to examine the high risk group and establish the preventive measures. b. Disease entities, diagnostic criteria of occupational dermatoses should be listed, criteria for the compensation and job fitting at recruitment should be established, and manual for the proper treatment and effective prevention of each occupational dermatosis should be developed. c. Patch test antigens against each occupational category should be developed and it should be available to any physicians responsible. d. To facilitate the diagnosis of occupational dermatoses by the doctors responsible for the Workersr Periodic Health Examination, development of standardized questionnaire, education on the techniques of the patch test, and cooperation with the dermatologist in diagnosis of occupational dermatoses is essential.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.24 no.3 s.35
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• pp.279-286
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• 1991

Much of the working population in developing countries are engaged in shift work now and the number of shift workers is not expected to decrease in the future mostly because the need for continuity of production is increasing. Therefore, the possible effects of shift work on health are of particular interest, and in fact, there have been many epidemiological studies on shift work since the first world war. However, no studies on health effects of shift work have been reported in Korea, and the existing studies in western world have arrived at quite different conclusions mainly because the conditions of work other than shift work, such as age and selection of workers, work environment, and labor conditions also influence the health of workers. This study was firstly carried out in Korea to investigate the health risks related to shift work with 2,093 female workers randomly selected from three major manufacturing industries in proportion to total number of female workers in those industries. Differences of work conditions other than shift work in this study were adjusted by multivariate analysis. Ma findings obtained from this study are as follows : 1. There were significant differences between shift and day workers in the distribution of age, type of industry, condition of noise and dust, regularity of mealtime, working position, and working duration. Shift workers tended to be younger, to have shorter working duration, to have more irregular mealtime, to work in standing position, and to work under more noisy and dusty environment than day workers. 2. Univariate analysis showed that shift work increased the Todai Health Index (THI) scores of digestive tract, respiratory tract, and mental instability symptom categories. Shift work also increased days of sickness absence and number of industrial accident per 100 workers per month. 3. Multivariate analysis that adjusted the differences of demographic, occupational and non-occupational health-related working conditions showed that digestive tract symptom and mental instability symptom scores were significantly higher in shift workers than those in day workers. Based on these study results, it is concluded that the shift work has significant effects on some psychophysiological conditions of the workers and the effects are also influenced by several other personal and working conditions.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.171-178
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• 2013

Workers are avoiding production/manufacturing sites due to the poor working environment and concern over safety. Small and medium-sized businesses introduce new equipment to secure safety in the production site or ensure effective process management by introducing the real-time monitoring technique for existing equipment. The importance of real-time monitoring of equipment and process in the production site can also be found in the ANSI/ISA-195 model. Note, however, that most production sites still use paper-based work slip as a process management technique. Data reliability may deteriorate because information on the present condition of the production site cannot be collected/analyzed properly due to manual data writing by the worker. This paper introduces the monitoring and process management technique based on a direct facility interface to secure safety in the field by improving the poor working environment and enhance there liability and real-time characteristics of the production data. Since the data is collected from equipment in real-time directly through the SIB-based interface and PLC-based interface, problems associated with workers' manual data input are expected to be solved; safety can also be improved by enhancing workers' attention to work by minimizing workers' injuries and disruption.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.325-339
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• 2022

Objective: This study was to perform to identify the distribution characteristics and related factors of work-related low back pain among manufacturing workers in Korea. Methods: We analyzed the third(2011) through sixth(2020) Korean Working Conditions Survey. This study examined changes in the prevalence of work-related low back pain among manufacturing workers and related factors, including demographic characteristics and working conditions. Results: The prevalence of work-related low back pain showed a general tendency to increase during the study periods except for the 5th wave. The prevalence of work-related low back pain was higher in women than in men. The prevalence increased with increasing age and decreased with higher educational attainment. This trend was observed in all survey waves. The prevalence ratios for work-related low back pain according to working conditions varied over the survey period. In general, workers with manual jobs, long working hours, and exposure to tired or painful postures showed relatively higher prevalence ratios than did their counterparts. Providing Information on health and safety, perception that work affects health, and experience of presenteeism were identified as influencing factors for work-related low back pain. Although the working environment is improving, work-related back pain is on the rise. A multifaceted study on risk factors for work-related low back pain is needed. Conclusion: Work-related low back pain is a significant factor affecting the working population's quality of life. The prevalence of work-related low back pain showed a tendency to increase during the study periods. A multifaceted study on risk factors for work-related low back pain is needed.

• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.24 no.64
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• pp.77-83
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• 2001

In this paper, we investigated the relationship between the variables related to manufacturing environment and industrial accident. Also we wish to analyze how much these variables influence in production result of company: the manufacturing performances such as production quantity, quality, cost and delivery. For this investigation, we collected the real data from 16 small/medium-sized manufacturing companies by performing a questionnaire survey and one-site interview with the workers. Sixteen companies were made up of the following four industries: metal processing, machinery manufacturing, chemical products manufacturing and electronic products manufacturing, The data analysis was made using SPSS PC+. Based on the result of the analysis, we came to the conclusion that most of variables related to manufacturing environment and industrial safety were connecting with industrial accident occurrence and also influenced in manufacturing performance.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.276-283
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• 2012

Objectives: This study was conducted to survey the viewpoints on the material safety data sheets(MSDS) training for safety and health managers(SHMs) and workers. Subjects and Methods: A surveillance was made using a self-reported questionnaire for 78 SHMs and 122 workers to survey their viewpoints on the MSDS training. Survey results were analyzed using the SPSS program(Version 12.0 SPSS Inc., USA). Results: The result of the study shows that there are contrasts with the cognition of SHMs' and workers' on the education of MSDS and the program preference for education efficiency of MSDS. Workers were significantly more interested in the MSDS education than the SHMs did. Workers preferred the education program which is easily to be understood, to voluntarily participate on MSDS education, but SHMs did the quiz program. Also we found that the SHMs wanted to learn the education program via the expert(37.3%) rather than education resources(33.3%) which were served by government or relevant agency. In contrast, workers wanted the audio-visual education program, which is mainly consisted of accident cases (33.3%), rather than periodical education program(22.1%). Conclusions: This study showed that effectiveness of MSDS education was associated with the program served by company, and the education program for the voluntary participation of the workers should be made practical and attractive.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.113-120
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• 2017

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a physical therapy-based tailored exercise program on pain, accident incidence rates, the number of work days lost, and economical loss cost for workers in an automobile parts manufacturing company. METHODS: A total of 530 workers with musculoskeletal symptoms were given a physical therapy-based tailored exercise program twice a week, for one hour a day. This exercise program consisted of movement pattern correction, muscle stretching and strengthening, and postural correction exercises, according to principles of movement impairment syndromes and medical training therapy. From 2011 to 2016, the lost days of work, accident incidence rates, and loss cost were examined. The pain measured by VAS (visual analogue scale) and the number of workers participating in the exercise program from 2014 to 2016 were also measured. The single subjects A-B design was applied and analyzed. RESULTS: After applying the exercise program, pain decreased and the number of workers participating in the program increased. Accident incidence rates, number of work days lost, and economical loss cost decreased. There was a significant correlation between the number of workers who received exercise therapy by year and accident incidence rates, lost days of work, and economical loss cost (p<.05). CONCLUSION: It is necessary to expand the physical therapy-based tailored exercise program to prevent musculoskeletal disorders because it has a positive effect on both workers and employers.

• Journal of Labour Economics
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• v.13
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• pp.163-184
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• 1990

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.55-61
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• 2011

Cyclonite is a white powder and is very explosive. It can cause seizures (a problem of the nervous system) in human and animals when large amounts are inhaled or eaten. Research papers for workers exposure assesment of the cyclonite are very a few in the world. A field study was conducted at explosive compounds and bomb manufacturing companies to evaluate workers exposure to cyclonite. The airborne average concentration of cyclonite in explosive compounds manufacturing company was $4.10{\mu}g/m^3$(range: ND - $59.92{\mu}g/m^3$), and that of cyclonite in bomb manufacturing company was $31.49{\mu}g/m^3$(range: ND - $291.41{\mu}g/m^3$). Package process and assembly process in both companies were considered the high potential of exposure to cyclonite. Even though all airborne concentrations of cyclonite were lower than occupational exposure standard (MOEL: $500{\mu}g/m^3$), exposure to cyclonite can also occur through dermal contact during manufacture, handling, and clean-up of cyclonite. So control measures for protecting skin absorption of cyclonite were needed for preventing adverse health effect by cyclonite exposure.

• Industrial Engineering and Management Systems
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.160-170
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• 2008

This paper proposes a mathematical model for converting conveyor assembly line to cellular manufacturing in complex production environments. Complex production environments refer to the situations with multi-products, variant demand, different batch sizes and the worker abilities varying with work stations and products respectively. The model proposed in this paper aims to determine (1) how many cells should be formatted; (2) how many workers should be assigned in each cell; (3) and how many workers should be rested in shortened conveyor line when a conveyor assembly line should be converted, in order to optimize system performances which are defined as the total throughput time and total labor power. We refer the model to a new production system. Such model can be used as an evaluation tool in the cases of (i) when a company wants to change its production system (usually a belt conveyor line) to a new one (including cell manufacturing); (ii) when a company wants to evaluate the performance of its converted system. Simulation experiments based on the data collected from the previous documents are used to estimate the marginal impact that each factor change has had on the estimated performance improvement resulting from the conversion.