• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.21-29
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• 2019

Background: Promoting healthy lifestyles at work should complement workplace safety programs. This study systematically investigates current states of occupational health and safety (OHS) policy as well as practice in the European Union (EU). Methods: OHS policies of EU member states were categorized as either prevention or health promotion provisions using a manifest content analysis. Policy rankings were then created for each prevention and promotion. Rankings compared eight indicators from the European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks-2 data on prevention and promotion practices for each member state using Chi-square and probit regression analyses. Results: Overall, 73.1% of EU establishments take preventive measures against direct physical harm, and about 35.4% take measures to prevent psychosocial risks. Merely 29.5% have measures to promote health. Weak and inconsistent links between OHS policy and practice indicators were identified. Conclusion: National OHS policies evidently concentrate on prevention while compliance with health and safety practices is relatively low. Psychosocial risks are often addressed in national policy but not implemented by institutions. Current risk assessment methods are outdated and often lack psychosocial indicators. Health promotion at work is rare in policy and practice, and its interpretation remains preventive. Member states need to adopt policies that actively improve health and well-being at the workplace.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.154-166
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• 2021

Background: Occupational health and safety (OHS) is a significant interest of all governments to prevent workplace hazards. Although appropriate legislation and regulations are essentials for the protection of workers, they are solely not enough. Application of them in practice should be secured by an efficient inspection system. Fundamental components of an inspection system are inspectors and their audit tasks. Maintaining the fair balanced task assignment among inspectors strictly enhances the efficiency of the overall system. Methods: This study proposes a two-phased goal programming approach for OHS inspectors' task assignments and presents a case study. Results: The solution approach gives the balanced assignment of inspectors to the workplaces in different cities of the country in the planning period. The obtained schedule takes into account the distances covered by the work places and the number of the workplaces' employees to be audited and pays attention to the human factors by considering the preferences of the inspectors. The comparisons between the obtained optimal schedule and the implemented one that is produced manually show that the approach not only maintains the technical requirements of the problem, but also provides social and physical balance to the task assignment. Conclusion: Both the approach and the application study are expected to offer fruitful inspirations in the area of safety management and policy and they provide a good guide for social policy and organizational aspects in the field of OHS inspectors' task assignment.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.241-248
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• 2019

Background: Heatstroke is one of the most serious heat-related illnesses. However, establishing public policies to prevent heatstroke remains a challenge. This study aimed to investigate the most relevant climate elements and their warning criteria to prevent outdoor heatstroke (OHS). Methods: We investigated heatstroke patients from five major hospitals in Daegu metropolitan city, Korea, from June 1 to August 31, 2011 to 2016. We also collected the corresponding regional climate data from Korea Meteorological Administration. We analyzed the relationship between the climate elements and OHS occurrence by logistic regression. Results: Of 70 patients who had heatstroke, 45 (64.3%) experienced it while outdoors. Considering all climate elements, only mean heat index (MHI) was related with OHS occurrence (p=0.019). Therefore, the higher the MHI, the higher the risk for OHS (adjusted odds ratio, 1.824; 95% confidence interval, 1.102-3.017). The most suitable cutoff point for MHI by Youden's index was $30.0^{\circ}C$ (sensitivity, 77.4%; specificity, 73.7%). Conclusion: Among the climate elements, MHI was significantly associated with OHS occurrence. The optimal MHI cutoff point for OHS prevention was $30.0^{\circ}C$.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.471-478
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• 2021

Background: Employment standards (ES) include having a regular payday, regular breaks, the right to paid sick or vacation time, and paid wages. Inadequate ES contribute to the labour market vulnerability of workers; however, they are not typically considered to be risk factors for workplace injury. In a sample of Canadian workers, we examine the risk of injury associated with inadequate ES, independent of, and combined with inadequate workplace protections from workplace hazards. Methods: Data from 2,803 adults working 15 hours or more/week in workplaces with at least five employees were analysed. We explored associations between exposure to workplace hazards with inadequate protections [termed occupational health and safety (OHS) vulnerability] and inadequate ES on workplace injury (physical or mental injury; injury requiring time off). Additive interaction models were used to examine the independent and combined effects of these exposures. Results: Occupational health and safety vulnerability and inadequate ES were independently associated with increased injury outcomes. Adjusted models showed an additive relationship for all injury outcomes between OHS vulnerability and inadequate ES. Statistically significant superadditive relationships were observed for physical injury risk with policy and procedure vulnerability plus inadequate ES [synergy index (S) 1.50, 95% CI: 1.13-2.00] and for overall OHS vulnerability plus inadequate ES (S 1.53, 95% CI: 1.16-2.02), suggesting a combined effect greater than independent effects. Conclusion: Occupational health and safety vulnerability and inadequate ES are independently associated with workplace injury. For certain injury outcomes, the combined effect of OHS vulnerability and inadequate ES is greater than the independent effects of each individual exposure.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.452-461
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• 2021

Background: The prevailing global work scenario and deteriorating health facilities in economies indulge the risk perspective in the labor market model. This is the reason that the risk factor is cautiously attributed to wages and labor market efficiencies specifically in developing and emerging economies. In this respect, Occupational Injuries of Workers (OIW) is considered essential to demonstrate the risk and Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) setups given the constraints of the labor. Intuitively, the prime objective of this study is to make an assessment of the labor market considering the OIW through the indicators of industry division, employment status, occupational distribution, adopted treatment, gender and regionality. Methods: The assessment strategy of the study has been categorized into trend analysis and Index Value Calculation (IVC) segments employing the data from 2001 to 2018. Results: The pattern of the selected indicators of the OIW has been observed in the available data while the IVC estimations are considered through time and reference categories. The findings of both exercises revealed absolute and relative heterogeneities at both industry and occupational levels. Conclusion: The consistency for gender and regional distribution of both assessments points out the need for effective policy initiatives. The study suggests separate analyses of industry and occupations for a better understanding of the OHS setups and up-gradation in Pakistan.

• International Journal of Safety
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.47-52
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• 2004

Current OSH system was analyzed in this paper to explain why high fatal incidents and disasters are continuously repeated for recent years in Korea. It was found that we have Dichotomous Perceptional Misconception of prevention before accident and compensation after accident and there is a significant lack of proper feed­back reward system for OSH performance. It was assumed that no reduction of accident rate and fatality rate have not been achieved recently despite of a great effort and increased resource allocations. Some statistics for proving weak punishment were analyzed. In the current system, the will of administrative agency would have been very limited particularly in the legal aspects. The Industrial Safety and Health Act is not suitable to after-injury punishment for employer and/or corporate since it is based on a framework for enforcement of prevention. Based on these analyses, it was concluded that there was a need to consider a special law for Corporate Accountability for Fatal Accidents. Because it is necessary to consider seriously for introduction of a new legal system for after injury punishment to repair the current system where it was found lack of proper feedback system. Also, there was no proper sanction measures for corporate with the current OSH legal system, and the most urgent problem in OSH area is the high fatality rate. it is necessary to consider seriously for introduction of a new legal system for after injury punishment. Also, there is no proper sanction measures for corporate with the current OSH legal system, and the most urgent problem in OSH area is the high fatality rate.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.431-441
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• 2019

Objectives: The Korean Working Conditions Survey(KWCS), which has been conducted five times over the past 13 years, presents a diverse picture of Korean workers across occupations, genders, and age groups. This study summarized the use of KWCS and explored how to make the most of the KWCS by reviewing published peer-reviewed journal articles employing the KWCS data. Methods: Articles were selected in accordance with PRISMA protocol for a systematic literature review. A total of 155 articles were included in this review. Results: The number of articles utilizing KWCS data has been increasing by year. The articles were published in 40 Korean journals and 16 international journals. The journals were mainly in the field of occupational safety and health and sociology. Keywords of mental health, working conditions survey, workforce, health, exposure to risk factor, and working time were mainly highlighted. The articles were grouped by the goals of the KWCS as stated in the survey. The majority of published articles(129 articles, 83%) aimed to 'analyze relationships between different aspects of working conditions'. Fifteen articles(10%) were intended to 'identify groups at risk and issues of concern.' The number of articles to 'monitor trends' were limited. Conclusions: The findings underline the limited utilization of the KWCS. Attention to the range and scope of utilization of KWCS should be developed to address current challenges in occupational health and safety management and policy issues.