• Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
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• 제35권
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• pp.24.1-24.15
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• 2023

Background: The construction workers are vulnerable to fatigue due to high physical workload. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between overwork and heart rate in construction workers and propose a scheme to prevent overwork in advance. Methods: We measured the heart rates of construction workers at a construction site of a residential and commercial complex in Seoul from August to October 2021 and develop an index that monitors overwork in real-time. A total of 66 Korean workers participated in the study, wearing real-time heart rate monitoring equipment. The relative heart rate (RHR) was calculated using the minimum and maximum heart rates, and the maximum acceptable working time (MAWT) was estimated using RHR to calculate the workload. The overwork index (OI) was defined as the cumulative workload evaluated with the MAWT. An appropriate scenario line (PSL) was set as an index that can be compared to the OI to evaluate the degree of overwork in real-time. The excess overwork index (EOI) was evaluated in real-time during work performance using the difference between the OI and the PSL. The EOI value was used to perform receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis to find the optimal cut-off value for classification of overwork state. Results: Of the 60 participants analyzed, 28 (46.7%) were classified as the overwork group based on their RHR. ROC curve analysis showed that the EOI was a good predictor of overwork, with an area under the curve of 0.824. The optimal cut-off values ranged from 21.8% to 24.0% depending on the method used to determine the cut-off point. Conclusion: The EOI showed promising results as a predictive tool to assess overwork in real-time using heart rate monitoring and calculation through MAWT. Further research is needed to assess physical workload accurately and determine cut-off values across industries.

• 한국안전학회지
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• 제32권6호
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• pp.116-124
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of subjective overwork on health and the moderating effect of risk perception in the relationship between subjective overwork and health. The data used in this study are the fourth Korean Working Condition Survey (KWCS) conducted by Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency (KOSHA) in 2014. The items related to actual working hours, subjective overwork, health, and risk perception were used. A total of 18,508 workers who are 1) waged workers, 2) work more than three days a week, 3) work more than 21 hours a week, 4) work longer than preferred work hours or work as longer as they desired were selected. Hierarchical regression analysis was performed to identify the effect of actual work hours, subjective overwork, prevalence of risk, lethalness of accident damage on health and to determine the moderating effects of prevalence of risk and lethalness of accident damage. As a result, actual work hours, subjective overwork, prevalence of risk, lethalness of accident damage had an effect on worker's health problems. Second, lethalness of accident damage had a moderating effect in the relationship between subjective overwork and health. These results suggest that organizations should manage worker's environmental factors and other threats that could increase the lethalness of accident damage.

• 한국직업건강간호학회지
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• 제6권1호
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• pp.23-43
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• 1997

The work-related diseases due to continuous overwork are mainly cerebro- and cardio-vascular ones, which is commonly called 'Karoshi', death from overwork. Many factors are capable for Karoshi : occupational stress in relation to technological renovation and industrial rationalization, competitive social structure, and accumulated fatigue accured to long time or irregular working. And its occurence is on the rise. The World Labor Report 1993 released by ILO, pointed out the diseases related to overwork and stress as one of the most important occupational health problem. In Korea, social awareness of Karoshi is at an infant stage, and reliable statistics for its occurence are not compiled in a convenient manner. Despite the rising Karoshi, there are no reliable clauses in workmen's compensation enough to settle down the disputes. Therefore, it is not uncommon that the Labour Ministry and Civil Court find difficulties in reaching an agreement. This study was intended to provide proper compensation and prevention program for workers by suggesting reasonable compensation clauses for the death from overwork. This study consists of two comparative reviews on the compensaton clauses for the death from overwork. One is to review legal standards of Karoshi among three countries, such as Korea, Japan and Taiwan. The other is to investigate the cases of Karoshi in Korea, 121 cases identified at the Labor Welfare Corperation and the Labour Ministrial process of examination and reexamination, and 73 leading cases at the High Court of Justice. The main findings of the study are as follows : 1. Comparisons of comperative review on compensation clauses for the death from overwork among three countries. 1) All of three countries have the same kinds of disease for compensation, which were cerebro-and cardiao-vascular diseases, while for cardiac disease group, Korea has the smaller number of diseases for compensation than Japan. 2) As for the definition of overwork, the three countries share equally that overload for one week prior to collapse is considered as an important factor, but accumulated chronic fatigue is disregarded. 3) As the basis of overwork, in Japan, there is a tendency to move from the conditions of an ordinary healthy adult to those of the individual concerned in Japan, whereas there is no such concern yet in Korea. 4) All the three countries use a common standard of medical judgement in demonstrating causal relationship between a job and a disease. However, Korea is progressive in the sense that in the case of CVA at worksite, the worker himself has no obligation to prove the cause. 2. The results of a comparative review on excutive decisions by Labor Ministry and judicial decisions by the Court in Korea : A judicial decision is based on the legalistic probability, but a excutive decision is not. Therefore, excutive decisions have such restrictions that : 1) TIA (transitory ischemic cerebral attack) and myocarditis are excluded from compensation, and there is little consistency of decision in the case of cause-unknown death. 2) There is a tendency not to compensate for the death from overwork since the work terms such as repeated long-time working, shift work or night-shift work are not considered as overloading. 3) There is a tendency to regard the conditions of a ordinary healthy adult rather than those of the individual concerned(age, existing diseases, health state, etc.) as the comparative basis of overload. 4) There remains a tendency not to compensate for the death from overwork in the case of collapse occuring out of workplace, on the ground of 'on the course of working' and 'in the cause of accident'. Through the study, the fact manifests itself that Korea's compensation clauses for work-related diseases due to overwork are very restrictive. So, it is necessary to extend the Labor Ministry's clauses of compensation for the death from overwork following to the recent changes of other countries and internal judicial decisions. This is very important in the perspective of occupational health that aims at health promotion of workers including prevention of the Karoshi.

• 대한안전경영과학회:학술대회논문집
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• 대한안전경영과학회 2010년도 춘계학술대회
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• pp.117-125
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• 2010

Cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are a major cause of deaths among workers as well as in general population in Korea. Occupational stress like long working hours or overwork can cause sudden unexpected death in a worker who had been suffering from an aggravated preexisting condition such as hypertensive or arteriosclerotic diseases, The Korean government has compensated the cases of cerebrovascular disease and cardiovascular disease due to overwork, but neither a resonable definition of overwork nor detailed evaluation guideline has been officially provided to verify overwork, so that the prevention of, as well as compensation for workers' occupational stress-related cardiovascular attacks, cannot be carried out efficiently. A thorough understanding of the etiopathology of WR-CVDs can be very helpful in developing a prevention strategy.

• Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
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• 제35권
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• pp.20.1-20.7
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• 2023

The policy proposal by the current Korean government that proposes flexible overtime rules is causing social controversy. This study has explored the 612 experts' opinions on the occupational safety and health impacts of the policy using an online self-report survey. They expected short-term overwork (87.25%), overwork inequality (86.44%), irregular working hours (84.31%), chronic overwork (84.15%), long working hours (83.66%), and unpredictability of working hours (81.86%) as a result of the policy change. They also responded that the policy change would increase industrial accident deaths (87.25%), mental illnesses (87.09%), deaths due to overwork or cardiovascular diseases (83.84%), and accidents (83.33%). They disagreed that the government's flexibilization policy, while agreeing that the necessity of policies on regulating night work (94.77%), guaranteeing wages to eliminate overtime (90.36%), establishing working time regulations for the bogus self-employed (82.84%), and applying the 52-hour workweek system to all workplaces (76.47%). These expert opinions are consistent with previous research on the health effects of working hours.

• 대한한의학방제학회지
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• 제9권1호
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• pp.35-82
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• 2001

In the Encyclopedia Medica Koreana(Dongeuibogam), I have researched 245 prescriptions in which Panax Ginseng plays an important role. And I have got the following results. The healing scope and frequency of ginseng-mainly-included prescriptions are Child Part 29(11.83%), Violent Cough Part 23(9.38%), Sick-by-Cold Part 21(8.57%), Oncosis Part 16(6.53%), Overwork Part 14(5.71%), Gynecologic Part 14(5.71%), Internal Part 13(5.3%), Apoplexy Part 11(4.48%), Mind Part 10(4.08%) and Fecal Part 10(4.08%) prescriptions. And also each of Nausea Part, Anger Part, and Spirit parts has the same 5 (2.04%) prescriptions. And each of Qi Part, Diabetes Meatus Part, Malaria Part, and Humoral Part has 4(1.63%) prescriptions. And each of Foot Part, Choleraic Part, Genital Part, Blood Part, and Voice Part has 3 (1.2%). All of these prescriptions cover 88.88%. And besides listed parts above, Panax Ginseng is all used in 48 Parts: Body-Mind Part. Mouth-Tongue Part, Breast Part, Muscle Part, Swelling Part, Urine Part, Epidermis Part, Heat Part, Anus Part, Stomach Part, Eye Part, Laryngopharynx Part. Uterus Part" Heavy Stomach Part, Head Part, Pulse Part, Hair Part, Navel Part, Emetic Part, Costal Part, Edema Part, Vomiting Part, Superstitious Part, and Cardiac Part, etc. Of the prescriptions in which Panax Ginseng plays an important role, the most representative diseases, which more than 86.8% prescriptions cure, are shock, numbness from cold, Taeeum disease, oncosis, overwork, sick from eating, numbness of extremities, diarrhea, tachycardia, forgetfulness, nausea, heat from kidney, nocturnal emission, short breath, diabetes meatus, malaria, sweating, sweating overnight, beriberi, cholera, insomnia from enervation, sialitis, navel pain, hemorrhage, and loss of voice. The pathology of the prescriptions in which Panax Ginseng plays an important role is divided into the organ problems, six natural factors, seven extreme feelings, unbalanced humoral status, overwork, and, unbalance of qi and blood. Spleen, heart, and uterus is the main cause of organ problems; wind and cold are the main cause of six natural factors; heavy humors are the main cause of unbalanced humoral status; the stasis of seven feelings are the main cause of seven extreme feelings; the lack of stamina and overwork are the main cause of the overwork; the lack of qi, the lack of blood, and, the lack of qi and blood are the main cause of the unbalance of qi and blood. After I have researched the contents of the prescriptions in which Panax Ginseng plays an important role, I could understand the addition of the different prescriptions, combination of medicines, and the role of medicine groups associated with Panax Ginseng. So from now on, the results I have got could be used as the data which show the theoretical basis on the prescriptions.

• 대한한의학회지
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• 제37권1호
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• pp.158-168
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• 2016

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to present two case reports on the treatments of psoriasis with qi deficiency. Methods: We administered herbal medicine to two patients who showed psoriasis with overwork and evaluated the results by Psoriasis Area and Severity Index(PASI). Results: After the treatment two patients showed improvements in PASI. PASI of patient 1 changed from 11 to 1.6; patient 2 from 10.8 to 1. Conclusions: The results suggest that herbal medicine can be an effective treatment for psoriasis who has overwork.

• 한국경영과학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국경영과학회 2006년도 추계학술대회
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• pp.332-335
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• 2006

This paper considers a facility location problem, which is concerned with locating facilities on a supply chain network and installing the associated equipments at the facilities to meet a given set of demands. The objective function is to minimize the sum of setup cost (facility opening cost and equipment installation cost), operation cost, and distribution cost. For the equipments, various choices of equipment modes need to be determined. Moreover, in the problem, overwork is allowed each facility but at expensive operation cost. The proposed problem is characterized as being NP-hard problem, so that a heuristic algorithm is derived. In order to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm, computational experiments with various numerical instances are conducted.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• 제13권4호
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• pp.401-407
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• 2022

Background: The present study aimed to digitally evaluate the risk of overwork-related adverse effects (OrAEs) among employees from various occupational categories in Taiwan. Methods: Anonymous data of employees from seven companies/factories providing occupational health services were analyzed. The studied population comprised 5505 employees, and the data analyzed included employment duration, working hours, shift work schedules, and health checkup results. The risk for OrAEs was assessed by an index, Karo index (0-4, the larger the value, the higher the risk for OrAEs) obtained using a risk matrix made up of cardiocerebral and occupational risk factors. Karo index values of 3 and 4 were categorized as at high risk for OrAEs (h-OrAEs). Results: The 5505 employees had an average employment duration of 8.5 years and a mean age of 39.4 years. The prevalence rates for h-OrAEs of the seven companies/factories ranged from 3.9% to 34.2%. There were significant differences in prevalence rates for h-OrAEs between employees of retail stores and high-tech manufacturing factories. Multivariate analysis results indicated that workers of high-tech manufacturing factories had significantly higher risk for h-OrAEs compared with retail store workers. Conclusion: In terms of satisfying health risk management and legal requirements in Taiwan, the newly issued Karo index, which covers a wide range of occupational risk factors, can serve as an assessment and a warning tool for managing the risk of OrAEs in workplaces. To reduce risks for h-OrAEs, active and prudent control of cerebrocardiovascular risks and working hours is recommended.

• 대한한의학회지
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• 제44권3호
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• pp.1-9
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• 2023

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to suggest the clinical characteristics and risk factors of facial palsy from the perspective of Korean Medicine. Methods: Medical records of 856 patients, who visited the Korean Medicine hospital with facial palsy from 2004 to 2019, were retrospectively analyzed. The clinical characteristics of facial palsy were suggested by figuring out the distribution of age, sex, occupation, onset season, obesity, modes, signs, symptoms, past and family history. Results: By gender, there were more males (54.6%), and the most common age groups were in their 50s (27.4%) and 40s (23.6%). As for the occupation, unemployed (27.7%) and service and sales workers (14.6%) were the most common, and the onset season was the most common in winter (28.9%). The most common clinical characteristics were overwork (33.0%), mental stress (24.8%), and exposure to cold (19.3%) in modes, 'none' (64.3%), postauricular pain (33.2%) in signs, postauricular pain (26.9%), parageusia (14.8%) in symptoms. Hypertension and diabetes were the most common in both past and family history. In particular, the obesity rate of the subjects (59.8%) was much higher than that of Koreans (32.8%). Conclusions: Based on the historical Korean Medicine literature and the results of this study, it is suggested that overwork, stress, exposure to cold, and obesity are identified as risk factors for facial palsy. Furthermore, dysfunction of the stomach meridian is thought to contribute to the cause of facial palsy.