• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.415-420
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• 2022

Background: Healthcare workers perform an emotionally exhausting daily work activity, making them prone to occupational hazards, namely psychosocial ones. This study aims to assess the impact of psychosocial risk factors on healthcare workers' mental health. Methods: A cross-sectional study was developed between May and June of 2021 with 479 healthcare workers from Portuguese hospitals. The Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale was used to assess mental health, and psychosocial risks were assessed through the Health and Work Survey - INSAT. Statistical analysis was performed to identify the psychosocial risk factors related to anxiety, depression, and stress. Subsequently, a multiple linear regression was performed to identify the models that better explained psychosocial risk factors' relationship with anxiety, depression, and stress. Results: Data showed a strong exposure to psychosocial risks. Work pace and intensity, work relationships, and emotional demands stood out with higher global average percentages for yes answers to "exposure and discomfort." The analysis of the b values and p-values from the multiple linear regression shows that some cross-sectional psychosocial risks are predictors of anxiety and stress dimensions, and other psychosocial risks differ in the two mental health dimensions. However, it is important to highlight that healthcare workers still showed great joy and pleasure in performing their work activities. Conclusion: Support network development in the work environment is needed to prevent healthcare workers' emotional stress and promote their psychological well-being. Therefore, new research is essential to understand the psychosocial risks that affect healthcare workers and assess the less visible effects of work-health relationships.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.413-424
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• 2014

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to seek measures for improvement and management of farm work safety and health by conducting questionnaire surveys and on-site investigations to ascertain the present state of occurrence of safety accidents and safety and health management levels among swine farmers. In particular, the purpose of this study is to provide basic data for the establishment of measures for the management of safety and health suitable to the characteristics of related working environments. Methods: Questionnaire surveys were conducted among 223 farmers engaged in swine farming in 14 regions, and 10 farms were visited in order to implement multilateral methods, including in-depth interviews, along with field surveys. Results: The surveys indicated that 26.2% of all respondents experienced farm-work related safety accidents and body-reaction related accidents showed a high ratio at 31.1% of all respondents. With regard to cause materials of safety accidents, work other than that directly related to swine raising showed high ratios of safety accidents, with pigsty facility related accidents at 26.6%. Although most workers recognized the dangers latent in the working environments, their behavior and responses to the prevention of safety accidents were still insufficient due to a lack of understanding of safety and health management. In the survey on the present state of personal hygiene and wearing of protective equipment, workers were found to have been exposed to dangerous and harmful environments both inside and outside pigsties, but the actual states of their wearing protective safety equipment were very poor. Conclusion: Given the results of this study, swine farmers well recognize problems in their control of safety accidents and management of safety and health, but their knowledge about safety and health education and management guidelines was insufficient. Therefore, safety and health education, public relations, and customized personal protective equipment suitable for swine raising work should be developed in order to address the foregoing problem.

• Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
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• v.34
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• pp.19.1-19.9
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• 2022

Background: It is widely known that carbon dioxide (CO₂) arc welding generates carbon monoxide (CO). However, to the best of our knowledge, no case reports have been published regarding CO poisoning in CO₂ arc welders. Therefore, we aimed to report a case of CO poisoning-induced encephalopathy in a CO₂ arc welder in the Republic of Korea to inform about the dangers of CO exposure among CO₂arc welders. Case presentation: A 40-year-old man working as a CO₂ arc welder for 15 years visited a local hospital with a tremor, involuntary urination, and speaking gibberish, on April 9, 2019. He stated that he had intermittent headache and forgetting symptoms for the last 5 years, and had been lost on the way to work several times. On April 9, 2019, he was diagnosed with CO poisoning-induced encephalopathy through brain magnetic resonance imaging. He received hyperbaric oxygen therapy, and some of his symptoms improved. According to the exposure assessment of his work environment, he was continuously exposed to high concentrations of CO for 15 years while operating CO₂ arc welding machines. Conclusions: After evaluating the patient's work environment and evaluating his medical history, we concluded that his encephalopathy was caused by CO exposure during CO₂ arc welding. Thus CO₂ arc welders must be aware of the risk of CO poisoning and strive to avoid CO exposure.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.456-464
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• 2022

Objectives: The Purpose of this study is to improve work environment measurement in construction industry by survey. Especially, this study focused on the defferences between construction staffs(safety manger, health manager) and work environment measurement institution workers. Methods: Survey targets are construction staffs(safety manger, health manager) and work environment measurement institution workers. Respondent was selected by respective councils and conferences. A questionnaire consisting of items on general characteristics and the improvement of work environment measurement in construction industry. Results: Total of 134 people(39 safety managers, 27 health managers, 68 work environment measurement institution workers) responded to survey. Overall, current work environment measurement was deemed unsuitable for construction industry. There was a significant difference between construction staff and work environment institution workers in some question. On the other hand, there was no noticeable significant difference in general characteristics. Conclusions: As a result of survey, current work environment measurement was deemed unsuitable for construction industry in terms of measurement method, measurement timing, and actual site improvement. In addition, there is a statistically significant differences in response between construction staff and work environment measurement institution workers, so it is necessary to reflect both opinions in order to improve work environment measurement in construction industry.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.282-289
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• 2017

Background: The objective of this study was to report on the prevalence of musculoskeletal pain in lobstermen in the northeast USA. Methods: Crews were randomly selected from those licensed to fish in Maine and Massachusetts and followed prospectively. The survey used a Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire format to characterize musculoskeletal disorders. Results: A total of 395 individuals participated. One half of the respondents reported low back pain. Back pain was attributed to or exacerbated by lobstering. Low back pain was prevalent among both captains and sternmen, while sternmen reported more hand/wrist pain than captains. Multiple locations for pain were common in individual participants. Conclusion: Equipment or technology to assist material handling should be a priority, as the body segments with high prevalence of pain (back, hand/wrists, shoulders, knees) are all affected by the repetitive and forceful handling of the lobster traps.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.62-80
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• 1988

The main purpose of this study was to find out the actual status of safety and heal th education activities in the manufacturing industries through survey of 136 plants in Seoul City and Gyunggi- Province Area which employ nurses being charged in the safety and health care services to the employees. A questionaire was mailed to the employees on the Mar. 2, 1987. Total 634 responds from 87 industries were collected by Apr. 20, 1987. Among the total, 618 responds from 80 industries were included in the analysis. The major findings obtainded from this study are summarized as follows; 1. Safety and health education activities in each industry: 1) The $67.6\%$ of safety directors surveyed were performing the education to the employees. And in case of medical directors, it was $18.8\%$ of them. 2) Periodically, annual safety' and health education programs were being drawn up in the $65.0\%$ of the industries (52 companies). And the $60.6\%$ of the planners were safety directors of safety staffs in charge. 3) It was only $27.5\%$ of the companies surveyed in which the safety and health education were performed more than an hour every month. In the $22.5\%$ of the companies, neither safety programs nor health education activities were performed. 4) In the $47.5\%$ of them, safety and health educations were performed in cooperation with related agencies such as health center. 2. The rate of employees participated in safety and health educations; 1) The received rates by subjects of the educations when labors were newly employed to their companies were as follows; education regarding danger and profer handling method of machinery and appliances: $64.2\%$, education regarding noxiousness and handling method of raw materials: $42.2\%$, etc. 2) The $63.6\%$ of the labors received educations on safety and health when they changed their work places. 3) The $74.8\%$ of the labors received specific safety and health educations. 4) The general safety and health educations were received by the $47.2\%$ of management and clerical personnel and $50.0\%$ of labors pre and post physical examination. 3. The main reasons of inactive performance of the educations were as follows; lack of knowledge and inexperience of the occupational safety and health staffs, lack of cooperations between themselves and low need of workers for safety and health education, etc. 4. The preferable subjects of educations for workers; (1) pre and post education of physical examination, (2) education regarding the prevention of accidents. (3) general health care, sex education and family planning, etc. As a result of this study, we can conclude that the safety and health education work in industries as the subject of this study is on the incipient stage. Appropriate measures are to be taken for the activation of safety and health education work such as; continuous public relations, financial and technical supports of the government, training of professional/occupational safety and health staffs, efforts of workers to receive the education and collaborations of the employers.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.59-65
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• 2023

Objectives: Epidemiological evidence linking long working hours and shift work to metabolic syndrome remains inadequate. We sought to evaluate the impact of reducing working hours on metabolic syndrome. Methods: We compared the prevalence of metabolic syndrome among male manual workers in a manufacturing company (N = 371) before and after the introduction of policy to reduce daily work hours from 10 to 8 hours. Components of metabolic syndrome were measured in periodic health examinations before the intervention, 6-9 months after, and 1.5-2 years after the intervention. Generalized estimating equation models were used to estimate changes in the prevalence of metabolic syndrome. Analyses were stratified by day work versus shift work. Results: The results showed a significantly decreased prevalence of metabolic syndrome 6-9 months following the intervention in day workers (risk ratio = 0.68, 95% confidence interval 0.52-0.88), but the benefit disappeared after 1.5-2 years. Shift workers showed a decreased prevalence of metabolic syndrome for the whole follow-up duration after the intervention, although the change was not statistically significant. Conclusion: Reducing working hours was associated with short-term improvement in metabolic syndrome in male manual workers.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.356-363
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• 2017

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate which physical and psychosocial work demands were associated with excellent work ability in individuals with neck pain, and to investigate age and sex differences in these associations. Methods: The study sample was obtained from the Statistics Sweden cross-sectional Work Environment survey and consisted of workers who reported neck pain after work (N = 3,212). Results: The findings showed an association between excellent work ability and self-reported low exposure to lifting, twisted work posture, working with hands in shoulder level or higher, and leaning forward without support and combination of exposures containing these work demands. Low exposure to seated work and high demands showed a reversed association. The associations were present mainly among older workers and were generally stronger for men than for women. Conclusion: This study indicates that a lower level of physically demanding work is an important element to maintain excellent work ability, especially for the older worker with neck pain.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.124-133
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• 2010

Objectives: This study was conducted to develop a model describing the interaction between lifestyle, job, and postural factors and parts of the upper extremities in shipyard workers. Methods: A questionnaire survey was given to 2,140 workers at a shipyard in Ulsan City. The questionnaire consisted of questions regarding the subjects' general characteristics, lifestyle, tenure, physical burden, job control, posture and musculoskeletal symptoms. The overall relationship between variables was analyzed by a structural equation model (SEM). Results: The positive rate of upper extremity musculoskeletal symptoms increased in employees who worked longer hours, had severe physical burden, and did not have any control over their job. Work with a more frequent unstable posture and for longer hours was also associated with an increased positive rate of musculoskeletal symptoms. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that unstable posture and physical burden were closely related to the positive rate of musculoskeletal symptoms after controlling for age, smoking, drinking, exercise, tenure, and job control. In SEM analysis, work-related musculoskeletal disease was influenced directly and indirectly by physical and job stress factors, lifestyle, age, and tenure (p < 0.05). The strongest correlations were found between physical factors and work-related musculoskeletal disease. Conclusion: The model in this study provides a better approximation of the complexity of the actual relationship between risk factors and work-related musculoskeletal disorders. Among the variables evaluated in this study, physical factors (work posture) had the strongest association with musculoskeletal disorders.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.317-323
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• 2015

Background: Young people are at an increased risk for illness in working life. The authorities stipulate certain goals for training in occupational health and safety (OHS) in vocational schools. A previous study concluded that pupils in vocational education had limited knowledge in the prevention of health risks at work. The aim of the current study, therefore, was to study how OHS training is organized in school and in workplace-based learning (WPL). Methods: The study design featured a qualitative approach, which included interviews with 12 headmasters, 20 teachers, and 20 supervisors at companies in which the pupils had their WPL. The study was conducted at 10 upper secondary schools, located in Central Sweden, that were graduating pupils in four vocational programs. Results: The interviews with headmasters, teachers, and supervisors indicate a staggered picture of how pupils are prepared for safe work. The headmasters generally give teachers the responsibility for how goals should be reached. Teaching is very much based on risk factors that are present in the workshops and on teachers' own experiences and knowledge. The teaching during WPL also lacks the systematic training in OHS as well as in the traditional classroom environment. Conclusion: Teachers and supervisors did not plan the training in OHS in accordance with the provisions of systematic work environment management. Instead, the teachers based the training on their own experiences. Most of the supervisors did not receive information from the schools as to what should be included when introducing OHS issues in WPL.