• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2015

Time-loss injuries are still a major occurrence in Canada, injuring thousands of Canadian workers each year. With obesity rates on the rise across the country, as well as around the world, it is important that the possible effects of obesity in the workplace be fully understood, especially those effects linked to lost-time injuries. The aim of this paper was to evaluate predictors of workplace lost-time injuries and how they may be related to obesity or high body mass index by examining factors associated with lost-time injuries in the health care sector, a well-studied industry with the highest number of reported time loss injuries in Canada. A literature review focusing on lost-time injuries in Registered Nurses (RNs) was conducted using the keywords and terms: lost time injury, workers' compensation, occupational injury, workplace injury, injury, injuries, work, workplace, occupational, nurse, registered nurse, RN, health care, predictors, risk factors, risk, risks, cause, causes, obese, obesity, and body mass index. Data on predictors or factors associated with lost-time injuries in RNs were gathered and organized using Loisel's Work Disability Prevention Management Model and extrapolated upon using existing literature surrounding obesity in the Canadian workplace.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.10-16
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• 2018

Background: A detailed evaluation of the underground mine climate requires extensive measurements to be performed coupled to climatic modeling work. This can be labor-intensive and time-consuming, and consequently impractical for daily work comfort assessments. Therefore, a simple indicator like a heat stress index is needed to enable a quick, valid, and acceptable evaluation of underground climatic conditions on a regular basis. This can be explained by the unending quest to develop a "universal index," which has led to the proliferation of many proposed heat stress indices. Methods: The aim of this research study is to discuss the challenges in identifying and selecting an appropriate heat stress index for thermal planning and management purposes in underground mines. A method is proposed coupled to a defined strategy for selecting and recommending heat stress indices to be used in underground metal mines in the United States and worldwide based on a thermal comfort model. Results: The performance of current heat stress indices used in underground mines varies based on the climatic conditions and the level of activities. Therefore, carefully selecting or establishing an appropriate heat stress index is of paramount importance to ensure the safety, health, and increasing productivity of the underground workers. Conclusion: This method presents an important tool to assess and select the most appropriate index for certain climatic conditions to protect the underground workers from heat-related illnesses. Although complex, the method presents results that are easy to interpret and understand than any of the currently available evaluation methods.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.63-68
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• 2007

The purpose of this study is to verify the relation between the risk index using AHP(Analytic Hierarchy Process) and the risk index using Computing Model. For doing the objective, this research classified 22 work types in architectural construction work from the analysis Korean architectural standard specification and Korea occupational safety & health agency code. Based on the classified 22 work types in architectural construction work, the risk index of each work type was calculated by AHP and Computing Model. For verifying the correlation of risk index between AHP and Computing Model methods, SAS version 8.0 System, which is one of the statistics programs, was used.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.58-62
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• 2022

Metro subway construction is a field that requires a great deal of professional manpower. The aging of professionals has a negative impact on both productivity and health, owing to poor working environments, heavy lifting, underground work, and other factors. To address this issue, the government is progressively revising and enforcing health management law and regulation in the construction industry. Thus, the job stress and work ability of many professional subway construction workers, who are rapidly aging, are being analyzed to ensure their safety and improve their health. In this study, the Macpa stress index of Busan Metro Subway construction workers from Sasang to Hadan line was measured by using a Macpa measurement machine, and a work ability survey was conducted by using the questionnaire that was developed by the FIOH. The independent variables were age, years of service, job position, employment type, and occupation. While, the dependent variables were the Macpa stress index and work ability. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used because it was difficult to assume that the statistics of this study represented a normal distribution. The results showed that age, job position, and employment type affected Macpa stress index and revealed that as the age of the workers increased, their stress levels increased as well. Additionally, job position and employment type affected the work ability of the metro subway construction workers. In terms of job position, the technical engineers were under a lot of stress, and whereas the managers had the best work ability. The technical engineers were more stressed than the other workers because of a poor working environment. In terms of employment type, daily workers were under more stress and lower work ability than others.

• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.132-139
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• 2021

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of organizational safety and health management activities on safety and health performance by using the results of safety activity level evaluation of public organizations. To this end, a research model was established by using three fields as independent variables among the four areas of the safety activity level evaluation index: safety and health system, safety and health activity plan, and safety and health activity level, and the safety and health activity performance field as a dependent variable. Correlation analysis and regression analysis between major variables were performed. As a result of the correlation analysis, the safety and health activity performance had a significant positive (+) correlation with all of the safety and health system, safety and health activity plan, and safety and health activity level. The safety and health system had a significant positive (+) correlation with the safety and health activity plan and safety and health activity level, and the safety and health activity plan had a significant positive (+) correlation with the safety and health activity level. And as a result of the regression analysis, it was found that the organization's safety and health system, safety and health activity plan, and safety and health activity level all had a significant positive (+) effect on safety and health activity performance.

• 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.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.296-307
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• 2018

Background: Safety culture, acting as the oil necessary in an efficient safety management system, has its own weaknesses in the current conceptualization and utilization in practice. As a new approach, resilience safety culture (RSC) has been proposed to reduce these weaknesses and improve safety culture; however, it requires a valid and reliable instrument to be measured. This study aimed at evaluating the reliability and validity of such an instrument in measuring the RSC in sociotechnical systems. Methods: The researchers designed an instrument based on resilience engineering principles and safety culture as the first instrument to measure the RSC. The RSC instrument was distributed among 354 staff members from 12 units of an anonymous petrochemical plant through hand delivery. Content validity, confirmatory, and exploratory factor analysis were used to examine the construct validity, and Cronbach alpha and test-retest were employed to examine the reliability of the instrument. Results: The results of the content validity index and content validity ratio were calculated as 0.97 and 0.83, respectively. The explanatory factor analysis showed 14 factors with 68.29% total variance and 0.88 Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin index. The results were also confirmed with confirmatory factor analysis (relative Chi-square = 2453.49, Root Mean Square Error of Approximation = 0.04). The reliability of the RSC instrument, as measured by internal consistency, was found to be satisfactory (Cronbach ${\alpha}=0.94$). The results of test-retest reliability was r = 0.85, p < 0.001. Conclusion: The results of the study suggest that the measure shows acceptable validity and reliability.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.95-100
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• 2018

Background: Respiratory protection equipment (RPE) is the last resort to control exposure to workplace air pollutants. A comprehensive respiratory protection program (RPP) ensures that RPE is selected, used, and cared properly. Therefore, RPP must be well integrated into the occupational health and safety requirements. In this study, we evaluated the implementation of RPP in Iranian petrochemical industries to identify the required solutions to improve the current status of respiratory protection. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 24 petrochemical industries in Iran. The survey instrument was a checklist extracted from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration respiratory protection standard. An index, Respiratory Protection Program Index (RPPI), was developed and weighted by analytic hierarchy process to determine the compliance rate (CR) of provided respiratory protection measures with the RPP standard. Data analysis was performed using Excel 2010. Results: The most important element of RPP, according to experts, was respiratory hazard evaluation. The average value of RPPI in the petrochemical plants was $49{\pm}15%$. The highest and lowest of CR among RPP elements were RPE selection and medical evaluation, respectively. Conclusion: None of studied petrochemical industries implemented RPP completely. This can lead to employees' overexposure to hazardous workplace air contaminants. Increasing awareness of employees and employers through training is suggested by this study to improve such conditions.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.291-299
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• 2019

The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) has regulated the definition and requirements of the exposure index (EI). In this study, we calculated the EI of several image receptors in digital radiography system of two different manufacturers according to the method as per IEC, and evaluated the relationship with incident air kerma. To calculate the EI, w e obtained the characteristics curve of each image receptor by increasing the incident air kerma at RQA 3, 5, 7 and 9, respectively. As a result, there was no significant difference in the EI values between different image receptors of the same manufacturer, but EI values of different manufacturer was different despite the same air kerma was incident. Therefore, understanding the characteristics of the digital radiography systems is important in order to use EI as a tool for measuring and managing the radiation dose.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.108-113
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• 2013

Objectives: Although several cases of lung diseases caused by indium have been reported in Japan, the United States and China, South Korea, which is estimated to have been the world's largest consumer of indium, has not yet established a criteria for the diagnosis of lung diseases caused by indium exposure. In this study, we tried to determine the applicability of the Krebs von den lungen-6, which has been widely recognized for its use with interstitial lung disease in Japan, as a biological exposure index for indium. Methods: Methods: The analysis of indium in serum was conducted by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and the analysis of KL-6 in serum was carried out using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit. Results: The indium levels in serum were distributed from below the detection limit to a peak of $125.78{\mu}g/L$, and the values of the KL-6 were distributed from 104.5 U/mL to 2162.2 U/mL. The serum indium and KL-6 showed good correlation ($R^2$=0.389,pfortrend=0.000) and smoking did not affect the KL-6. Conclusions: The usefulness of KL-6 as a specific biomarker for interstitial lung disease has been recognized. In addition, it is expected that effective prevention of health problems can be achieved by determining the lung-damage progress at an early stage according to individual susceptibility.