• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.150-155
• /
• 2014

The success of construction projects is heavily dependent on the work ability of the field managers who manage the execution of projects. The work ability of field managers is influenced by various elements such as job stress and individual characteristics. The purpose of this study is to reveal the factors influencing the work ability of construction field managers in Korea. Work ability is evaluated bases on the Work Ability Index(WAI) developed by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, while job stress is measured using the Korean Occupational Stress Questionnaire Short Form developed by the Korean Occupational Safety & Health Agency. The results showed that field managers under higher job stress have lower work abilities. In addition, it is revealed that exercise or religious practice have a positive influence on work ability. This study will help to increase the work ability and enable the efficient management of organization at building construction sites.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
• /
• v.17 no.2
• /
• pp.166-179
• /
• 2008

Purpose: This study was conducted to understand the situation of general hospital worker's health management and health promotion. Methods: To investigate the current situation of health management in the hospital, structured questionnaires were sent to 122 occupational health providers by post. About 79% hospitals returned questionnaires. The data were analyzed using descriptive analysis, ${\chi}^2$-test by SPSS 12.0 program. Results: A quarter hospitals responded set up separated health care office for workers, 87.5% provided health educations, and 56.5% operated health promotion projects. In the contents of health promotion program embraced both health behavior practice and disease prevention, musculoskeletal disease control, infection control, smoking cessation, and exercise program were most commonly provided to the workers in order. Occupational health care provider chose the item such as budget limitation, manager's apathy, lack of employee's participation, cooperation provider, and so on as the reason of difficulty to run health promotion program in the hospital setting. Conclusion: Hospital managers need to construct infra to manage and promote worker's health. For example, establishing Industrial safety and health committee in hospital and arranging nurses who being fully responsible to worker's health. And occupational health care provider should advertise health promotion projects both managers and workers actively.

• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• v.15 no.2
• /
• pp.213-219
• /
• 2024

Background: The design, implementation, and evaluation are three important stages of occupational safety and health (OSH) interventions. Historically, there has been a tendency to prioritize implementation, often neglecting detailed design and rigorous outcome evaluation. Currently, much has changed, and contemporary approaches recognize the interdependence of these stages, considering them integral to the success of any intervention. This work presents a comprehensive procedure for implementing interventions, not only to ensure short-term effectiveness but also their long-term sustainability through continuous monitoring. The focus is on a national OSH project introducing a near-miss management system (NMS) in Italy. Methods: Initial meetings were convened among project partners, complemented by interviews with diverse stakeholders, to plan implementation steps and test the NMS. Tailored questionnaires were designed for diverse stakeholder groups - initial promoters, company managers and employers, and employees - facilitating targeted implementation, and three case studies were started in Italian regions to assess the structured implementation, involving intervention promoters and collaborating companies. Results: The primary outcome is the development of practical tools, specifically three questionnaires, which are considered valuable for establishing an effective human-centered implementation strategy, meticulously designed to facilitate ongoing monitoring of processes and continual enhancement of instruments intended for NMS integration within companies. Conclusions: This work lays the foundation for successful NMS implementation in Italy and, although the outlined procedure had specific objectives, it also provides valuable insights applicable in enhancing the effectiveness and sustainability of interventions across diverse contexts. It underscores the importance of comprehensive planning, stakeholder engagement, and continuous evaluation in achieving lasting OSH interventions.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
• /
• v.21 no.4 s.76
• /
• pp.127-133
• /
• 2006

The major purpose of this paper to identify safety climate practices, and to find the affecting variables that influence to the difference in the level of safety climate between plants and employees. And this paper attempted to find the interventions for improving safety climate in the chemical plants. The questionnaires were developed from literature review, especially made by HSE(Health and Safety Executive) in the UK and distributed to managers and workers. The frequency analysis was applied for identifying the level of safety climate. The affecting variables(plant size, accident occurrence, accident experience, injury experience and severity, and length of employment) are tested through analysis of variance(ANOVA). The results of frequency analysis showed that both managers and workers recorded generally high level of safety climate, and the major underlying problems are inadequate H&S procedures/rules, pressure for production, and rule breaking. According to the outcomes of ANOVA, the variable 'length of employment' is the only variable which makes the level of safety climate different. From the survey of safety climate practice, this study finds the level of safety climate and three major underlying problems in safety climate factors of the responded plants, and presents two interventions for improving safety performance. Despite of these outcomes, the applied factors are remained questionable for reflecting as the best ones for identifying safety climate in the chemical industry. In addition, the bias caused by self-report exist in the reliability of the response, and the equivalent size of respondents.

• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• v.7 no.2
• /
• pp.130-137
• /
• 2016

At a brewery, the base plate-to-shell weld seam of a $90-m^3$ vertical cylindrical steel tank failed catastrophically. The 4 ton tank "took off" like a rocket leaving its contents behind, and landed on a van, crushing it. The top of the tank reached a height of 30 m. The internal overpressure responsible for the failure was an estimated 60 kPa. A rupture disc rated at < 50 kPa provided overpressure protection and thus prevented the tank from being covered by the European Pressure Equipment Directive. This safeguard failed and it was later discovered that the rupture disc had been installed upside down. The organizational root cause of this incident may be a fundamental lack of appreciation of the hazards of large volumes of low-pressure compressed air or gas. A contributing factor may be that the standard piping and instrumentation diagram (P&ID) symbol for a rupture disc may confuse and lead to incorrect installation. Compressed air systems are ubiquitous. The medium is not toxic or flammable. Such systems however, when operated at "slight overpressure" can store a great deal of energy and thus constitute a hazard that ought to be addressed by safety managers.

• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• v.10 no.2
• /
• pp.166-171
• /
• 2019

Objective: This study explored personal protective equipment (PPE) availability and PPE utilization among interventionalists in the catheterization laboratory, which is a highly contextualized workplace. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study using mixed methods. Participants (108) completed a survey. A hyperlink was sent to the participants, or they were asked to complete a paper-based survey. Purposively selected participants (54) were selected for individual (30) or group (six) interviews. The interviews were conducted at conferences, or appointments were made to see the participants. Logistic regression analysis was performed. The qualitative data were analyzed thematically. Results: Lead glasses were consistently used 10.2% and never used 61.1% of the time. All forms of PPE were inconsistently used by 92.6% of participants. Women were 4.3 times more likely to report that PPE was not available. PPE compliance was related to fit and availability. Conclusions: PPE use was inconsistent and not always available. Improving the culture of radiation protection in catheterization laboratories is essential to improve PPE compliance with the aim of protecting patients and operators. This culture of radiation protection must include all those involved including the users of PPE and the administrators and managers who are responsible for supplying sufficient, appropriate, fitting PPE for all workers requiring such protection.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
• /
• v.4
• /
• pp.48-57
• /
• 1995

The purpose of this study was to assess the performance of the role and function of some industrial nurses and to characterize the factors affecting the performance of their activities. Thus the results could be used to suggest the direction in the performance of industrials nurses' activities effectively. During a period from January 10 to March 31, 1994, the data were collected from 87 industrial nurses, who were working as health managers in the plants, in Ulsan city and the vicinity in Kyungnam province, using a structured questionnaire. The results were as follows : 1. The general characteristics of industrial nurses in this study were 82.8% being 30 years old or less, 60.9%, being not married, and 93.1% having eduction levels above junior college. 2. With respect to general work conditions, 94.3% were working in a separate room provided for health care division, 40.2% working under the safety and health department, and 98.9% working as common-level staffs. And 60.9% were working less than 44 hours a week, 70.1% had work experiences less than 5 years, and 50.6% had annual incomes ranging 10 to 14 million wons. 3. As work conditions related to health care activities, 49.4% performed the activities not related to health care as always or occasionally, and 87.4% answered that occupational physicians were appointed in their plant and among them, however, only 6.9% worked on full-time basis and 52.8% perform little activities as occupational physicians. For a decision related to health care activity, 69.0% discussed the problems with the supervisors, and 19.5% made decisions by themselves. 4. As for attitude and perception to their activities as health managers, 66.7% moderately recognized the importance of health manager in the workplace, with 63.2% being satisfied their wages and treatment from the company, 57.5% being satisfied with their job positions and 51.7% having positive attitudes as being health managers. 5. The degree of performance at least in one of health related activities were very high in activities such as general medical care(100%), general health examination(98.0%) and specific health examination(100%), and relatively high in health education(72%), new employee health examination(60.9%), document handling(79.3%) and activity for work environment(70.1%). However, the performance rate was very low in preparing protective equipment (20.8%). 6. The levels of activities related to health care were significantly high when making decisions by themselves, when occupational physicians not being full-time, and when satisfying their job positions, and, on the other hand, significantly decreased as work hours increased. 7. In addition to some kinds of periodic education asked by all of the nurses, 89.7% wanted a specialized licensing system for industrial nurse, and 97.4% wanted to apply for the license test. As a conclusion, it is suggested that industrial nurses should be given more authority and placed in more self-controlled system to perform health care and other activities more efficiently, and the role and function of the occupational physician should be clearly distinguished from that of the industrial nurse as a health manager to avoid an unnecessary overlapping.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
• /
• v.33 no.3
• /
• pp.379-389
• /
• 2019

Purpose: The study investigated the factors associated with compassion satisfaction of nurses in long-term care hospitals with a focus on the culture of patient safety. Methods: This study was conducted using a descriptive survey. The participants were nurses in 1 metropolitan city and 2 other cities (N=164). The data was collected in October, 2018 and analyzed using the SPSS Win 25.0 program. Results: The factors associated with compassion satisfaction were job satisfaction, work attitude, management practice, leadership of the managers of patient safety culture, and clinical career (F=21.66, p<.001). These variables explained 49.3% of the variance in compassion satisfaction of long-term care hospital nurses. Conclusion: These results highlight the importance of long-term care hospital nurses' compassion satisfaction and can be used as meaningful data for intervention to promote a culture of patient safety, and nurses' job satisfaction.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
• /
• v.11 no.1
• /
• pp.91-109
• /
• 2006

This study was conducted to find out factors affecting patient safety management activities at nursing devisions of two university hospitals. The indicators of patient safety activities used in the study were selected from Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture which was developed by The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in the United States. Data were collected from 372 nurses working at inpatient wards at two university hospitals located in Seoul and Won-Ju cities through the self-administered questionnaires, and analyzed using frequency analysis, t-test, correlation, and regression analysis. The result of this study were as follows. First, The mean of patient safety management activities was 3.41 which was a little bit higher than the average level. The mean of communication within the ward was the highest, whereas that of patient safety management culture was the lowest. Second, there were significant differences in the perception of nurses on patient safety management activities in terms of the educational background, length of employment, and work hours per week. Third, three variables of communication within the unit, attitude of top management, and attitude of nurses have significant positive effects on patient safety management activities. Fourth, 37.4% of the variation in the patient safety management activities was explained by the study variables. In conclusion, hospital administration and nursing managers should make an effort to learn the knowledge of patient safety program, show their deep interest on the patient safety to the employees and motivate them to communicate effectively each other within the work unit to develop a good patient safety culture and system.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
• /
• v.23 no.5
• /
• pp.639-650
• /
• 2023

In this research endeavor, we engaged with 70 construction safety specialists from established construction firms through surveys and interviews. The primary aim was to dissect and understand the weight and ramifications of specific cost items within the Occupational Safety and Health Management Funds(OSHMF) and Safety Management Expenses(SME). From our analysis, salient insights emerged. Within the realm of OSHMF, the cost items associated with safety facilities and the remunerations of safety managers were identified as paramount. It was observed that there are marked variations in the perceived significance and repercussions associated with diverse cost items of OSHMF. In stark contrast, when assessing the SME, the nuances in perceived weight and consequences of individual cost items were relatively muted, suggesting a more uniform viewpoint among the experts. Furthermore, our research probed the interrelationship between the significance and repercussions within OSHMF and SME domains. Notably, OSHMF manifested a positive linear relationship, suggesting that cost items of higher importance invariably had a more pronounced effect. On the other hand, the SME showcased a more subtle association, hinting at intricate underlying dynamics. The outcomes of this investigation are poised to offer instrumental guidance for enhancing safety protocols and diminishing accident occurrences in domestic construction undertakings.