• Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
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• v.35
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• pp.26.1-26.15
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• 2023

Background: The objective of this study is to investigate the differences in incidence rates of targeted diseases by classification of occupations among construction workers in Korea. Methods: In a subject-based cohort of the Korean Construction Worker's Cohort, we surveyed a total of 1,027 construction workers. As occupational exposure, the classification of occupations was developed using two axes: construction business and job type. To analyze disease incidence, we linked survey data with National Health Insurance Service data. Eleven target disease categories with high prevalence or estimated work-relatedness among construction workers were evaluated in our study. The average incidence rates were calculated as cases per 1,000 person-years (PY). Results: Injury, poisoning, and certain other consequences of external causes had the highest incidence rate of 344.08 per 1,000 PY, followed by disease of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissue for 208.64 and diseases of the skin and subcutaneous tissue for 197.87 in our cohort. We especially found that chronic obstructive pulmonary disease was more common in construction painters, civil engineering welders, and civil engineering frame mold carpenters, asthma in construction painters, landscape, and construction water proofers, interstitial lung diseases in construction water proofers. Conclusions: This is the first study to systematically classify complex construction occupations in order to analyze occupational diseases in Korean construction workers. There were differences in disease incidences among construction workers based on the classification of occupations. It is necessary to develop customized occupational safety and health policies for high-risk occupations for each disease in the construction industry.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
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• 2021.05a
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• pp.30-31
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• 2021

The construction industry is an industry in which skilled construction workers should be secured and trained because of the quality and productivity of buildings, but the negative image makes it difficult to supply and demand skilled construction workers. In response, this study derived the factors influencing the intention of transferring construction workers to other occupations and investigated ways to improve the prevention of leaving other occupations by age of construction workers. The factors influencing the turnover of construction workers have also been derived, and work overload, salary, workplace stability, and employment competitiveness have a significant impact on the intention of new employees to change jobs. According to a survey on ways to improve the prevention of leaving other jobs, those in their 20s and 30s are "improving working conditions, such as providing holidays, paying overtime, compliance with working hours," and those in their 50s and 60s.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2022.06a
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• pp.492-499
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• 2022

A large number of employees shifted to Work from home (WFH) due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the construction workforce. The changes in workload and productivity due to WFH impact the work performance and economic outputs of companies. However, there are mixed results about the impacts of WFH on workload and productivity. In particular, limited studies focused on specific types of work of different occupations in the construction workforce. This study aims to explore the impacts of WFH on workload and productivity considering different types of work for the construction workforce in the U.S. After identifying three main occupations and five types of work, an online survey (N = 69) was distributed. Descriptive analysis showed that participants had less workload (0.82 hours/week) and lower productivity (9.69%) during WFH. Three occupations had varied changes due to the different types of work. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) indicated that there was no significant difference in workload, while productivity was decreased during WFH. In particular, the productivity of project-related work and communication and documentation decreased significantly. Overall, participants finished 2.85% less workload per week during WFH. The findings provide an insight into WFH in the construction workforce, which improves future remote or hybrid work arrangements in the construction industry.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.317-331
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• 2023

Objectives: Construction workers are exposed to various hazardous substances simultaneously. However, little is known about the exposure hazards in construction industry. This study was aimed at identifying the risk of exposure hazards among construction workers. Methods: The expert survey (n=29) was conducted, including construction industry health managers (n=11) and work environment monitoring experts (n=18), on exposure probability, intensity and risk of hazardous substances by construction occupations Results: The exposure hazards of 30 construction occupations were identified and summarized through a literature review and expert survey. The most prevalent hazards were in order of noise, awkward posture, heat/cold, crystalline silica, cement/concrete dust, metal fumes, and volatile organic compounds. The hazards with highest risk score(over seven points) at construction occupations were noise(formwork carpenter, concrete finisher, rebar worker, demolition worker, driller/rock blaster), hazardous rays(welder), heat/cold (earthworks, formwork carpenter, rebar worker, concrete placer, scaffolder), awkward posture(bricklayer, caulker/tile setter, rebar worker) and heavy lifting(bricklayer, rebar worker). Among construction workers, the job types with the highest risk of exposure to carcinogens, and in which occupational cancer has been reported, were in order of stonemason, concrete finisher, rock blaster, welder, insulation installer, painter, scaffolder, plant worker and earthworks in order Conclusions: Systematic research and discussion on occupational disease among construction workers and its various hazardous factors are needed to establish job exposure matrix for facilitating standard for promptly processing the workers' compensation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
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• 2018.05a
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• pp.300-301
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• 2018

Construction industry is the biggest employer as a single sector, however, that needs better job quality and working conditions due to problems such as lack of job stability, aging worker, late disbursement of wages, and so on. In order to deal with fundamental issues of construction skilled worker's wages, this paper performs comparing the wage system of the construction industry in South Korea and the United States, and analyzes the characteristics about wage structure and determination. As a result of this study about U.S. case, it requires all stakeholder's exertions through technical competitiveness and management ability, not price war by reducing laborer's wages.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.35-42
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• 2007

This paper develops a Sustainable Regional Economic Growth Model (SREG) which estimates the relation of labor population change and employment increase in each occupation and maximum limits and minimum requirements of employment increase by labor population change in a specified region using multiplier theory. To develop the proposed model, sustainable regional economic growth is defined as a steady increase of labor population over a long term period and the limit of employment increase is defined as the estimated labor population change in the region with no need for commutation from the surrounded areas. Developed model was applied to 67 county in Pennsylvania State and the results revealed that the investment in infrastructure occupations, such as transportation, warehousing, utilities, information, communication, and other public utilities, maximizes the effects for increasing employment, whereas finance, insurance, and real estate occupations have minimum effects for increasing employment. Calculated minimum requirements of occupations show that infra-structure occupations is a critical factor for labor population change and maximum limits of occupations show that agriculture and finance occupations are difficult to increase independently.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2020

Background: As the impact of climate change intensifies, exposure to heat stress will grow, leading to a loss of work capacity for vulnerable occupations and affecting individual labor decisions. This study estimates the future work capacity under the Representative Concentration Pathways 8.5 scenario and discusses its regional impacts on the occupational structure in the Republic of Korea. Methods: The data utilized for this study constitute the local wet bulb globe temperature from the Korea Meteorological Administration and information from the Korean Working Condition Survey from the Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute of Korea. Using these data, we classify the occupations vulnerable to heat stress and estimate future changes in work capacity at the local scale, considering the occupational structure. We then identify the spatial cluster of diminishing work capacity using exploratory spatial data analysis. Results: Our findings indicate that 52 occupations are at risk of heat stress, including machine operators and elementary laborers working in the construction, welding, metal, and mining industries. Moreover, spatial clusters with diminished work capacity appear in southwest Korea. Conclusion: Although previous studies investigated the work capacity associated with heat stress in terms of climatic impact, this study quantifies the local impacts due to the global risk of climate change. The results suggest the need for mainstreaming an adaptation policy related to work capacity in regional development strategies.

• International Journal of Safety
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.23-26
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• 2005

In spite of the rapid economic growth in Korea, safety cultures in construction industry have not much improved during last ten years. When it is compared to other developed countries of safety, accident rate of Korean construction sites shows bleak figures. This study compares the safety figures of Korea with the UK figures in order to find out what is needed for the safety of the construction sites in Korea. By comparing occupations, age groups, kind of accident, and agent, this study found several differences and similarities, and derived the directions for better safety management.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.165-172
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• 2020

Background: To gain a better understanding of nonfatal injuries in Alaska, underutilized data sources such as workers' compensation claims must be analyzed. The purpose of the current study was to utilize workers' compensation claims data to estimate the risk of nonfatal, work-related injuries among occupations in Alaska, characterize injury patterns, and prioritize future research. Methods: A dataset with information on all submitted claims during 2014-2015 was provided for analysis. Claims were manually reviewed and coded. For inclusion in this study, claims had to represent incidents that resulted in a nonfatal acute traumatic injury, occurred in Alaska during 2014-2015, and were approved for compensation. Results: Construction workers had the highest number of injuries (2,220), but a rate lower than the overall rate (34 per 1,000 construction workers, compared to 40 per 1,000 workers overall). Fire fighters had the highest rate of injuries on the job, with 162 injuries per 1,000 workers, followed by law enforcement officers with 121 injuries per 1,000 workers. The most common types of injuries across all occupations were sprains/strains/tears, contusions, and lacerations. Conclusion: The successful use of Alaska workers' compensation data demonstrates that the information provided in the claims dataset is meaningful for epidemiologic research. The predominance of sprains, strains, and tears among all occupations in Alaska indicates that ergonomic interventions to prevent overexertion are needed. These findings will be used to promote and guide future injury prevention research and interventions.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.108-120
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• 1996

It is a problems in industrial accidents that the knowledge for industrial accidents is obtained by experience, not by experiment. This experiential knowledge is obtained by Investigating accident cases and utilizing those for safety education. Therefore, in this paper, the situation about the serious accident of construction is analyzed by occupation, a kind of construction, time group, season, type of accident, and accidental cause. And the mutual · relations of these factors are studied. The most frequent type of the serious accidents of construction Is the falling accident. It happenes most frequently at apartment construction among kinds of construction and to structural worker, finishing worker, normal worker in order among occupations. And it is found that the most critical causes of the falling accident are the imperfection of safety facilities and unwearing of protection equipments, so a number of accidents can be reduced by the expansion of safety facilities and wearing of protection equipments absolutely. The counterplan of prohibition of accidents and the direction of government policy are presented by a series of nalyses for accident cases.