• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.141-147
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• 2022

Background: On the basis of its role for the development of occupational health research, information, good practices, the International Commission on Occupational Health (ICOH) launched the present survey to collect information on public health and prevention policies put in place by the governments of the countries in the world to contain the pandemic. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted through an online questionnaire focused on COVID-19 data, public health policies, prevention measures, support measures for economy, work, and education, personal protective equipment, intensive care units, contact tracing, return to work, and the role of ICOH against COVID-19. The questionnaire was administered to 113 ICOH National Secretaries and senior OSH experts. Collected data refer to the period ranging from the beginning of the pandemic in each country to June 30, 2020. Results: A total of 73 questionnaires from 73 countries around the world were considered valid, with a 64.6% response rate. Most of the respondents (71.2%) reported that the state of emergency was declared in their country, and 86.1% reported lockdown measures. Most of the respondents (66.7%) affirmed that the use of face masks was compulsory in their country. As for containment measures, 97.2% indicated that mass gatherings (meetings) were limited. Regarding workplace closing, the most affected sector was entertainment (90.1%). Conclusion: The results of this survey are useful to gain a global view on COVID-19 policy responses at country level.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.14-37
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• 2014

Objectives: Since information on biological factors in the workplace are currently lacking, I wanted to create a handbook of these factors that would be viewable at a glance as a means to more effectively prevent occupationally-infected diseases. Proper information on biological hazards in the workplace allowing the appropriate recognition of the harmful factors is desperately needed. Methods and Results: In this study, I intended to create a high-utility handbook of biologically hazardous agents in the workplace. To ensure its effectiveness, information and references about biologically hazardous agents in the workplace were analyzed and classified and pathogen safety data sheets(PSDS) sourced from the Public Health Agency of Canada were included. I intended to make it accessible from the point of view of workers and their employers. A more effective classification system of occupational infectious diseases is presented, and biologically hazardous agents were classified according to occupations, industries, infectious diseases, and so on. The handbook consists of 60 major kinds of biologically infectious occupational factors that are expected to be generated in workplaces in Korea, and are focused on practical utility. The pathogen safety data sheets(PSDS) of 192 species were also included. To allow more effective management, domestic and foreign laws and regulations are presented. Conclusions: This case report presents general information on the history and contents of the handbook and PSDS, it will also be useful in workplaces if download from the homepage of OSHRI, KOSHA(oshri.kosha.or.kr/bridge?menuID=901).

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.198-205
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• 2001

Many reactive dyes have been used in occupational settings without knowing their toxicity and health hazard information. To investigate the toxicity of reactive dye, C.I.No. Reactive Red 195 was exposed to male and female Sprague Dawley rats by inhalation for 28 days. The rats were exposed C.I.No. Reactive Red 195 for 6 hrs per day and 5days per week. The concentrations for the inhalation exposure were 0, 10, 40 and $160mg/m^3$. After 4 weeks of exposure, rats were examined for exposure related changes through pathology, blood biochemistry and hematology. There were no dose related changes including clinical signs, body weight and relative organ weight changes, hematological and biochemical and histopathological findings. The results indicate that no observed adverse effect level (NOAEL) of 28 days inhalatrion toxicity test for C.I.No. Reactive Red 195 was $160mg/m^3$.

• Journal of the Korean Regional Science Association
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.107-121
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• 1990

The structural change of occupational composition with the coming of post-industrial society is most evidently observed in the developed country. Specially representative of social changes is the emergence of new occupational sectors, such as the so-called quaternary and quinary sectors, which are based on the use of information technology and managerial skills. The paper raises the question of how and in what this chage of occupational components in a mtro area affects the existing residential structure over the period. In order to extend the discussion of the question, the related hypothetical statements on urban spatial impact due to transformation of the society have xtnsively considered and identified a possible multicenter structure concentration and deconcentration of new jobs and population over the metro area. For further examination, the renowned high tech city of Minneaplis -St. Paul has been selected and the occupational labour forces data for 1960 and 1980 analyzed. As a whole, this area has experienced a dispersal and reconcentration of population in new patterns which have resulted from changes in the occupational structure. In particular, the residential area of white-coller workers(the quaternary / quinary or information workers) has expanded into the city from a suburban core area. In this process, a large proportion of the manual-worker's residential areas in the central city either disappeared or diminished. Consequently, other isolated centers created by the manualworker residents are emerging in both the central city and suburbs. Thus, the development of mulitple centers or cores based on the distribution of occupational characteristics can be considered as a typical ongoing pattern of metro areas in the Unite States.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.18-31
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• 2016

Background: A job-specific Worker's Health Surveillance (WHS) for hospital physicians is a preventive occupational health strategy aiming at early detection of their diminished work-related health in order to improve or maintain physician's health and quality of care. This study addresses what steps should be taken to determine the content of a job-specific WHS for hospital physicians and outlines that content. Methods: Based on four questions, decision trees were developed for physical and psychological job demands and for biological, chemical, and physical exposures to decide whether or not to include work-related health effects related to occupational exposures or aspects of health reflecting insufficient job requirements. Information was gathered locally through self-reporting and systematic observations at the workplace and from evidence in international publications. Results: Information from the decision trees on the prevalence and impact of the health- or work-functioning effect led to inclusion of occupational exposures (e.g., biological agents, emotionally demanding situations), job requirements (e.g., sufficient vision, judging ability), or health effects (e.g., depressive symptoms, neck complaints). Additionally, following the Dutch guideline for occupational physicians and based on specific job demands, screening for cardiovascular diseases, work ability, drug use, and alcohol consumption was included. Targeted interventions were selected when a health or work functioning problem existed and were chosen based on evidence for effectiveness. Conclusion: The process of developing a job-specific WHS for hospital physicians was described and the content presented, which might serve as an example for other jobs. Before implementation, it must first be tested for feasibility and acceptability.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.193-197
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• 2020

The purpose of this study is to investigate the occupational stress of physical therapists. A total of 302 physical therapists participated in this study. All participants were responded to a Korean Occupational Stress Scale-short form to investigate occupational stress. We compared the occupational stress of physical therapists according to the gender, employee type, medical facility, and the department. Occupational stress showed a significant difference only in gender. Overall, the physical therapist showed low occupational stress in this study. However, among the 7 items on the Korean Occupational Stress Scale-short form, the 'Job demand' item score was higher than other items. This study suggests that the hospital administrator needs to provide proper job demand and environment considering the level of the physical therapists in order to effective occupational stress management.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.37-47
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• 2023

Purpose : This study aimed to identify factors that influence selection of occupational therapy as a college major by freshmen. Methods : A survey was conducted on 308 freshmen majoring in occupational therapy from March 2022 to September 2022. The questionnaire consisted of five items about general characteristics, two about the choice of college and major, three about the timing of major selection, three about information acquisition, and one about the university application process. Results : While choosing a university, 37% of the students primarily considered the available choice of majors, whereas 41% considered the college application period. Employment rate was another important factor that was considered when choosing a department. Most students learned about occupational therapy through research on physical therapy and primarily gathered information by searching on "Naver and blogs." Among the descriptions of occupational therapy, the most interesting keyword was "hospital" (54 %). Conclusion : This study investigated the factors that influenced the college major selection by new students in the department of occupational therapy. This study provides meaningful basic data that can be referred to when promoting the department of occupational therapy. A limitation of this study is that a high percentage of students from Gyeongnam were included, and hence, further research that investigates according to region is needed. Moreover, detailed investigations on factors related to university applications in each region are required. It is also necessary to investigate the relationship between the characteristics of freshmen and the determining factors of the department and the admission process.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.518-526
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• 2010

There are millions of deaths from cancer worldwide every year. Among them, 4~10% are considered to be attributable to occupational factors and 0.6 million workers die annually from work-related cancers. Occupational cancers are relatively preventable compared with the cancers associated with other factors. In the developed countries, especially in Europe, there have been hundreds of occupational cancers reported annually in the respective nation-states. However, there were only 35 cases reported in Korea in the 1990s which were accepted as being work-related cancers. This difference might be related to a low level of recognition, detection, and acceptance of occupational cancer and carcinogens in Korea. To prevent the risk of exposure to carcinogens a comprehensive list of carcinogens must be prepared. This should be followed by timely dissemination of information which will enable fundamental controls to be implemented, such as the imposition of ban, substitution, and engineering controls. This will require setting up procedures to record the past use and exposure data and carrying out robust statistical analyses of that data on occupational cancers and carcinogens.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.172-184
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• 2011

Purpose: The aim of this study is to identify the characteristics of occupational accidents by work type among municipal sanitation workers. Methods: The original data of occupational accidents in 2009 by Korea Occupational Safety & Health Agency were analyzed by frequency and percentage using the SAS Version 9.1. Results: The types of occupational accident were as follows: slips and trips, falls, musculoskeletal disorders, traffic accident, collision, amputation, cut & puncture, crush injuries, strenuous movement and drop/fly. Slips and trips occurred most frequently in domestic waste collection and street sweeping. The traffic accident showed the highest incidence in food waste collection. Falls occurred most frequently in recycling waste collection. Musculoskeletal disorders showed the highest incidence in large waste collection. Conclusion: Depending on the work type, types of occupational accident were different. The results of this study can provide the information for the development of the occupational accident prevention programs of municipal sanitation workers.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.77-88
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• 2016

Purpose : The purpose of this study was to explore an effect exerted to non-affected hand and affected hand of patients by performing training of chopsticks and grasp strength that are helpful to dexterity and grasp strength of hand together with training method of joint exercise, muscle strength build-up training, delicate hand function training. Method : By targeting 30 normal adult male/females engaged in K university, Busan for one month on April, 2015, 10 persons of hand function build-up training group, that of dexterity training group and 10 persons of control group were randomly selected. For hand function build-up training group, chopsticks training in parallel with total 20 times of grasp strength training for 4 weeks including 5 minutes of dominant hand grasp strength training, 5 minutes of non-dominant hand grasp strength training, 15 minutes of chopsticks training was performed based on 25 minutes/one time, 5 times a week. Result : First, In a comparison of dexterity of both hands by each group depending on training period, hand function build-up group and dexterity training group were represented to be effective compared with control group. Secondly, In a comparison of manipulatory ability of both hands by each group depending on training period, hand function build-up group and dexterity training group were represented to be effective compared with control group. Conclusion : It is considered that diversified and broad research covering patients with musculoskeletal disease and nervous system-related disease would be performed by securing far more test subjects after comparing a correlation between dexterity training and hand function training.