• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.371-377
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• 2017

Background: Social status might be a determinant of occupational health inequalities. This study analyzed the effects of social status on both work environments and health outcomes. Methods: The study sample consisted of 27,598 wage employees aged 15 years and older from among the Korean Working Condition Survey participants in 2011. Work environments included atypical work, physical risks, ergonomic risks, work demands, work autonomy, social supports, and job rewards. Health outcomes comprised general health, health and safety at risk because of work, the World Health Organization-5 Well-being Index, work-related musculoskeletal disease, and work-related injury. Multivariable logistic-regression models were used to identify the associations between social status and work environments and health outcomes. Results: Employees in the demographically vulnerable group had lower occupational status compared with their counterparts. Low social status was largely related to adverse work environments. Especially, precarious employment and manual labor occupation were associated with both adverse work environments and poor health outcomes. Conclusion: Precarious and manual workers should take precedence in occupational health equity policies and interventions. Their cumulative vulnerability, which is connected to demographics, occupational status, adverse work environments, or poor health outcomes, can be improved through a multilevel approach such as labor market, organizations, and individual goals.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.260-264
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• 2019

Background: Professional dance is a physically demanding career path with a high injury prevalence, yet an ingrained culture of hiding or pushing through injuries. Developing better knowledge surrounding the cultural beliefs and behaviors related to injury reporting is critical to understand their incidence and burden. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate injury fear and injury reporting behaviors in professional dancers in Australia. Methods: This study utilized data collected in a cross-sectional survey of professional dancers in Australia. Descriptive analysis of injury fear and reporting stigma are presented with comparisons between subgroups (full-time versus part-time dancers; men versus women) conducted using two-sided Fisher's exact tests. Results: A total of 146 professional dancers were included. Over half (63%) of the respondents reported that they fear sustaining a dance-related injury, that they believe there is still a stigma surrounding injuries in dance (62%), and that this stigma has led to a delay in reporting or seeking care for an injury (51%). A lower proportion of part-time than full-time dancers reported that they would usually tell someone within their dance employment about an injury (35.1% vs. 59.6%, p = 0.006). Conclusion: Professional dancers are at risk of losing contracts or roles if they are injured, and therefore, it is common to dance through their occurrence. Many dancers, particularly those dancing part-time, are unwilling to tell their employers about their injuries. Action is required to improve this culture regarding injury reporting and help seeking for more effective injury understanding, prevention, and management in dance.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.847-854
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• 2016

Background and Objective: The Korean agricultural population is now rapidly aging. Older people in rural areas are weak due to work-related musculoskeletal disorders. The aim of this case is to report treatment of injuries to the nerves at the wrist and hand level by Korean medicine. Methods: The patient in this case was a 74-year-old male. He had injured nerves at the right wrist and hand level due to agriculture work. We treated him with acupuncture, herbal medicine, etc. Results: The patient showed the first sign of recovery of his wrist after 13 days treatment. After 37 days of treatment, his wrist movement was restored to a nearly normal range. He showed the first sign of recovery in a finger after 19 days of treatment and his grasping power increased from 0% to 60%. The cold sensation in his hand and arm also disappeared. Conclusions: We cannot generalize based only on this one case study. Nevertheless, this report suggests that Korean medicine may be an effective treatment for injury of nerves at the wrist and hand level.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.527-535
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• 2015

This study was conducted to compare and analyse work-related injuries, physical and mental health status of nurses according to working environment. The subjects were 192 nurses working at a university hospital in Seoul. After analyzing each categories of health status by working environment and work-related injuries, meaningful differences were found physical and mental health status. And shift work was significantly related to work-related injuries compared to non-shift work. In addition, it was confirmed that nurses have negative influences from night work in physical and mental health compared to other work pattern. Thus, it would be necessary to improve working system with considering their health problems caused by working environment and work-related injuries. And we will have to be a study for effective night work and additional support for night workers.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.78-84
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• 2023

Background: Since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, physicians have been the unsung heroes of the pandemic. However, many are about to give up the battlefield. This study investigated the effect of occupational moral injury on physicians' career abandonment intention, taking into account the possible mediating role of emotional exhaustion. Methods: Cross-sectional data collected from 201 physicians were analyzed using the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS to determine the relationship among physicians' moral injuries, emotional exhaustion, and career abandonment intention. Results: The results indicated that occupational moral injury was positively related to emotional exhaustion and career abandonment intention. In addition, emotional exhaustion was found to play a mediating role in the relationship. Conclusion: To reduce physicians' intention to leave their career, physicians should be prepared for moral injury and psychological issues by offering psychological support and meeting their needs early at both the individual and organizational levels during and after the pandemic.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.53-64
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• 2004

Repetition Strain Injury (RSI) is usually caused or aggravated by poor work processes and unsuitable working conditions - that involve repetitive or forceful movements or the maintenance of constrained or awkward postures. The condition is characterized by discomfort and persistent pain. There are three essential steps to eliminate or control hazards In workplace. Case and Demographic Characteristics for Work-related Injuries and illnesses Involving Days Away From Work, 2002. U.S' was examined. Causes of press operators' RSI were carpal tunnel syndrome(CTS), tendonitis, low back pain, and occupational stress. Recommendations for improvement of productivity are redesign of working conditions, exercise, prevent of RSI and avoiding stress.

• Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
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• v.34
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• pp.25.1-25.11
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• 2022

Background: Many studies have been conducted on presenteeism and absenteeism, but the relationship between presenteeism and absenteeism is unclear. This study was undertaken to investigate the effect of presenteeism on future absenteeism. Methods: This study was conducted on non-white collar workers that underwent general health examinations in 2014 and 2015. We asked subjects to fill out a questionnaire about their experiences of presenteeism for the past one year in 2014. In 2015, it was checked whether the same subjects had any experience of absence from work due to injury or disease during the past year. The χ² test was used to analyze relationships between sociodemographic and occupational characteristics, presenteeism, and absence. Odds ratios (ORs) were calculated by logistic regression analysis controlled for confounding factors. Results: A total of 12,572 workers were included in the study. For workers who experienced presenteeism, the OR for injury absence was 2.705 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.044-3.581), and the OR for disease absence was 4.906 (95% CI: 3.996-6.024) after adjusting for sociodemographic and occupational confounding factors. For men that experienced presenteeism, the OR for injury absence was 3.035 (95% CI: 2.258-4.081), and the OR for disease absence was 5.508 (95% CI: 4.340-6.989). For women that experienced presenteeism, the OR for injury absence was 1.322 (95% CI: 0.577-3.028), which was not significant, and the OR for disease absence was 3.629 (95% CI: 2.405-5.475). Conclusions: This study suggests that presenteeism can influence future absenteeism. The effect of presenteeism may depend on cause of absence. Men who experienced presenteeism showed greater effects on injury and disease absence than women. For women, experience of presenteeism had a significant effect on disease absence but not on injury absence.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.200-207
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• 2024

Background: Workers are often exposed to hazardous heat due to their work environment, leading to various injuries. As a result of climate change, heat-related injuries (HRIs) are becoming more problematic. This study aims to identify critical contributing factors to the severity of occupational HRIs. Methods: This study analyzed historical injury reports from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Contributing factors to the severity of HRIs were identified using text mining and model-free machine learning methods. The Multinomial Logit Model (MNL) was applied to explore the relationship between impact factors and the severity of HRIs. Results: The results indicated a higher risk of fatal HRIs among middle-aged, older, and male workers, particularly in the construction, service, manufacturing, and agriculture industries. In addition, a higher heat index, collapses, heart attacks, and fall accidents increased the severity of HRIs, while symptoms such as dehydration, dizziness, cramps, faintness, and vomiting reduced the likelihood of fatal HRIs. Conclusions: The severity of HRIs was significantly influenced by factors like workers' age, gender, industry type, heat index , symptoms, and secondary injuries. The findings underscore the need for tailored preventive strategies and training across different worker groups to mitigate HRIs risks.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.485-490
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• 2020

Background: Meniscal tears are among the major risk factors for knee osteoarthritis progression. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between meniscal tears and work-related factors in the farming occupation. Methods: The participants included 486 farmers (238 men and 248 women), aged 40-69 years, who were among the 550 farmers registered in the Korea Farmer's Knee Cohort (KFKC). Data such as those on gender, age, body mass index (BMI), mechanical axis, cumulative heavy-lifting working time (CLWT), cumulative squatting working time (CSWT), and previous knee injury history were collected from the questionnaire, along with whole leg radiographic findings. Two radiologists assessed the magnetic resonance images of both knees to confirm the presence of meniscal tears. The factors related to meniscal tears were analyzed by multiple logistic regression. Results: A total of 54.5% of the farmers (48.7% of men and 60.1% of women) had meniscal tears. These tears were associated with gender, age, and BMI. We also identified an association between meniscal tears and CSWT, an especially important factor in farming [10,000-19,999 working hours, odds ratio = 2.16, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.14-4.07, ≥20,000 working hours, odds ratio = 2.35, 1.45-3.80]. However, mechanical axis, knee injury history, and CLWT were not significantly related to meniscal tears. Conclusion: This study's findings show that squatting for long periods, as an occupational factor, is related to meniscal tears.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.68 no.4
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• pp.97-118
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• 2016

The primary goal of this study was to investigate factors affecting job satisfaction of injured workers who returned to work. There are two types of injured workers' returning to work returning to pre-injury job and getting a new job. After separating the two types of workers we conducted the multiple regression analysis on the data from the Workers'Compensation Insurance Panel of the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service Corporation(2014). The sample consisted of 1,333 occupationally injured workers who were finished with medical treatment(693 workers returned to previous work place, and 640 workers found new work places). Main results are as follows. First, injured workers who got new jobs were vulnerable to sustainability to job, work status, average monthly wage as well as job satisfaction compared with injured workers who returned to pre-injury job. Second, gender, educational level, skill fitness, average monthly wage, welfare benefits, family income/leisure life/residential environment/social relation satisfaction, and maintenance of relation with business owner during medical care were related to job satisfaction of injured workers who returned to pre-injury job. Third, gender, work status, skill fitness, continuous work possibility, average monthly wage, family income/leisure life/social relation satisfaction, substitute worker for assigned task during medical care and maintenance of relation with business owner during medical care affected on job satisfaction of injured workers who got new jobs. Based on these findings implications for policy and interventions were discussed in regards to job satisfaction of injured workers.