• 대한안전경영과학회지
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• 제11권2호
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• pp.19-26
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• 2009

This study was designed to analyse the performance and the mechanisms of workers' participation and communications in industrial accident prevention activities leading to the reduction of industrial accidents. This study also aimed to find out the causal relationship influencing the promotion of prevention activities of industrial accidents. Of the manufacturing businesses with more than 5 workers as the population of the survey, a questionnaire was conducted with 2,500 workspaces chosen by stratified sampling. Out of 2500 workspaces, 971 workspaces equipped with industrial safety and health committee were analysed in this study. According to the results of this study, the primary influential factors on safety activities were the management of industrial accidents and the cooperations between supervisors and workers on site. The secondary influential factor was the establishment of industrial safety and health committee. Regarding the effectiveness of industrial accident reduction, -0.01 was shown by workplace safety activities by themselves and -0.09 was shown by participation and communications through indirect safety activities. This indicated workers' participation and communications play an important role in the reduction of industrial accidents. By discovering the clue to the mechanism of the workers' participation and communications, this study is expected to stimulate the reduction of industrial accidents by emphasizing the importance of workers' participation and communications in resolving the safety and health problem in the workplaces.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• 제2권2호
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• pp.148-157
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• 2011

Objectives: Although compensation for occupational injuries and diseases is guaranteed in almost all nations, countries vary greatly with respect to how they organize workers' compensation systems. In this paper, we focus on three aspects of workers' compensation insurance in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries - types of systems, employers' funding mechanisms, and coverage for injured workers - and their impacts on the actual frequencies of occupational injuries and diseases. Methods: We estimated a panel data fixed effect model with cross-country OECD and International Labor Organization data. We controlled for country fixed effects, relevant aggregate variables, and dummy variables representing the occupational accidents data source. Results: First, the use of a private insurance system is found to lower the occupational accidents. Second, the use of risk-based pricing for the payment of employer raises the occupational injuries and diseases. Finally, the wider the coverage of injured workers is, the less frequent the workplace accidents are. Conclusion: Private insurance system, fixed flat rate employers' funding mechanism, and higher coverage of compensation scheme are significantly and positively correlated with lower level of occupational accidents compared with the public insurance system, risk-based funding system, and lower coverage of compensation scheme.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• 제10권3호
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• pp.347-354
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• 2019

Background: The aim of this study was to describe the types of diseases that developed in semiconductor workers who have registered with the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service (KWCWS) and to identify potential common occupational characteristics by the type of claimed disease. Methods: A total of 55 semiconductor workers with cancer or rare diseases who claimed to the KWCWS were compared based on their work characteristics and types of claimed diseases. Leukemia, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and aplastic anemia were grouped into lymphohematopoietic (LHP) disorder. Results: Leukemia (n = 14) and breast cancer (n = 10) were the most common complaints, followed by brain cancer (n = 6), aplastic anemia (n = 6), and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (n = 4). LHP disorders (n = 24) accounted for 43%. Sixty percent (n = 33) of registered workers (n = 55) were found to have been employed before 2000. Seventy-six percent (n = 42) of registered workers and 79% (n = 19) among the registered workers with LHP (n = 24) were found to be diagnosed at a relatively young age, ${\leq}40years$. A total of 18 workers among the registered semiconductor workers were finally determined to deserve compensation for occupational disease by either the KWCWS (n = 10) or the administrative court (n = 8). Eleven fabrication workers who were compensated responded as having handled wafers smaller than eight inches in size. Eight among the 18 workers compensated (44 %) were found to have ever worked at etching operations. Conclusion: The distribution of cancer and rare diseases among registered semiconductor workers was closely related to the manufacturing era before 2005, ${\leq}8$ inches of wafer size handled, exposure to clean rooms of fabrication and chip assembly operations, and etching operations.

• 한국직업건강간호학회지
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• 제15권2호
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• pp.144-152
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• 2006

Purpose: This study was conducted to understand the effects of daily hassle stress on the psycho-social health of male workers in manufacturing industry. Methods: Daily hassle stress and psycho-social health in manufacturing industry workers were estimated by using the Daily Hassles Scale for Korea Workers (DHS-KW) and general health questionnaire (GHQ), respectively. Results: The subjects were 553 male workers who had never been occupationally exposed to hazardous chemicals, were mean age 39.6 years and mean work duration was 15.66 years. DHS-KW total mean score had significantly higher in young ages (twenties and thirties ages), office workers, managers and daytime workers than other groups. GHQ total mean scores were significantly higher in un-married, daytime and overtime workers than others. DHS-KW and GHQ score correlated that they were negative correlation with age and working years, but was positive correlation with working hours and overtime work. The significant correlation between DHS-KW and GHQ were observed almost variables of DHS-KW and GHQ except a domestic and daily problem in DHS-KW variables. Domestic and daily problems were only significantly correlated with anxiety and insomnia of GHQ variables. Conclusion: This study indicated that physical health was associated with work condition and psychsocial health was mainly associated with domestic and daily problems of DHS-KW variables. Thus, the study on Daily Hassles stress and related with work stress should be further investigated for the comprehensive health program including stress management and coping behavior.

• 식품보건융합연구
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• 제5권6호
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• pp.11-16
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• 2019

The construction environment has been declared as a hazard prone area due to high number of accident and death. The study aims to identify influential factors that contribute to poor safety practices and its consequences on construction workers in Cape Coast Metropolis. Seventy respondents were taken as the sample size for the study. Descriptive analysis was used to analyze the data obtained from the field. Findings show that poor site management, working without safety gadgets, failure to use their Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and negligence of workers were the main causes of accidents on sites. Poor site management had the highest ranking among the seven variables. Effects of poor safety practices on building construction site and delays in work execution were due to injury of workers, extra cost due to payment of compensation to injured victims, not motivated due to injury of worker and declined reputation of firm. Management team should motivate workers for safe work done, provide adequate PPE for their workers on site and have documented health and safety policy on site. Site authorities and management team should be on site regularly to ensure proper safety practices on construction site.

• 대한안전경영과학회지
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• 제15권2호
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• pp.1-7
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• 2013

Based on a literature review regarding shift work, it is recognized that it has an adverse effect on workers' health. Especially, the night shift rather than the day shift imposes severe disorders on workers, which are indicated to dyssomnia, maladaptation to social life, and health problems such as gastroenteric trouble, cardiovascular diseases and depression. As the shift work can be explainable by using workers' labor ability necessarily to maintain company business consistently, it does not consider biorhythm, active mass and health condition of workers Actually duration of shit work would deprive workers of fundamental life rights by causing physical and mental effects. As a result of reviewing previous case studies related to effect of work pattern (day shift and night shift) on workers' health, an incidence of physical diseases like dyssomnia, gastroenteric trouble, cardiovascular diseases and premature delivery was higher in shift workers than normal workers. Additionally the incidence of mental disorders such as busy brain, social isolation, depression and work stress was also higher in shift workers than normal workers. These adverse physical and mental problems were intensified to night shift workers compared to day shift workers. Considering current various reports and study results, it is recommended that the shift work, especially the night work pattern, should not apply to contemporary work situation for sustaining workers' health condition constantly.

• 한국산업보건학회지
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• 제5권1호
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• pp.40-47
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• 1995

We analyzed sytrene concentrations in air and in blood, mandelic acid in urine, and chromosome aberrations in peripheral lymphocytes of twenty one styrene-exposed workers in two reinforced plastic factories. In addition, in vitro testing for chromosome aberration was carried out. The dose-dependent clastogenicity of styrene was confirmed in the cultured Chinese hamster lung cell(CHL) with metabolic activation. The environmental styrene concentrations and urinary mandelic acid levels of analyzed subjects were different in two plants examined, but the exposure levels in most workers examined were lower than the permissible exposure levels. Chromosome aberrations of the styrene exposed workers showed no increase in the percentage of aberrant cells as compared with the control group. No correlation was found between the exposure levels and the frequencies of chromosome aberrations in workers.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• 제7권2호
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• pp.171-174
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• 2016

Effective and sustainable prevention of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WR-MSDs) remains a challenge for preventers and policy makers. Coordination of stakeholders involved in the prevention of WR-MSDs is a key factor that requires greater reflection on common knowledge and shared representation of workers' activities among stakeholders. Information on workers' strategies and operational leeway should be the core of common representations, because it places workers at the center of the "work situation system" considered by the intervention models. Participatory ergonomics permitting debates among stakeholders about workers' activity and strategies to cope with the work constraints in practice could help them to share representations of the "work situation system" and cooperate. Sharing representation therefore represents a useful tool for prevention, and preventers should provide sufficient space and time for dialogue and discussion of workers' activities among stakeholders during the conception, implementation, and management of integrated prevention programs.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• 제13권1호
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• pp.104-111
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• 2022

Background: The IMPPAC cohort (Implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on psychosocial aspects and work ability among Brazilian workers) seeks to understand the impact of the pandemic on Brazilian workers. This article describes the occupational profile, psychosocial aspects, and work ability determined during the baseline and follow-up measurements of the cohort. Methods: Workers were invited to participate through media advertisements, social networks, and emails. From June to September 2020, 1211 workers were included in the cohort. Follow-up measurements finished on October 2021 with 633 workers. Data were collected through standardized questionnaires using Google Forms. Psychosocial aspects were assessed using the COPSOQ II-Br. Work ability was assessed using the Work Ability Index (WAI). Results: At baseline and follow-up, high proportion of workers were in the risk zone with regard to work pace, emotional work demands, influence on work, work-family conflict, burnout, and stress. Approximately 75% of the workers reported good to excellent work ability at baseline and follow-up. Conclusion: The occupational profile, psychosocial aspects, and work ability of Brazilian workers from the IMPPAC cohort were described. Psychosocial aspects and WAI were similar at baseline and follow-up.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• 제11권1호
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• pp.41-49
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• 2020

Background: We performed this study to investigate the inequalities in site-specific cancer incidences among workers across different occupations in Korea. Methods: Subjects included members of the national employment insurance. Incident cancers among 8,744,603 workers were followed from 1995 to 2007. Occupational groups were classified according to the Korean Standard Occupational Classification. Age-standardized incidence rate ratios were calculated. Results: We found that men in service/sales and blue-collar occupations had elevated rates of esophageal, liver, laryngeal, and lung cancer. Among women, service/sales workers had elevated incidences of cervical cancer. Male prostate cancer, female breast, corpus uteri, and ovarian cancers, as well as male and female colorectal, kidney, and thyroid cancer showed lower incidences among workers in lower socioeconomic occupations. Conclusions: Substantial differences in cancer incidences were found depending on occupation reflecting socioeconomic position, in the Korean working population. Cancer prevention policy should focus on addressing these socioeconomic inequalities.