Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene (한국산업보건학회지)

Korean Industrial Hygiene Association (한국산업보건학회)
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Safety and Health Culture Change Stages: A Reflection on 40 years of Hearing Conservation History at a Multinational Company

일개 기업의 40년 소음으로 인한 청력 손실 예방 활동을 통해 본 청력보존문화의 변화 단계

  • Park, Mijin (Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Graduate School of Public Health, Seoul National University) ;
  • Yoon, Chungsik (Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Graduate School of Public Health, Seoul National University) ;
  • Paek, Domyung (Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Graduate School of Public Health, Seoul National University)
  • 박미진 (서울대학교 보건대학원 환경보건학과) ;
  • 윤충식 (서울대학교 보건대학원 환경보건학과) ;
  • 백도명 (서울대학교 보건대학원 환경보건학과)
  • Received : 2019.07.04
  • Accepted : 2019.09.04
  • Published : 2019.09.30
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Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate stages of safety and health culture change through a reflection on 40 years of hearing conservation history at a multinational company. Methods: The target workplaces were multinational companies with more than 1,000 employees. The research used the clinical case study and system analysis methods based on direct observation of the research from 1994 to 2009. The latter method performed an analysis of the equilibrium state of the cross-section in the given period and the longitudinal profile of the change during the given period. Results: The stages of cultural change are divided into five stages and summarized as follows. In the first stage, workplace noise was not widely recognized as a hazard, while in the second stage, the measurement of noise levels and audiometric testing were conducted under the Korean Occupational Safety and Health Act (KOSHA). The driving force for change in the second stage was the amendment of the KOSHA. In the third stage, noise came to be recognized as a hazard factor through awareness training. The driving force of change during the third stage was the strong executive power exerted by the audit of the industrial hygiene program from the US head office. In the fourth step, there was a change to actually reduce noise. The driving force in this stage was a change in company executives' risk perception resulting from lawsuits over noise-induced hearing loss and the task force team activities for culture change based on the action learning protocol. At the fifth stage, a 'buy quiet policy' was institutionalized. The management's experience that noise reduction was difficult was the motivation to manage noise from the time of purchase of equipment. Conclusions: The activities of a hearing conservation program are determined by the improvement of the legal system and by the way it is enforced. Noise control activities to reduce noise areas may be possible through the shared risk perception of noise-induced hearing loss and by a change agent role as a facilitator to implement noise control.

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