• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.35-41
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• 2005

The KOSHA codes H-31 and H-30 provide general guidelines to establish a prevention program for work-related musculoskeletal disorders(WMSD). Understanding of the components and practitioner needs for a WMSD prevention program is necessary for effective revision and implementation of the KOSHA codes. The present study established a comprehensive structure for a WMSD prevention program and surveyed practitioner needs for the KOSHA codes. The comprehensive prevention program structure, consisting of 7 parts(organization, education, risk management, medical management, program evaluation, and record keeping) and 90 items, was constructed by analyzing WMSD prevention guidelines published by various government agencies such as KOSHA, OSHA and NIOSH. Next, 20 practitioners, from four industry sectors(auto manufacturing, auto part manufacturing, shipbuilding, and machinery), working in a safety and health department or labor union, were interviewed to collect opinions for the KOSHA codes in terms of relevance, government support, and additional information needed. Guidelines of the KOSHA codes requiring modifications and government supports were identified, which can be used to revise the KOSHA codes and to establish a government policy to promote the implementation of the KOSHA codes. Lastly, the survey revealed that integrated, customized, quantitative, and case information for WMSD prevention is additionally needed, which can be used as design guidelines for a WMSD prevention program manual for practitioners.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.185-189
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• 2012

Objective: The aim of this paper is to introduces Hyundai Heavy Industry's ergonomic risk assessment tool, H-OWAS, which is considering work load and frequency compared to the OWAS. Background: As prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders(WMSDs) in ship building industries has been much higher than that in other industries, most of the large scaled corporations have implemented their own prevention program since legislation on the prevention of WMSDs had introduced in 2003. Method: This paper introduces WMSDs prevention program, HEMP(HHI Ergonomics Management Program) which consists of risk assessment, improvement efforts of working environments, medical treatment and training/evaluation and describes how to operate the program. We also describe application of OWAS method considering work load and frequency for risk factor analysis(H-OWAS) and shows methodology for assessing the ergonomic risk factor. And comparison of the assessment results between OWAS and H-OWAS is carried out by statistical analysis. Result: There was statistically significant difference in the assessment results between OWAS and H-OWAS, and regression shows H-OWAS explains the borg's scale of perceived exertion more clearly than OWAS. Conclusion: H-OWAS has been proved more effective tool than OWAS to evaluate ergonomic risk factor under real working condition. Application: H-OWAS can be widely applied to the many other companies when implementing the ergonomics risk assessment.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.45-52
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• 2007

Shipbuilding workers are potentially exposed to ergonomic hazards in the manufacturing process. The purpose of this study is to describe the impact of an ergonomic intervention and the implementation effect of ergonomics program at a shipbuilding company. This study portrays an implementation procedure of ergonomics program over a period of two years concerning ergonomic hazard analysis and improvement, along with medical management. After implementation of the ergonomics program, the productivity improved, and the rate of accidental incidents decreased, also the loss of workdays decreased largely. The implementation effect of ergonomics program presented in this study can be used to provide baseline information for the prevention of musculoskeletal disorders in the shipbuilding industry.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.153-157
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• 2006

The objective of this study was to establish a systematic ergonomic program for the prevention and control of work-related musculoskeletal disorders(WMSDs) in a machinery manufacturing company. The steps such as looking for the signs of WMSDs problems, setting the stage for action, training-building in-house expertise, gathering and examining the evidence of WMSDS, developing controls of health care management, and proactive ergonomic interventions were applied. The primary success factors were management commitment and encouragement, and harmonious union-management relations.

• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.19 no.40
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• pp.311-319
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• 1996

Cumulative trauma disorders (CTD) refer to a category of physical signs and symptoms due to chronic musculoskeletal injuries where the antecedents appear to be related to some aspect of repetitive work which can be found commonly in modern industries. This paper describes impacts of CTD on modern industry and summarizes recent resent research efforts and suggests an ergonomic program to prevent incident of CTD in hand-intensive industry.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.37-41
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• 2005

Work related musculoskeletal disorders became a hot issue in Korea since many workers reported musculoskeletal disorder problems. Korean government enacted a law to require companies to take measures to prevent musculoskeletal disorders at work. This study found workers' WMSDs symptoms in squatting work posture which the rate of the occurrence was relatively high among work types to bring about WMSDs in railroad cars maintenance works and analyzed to compare the hazardous jobs in the industrial safety health law in South Korea with the caution jobs in Washington State in U.S. The hazardous jobs in South Korea were more effective in squatting work posture from this study result and this study data will be a great help to plan and carry out an effective prevention program about WMSDs.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.27-44
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• 2002

Recently, both management and labor are interested in the increasing ratio of musculoskeletal disorders. And the developed countries make efforts to consider a counterplan such as prevention activity of musculoskeletal disorders and application possibility of ergonomic program, because musculoskeletal disorders take large portion out of occupational disease. Especially, small and medium enterprises have bigger problems due to the inferior work condition and environment in comparison with big businesses. This study is to introduce developed countries' cases such as WISE(Work Improvement in Small Enterprises) and OSHA Handbook for Small Businesses and to suggest the program of ergonomic management for small and medium enterprises having comparative difficulties against big businesses in improving work environment and managing ergonomic operations.

• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.21 no.48
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• pp.253-262
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• 1998

The purpose of this study is to suggest prevention methods for the health of VDT workers by an ergonomic survey and analysis of body discomfort. Totally 150 VDT workers(male; 78, female; 72) were investigated with questionnaire. From the results of survey, average of the subjects age was 28.5 years(male; 29.7, female; 27.2), average working period was 5.4 years(male; 5.2, female; 5.6), average VDT working hours was 6.3 hours(male; 6.2, female; 6.4) and workers who answered that they use VDT for more than 5 hours a day were over 79%. Among the questionnaires 10.7% and 7.3% of VDT workers complained the discomfort of their neck and lower back, respectively. VDT workers responded that the height of chair, keyboard and computer monitor were the main reasons for feeling discomfort. The results suggest that the VDT syndrome prevention program should be developed for safety and health of the VDT workers.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.393-404
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• 2010

The purpose of this study is to identify the trends and features of existing articles on work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSD), and to suggest the direction for future work. Articles on WMSD were reviewed and analyzed by research objects and characteristics. This paper describes a number of issues related to strategies and practices which were done in order to prevent work-related musculoskeletal disorders; 1) trends and characteristics of work-related musculoskeletal disorders, 2) legal enforcement related to systems preventing WMSD, 3) workplace assessment methods and guidelines for manual material handling, 4) ergonomic intervention, ergonomics program and its effectiveness. A list of recommendations presented in this study can be used to provide a baseline for the prevention of work-related musculoskeletal disorders.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.67-79
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• 2012

Objectives : The study was carried out to find out the experience of musculoskeletal disorder symptoms of dental hygienists and evaluate the risk with ergonomic evaluation method(RULA). Methods : The subjects in this study were 344 dental hygienists working at dental clinics and general hospitals in Seoul, Gyeonggi, Daejeon and Chungnam/Chungbuk. The data were collected through the self-questionnaire survey from July 26th 2010 to September 30th 2010. Results : The results showed that those who working at dental hospital, network dental clinics, with 1-5 years of clinical experience, long working hour and sitting hour, no rest hour, more physical and mental burden had higher rate of the experience of musculoskeletal disorder symptoms compared with other groups. The final score of RULA evaluation results was 6 on average requiring continuous observation and urgent demand for work improvements. According to the result of RULA evaluation by work, the orthodontic clinics were 4.5, prosthodontic clinics were 5.0, and dental surgery clinics were 6.8 being the most risky. Conclusions : The study showed high complaints rate on musculoskeletal disorders in dental hygienists. Thus, various measures including provision of proper working and rest hours, use of ergonomic working equipments, strengthening the health education for desirable working posture and the development of musculoskeletal disorder prevention program should be needed.