• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.79-84
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• 2011

There have been so many studies related to job stress or musculoskeletal disorders(MSDs) in the shipbuilding industry. However, study of employee performance evaluation that reflect on the industrial features of the deckhouse manufacturing industry has not been established. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate workers' job stress and work ability through statistical significance tests according to age, work types, years of service, work forms and sex. For this, the study conducted a job stress test using the Korean Occupational Stress Questionnaire Short Form, and employee performance evaluations using the Work Ability Index(WAI) of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FIOH) on 536 workers in the deckhouse manufacturing industry. MINITAB statistics program was used for statistics analysis and significance was verified with the Kruskal-Wallis test, a corporate body of nonparametric statistical analysis. As a result, employee performance had significant differences, depending on age, work types, years of service and sex, and job stress also depended on the number of service year and work form. Additionally, it was found that employee performance decreased more as job stress increased.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.171-176
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• 2012

Objective: The goal of this study was to assess work ability of Korean workers in the shipbuilding industry. Background: Old age is associated with inevitable time-dependent losses in physical capabilities. However the maintenance of physical capabilities is essential for continuing independence in old age. The work ability index(WAI) was constructed to reveal how well a worker is able to perform his or her work. Method: The WAI is a kind of survey methods developed to estimate the work capacity of aged workers by the Finish Institute of Occupational Health(FIOH) in 1998. The difference of the WAI between groups in each category was tested using the Kruskal-Wallis test, and the relationship between the WAI and the workers' ages was tested by the Correlation test. Results: This study surveyed 2,709 persons working in the shipbuilding industry in Korea. The average WAI score for all workers was 40.0 denoting a Good Level. Also, workers in the shipbuilding industry had lower work ability, as compared to the results of other industries. The WAI was analyzed for different age groups(${\leq}29$; 30~34; 35~39; 40~44; 45~49; 50~54; ${\geq}55$). The results of Kruskal-Wallis test showed that significant difference was identified on the effect of aging(p<0.05). Conclusion: Advanced countries like the Finland showed decreasing tendency in good and excellent levels as aged, but there was no decreasing tendency in Korean population. The results may be attributable to the general characteristics of Korean society, such as poor social security and burden caused by role of the patriarch. It may bring forth higher work ability in aged population even their physical condition is getting worse. Application: This finding could be used for developing more accurate assessment tool of work ability for working environment.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.125-130
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• 2012

According to the Korea National Statistical Office data in 2010, the population over ages of 65 years would possess to 11.3% whole population of Korea in 2011 denoting Korea is already in the aging society. Old age is associated with inevitable time-dependent losses in physical capabilities. However the maintenance of physical capabilities is essential for continuing independence in old age. The work ability index(WAI) was constructed to reveal how well a worker is able to perform his work. This study focused on the discovery of an industrial and age-related influences on the work ability and job stress of workers in the shipbuilding, house managing, apartment construction industry. For this, the study conducted a job stress test using the Korean Occupational Stress Questionnaire Short Form, and employee performance evaluations using the Work Ability Index (WAI) of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FIOH) on 3,228 workers in the shipbuilding, house managing and apartment construction industry. SPSS 12.0 K statistics program was used for statistics analysis and significance was verified with the Kruskal-Wallis test, a corporate body of nonparametric statistical analysis. As a result, employee performance had significant differences, depending on age, an industrial and years of service. The mean WAI score of the shipbuilding industry was lower than that of the other industry. Additionally, it was found that employee work ability decreased more as job stress increased.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.101-107
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• 2012

The statistics of industrial accident reported by ministry of Employment and Labor denoted a significant increase of musculoskeletal disorders(MSDs) after 1993, and showed the higher incident rate by 71.3% over the overall worker's disorders. Also, it was expected that Korean society will become the post-aged society in 2026 with 20.8% of elderly who is over 65 years old. The reports suggest possible problems caused by the older worker known to have reduced working ability than the young counterparts. On this basis, the goal of this study was to investigate the relationship between MSDs symptoms and work ability in the shipbuilding industry. To achieve this goal, this study distributed a questionnaire for total 1,244 shipbuilding employers, and used 910 employers' reports which revealed validity for this study. The questionnaire included the MSDs symptoms report developed by the Korean Occupational Safety and Health Association(KOSHA) and the work ability index(WAI) developed by Finnish Institute of Occupational Health(FIOH). Results showed no relationship between MSDs symptoms and age, years of work and exercise. Also, the work ability was increased until 44 years old, but it was decreased after that time because of the reduced physical capacity. Meanwhile, the years of work and exercise have positive correlation with work ability. However, the results revealed significant relationships between WAI and age, years of work, task characteristics and exercise. All together, the MSDs symptoms have a close relationship with the work ability in that the work ability of workers with the MSDs symptoms was reduced. This study may suggest the needs of more efforts and attention on the MSDs prevention to increase the work ability.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.129-135
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• 2014

In recent studies, construction industry workers with higher job stress and lower work ability were more likely to experience accidents at their workplace. Likewise, fatal accidents rate was higher among simple labor workers compared to technical workers. Therefore the evaluation of a worker's job stress and work ability seems to be important in preventing the occurrence of fatal accidents. To search for ways to reduce job stress and to improve work ability, the current study conducted a job stress analysis based on age, years of service, skill level, hobbies, sleep patterns, and monthly income. For this, the Korean occupational stress questionnaire short form and the Work Ability Index (WAI) developed by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FIOH) were used. In this study, SPSS 12.0K statistics program was used for statistical analysis and significance was verified by the Kruskal-Wallis test and non-parametric tests. The results of this study can be summarized as follows : (1) Simple labor workers had higher job stress and less work ability than technical workers. (2) The more experienced workers had lower job stress and higher work ability. (3) In the case of workers who slept a lot, work ability was higher and job stress was less. (4) Monthly income influenced on the job stress and work ability. (5) Job stress and work ability in accordance with the age difference was not significant.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.58-62
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• 2022

Metro subway construction is a field that requires a great deal of professional manpower. The aging of professionals has a negative impact on both productivity and health, owing to poor working environments, heavy lifting, underground work, and other factors. To address this issue, the government is progressively revising and enforcing health management law and regulation in the construction industry. Thus, the job stress and work ability of many professional subway construction workers, who are rapidly aging, are being analyzed to ensure their safety and improve their health. In this study, the Macpa stress index of Busan Metro Subway construction workers from Sasang to Hadan line was measured by using a Macpa measurement machine, and a work ability survey was conducted by using the questionnaire that was developed by the FIOH. The independent variables were age, years of service, job position, employment type, and occupation. While, the dependent variables were the Macpa stress index and work ability. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used because it was difficult to assume that the statistics of this study represented a normal distribution. The results showed that age, job position, and employment type affected Macpa stress index and revealed that as the age of the workers increased, their stress levels increased as well. Additionally, job position and employment type affected the work ability of the metro subway construction workers. In terms of job position, the technical engineers were under a lot of stress, and whereas the managers had the best work ability. The technical engineers were more stressed than the other workers because of a poor working environment. In terms of employment type, daily workers were under more stress and lower work ability than others.