• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.153-164
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• 2009

Purpose: This study investigates the relationship between job stress, depression, health-related behavior and type A behavior patterns among male workers at a steel factory. Methods: The study was done on 171 male workers, using the structured questionnaire. The data were collected in April, 2009 and analyzed by descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, and pearson correlation coefficient. Results: The results showed that 65.5% of workers were under moderate stress, 25.7% high stress and 0.6% extremely high stress. The overall score of these workers' occupational stress was 41.9, lower than the Korean workers' average. Occupational stress was correlated with depression, type A behavior patterns, a very poor physical condition without sufficient sleep. Conclusion: Stress management program is strongly needed for these subjects working over 45 hours a week, with a very poor subjective physical condition, insufficient sleep, type A behavior patterns and signs of severe depression. Further longitudinal study is recommended to show the effect of such worker's stress management program to mitigate job-related stress.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.156-166
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• 2020

In this study, 594 questionnaires administered to men and women residing in the capital metropolitan area who work night shifts were analyzed in order to study the effect of health information cognition on healing needs in accordance with the type of food selection criteria of the night worker. The results of confirmatory factor analysis in deriving food selection type identified four categories, a safety seeking type, a food exploratory type, a habitual seeking type, and a rational type, and the cognition types on health information were classified into physical cognition and psychological cognition. The need for healing, which was the investigated factor, was found to have a high correlation between questionnaire items with high reliable consistency. The results of this study were as follows. First, the food selection types of safety seeking type and habitual food seeking type had significant positive effects on the cognitive level of physical health information, and food exploratory type and habitual seeking type had significant positive effects on the cognitive level of psychological health information. In addition, it was shown that food exploratory type and rational type had significant positive effects on healing needs. As a result of this study, it was found that the cognition level of physical and psychological information was different according to food selection type, and the higher the cognitive level, the higher the healing needs. In particular, the result that the level of psychological health information significantly affected healing needs signifies that there is a demand to develop programs and menus that satisfy various needs related to healing and recovery from fatigue. In addition, further interest and study on the health and healing of night workers are required.

• The Korean Journal of Applied Statistics
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.201-215
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• 1993

The health status of workers in a foundry was analyzed in a study which consisted of evaluations of respiratory health together with environmental measurements. The results from environmental measurements showed values exceeding permissible exposure limits. A t-test was done with log transformed and untransformed data to examine the statistical significance for the noncompliance with exposure standards. For the analysis of categorical health outcomes, $\chi$-square test with 2 $\times$ 2 tables and logistic regression analysis were employed. For continuous variables, multiple linear regression was done against assessed risk factors. Pros and cons of different parameters in the compliance (or noncompliance) testing were presented. Respiratory function did not show any relation with occupational exposures, which may be due to the healthy worker effects. Strategies for controlling time dependent covariates were discussed in relation to the healthy worker effect. The scope of statistical analysis in occupational health studies is still limited in Korea without a suitable external comparison group such as credible vital statistics for the whole nation. Internal comparisons between different exposure status often result in unstable estimates of effect, and proportional morbidity study is discussed as an alternative potential research tool.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.191-196
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• 2012

Objective: The Work-related musculoskeletal disorders(WMSDs) have been a problem on industrial occupational safety and health in Korean shipyard industry. It has been a big social problem. Background: As a result, Korean government enacted a law to prevent musculoskeletal disorders at work and some major companies have already implemented an ergonomics program. Method: This paper presents a study on the effect of an ergonomics program in a Korean shipbuilding company during the last ten years. Conclusion: The Incidence of WMSDs, the worker's compensation cost and the lost time were decreased after implementation of the ergonomics program. Application: The results of the publishing will help efficient operation of MSDs prevention activity in other companies.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.47 no.10
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• pp.51-61
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• 2009

The purpose of this research is to verify the impact of job stress on depression among married workers and to examine mediation effect of work-family conflict between the two variables. 356 married workers in Seoul and Gyonggi Province were selected to analyze. The results indicate that job stress was statistically influential on depression and work-family conflict. And job stress implied the partial mediation effect of work-family conflict, with both direct and indirect impacts on depression. These findings indicated that maltreatment of job stress and workfamily conflict would negatively impact on depression. Therefore, work organizations must launch and activate EAP(employee assistance programs) or family friendly welfare programs in order to increase the overall mental health of the employees.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.249-261
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• 2020

Background: Hearing loss is one of the most prevalent worker health conditions worldwide. Although the effect of noise exposure on hearing is well researched, other workplace exposures may account for significant hearing loss. The aim of this review was to determine whether occupational hand-arm vibration exposure through use of power or pneumatic tools, independent of noise exposure, is associated with permanent hearing loss. Do workers suffer from hand-arm vibratione-induced hearing loss? Methods: Peer-reviewed articles published in English between 1981 and 2020 were identified through five online databases with five search keywords. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses guidelines, including online database search methodology, study selection, article exclusion, and assessment of potential study design confounders and biases, were followed. Results: Database searches retrieved 697 articles. Fifteen articles that reported 17 studies met the criteria for review. All but two studies revealed statistically significant associations between occupational exposure to hand-arm vibration and hearing loss. The majority of the study results revealed associations between hand-arm vibration and hearing loss, independent of potential age and noise confounders. Conclusion: Few studies have examined the association between occupational exposure to hand-arm vibration and hearing loss. Dose response data were limited as only one study measured vibration intensity and duration. Although the majority of studies identified statistically significant associations, causal relationships could not be determined. Further research using standardized and uniform measurement protocols is needed to confirm whether the association between occupational exposure to hand-arm vibration and permanent hearing loss is causal and the mechanism(s).

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.71-80
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• 1994

This study was conducted to evaluate worker exposure to welding fume in automobile body shop and to evaluate metal components by type of welding. The results are summarized as follows: 1. Average concentrations of total welding fume without and with ventilation were $5.2mg/m^3$ and $2.49mg/m^3$, respectively. Thus, the average reduction rate of total fume by ventilation was 52.1 %. 2. The highest fume concentration was indicated at shielded arc welding, followed by $CO_2$ gas welding, argon arc welding, and spot welding in order of decreasing concentration. 3. Average respirable fume concentrations without and with ventilation were $2.97mg/m^3$ and $1.64mg/m^3$, respectively. 4. Further analysis of welding fume indicated that total fume consisted of $Fe_2O_3$, ZnO, Mn, Pb, and CuO, in order of decreasing amount. Combined effect of metals was below the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH)Threshold Limit Values (TLVs).

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.243-257
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• 2013

This study was conducted in order to survey in healthcare worker's recognition of diagnosis related group(below; DRG) effect from July 1, 2012, to examine their recognition, expectation of the DRG system, and to provide the basic data necessary for the enforcement of the settlement. The subjects of this study were workers at clinics and hospitals sampled from hospital with DRG applying 7 diseases in Busan and Kyung-nam. A questionnaire of survey was conducted with the subjects working at clinics and hospitals from July, 25, 2012 to September 7, 2012, and the subjects were limited to doctors, officers, nurses, medical technicians and nurse assistants, and a total of 618 subjects were enrolled in this study. In the result of this study, generally, the healthcare workers recognized the DRG system. But their knowledge about that was not clear. Expanding enforcement DRG system at the present time, to provide accurate information to the healthcare consumer, workers need to know about DRG system clearly. To this end, for national health policy and medical institutions, workers should be educated constantly about providing medical service as well as the duty of enough explanation about the healthcare consumer's right to know.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.123-135
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• 2013

Exposure to manganese (Mn) is associated with neurobehavioral effects. There is disagreement on whether commonly occurring exposures in welding, ferroalloy, and other industrial processes produce neurologically significant neurobehavioral changes representing parkinsonism. A reviewof methodological issues in the human epidemiological literature onMnidentified: (1) studies focused on idiopathic Parkinson disease without considering manganism, a parkinsonian syndrome; (2) studies with healthy worker effect bias; (3) studies with problematic statistical modeling; and (4) studies arising from case series derived from litigation. Investigations with adequate study design and exposure assessment revealed consistent neurobehavioral effects and attributable subclinical and clinical signs and symptoms of impairment. Twenty-eight studies show an exposure-response relationship between Mn and neurobehavioral effects, including 11 with continuous exposure metrics and six with three or four levels of contrasted exposure. The effects of sustained low-concentration exposures to Mn are consistent with the manifestations of early manganism, i.e., consistent with parkinsonism. This is compelling evidence thatMnis a neurotoxic chemical and there is good evidence that Mn exposures far below the current US standard of $5.0mg/m^3$ are causing impairment.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.181-195
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• 1997

The purpose of this study was to investigate factors affecting the composition and concentrations of fumes generated from various types of welding processes. The results are as follows. 1. Iron(Fe), zinc(Zn) and manganese(Mn) were predominant in Welding fumes. The Fe content in total fumes was 25.5% in coated electrode and 28.2% in $CO_2$ are welding, and the Zn content was 4.5% and 9.1%, respectively, and the Mn was 3.6% and 7.8%, respectively. 2. It was found that the important factors determining composition and concentration of fumes were type of industries, type of welding processes, type and composition of electrodes, composition of base metals, confinement of workplaces or condition of ventilation, work intensity, coated metals such as lead and Zn in paint. 3. The Mn content in airborne fumes was highly correlated with that of electrode(r=0.77, p<0.01) and was about 4 times higher than that in electrodes or base metals. The results lindicate that Mn is well evaporated into air during welding. The higher vapor pressure of Mn may explain this phenomenon. 4. the airborne total fume concentrations were significantly different among types of industries(p<0.001). The airborne total fume concentration was higher in order of sleel-structure manufacturing($GM=15.1mg/m^3$), shipbuilding($GM=13.2mg/m^3$), automobile-component manufacturing ($GM=7.8mg/m^3$) and automobile assembling industry($GM=3.0mg/m^3$) 5. The airbone total fume concentration was 6 times higher in $CO_2$ welding than in coated electrode welding, and approximately 3 times higher in confined area than in open area, in steel-structure manufacturing industry. 6. The concentration of welding fume outside welding helmet was about 2 times higher than that inside it. It is recommened that air sampling be done inside helmet to evaulate worker's exposure accurately, for it has an outstanding effect on reducing worker exposure to fumes and other contaminants.