• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.105-112
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• 2001

This study concerns with the accident characteristics and prevention in small manufacturing industries of chemical products. To investigate the accident characteristics, we used workers' compensation reports and employers' accident analysis reports. One hundred and seven injury accidents which results in more than 4 days absence were surveyed from the manufacturing companies with under 100 employees. These data were used to investigate the accident characteristics in terms of company size, injured person's age, work experience, accident time, activity at time of accident, accident type, injury type, injured body Part, and accident agency We propose the accident prevention policy based on the accident characteristics. These results can be used to develop more effective occupational safety management policies in small manufacturing industries of chemical products.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.20 no.3 s.71
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• pp.188-196
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• 2005

Accident reports from 1991 to 2000 of a steel company were used to analyze which factors induce industrial accidents. The subjects were 8,311 blue-collar workers, who sustained 114 occupational injuries and work on a continuous full-day 3-team 3-shift system of backward rotation(mornings to afternoons to nights). With respect to marital status, the occupational injury rate(OIR) on the married workers was significantly higher compared to unmarried workers. With respect to no, the OIR of those in their early 20s was significantly higher when compared to other age groups. The OIR of highly educated workers showed a reduction when compared with lower educated workers. The OIR of shift workers were significantly higher compared with the daytime workers. The OIR of type of work decreased across the steel manufacturing process, rolling process, machine maintenance section forwarding products section to the field management section. With respect to the block of shift work(morning, afternoon, and night shifts) by the type of work, the OIR of the night shift was higher than those of the morning shift in the steel manufacturing process or forwarding products section. The OIR of the machine maintenance section was slightly higher in the morning shift than those of the night shift. The OIR of the time of day of the shift workers reached a peak between 09:00 and 11:00. The OIR of a slight injury to shift workers decreased across the night, afternoon, to morning shifts whereas the OIR of a serious injury tended to decrease across the night, morning, to afternoon shift. The body parts most commonly injured were the arm and the crus.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.126-137
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• 2008

Purpose : The purpose of this study was to investigate the difference in gender related to health status, occupational environment, occupational safety and health and hazardous chemicals use of migrant workers in Korea. Method: The survey was conducted in clinics that provided free healthcare services for migrant workers. Of the 413 respondents, 66.3% were males and 33.7% were females. Result: In the case of male migrant workers, many worker were not fluent in Korean, had illegal status in the country, and had moved jobs frequently. There were many cases in which migrant workers worked in small-scale enterprises and worked long hours. Job stress score was high for many workers and they dealt with heavy materials and risky machines. Many workers had not received proper occupational health and safety education and those that were previously injured had repeated injuries. Among the female migrant workers, many worker received low salary and shift work was common. Many worker complained of gastrointestinal and musculoskeletal illnesses and treated toxic substances. Conclusion: As a result, it will be necessary to focus on the strategies for decreasing occupational injuries from physical risk factors for males and from chemical risk factors for female migrant workers.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.84-91
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• 2009

It is well known that Korea has got in an aged-society, and the speed of ageing is remarkably fast that has never seen before in the world. In spite of that, government officers and managers who are in charge of industrial safety seldom have interest in ageing workers, and much less ageing workers for themselves in the industrial fields. In the meanwhile the number of injured aged workers keeps going on and even increasing. Therefore this research was carried out to investigate the characteristics of aged workers on one hand, and to grasp the self-consciousness level of industrial workers on the problem of ageing. Furthermore, to develop countermeasures, opinions and hopes of middle managers in small- and medium-sized enterprises who were in charge of industrial safety and health were collected also. Though the reply rate was not so high as expected, opinions of safety and health managers were somewhat appropriate. They replied that the most urgent counterplan for ageing would be improvements of work environments followed by work assignments based upon personal aptitude. On the other hand, the self-consciousness level of aged workers was lower than middle managers, and they mainly complained of surgical disorders such as musculoskeltal disorders including lower back pains. However, they did not seem to recognize they are getting lose their physical function in maintaining body equilibrium.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.149-153
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• 2003

Recently, work-related musculoskeletal disorders(WMSDs) are one of major issues in occupational safety and health in Korea. Main risk factors of WMSDs include manual handling of heavy weight loads, awkward posture, repetitive tasks, Prolonged static muscle contraction, and so on. The number of injured workers has rapidly increased and the related regulation was amended to improve the work conditions and environments. And demands for workers' compensation and improvement of work conditions and environment to prevent WMSDs have increasingly been raised. This study focused on managerial system to prevent WMSDs. Literal survey and questionnaire survey were accomplished to propose a management system in Korea for preventing WMSDs.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.91-97
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• 2012

The primary aim of this study was to compare responsiveness of self-report by worker and therapist-scored functional capacity instrument. Self-report and therapist-scored interval-level person measures and item difficulties were compared at admission and discharge. Therapist and worker ratings were collected on 230 clients from 27 rehabilitation sites using the newly developed Occupational Rehabilitation Data Base (ORDB) functional capacity instrument. ORDB comprises several subscales measuring relevant variables of "a return-to-work model" in work-related rehabilitation clinics. The functional capacity scale deals with 10 DOT job factors. The rating scale categories were 1-severely impaired, 2-moderately impaired, 3-mildly impaired, and 4-not impaired. Only data from clients with low back pain (n=98) with complete data (both admission and discharge scores) were used for the present study. Therapists and workers completed the functional capacity instrument at admission and discharge. Rasch analysis [1-parameter item response theory model (IRT)] was applied to calibrate item difficulty and person ability measure of therapist and workers ratings. Effect sizes for therapist and self-report ratings were slightly different, .69 and .30, respectively. Therapist and worker ratings were more consistent at discharge (r=.54) than at admission (r=.32). Workers have a tendency to be more severe in their ratings (show higher item difficulties) than therapists at admission and discharge. Therapists and workers report similar magnitudes of improvement following treatment program. These findings challenge the belief that injured workers may unreliable source for monitoring therapeutic outcomes. Self-report measures have the advantage of conserving therapist time for treatment (versus evaluation). While the therapist and self-report ratings are comparable at discharge, there is less consistency at admission. Comparable therapist-worker ratings may be achieved by controlling for rating severity using IRT methodologies.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.15 no.8
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• pp.313-325
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• 2015

This study aims to address factors affecting economic preparation of the elderly with industrial injury using Andersen model. In addition, it is also to explore differences in accordance with changes in the employment status between regular employees and non-regular employees. The authors analyze Panel Study of Worker's Compensation Insurance(PSWCI)'s 1st wave data in the logistic regression model. The authors found gender and education were related to economic preparation. In addition, earned income, national health insurance and the degree to which pain interferes with daily life and the lives caused by industrial accidents were associated with economic preparation. But national pension was not statistically significant to economic preparation. Based on the findings, the researchers addressed political implications to enhance financial security of injured workers.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.131-142
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• 2016

Objectives : Using several waves of the Panel Study of Worker's Compensation Insurance(PSWCI), this study analyzed the effect of work hours on health and lifestyle of Korean workers in a sample from the 2013~2014 year (The first survey was completed in August-October 2013; the second survey was completed in August-October 2014). Methods : The research subjects were 1,312 men from among employees who responded to a 2013 PSWCI panel report. Statistical analyses were done with SAS version 9.3 (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA). Results : According to the results of the analysis, the male subjects had differences in economic activity and health conditions based on the length of working hours. There was a significant relationship among working hours and life satisfaction, and the correlation coefficients were statistically significant. The results show that workplace conditions has a direct positive effect on life satisfaction as we anticipated in the hypothesis. Conclusions : Management should focus on the factors identified in this study when developing employment interventions programs to improve the the promotion of healthy lifestyles for adults over the age of 40.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.160-165
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• 2013

Background: Occupational accidents are unplanned events that cause damage. The socio-economic impacts and human costs of accidents are tremendous around the world. Many fatalities happen every year in workplaces such as electricity distribution companies. Some electrical injuries are electrocution, electric shock, and burns. This study was conducted in an electricity distribution company (with rotational 12-hour shift work) in Iran during an 8-year period to survey descriptive factors of injuries. Methods: Variables collected included accident time, age of injured worker, employment type, work experience, injury cause, educational background, and other information about accidents. Results: Results indicated that most of the accidents occurred in summer, and 51.3% were during shift work. Worker negligence (malpractice) was the cause of 75% of deaths. Type of employment had a significant relationship with type of injuries (p < 0.05). Most injuries were electrical burns. Conclusion: High rate of accidents in summer may be due to the warm weather or insufficient professional skills in seasonal workers. Shift workers are at risk of sleep complaints leading to a high rate of work injuries. Acquiring knowledge about safety was related to job experiences. Temporary workers have no chance to work all year like permanent workers, therefore impressive experiences may be less in them. Because the lack of protective equipment and negligence are main causes of accidents, periodical inspections in workshops are necessary.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.110-117
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• 2011

The paper tries to understand the other side of characteristics on occupational injuries and diseases in forestry. Occupational injuries and diseases in forestry seems to be greatly influenced by the environmental characteristics of the mountain district and individual's ability of workers. A traditional method on the analysis of occupational injuries and diseases data may show that the main cause of occupational injuries and diseases is the material factors significantly. To identify the other side of occupational injuries and diseases in forestry, the occupational injuries and diseases data of 3,091 workers in forestry was analyzed. The data in forestry, 2009 shows certain characteristics among the recent occupational injuries and diseases data. The first step is to classify the data according to standard of classification of original cause materials. Material factors are 72.3% and human factors (included managerial factors) and environmental factors are 27.0%. The next step is to reclassify the first step data by using the concept of influence factors which caused and influenced occupational injuries and diseases. The result is that material factors are 2.4%, human factors(included managerial factors) and environmental factors are 97.0%. Also, an aging degree of workers in forestry is higher than other categories of business. It is true that an aging degree of injured or diseased workers in forestry is higher than that of other categories of business. However, relevance with increase of occupational injuries and diseases could not be explained. An injury and disease rate in forestry is remarkably increased recently than other categories of business. One of the reason why an injury and disease rate increased remarkably in 2009 could be considered as the increase of the number of workers and related budget. Therefore, this study proposes important measures or means to prevent occupational injuries and diseases in forestry.