• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.454-465
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• 2016

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate trends in asbestos exposure among asbestos-handling industries from 2000 to 2005. Methods: The data included the number of industries and workers exposed, concentrations of asbestos and the amount exceeded, and the type and size of industry by year. These data were collected by 46 regional employment and labor offices in Korea using work environment monitoring reports. A total of 1,481 samples from 284 industries were extracted from the reports and were analyzed with no data modification. Results: The means of asbestos concentration decreased from $0.84f/cm^3$ to $0.03f/cm^3$ during the period 2000-2005. Among the total of 1,481 samples, 11 samples(0.7%) exceeded the KOEL, and 178 samples(12.0%) were ACGIH TLV. The insulating paper product manufacturing industry was found to have the highest level of asbestos, followed by the fireproofing manufacturing industry, brake lining products manufacturing industry, commutator products manufacturing industries, and construction materials manufacturing industry. The number of asbestos handling industries decreased from 48 industries with 1,155 employees to 37 industries during the period of 2000 to 2005, but the number of asbestos workers expanded to the point that 1,182 employees could be found in 2005. Conclusion: Based on these results, the strengthening of the KOEL and new regulations turned out to help reduce asbestos exposure levels. This study recommends that retrospective exposure to asbestos based on various industry types should be assessed.

• Journal of Technology Innovation
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.73-94
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• 2013

The prinary cause of the decreasing SME's competitiveness in technology is the intensifying human resource shortages. The government supports a part of labor costs for SMEs as a means of policy. There are two ways of supporting labor costs for R&D personnel. One is to hire R&D personnel first then support their partial labor costs. The other is to support labor costs first for R&D personnel in national R&D programs then hire R&D personnel. This study analyzes the effectiveness of two different ways by classifying sales, no. of employees, R&D expenditure, no. of researchers, and no. of MA/Ph.D. researchers. In terms of employing researchers with MA or Ph.D., the effectiveness on employment subsidy is significantly higher than that of R&D subsidy. Its effect has been relatively high in non-metropolitan areas and manufacturing industry.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.283-309
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• 1992

This study examines work and family life of married women employed in a manufacturing industry. Data were gathered from the use of fact-to-face interview method from a sample of 230 married working women. The major findings of this study can be summarized as follows : (1) With high rates of change of job, most of the respondents remain unstable in their working situation. It was shown that the important factors influencing job satisfaction of married women are women's life cycle, degree of contribution of wife's income toward total family income, and husband's attitude toward wife's empolyment. The degree of job satisfaction is also strongly influenced by labor structural factors such as pay, work environment and fringe benefits. (2) The amount of household labor time was limited by job-related factors rather than by family-related factors, because among these working women employment itself is necessarily for their subsistance. (3) It was shown that wives participated more actively in their marital communications than their husbands. Most of the respondents showed the syncratic type of the decision making patterns, but this results does not necessarily mean wives exercised an equal power with their husbands. The economic factors and the emotional instability of the husband are the ones mostly influencing marital conflicts of the employed women. It was found that the respondents easily revealed marital conflicts related to personal problems of their husbands(such as extramarital affairs, gambling and alchoholism). However, they tried to overcome the structural conflicts related to authoritarian attitudes of their husbands or economic problems without any complaints. (4) Mothers have difficulty in controlling their adolescent children, due to the weakening of parental authority. Although most of the respondents perceived their employment as having negative impacts on their children, they still have high expectations toward their children. Inspite of low degree of father role expectations and facther role performance of their husbands, most of the respondents anticipated expressive roles as well as traditionally instrumental role from their husbands. Finally, these findings would help us determine family welfare policies in Korea. Improvements in paid and household labor structure of married women should be accomplished at the national level. Also, the acting programs for parent education, marital councelling services, and law enforcement for equal employment between men and women should be provided in our society.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.265-274
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• 2019

Background: Methyl alcohol poisoning in mobile phone-manufacturing factories during 2015-2016 was caused by methyl alcohol use for cleaning in computerized numerical control (CNC) processes. To determine whether there were health complications in other workers involved in similar processes, the Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute conducted a survey. Methods: We established a national active surveillance system by collaborating with the Ministry of Employment and Labor and National Health Insurance Service. Employment and national health insurance data were used. Overall, 12,048 employees of major domestic mobile phone companies and CNC process dispatch workers were surveyed from 2016 to 2017. We investigated methyl alcohol poisoning by using the national health insurance data. Questionnaires were used to investigate diseases due to methyl alcohol poisoning. Results: Overall, 24.9% of dispatched workers were employed in at least five companies, and 23.9% of dispatched workers had missing employment insurance history data. The prevalence of blindness including visual impairment, optic neuritis, visual disturbances, and alcohol toxicity in the study participants was higher than that reported in the national health insurance database (0.02%, 0.07%, 0.23%, and 0.03% versus 0.01%, 0.07%, 0.13%, and 0.01%, respectively, in 2015). Moreover, 430 suspicious workers were identified; 415 of these provided an address and phone number, of whom 48 responded (response rate, 11.6%). Among the 48 workers, 10 had diseases at the time of the survey, of whom 3 workers were believed to have diseases related to methyl alcohol exposure. Conclusion: This study revealed that active surveillance data can be used to assess health problems related to methyl alcohol poisoning in CNC processes and dispatch workers.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.97-104
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• 2019

The construction industry is heavily dependent on labor force as automation to building constructions is difficult due to its characteristics such on-site production, custom manufacturing production. Thus, while securing and fostering high-quality functional manpower for stable construction work are significant, the construction workforce has been persistently lacking compared to demand. Young workers are reluctant to enter the construction industry due to high labor intensity, unstable employment structure, and uncertainty for the future. The employment rate for new jobs in the construction industry is half as high as in others. Currently, the departments related to construction are organized in specialized high school to conduct training for young workers. The graduates have a low ratio of employment rate to the construction industry and functional capacities fallen short of expectations. In this study, the education and training conditions of specialized high schools were analyzed to derive problems and key improvements of the education system were drawn. As an improvement for the analysis results, it provides solutions such as giving advantages of previous education experience, expand industry-academic cooperation with businesses, and expand links with external educational institutions.

• Journal of Technology Innovation
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.139-169
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• 2023

This study analyzes the effects of firms' technology innovation(patent applications) on employment(number of workers and proportion of high-skilled workers) and corporate performance(sales per worker), while considering the two-way causal relationships between these variables. We used the three-stage least squares(3SLS) estimation to examine system of equations in which the dependent variables affect each other with a two-year lag wherever relevant, and applied it to firm-level panel data of Korean manufacturers with 100 or more workers. Our data covered the period of 2005-2017. Exogenous variables, such as firms' managerial and other characteristics, were controlled as explanatory variables. The identification variables for each equation included firms' R&D intensity, labor cost per worker(or operation of firms' own R&D center), and investment on worker training. We find that firms' patent applications increased number of workers, proportion of high-skilled workers, and sales per worker; the causal relationships in the opposite direction were also significant. Evidently, firms' technology innovation is critical to the growth and quality improvement of employment as well as sustainable corporate growth.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.80-86
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• 2012

From 1982, the Korean Ministry of Employment and Labor has executed the risk assessment regulation for manufacturing industries. When a manufacturing company install, transfer, or modify the major facilities, the program inspects and verifies safety of the working place to ensure safety against risks. This study performed cost-benefit analysis of the program for the eight industrial categories that were free from the program. The cost-benefit analysis is the basic method to estimate the effect of the policy execution, and used to justify the policy effectiveness. As a result, there is the biggest benefit in the manufacture of basic metal products and then motor vehicles, trailers and semitrailers, other manufacturing, other machinery and equipment, wood products of wood and cork, rubber and plastic products, food products, furniture in order. Thus the hazard prevention program should be applied into the 8 industrial categories in order to strengthen national competitiveness, protect labors's safety, reduce the social cost and improve the welfare.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.172-183
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• 2017

Purpose: This study was conducted to investigate factors affecting the job embeddedness of workers in the manufacturing industry. Methods: The survey was conducted on 261 workers of the manufacturing industry in P city and Y city with the help of a structured self-report questionnaire, administered between June 10 and June 30, 2017. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, a t-test, ANOVA, a $Scheff{\acute{e}}s$ test, Pearson's correlation coefficients, and stepwise multiple regression. Results: There were significant differences in job embeddedness according to educational level, marital status, jobs and types of employment, satisfaction with salary, stress level, and the perceived health status of the subjects. There were significant positive correlations between role clarity of job demands (r=.45), leader member exchange (r=.48), recovery experience from job stress (r=.27), and job embeddedness. From the multiple regression analysis, the most significant factors affecting job embeddedness were found to be leader member exchange (${\beta}=.43$), recovery experience from job stress (${\beta}=.22$), and job demand (${\beta}=.15$). These variables explained 35.0% of the total variance in job embeddedness. Conclusion: In order to increase job embeddedness of workers in the manufacturing industry, it is necessary to prepare measures to increase job demand, leader member exchange, and recovery experience from job stress.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.227-235
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• 2011

The objective of this study was to analyze 157 processes of 145 industries that exceeded Korean Occupational Exposure Limits (KOEL) for carcinogen during the 11 year period from 1999 to 2009. The data included number of industry and workers exposed, type of carcinogen and their exceeded ratio, type and size of industry in each year. These data were collected by 46 regional employment & labor offices in Korea using work environment monitoring reports. The result showed that, in each year, about 10 industries exceed their carcinogen exposure limit. The most common carcinogen exceeding KOEL were found to be formaldehyde, benzene, ethylene oxide and chromium VI. The carcinogen with the highest level of over-exposure were in the order of formaldehyde, benzene, ethylene oxide and asbestos. Fabricated metal product manufacturing industry were found to be most vulnerable against carcinogen with 11.1% of them exceeding carcinogen KOEL followed by electronic components manufacturing industry (8.3%), chemical products manufacturing industry (6.3%), and electrical equipments manufacturing industry (4.9%). The industry employing less than 50 workers had the highest percentage of exceeding carcinogen KOEL with 52.8%. The result also showed that strengthening KOEL for benzene and asbestos helped reduce the level of carcinogen over-exposure. Based on these results, strengthening the KOEL or new regulation turned out to help reduce the carcinogen over-exposure level. Benzene, ethylene oxide and chromium VI were the most frequently over-exposed carcinogen with the highest level. Therefore, these chemicals need to be regulated with a highest priority to improve the workplace environment. The results also show that the small-sized industries employing less than 50 workers was the most vulnerable against carcinogen exposures. Therefore, more government support are needed for these small-sized industries to help them to improve their workplace environment.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.257-264
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• 2018

Background: This paper presents the findings of a pilot research survey which assessed the degree of balance between safety and productivity, and its relationship with awareness and communication of human factors and safety rules in the aircraft manufacturing environment. Methods: The study was carried out at two Australian aircraft manufacturing facilities where a Likert-scale questionnaire was administered to a representative sample. The research instrument included topics relevant to the safety and human factors training provided to the target workforce. The answers were processed in overall, and against demographic characteristics of the sample population. Results: The workers were sufficiently aware of how human factors and safety rules influence their performance and acknowledged that supervisors had adequately communicated such topics. Safety and productivity seemed equally balanced across the sample. A preference for the former over the latter was associated with a higher awareness about human factors and safety rules, but not linked with safety communication. The size of the facility and the length and type of employment were occasionally correlated with responses to some communication and human factors topics and the equilibrium between productivity and safety. Conclusion: Although human factors training had been provided and sufficient bidirectional communication was present across the sample, it seems that quality and complexity factors might have influenced the effects of those safety related practices on the safety-productivity balance for specific parts of the population studied. Customization of safety training and communication to specific characteristics of employees may be necessary to achieve the desired outcomes.