• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.14-23
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• 2011

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the clinical nurses' resilience, occupational stress, and occupational satisfaction and to identify the correlations among them. Methods: Structured questionnaires were administered with total 75 questions for 433 nurses working at a university hospital in Jin-ju from July 19 to 30, 2010. Data from the completed questionnaires were analyzed with the SPSS/WIN program. Results: The resilience had a significant difference according to the age, marital status, religion, education level, annual income, motive of choosing the nursing science, clinical career, position, and workplace. Resilience had a negative correlation with occupational stress (r=-.405), and had a positive correlation with occupational satisfaction (r=.380). Occupational stress had a negative correlation with occupational satisfaction (r=-.637). Conclusion: The higher their resilience was, the lower their occupational stress and the higher the occupational satisfaction. It is recommended that intervention program be developed that can enhance personal resilience in nurse.

• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.32-40
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• 2008

According to the statistic of industrial disaster in 2006 presented by the Ministry of Labor, there were 10,235 people with occupational diseases adding 2,740 more people (36.6%) compared to the previous year. Concerning the occupational diseases, 1,607 people had brain-cardiovascular diseases comprising more than 15% of all occupational diseases, and excessive workload and occupational stress seemed to play important parts. According to Korean Society of Occupational Stress, among 7,000 workers at 254 businesses in Korea, 73% of them were reported to be exposed to potential occupational stress and 22% of them were reported to be under severe stress. The increase of occupational stress among workers comes from excessive competition caused by business restructuring, promotion competition, annual salary system and so forth. Occupational stress threatens the heath and even the life of workers and lowers business competitiveness. Using the Korean occupational stress reduction model to the workers at small and medium businesses in Incheon area, therefore, the project intends to measure the level of stress among office workers and examine its relatedness to the VTD subjective symptoms. In addition, the project intends to present some methods to reduce occupational stress and increase business efficiency at work by studying and analyzing the various elements that workers use to reduce their occupational stress.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.156-161
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• 2017

Background: Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems are becoming more widespread in organizations. Consequently, their effectiveness has become a core topic for researchers. This paper evaluates the performance of the Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series 18001 specification in certified companies in Iran. Methods: The evaluation is based on a comparison of specific criteria and indictors related to occupational health and safety management practices in three certified and three noncertified companies. Results: Findings indicate that the performance of certified companies with respect to occupational health and safety management practices is significantly better than that of noncertified companies. Conclusion: Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series 18001-certified companies have a better level of occupational health and safety; this supports the argument that Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems play an important strategic role in health and safety in the workplace.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.184-191
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• 2018

Background: Due to an increasing number of workers aged 50 years and above, the number of those employed is also on the rise, and those workers aged 50 and over has exceeded 50% of the total fatal occupational injuries. Therefore, it is necessary to implement the selection and concentration by identifying the characteristics of high-risk groups necessary for an effective prevention against and reduction of fatal occupational injuries. Methods: This study analyzed the characteristics of high-risk groups and the occupational injury fatality rate per 10,000 workers among the workers aged 50 and over through a multi-dimensional analysis by sex, employment status of workers, industry and occupation by targeting 4,079 persons who died in fatal occupational injuries from January 2007 to December 12. Results: The share of the workers aged 50 years and above is increasing every year in the total fatal occupational injuries occurrence, and the high-risk groups include 'male workers' by sex, 'daily workers' by worker's status, 'craft and related-trades workers' by occupation, and 'mining' by industry. Conclusion: The most frequent causal objects of fatal occupational injuries of the workers aged 50 years and above are found out to be 'installment and dismantlement of temporary equipment and material on work platforms including scaffold' in the construction industry and 'mobile crane, conveyor belt and fork lifts' in the manufacturing industry.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.90-100
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• 2021

Purpose: The study aimed to identify plans to revitalize occupational health nursing at industrial worksites. Methods: First, a literature review was conducted to derive the questions. Next, we used the Delphi method with two rounds to obtain experts' opinions. The 15 expert participants were seven occupational health nurses and eight professors from nursing colleges. Results: The analysis of opinions indicated that occupational health nurses should be competent in clinical nursing care to perform health management and health promotion activities of workers. It is necessary to develop high-quality occupational nursing services that can prevent and manage occupational diseases and work-related illnesses. Moreover, an improved system for stable employment of these nurses should be implemented. Conclusion: This study confirmed that occupational health nursing is an independent and important area for improving workers' disease prevention and health promotion. It will provide basic data for initiating occupational health nursing and expanding the role of the occupational health nurses.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.83-92
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• 2011

Purpose: This is a descriptive study that provides basic material to improve occupational health nurses' work conditions and industrial performance status. Methods: The 955 nurses who participated in the training program to understand the purpose of this study from January 2009 to December 2010 conducted by the Korean Association of Occupational Health Nurses agreed to be subjects for the study. The questionnaire included the general characteristics, work conditions and performance of occupational health management. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, and multiple regression analysis. Results: Occupational health management performance of the subjects averaged 3.11 points and detailed area by health management 3.64 points, environment management 2.91 points and occupational management 2.77 points. Health management performance of those factors affecting the duration of occupational health nurse (${\beta}$=.199), type of industry (${\beta}$=.126), average annual income (${\beta}$=-.277) to 11.4% (F=3.175, p<.001) were found to be a significant determinant. Conclusion: Occupational health nurses are the core workforce of occupational health through the prevention of occupational disease and industrial accidents. Findings of this study can be an important resource to increase appropriate occupational health nurses' work conditions and performance of occupational health management.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.192-200
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• 2012

Purpose: The purpose of this study aimed to investigate job stress levels of occupational health managers and whether job stress levels were affected by various factors such as size and types of company and work-related characteristics of occupational health managers. Methods: The study was conducted from May to September 2011 in the chemicals manufacturing factories in Korea and total subjects were 59 occupational health managers. We measured job stress levels of occupational health managers using Korean occupational stress scale (KOSS) questionnaires and the information of company characteristics was obtained using a self-reported questionnaire. Results: The characteristics of company such as type, size and industries and job characteristics of occupational health managers were significant factors in job stress. Job demand, job control, job insecurity, organizational system and occupational environment scores were significantly associated with type, size and industries of company. In multiple regression analyses, we found that job demand was significantly associated with occupational position and type of company, and job insecurity was significantly associated with working hour. Also, we found that lack of reward was significantly associated with education level, speciality, duration of work and hour and type of company. Conclusion: These results indicate that job stress of occupational health managers is significantly associated with work-related characteristics and company's characteristics.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.224-234
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• 2012

Objectives: This study was conducted in order to obtain information concerning the health hazards that may result from a 13 week inhalation exposure of n-pentane in Sprague-Dawley rats. Methods: This study was conducted in accordance with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) guidelines for the testing of chemicals No. 413 'Subchronic inhalation toxicity: 90-day study (as revised in 2009)'. The rats were divided into 4 groups (10 male and 10 female rats in each group), and were exposed to 0, 340, 1,530, and 6,885 ppm n-pentane in each exposure chamber for 6 hour/day, 5 days/week, for 13 weeks. All of the rats were sacrificed at the end of the treatment period. During the test period, clinical signs, mortality, body weights, food consumption, ophthalmoscopy, locomotion activity, urinalysis, hematology, serum biochemistry, gross findings, organ weights, and histopathology were assessed. Results: During the period of testing, there were no treatment related effects on the clinical findings, body weight, food consumption, ophthalmoscopy, urinalysis, hematology, serum biochemistry, gross findings, relative organ weight, and histopathological findings. Conclusion: The no-observable-adverse-effect level (NOAEL) of n-pentane is evaluated as being more than 6,885 ppm (20.3 mg/L) in both male and female rats. n-pentane was not a classified specific target organ toxicity in the globally harmonized classification system (GHS).

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.90-98
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• 2016

Objectives: The aim of this study is to analyze the status of implementation of occupational safety and health education and evaluate the relation between the implementation of education and occupational accidents. Methods: This study used data on occupational safety and health education from the 2012 Current Status of Occupational Safety and Health survey by the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency. The sample is 7,010 persons working in relation to occupational safety and health in industry. An ANOVA test is used to analyze the status of and need for education. Poisson regression is used to evaluate the relation between education and occupational accidents. Results: The rate of implementation of education is 53.3% for periodic education on workers holding office positions, 68.3% for periodic education for workers not holding office positions, 60.3% for periodic education for persons holding managerial and supervisory positions, 65.5% for education provided upon hiring, 50.5% for education provided upon changes in work activities and 37.2% for special education. In the Poisson regression, these data strongly suggest that the probability of occupational accidents occurring with education implemented is much lower than without the implementation of any kind of safety and health education. Conclusions: It is clear that implementation of education has a positive effect on reducing occupational accidents, although its application in domestic industry is insufficient. Thus, it is concluded that education on occupational safety and health should be strengthened for the prevention of occupational accidents.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.11-19
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• 2013

Backgrounds: Occupations are grouped on the basis of similarity in tasks and duties performed. Standard occupational classification (SOC) is a tool for organizing all professions into a clearly defined set of groups according to the tasks and duties undertaken in the respective jobs. Objectives: The major objective of this study is to comprehensively review how a SOC system is used in occupational and safety fields such as surveillance, exposure monitoring, occupational epidemiological study, management of carcinogens and analysis of occupational accidents. Methods: We summarized the cases, policies and regulations used in SOC systems in advanced countries and as they appear in articles Results: We found that SOC systems have been widely used in various areas of occupational safety and health in the US, the UK, Finland, and the EU. In general, it is highly common to use SOC in the analysis of occupational accidents and diseases and to identify factors causing those accidents. The SOC system is also used not only for surveillance of exposure to hazardous agents and occupational health, but to manage carcinogens. In order to adjust the effects of a particular job, SOC is used in the general population health area. The Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) has never used or introduced an SOC system. There have been no cases of the application of a SOC system to either the occupational safety and health field or to health surveillance for the general population in Korea. Conclusions: We suggested a need to introduce an SOC system in several occupational safety and health activities, such as work environment measurement, analysis of occupational accidents, specific physical examination and surveillance systems, etc.