• 한국직업건강간호학회지
• /
• 제23권4호
• /
• pp.227-234
• /
• 2014

Purpose: This study was conducted to understand the subjective symptom rate of musculoskeletal disease of male taxi drivers and comprehend general features, health behavior features, and factors related to the subjective symptoms of musculoskeletal system depending on the level of job stress. Methods: The participants were 206 male taxi drivers from 4 transportation companies in the Seoul and Gyeonggi areas. The investigation was conducted from July 20th 2012 to August 20th 2012 through a self-administered questionnaire survey. Results: The participants who exercised less than three times per week complained about the subjective symptoms of the musculoskeletal system (p=.016) 13.770 times as more as than those of the participants who exercised more than three times per week the participants who had a higher level of job stress complained about the subjective symptoms of the muscular skeletal (p=.011) 1.051times as more as than those who had a relatively lower level of job stress. Conclusion: This study recommends that it is necessary to provide exercise programs and arrange various plans reducing job stress to prevent muscular skeletal disease and minimize the disease susceptibility of taxi drivers.

• 한국직업건강간호학회지
• /
• 제28권2호
• /
• pp.75-82
• /
• 2019

Purpose: This study aimed to determine the influence of injury and/or injured area classification on depression in patients with industrial injuries. Methods: The participants comprised438 patients who consented to participate and completed self-reported questionnaires. Data were analyzed using SPSS/WIN version 22.0 for descriptive statistics, $x^2$ test, fisher's exact test, ANOVA, and post-hoc $Scheff{\acute{e}}$ test. A stepwise multiple regression analysis was used to identify factors influencing depression. Results: The results indicated that the effect of disease classification and injured areas on depression were significantly different in patients with industrial injuries. The results further showed that severe depression was significantly higher in cardiovascular patients and patients with an injured area of the head and waist. The most powerful predictor was age (50~59 years), return to work (reemployment), disease classification (cardiovascular), and injured area (head, including vascular disease). Conclusion: This study showed that the most influential variable of depression in patients with industrial injuries were cardiovascular issues, injury areas of the head and waist, being aged 50~59 years, and reemployment. To reduce depression in these patients, it is important to develop and implement a psychiatric rehabilitation program that helps patients to formulate a concrete plan and goal for recovery, enabling patients to actively engage in their rehabilitation.

• Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
• /
• 제34권
• /
• pp.23.1-23.14
• /
• 2022

Background: The musculoskeletal disease (MSD) burden is an important health problem among Korean fishers. We aimed to investigate the indicators of the prevalence of MSD and contributions of significant indicators to MSD in Korean fishers. Methods: This cross-section study included 927 fishers (male, 371; female, 556) aged 40 to 79 years who were enrolled from 3 fishery safety and health centers. The outcome variable was one-year prevalence of MSD in 5 body parts (the neck, shoulder, hand, back, and knee). Independent variables were sex, age, educational attainment, household income, job classification, employment xlink:type, hazardous working environment (cold, heat, and noise), ergonomic risk by the 5 body parts, anxiety disorder, depression, hypertension, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia. The adjusted odds ratio of MSDs by the 5 body parts were calculated using multiple logistic regression analysis. We computed the population attributable fraction (PAF) for each indicators of MSDs using binary regression models. Results: The one-year prevalence of MSD in the neck, shoulder, hand, back, and knee was 7.8%, 17.8%, 7.8%, 27.2%, and 16.2% in males vs. 16.4%, 28.1%, 23.0%, 38.7%, and 30.0% in females, respectively. The ergonomic risk PAF according to the body parts ranged from 22.8%-59.6% in males and 22.8%-50.3% in female. Mental diseases showed a significant PAF for all body parts only among female (PAF 9.1%-21.4%). Cold exposure showed a significant PAF for the neck, shoulder, and hand MSD only among female (25.6%-26.8%). Age was not a significant indicator except for the knee MSD among female. Conclusions: Ergonomic risk contributed majorly as indicators of MSDs in both sexes of fishers. Mental disease and cold exposure were indicators of MSDs only among female fishers. This information may be important for determining priority risk groups for the prevention of work-related MSD among Korean fishers.

• 한국환경보건학회지
• /
• 제45권3호
• /
• pp.247-257
• /
• 2019

Objectives: The Korea Ministry of Environment regulates concentrations of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) through Atmosphere Environmental Standards to protect public health from HAPs. However, simply determining the exceedance of HAP concentrations has several limitations and more comprehensive assessment is required. In addition, integrated risk assessment is needed considering exposure in all microenvironments, including outdoor as well as indoor environments. The purpose of this study was to assess the differences in risk by sub-population groups according to time-activity patterns and reported concentrations, as well as the lifetime risk for Koreans. Methods: In this study, we calculated time-weighted average exposure concentrations for benzene and $PM_{10}$ among preschool-age children, students, housewifes, workers, and the elderly using residential time and concentrations for indoor (house, school or workplace, other), outdoor, and transport by the meta-analysis method. The risk assessments were conducted by excess cancer risk and disease death risk using 1,000,000 Monte-Carlo simulations for probabilistic analysis. Results: Preschool-age children, students, housewifes, workers, and the elderly spent 91.9, 86.0, 79.8, 82.2, and 77.3% of their day in their house, workplace, or school, respectively. The more than 99% excess cancer risk for benzene exceed 1.0E-06 in all sub-populations and lifetime. The acute disease death risk for $PM_{10}$ for housewifes and workers for lifetime were 3.35E-04 and 3.18E-04, and chronic disease death risks were 2.84E-03 and 2.70E-03, respectively. Conclusions: The risk of benzene and $PM_{10}$ by sub-population group and for the lifetime of housewifes and workers were assessed. Benzene showed risky results for this study. All disease death risks of $PM_{10}$ were higher than 1.0E-04 and showed different risks by sub-population. This study can be used as a basis for lifetime exposure and risk assessment to benzene and $PM_{10}$.

• 한국산업보건학회지
• /
• 제23권2호
• /
• pp.108-113
• /
• 2013

Objectives: Although several cases of lung diseases caused by indium have been reported in Japan, the United States and China, South Korea, which is estimated to have been the world's largest consumer of indium, has not yet established a criteria for the diagnosis of lung diseases caused by indium exposure. In this study, we tried to determine the applicability of the Krebs von den lungen-6, which has been widely recognized for its use with interstitial lung disease in Japan, as a biological exposure index for indium. Methods: Methods: The analysis of indium in serum was conducted by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and the analysis of KL-6 in serum was carried out using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit. Results: The indium levels in serum were distributed from below the detection limit to a peak of $125.78{\mu}g/L$, and the values of the KL-6 were distributed from 104.5 U/mL to 2162.2 U/mL. The serum indium and KL-6 showed good correlation ($R^2$=0.389,pfortrend=0.000) and smoking did not affect the KL-6. Conclusions: The usefulness of KL-6 as a specific biomarker for interstitial lung disease has been recognized. In addition, it is expected that effective prevention of health problems can be achieved by determining the lung-damage progress at an early stage according to individual susceptibility.

• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• 제13권1호
• /
• pp.66-72
• /
• 2022

Background: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the psychological well-being (PWB) during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in workers of a multinational company. Methods: Employees (aged ≥18 years) were recruited from Latin American, North American, New Zealand, and European sites of a multinational company operative during all the pandemic period. The self-reported Psychological General Well-Being Index was used to assess the global PWB and the effects on six subdomains: anxiety, depressed mood, positive well-being, self-control, general health, and vitality. The influencing role of age, gender, geographical location, COVID-19 epidemiology, and restrictive measures adopted to control the pandemic was explored. Results: A total of 1335 workers completed the survey. The aggregate median PWB global score was in a positive range, with significantly better outcomes detected in the Mexican and Colombian Latin American sites compared with the other worldwide countries (p < 0.001). Among the European locations, a significantly higher PWB score was determined in Spain compared with the German and French sites (p < 0.05). Comparable geographical trends were demonstrated for all the PWB subdomains. Male workers had a significantly better PWB compared with females (p < 0.05), whereas a negative correlation emerged with aging (p = 0.01). COVID-19 epidemiology and pandemic control measures had no clear effects on PWB. Conclusion: Monitoring PWB and the impact of individual and pandemic-related variables may be helpful to clarify the mental health effects of pandemic, define targeted psychological-supporting measures, also in the workplace, to face such a complex situation in a more constructive way.

• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• 제11권3호
• /
• pp.314-321
• /
• 2020

Background: Occupational accidents occur for a variety of reasons, such as unsafe behaviors of workers and insufficient safety equipment at the workplace, but there are also various economic and social factors that can impact working conditions and working environment. This study analyzed the relationship between changes in economic factors and the occurrence of occupational accidents in Korea. Methods: Multilinear regression analysis was used as the analysis model. The general to specific method was also used, which consecutively removes statistically insignificant variables from a general model that includes dependent variables and lagged variables of dependent variables. Results: The frequency of occupational accidents was found to have a statistically significant relationship to economic indicators. The monthly number of cases of occupational injury and disease and fatal occupational injuries were found to be closely related to manufacturing capacity utilization, differences in the production index in the services sector, and commencements of building construction. The increase in equipment investment indicators was found to reduce fatal occupational injuries. Conclusion: The results of this study may be used to develop occupational accident trends or leading indicators, which in turn can be used by organizations that manage and monitor occupational accidents toward taking administrative action designed to reduce occupational accidents. The results also imply that short-term and mid- to long-term economic and social changes that can impact workers, workplaces and working conditions, and workplace organizations must be taken into account if more effective government policies are to be established and implemented toward further prevention of occupational accidents.

• 한국건축시공학회지
• /
• 제23권6호
• /
• pp.875-885
• /
• 2023

This research delves into the evolving interplay between occupational diseases, work-related illnesses, and accidents in the construction industry, focusing on the past twenty years. One significant discovery is the 19-fold escalation in reported occupational diseases, prompting an examination of their root causes and connections to workplace environments. Frequently encountered work-related ailments include physically strenuous tasks, low back pain, and cerebrovascular issues, highlighting the need for robust prevention and management approaches. Predominantly, noise-induced hearing loss and pneumoconiosis are the most common occupational diseases. The study unveils notable correlations between specific work-related illnesses and accidents, indicating the necessity for bespoke safety measures. Additionally, a pronounced association between work-related illnesses and occupational diseases offers insights into underlying risk factors. Remarkably, the findings propose a bidirectional link between occupational diseases and accidents, challenging traditional beliefs about causality. These insights are pivotal for enhancing safety protocols, focusing on preventive measures, and foreseeing occupational diseases that may arise following accidents in the construction industry.

• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• 제1권2호
• /
• pp.140-148
• /
• 2010

Objectives: Determining the work-relatedness of lung cancer developed through occupational exposures is very difficult. Aims of the present study are to develop a decision tree of occupational lung cancer. Methods: 153 cases of lung cancer surveyed by the Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute (OSHRI) from 1992-2007 were included. The target variable was whether the case was approved as work-related lung cancer, and independent variables were age, sex, pack-years of smoking, histological type, type of industry, latency, working period and exposure material in the workplace. The Classification and Regression Test (CART) model was used in searching for predictors of occupational lung cancer. Results: In the CART model, the best predictor was exposure to known lung carcinogens. The second best predictor was 8.6 years or higher latency and the third best predictor was smoking history of less than 11.25 pack-years. The CART model must be used sparingly in deciding the work-relatedness of lung cancer because it is not absolute. Conclusion: We found that exposure to lung carcinogens, latency and smoking history were predictive factors of approval for occupational lung cancer. Further studies for work-relatedness of occupational disease are needed.

• 대한안전경영과학회지
• /
• 제26권2호
• /
• pp.79-86
• /
• 2024

Scientific exploration of how occupational health risks relate with occupational illnesses are essential for mitigating health-related issues in industries. This study analyzed the risk scores obtained by occupational health risk assessments at 3,172 manufacturing companies and examined their effects on occupational illness. Statistical analyses revealed that companies with an occupational health manager (scored 89.1 out of 100) had significantly higher activity scores of health management compared to those without (78.2). However, companies with a history of occupational illness (79.1) or those classified as high-risk industries (85.2) had significantly lower activity scores than their counterparts (81.7, 87.3). In addition, regression analyses using factor analysis showed that latent risk factors such as cardiovascular disease/job stress, health management, and musculoskeletal problem significantly influenced the risk of occupational illness. The activity factors such as health management, work environment management, and regulatory complaisance significant impacted the reduction of occupational illness. The findings of this study can be used to improve the occupational health risk assessment method and utilized in effectively managing occupational risks in industries.