• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.473-478
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• 2010

For the medical approaches of work-related musculoskeletal diseases, it is important to consider occupational relatedness and occupational fitness. Clinical approach includes physical examination, radiologic tests and other related tests and we should choose proper management which is suitable to workers' status for the prevention of early disease's progression and later disabilities. Also, it suggests that occupational prevention program consultation for work-related musculoskeletal diseases considering workers' variable circumstances should be done via occupational relatedness and occupational fitness.

• Proceedings of the Safety Management and Science Conference
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• 2002.11a
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• pp.9-15
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• 2002

There are many and various problems due to an occupational disease. These problems result in serious social problems such as individual and family problem, economical loses of company. The objective of this study is to analyze the worker's consciousness and provide the precautionary measures for prevention of an occupational disease. The samples for this study are chosen from the companies with less than 300 employees under charge of the Kangnung Ministry of Labor during three months (2002. 3. 2 ∼ 2002. 5. 31).

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.11-16
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• 2012

Lead poisoning is one of the earliest identified and most known occupational disease. Its acute effects have been recognized from antiquity when this condition principally afflicted manual workers and slaves, actually scarcely considered by the medicine of that time. The Industrial Revolution caused an epidemic of metal intoxication, urging scientists and physician of that period to study and identify specific symptoms and organ alterations related to chronic lead poisoning. During the 20th century, the acknowledgment of occupational and environmental toxicity of lead fostered public awareness and legislation to protect health. More recently, the identification of sub-clinical effects have greatly modified the concept of lead poisoning and the approaches of medicine towards this condition. Nowadays, lead poisoning is rarely seen in developed countries, but it still represents a major environmental problem in certain areas. Consequently, it may appear as a paradigm of "occupational and environmental disease," and the history of this condition seems to parallel the historical development of modern "Occupational and Environmental Health" as a more complete medical discipline.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.110-116
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• 2012

Establishing a causal relationship between factors at work and disease is difficult for occupational physicians and researchers. This paper seeks to provide arguments for the judgement of evidence of causality in observational studies that relate work factors to disease. I derived criteria for the judgement of evidence of causality from the following sources: the criteria list of Hill, the approach by Rothman, the methods used by International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), and methods used by epidemiologists. The criteria are applied to two cases of putative occupational diseases; breast cancer caused by shift work and aerotoxic syndrome. Only three of the Hill criteria can be applied to an actual study. Rothman stresses the importance of confounding and alternative explanations than the putative cause. IARC closely follows Hill, but they also incorporate other than epidemiological evidence. Applied to shift work and breast cancer, these results have found moderate evidence for a causal relationship, but applied to the aerotoxic syndrome, there is an absence of evidence of causality. There are no ready to use algorithms for judgement of evidence of causality. Criteria from different sources lead to similar results and can make a conclusion of causality more or less likely.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.246-249
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• 2017

Health-care workers are at risk of exposure to occupational infections with subsequent risk of contracting diseases, disability, and even death. A systematic collection of occupational disease data is useful for monitoring current trends in work situations and disease exposures; however, these data are usually limited due to under-reporting. The objective of this study was to review literature related to knowledge, risk perceptions, and practices regarding occupational exposures to infectious diseases in Malaysian health-care settings, in particular regarding blood-borne infections, universal precautions, use of personal protective equipment, and clinical waste management. The data are useful for determining improvements in knowledge and risk perceptions among health-care workers with developments of health policies and essential interventions for prevention and control of occupational diseases.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.125-132
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• 2018

Background: According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) accounted for 32% of all nonfatal injury and illness cases in 2014 among full-time workers. Our objective was to review and summarize the evidence linking occupational exposures to vibration and awkward posture with MSDs of the shoulder and neck. Methods: A literature search was conducted using the terms musculoskeletal disorders, vibration, and awkward posture. All types of observational epidemiologic studies, with the exception of case reports, published during 1998-2015 were included. Databases searched were MEDLINE (Ovid), Embase (Ovid), Scopus, Ergonomic Abstracts, NIOSHTIC-2, and Health and Safety Science Abstracts. Results: Occupational exposures to whole-body or hand-arm vibration were significantly associated with or resulted in MSDs of the shoulder and neck. Awkward postures while working were also associated with MSDs in these locations. These findings were consistent across study designs, populations, and countries. Conclusion: Occupational exposure to vibration and awkward posture are associated with shoulder and neck MSDs. Longitudinal studies are required to elucidate the mechanisms responsible for these associations, and intervention studies are warranted.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.176-192
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• 1999

The purpose of this study is to analysis change of industrial health and safety before and after economic crisis(1997~1998). The data were obtained through mail interview with health supervisor(occupational health nurses) during February, 1999. The final sample was consisted of 127 respondents, 97 are selected in this study. The major findings were as follows: First, the percent of industries whose empl safe supervisors, physicians and industry hygi decreased in number is 79.4%, 3.8%, 50.0 21.5% in each. Second, man receiving over 1.5 million won as an average wage of health supervisor is 27.5% in 1997, but it decreased to 25.3% in 1998. Man receiving under 100~150 million won is 48.4% in 1997, but this percent decreased to 36.3% in 1998 and 13.6% of health supervisor regularly were transformed to contingent worker in 1998. Third, especially, budgets for health and saf work place decreased to 13.8% in 1998 than 19. Fourth, industrial accident case, unre accident case, occupational disease decreased than 1997, but mortality from industrial a increased in 250%. Fifth, according to the health diagnosis report, number of case with evidence of disease increased in liver disease, tuberculosis and so on, and number of case with evidence of occupational disease increased in noise induced hearing loss, pneumoconiosis. organic solvent poisoning and so on. Sixth, this survey shows that health council, health education in duty of health supervisor was conducted passive in 1998 thin 1997, and percent of hold two or more positions is 47.6% in medical insurance, 10.7% in accountant's business 8.3 in secretory. 7.1% in telephone operator awl 22.6% in etc. Seventh, distress of health supervisor after economic crisis is 30.9% in employment instability, 19.8% in hold two or more positions and decrease of budgets. For subjugation of the trouble, the respond of active policy of government occupied most.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.206-215
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• 2021

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the factors affecting cardiovascular disease in middle-aged male workers. Methods: The participants were 137 male office workers over 40 years old and under 60 years old working in small- and medium-sized workplaces from three southern provinces of Korea. Data were collected through self-reported questionnaires and health screening reports from the 2014 National Health Examination. The influencing factors included general characteristics of participants, anger expression style, and occupational stress. Data were analyzed using t-test, ANOVA, and regression analysis with SPSS 22.0. Results: The mean score of risk of cardiovascular disease was 6.73±4.69 and there were significant differences in exercise (t=2.13, p=.035) working time (t=-2.15, p=.034). Logistic regression analysis showed that, when adjusted for exercise and working time, the probability of becoming under a cardiovascular disease risk was 21% higher for those who anger-in (OR=1.21, 95% CI=1.02~1.44, p=.027) and 12% higher for those perceived occupational stress (OR=1.12, 95% CI=1.01~1.24, p=.030). Conclusion: The results suggest developing the strategies for middle-aged male workers to encourage exercise and to decrease occupational stress, as well as an appropriate anger expression style to improve holistic aspect of health considering their demographic characteristics.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.36-41
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• 2017

Background: Police work is generally sedentary although there may be situations that require physical endurance and strength, such as foot chases and arresting suspects. Factors such as excessive body fat can impede an officer's physical ability to deal with such occurrences. Our objective was to examine associations between officers' body fat percentage (BF%) and performance on a standardized fitness protocol. Methods: Data were obtained from fitness screening among 1,826 male and 115 female officers in a large US police agency. The screening consisted of a 2.4-km run, push-ups, sit-ups, and sit-and-reach test. Sex-specific body fat percentages were estimated from skinfold thickness measured using calipers. Linear regression models were used to examine unadjusted and adjusted mean scores of fitness tests across BF% tertiles. Results: The prevalence of overall fitness was 4.3 times greater in male officers and 3.6 times greater in female officers having the lowest BF% tertile compared with the highest tertile (30.3% vs 7.1% and 46.0% vs 12.8%, respectively). BF% was linearly and positively associated with the time of 2.4-km run (p < 0.001), and linearly and inversely associated with the number of push-ups (p < 0.001), sit-ups (p < 0.001), and the distance of sit-and-reach (p < 0.001) in men. Similar associations were observed in women with the exception of sit-and-reach (p = 0.122). Associations were independent of age, race/ethnicity, rank, and duty station. Conclusion: Overall, BF% was inversely associated with fitness levels in male and female officers. Future longitudinal studies should be initiated to explore the potentially causal relationship between BF% and fitness in law enforcement officers.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.61-68
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• 2010

Objectives: The extent of the occupational cancer burden has rarely been estimated in Korea. The aim of this study is to provide an estimation of the population attributable fraction (PAF) of occupational cancer in Korea. Methods: Nine kinds of Group 1 carcinogens addressed by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and 7 kinds of cancer were selected for the target carcinogens and diseases, respectively. The prevalence of carcinogen-exposed workers was estimated and correction factors were applied so that the value would be representative of the total population. Data on relative risk (RR) were taken from IARC reports and were compared with the RRs from the studies on Korean workers. The PAF was estimated according to Levin's formula. Results: The proportion of the general Korean population exposed to carcinogens was 9.7%. The PAF of total cancer was 1.1% for incident cancer cases and 1.7% for cancer deaths. The PAFs of lung cancer and leukemia were 7.0% and 4.5%, respectively. With the RRs reported from Korean studies, the PAF for lung cancer and leukemia were 3.7% and 3.4%, respectively. Conclusion: The PAF in this study (1.1%) was lower than that reported in previous studies (2-4%) from developed countries. Considering that only 9 of the 29 kinds of Group 1 carcinogens were included in this study, the PAF might be underestimated. However, because the process of industrialization in Korea differs from that which occurred in other developed countries, 1.1% of the PAF might be appropriate for Korea.