• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• 제31권2호
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• pp.112-118
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• 2016

The labor force has moved to services industry. An industrial accidents of service industry is three people on 10 persons in 2013. This research conducted questionnaire surveys of 1:1 directly person interviews with a structured questionnaire intended for 150 service workplaces, in order to improve occupational safety and health in very small service workplace with less than 5 employee. The survey contents is employment type, safety and health management system, safety and health training, activities. In the results, working with non-regular(informal) workers is two people on 10 persons 27.1% and female workers is about five people on 10 persons with 58.1%, and that 67.9% of non-regular workers who are mainly engaged in the production line appeared. And the work-related injury and accident experience was 3.3% and the occupational injury rate was 1.02%, especially occupational injury rate of female workers was 0.88%. Workplace risk assessment carried out in response that it was very low as 10.0% of the total. Also the safety & health education and activities was very low. Thus the safety consciousness and education is urgently required in order to prevent the industrial accidents.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• 제5권2호
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• pp.66-72
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• 2014

Background: The purpose of this study was to enumerate the annual morbidity and mortality incidence and estimate the direct and indirect costs associated with occupational injuries and illnesses in Bangkok in 2008. In this study, data on workmen compensation claims and costs from the Thai Workmen Compensation Fund, Social Security Office of Ministry of Labor, were aggregated and analyzed. Methods: To assess costs, this study focuses on direct costs associated with the payment of workmen compensation claims for medical care and health services. Results: A total of 52,074 nonfatal cases of occupational injury were reported, with an overall incidence rate of 16.9 per 1,000. The incidence rate for male workers was four times higher than that for female workers. Out of a total direct cost of $13.87 million, $9.88 million were for medical services and related expenses and $3.98 million for compensable reimbursement. The estimated amount of noncompensated lost earnings was an additional $2.66 million. Conclusion: Occupational injuries and illnesses contributed to the total cost; it has been estimated that workers' compensation covers less than one-half to one-tenth of this cost.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• 제11권2호
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• pp.165-172
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• 2020

Background: To gain a better understanding of nonfatal injuries in Alaska, underutilized data sources such as workers' compensation claims must be analyzed. The purpose of the current study was to utilize workers' compensation claims data to estimate the risk of nonfatal, work-related injuries among occupations in Alaska, characterize injury patterns, and prioritize future research. Methods: A dataset with information on all submitted claims during 2014-2015 was provided for analysis. Claims were manually reviewed and coded. For inclusion in this study, claims had to represent incidents that resulted in a nonfatal acute traumatic injury, occurred in Alaska during 2014-2015, and were approved for compensation. Results: Construction workers had the highest number of injuries (2,220), but a rate lower than the overall rate (34 per 1,000 construction workers, compared to 40 per 1,000 workers overall). Fire fighters had the highest rate of injuries on the job, with 162 injuries per 1,000 workers, followed by law enforcement officers with 121 injuries per 1,000 workers. The most common types of injuries across all occupations were sprains/strains/tears, contusions, and lacerations. Conclusion: The successful use of Alaska workers' compensation data demonstrates that the information provided in the claims dataset is meaningful for epidemiologic research. The predominance of sprains, strains, and tears among all occupations in Alaska indicates that ergonomic interventions to prevent overexertion are needed. These findings will be used to promote and guide future injury prevention research and interventions.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• 제28권5호
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• pp.78-82
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• 2013

The purpose of this study is to review the labor force partitpation rate and work environment characteristics of female workers to provide basic information for establishment and implementation of effective policies related to accident prevention and workers health protection for female workers. It was analyzed employment status, work environment and injuries and illnesses based on economic activity census results, compensation of industrial injury and the second working condition survey. According to economic activity census results, female labor force participation rate has been steadily increased, whereas male labor force participation rate has been decreased since 1970. Industrial accident rate has been declined in male workers but that in female workers has been steadily increased even though male workers were higher accident rate than female workers. It was evaluated that female workers are vulnerable to industrial injuries and illnesses in the aspect of their working environment and employment status. Also, Substantial differences between female and male workers in occupational exposure patterns, occupational disease and occupational environments were observed. Therefore it was recommended that special care programs for female workers such as a specialized monitoring and management program should be introduced in the near future.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• 제2권4호
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• pp.321-327
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• 2011

Objectives: To find out from an analysis of empirical data the levels of influence, which a labor union (LU) and Occupational Safety and Health Committee (OSHC) have in reducing the occupational injury and illness rate (OIIR) through their accident prevention activities in manufacturing industries with five or more employees. Methods: The empirical data used in this study are the Occupational Safety and Health Tendency survey data, Occupational Accident Compensation data and labor productivity and sales data for the years 2003 to 2007. By matching these three sources of data, a final data set (n = 280) was developed and analyzed using SPSS version 18 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Results: It was found that a workplace with a LU has a lower OIIR than one without a LU. In manufacturing industries with five or more employees in 2007, the OIIR of the workplaces without a LU was 0.87%, while that of workplaces with a LU was much lower at 0.45%. In addition, workplaces with an established OSHC had a lower OIIR than those without an OSHC. Conclusion: It was found that the OIIR of workplaces with a LU is lower than those without a LU. Moreover, those with the OSHC usually had a lower OIIR than those without. The workplace OIIR may have an impact on management performance because the rate is negatively correlated with labor productivity and sales. In the long run, the OIIR of workplaces will be reduced when workers and employers join forces and recognize that the safety and health activities of the workplace are necessary, not only for securing the health rights of the workers, but also for raising labor productivity.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• 제5권3호
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• pp.147-151
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• 2014

Background: Agriculture ranks among the most dangerous trades worldwide. There is, however, still a lack of knowledge on nonfatal injuries in agriculture. The aim of this study was to describe the nature and occurrence of nonfatal injuries in farmers in two counties in central Norway. Methods: A questionnaire was sent to 7,004 farmers in Norway. We asked for information about the respondents and the farm, whether the farmer had had work-related injuries on the farm during the past 12 months, and details about the incidence and seriousness of the injury. Results: A total of 2,699 respondents gave a response rate of 42%. Of the respondents, 249 (9.2%) reported one or more work-related injuries. The most usual cause of injury involved an animal, and >75% of these happened inside the outbuilding. Among these, 17.5% had a consequence of sick leave or a more serious result. When all the accidents were analyzed by stepwise logistic regression, only the variables: works alone, has >3,500 stipulated working hours at the farm, and the type of production were statistical significant explanatory variables for having an injury. Conclusion: Incorporating safety aspects to a greater extend in the design and construction of outbuildings would make a substantial contribution to injury prevention in agriculture.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• 제9권2호
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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.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• 제13권2호
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• pp.135-140
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• 2022

Background: Coal mining is a hazardous industry. The purpose of the study is to identify the nature of occupational injuries and diseases among coal miners and to determine the factors that affect the rate of injury and duration of time loss from work. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted using accepted workers' compensation claims data of 30,390 Australian coal miners between July 2003 and June 2017. Results: Musculoskeletal and fracture conditions accounted for approximately 60% of claims in all occupational groups. Cox regression analysis showed that older age and female gender were significant predictors of longer time off work. Injury types and occupations were associated with work time loss: mental health conditions, and machine operators and drivers had significantly longer durations of time off work. Conclusion: Future research can further address how these factors led to longer time off work so that coal industry regulators, employers, and healthcare providers can target interventions more effectively to these at-risk workers.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제28권3호
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• pp.551-562
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• 1995

To assess the status of safety accidents, authors reviewed and analysed the records of safety accidents of a welding material manufacturing factory at Pohang city from January 1989 to December 1993. The results are; 1. The total incidence of safety accidents was 295 spells for five years. 2. Average age of workers with accident was 35.7 years. Average duration of employment was 6.2 years and the duration of employment increased as the year increased. 3. There was no statistical significance on season, month, weekday and time by year in the incidence of safety accidents. The most frequent part of body injured was upper extremities and the most frequent type of injury was abrasion. 4. Mean admission rate of safety accidents was 12.6% and the ratio of treated spells as occupational injury was 7.8%. 5. The most frequent cause of injury was worker's mistake and the most frequent action for the prevention of further accidents was safety education. 6. The incidence rate of safety accidents on 1993 was 116.2 spells per 1,000 persons. Above results suggest that to prevent safety accidents, safety education should be done continuously, the environmental and human factors were controlled and more exact reporting system of safety accidents was needed.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• 제15권2호
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• pp.39-45
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• 2013

Occupational injury rate of Korea recently slides slightly downward after stagnating around 0.7%'s for more than 10 years. To accelerate this trend, injury prevention for small enterprises is crucially important because vast majority of injuries take place in small enterprises. Considering huge number of small enterprises, we need to focus our efforts to type of riskier industries. By analysing detailed injury data, we select type of industries which need our concentrated prevention efforts. Several preventive measures are recommended, after we made literature survey of case studies for small enterprises. The result identifies riskier type of industries including transportation machinery manufacturing industry type(B), woods & veneer manufacturing industry, etc. Safety of machinery, new enterprises less than 2 years in service and new employees serving less than 6 months are in need for focused prevention efforts. To cope with these vulnerable spots, recommended preventive measures include strengthening of machinery safety standards, early assistance for safety to new enterprises, mandatory safety education before employment, etc.