• Title/Summary/Keyword: Safety and Health Policy

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Health Promotion at Work: A Comparison of Policy and Practice Across Europe

  • Verra, Sanne E.;Benzerga, Amel;Jiao, Boshen;Ruggeri, Kai
    • Safety and Health at Work
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    • v.10 no.1
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    • pp.21-29
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    • 2019
  • Background: Promoting healthy lifestyles at work should complement workplace safety programs. This study systematically investigates current states of occupational health and safety (OHS) policy as well as practice in the European Union (EU). Methods: OHS policies of EU member states were categorized as either prevention or health promotion provisions using a manifest content analysis. Policy rankings were then created for each prevention and promotion. Rankings compared eight indicators from the European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks-2 data on prevention and promotion practices for each member state using Chi-square and probit regression analyses. Results: Overall, 73.1% of EU establishments take preventive measures against direct physical harm, and about 35.4% take measures to prevent psychosocial risks. Merely 29.5% have measures to promote health. Weak and inconsistent links between OHS policy and practice indicators were identified. Conclusion: National OHS policies evidently concentrate on prevention while compliance with health and safety practices is relatively low. Psychosocial risks are often addressed in national policy but not implemented by institutions. Current risk assessment methods are outdated and often lack psychosocial indicators. Health promotion at work is rare in policy and practice, and its interpretation remains preventive. Member states need to adopt policies that actively improve health and well-being at the workplace.

Impacts of the Establishments' Safety Behavior, Safety and Health Delivery and Communication on Occupational Safety and Health Policy Satisfaction

  • Choi, Seo-Yeon;Jung, Han-Suk;Ham, Joo-Hyun
    • Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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    • v.24 no.8
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    • pp.151-158
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    • 2019
  • In this paper, we conducted a study to understand the impacts of safety behavior, safety and health delivery and communication, which should be managed for the establishments' safety and health control on occupational safety and health policy satisfaction to utilize that as a material for preparing policy support and preventive measures. For this purpose, we conducted a statistic analysis with 2,970 establishments, utilizing the material, "2015 Occupational Safety and Health Company Survey". As a result, in the manufacturing industry, it turned out in the establishments with more than 300 workers, safety behavior, safety and health delivery and communication of the cooperative firm of the prime contractor were high. In addition, it turned out that safety behaviors had the biggest impact on occupational safety and health policy satisfaction in the manufacturing industry and safety and health delivery and communication had the biggest impact on occupational safety and health policy satisfaction in the construction industry and other industries. As for the relationship between companies, it turned out that safety behaviors had the biggest impact on that between the parent company and a cooperative firm of a prime contractor while safety and health delivery and communication on that between the prime contractor and the subcontractor. Through the results of this study, it is necessary to build up safety and health behavior and safety and health delivery and communication systems for the characteristics of the company, and it is expected that the effect of the safety and health control will increase when policy support is made accordingly.

The study of the assessment method for occupational safety and health support services policy through IPA analysis (IPA분석 기법을 통한 정부의 산업안전보건지원 서비스 정책 평가에 관한 연구 -광주지역 건설현장 근로자 설문조사를 중심으로-)

  • Park, Hai-Chun;Lee, Kyoung-Hun;Park, Joon-Ho;Jung, Moon-Jo;Kang, In-Won
    • Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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    • v.13 no.4
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    • pp.1-7
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    • 2011
  • Korea enacted the occupational safety and health law in order to prevent industrial accidents in 1981. Led by ministry of labor, occupational safety and health support services policy has been built through government-affiliated organizations, research institutions and academic research. Korea's accident rate has remained at 0.7% for last 10 years despite continuous efforts over the last 30 years. These results means that the occupational safety and health support services policy conducted by the government have reached their limits. Therefore, the necessity of assessment about occupational safety and health support services policy is proposed. The main objective of this study, through the IPA analysis, is to grasp the point of worker's needs about occupational safety and health support services policy and to help formulate the efficient policy.

A Study on Problems and Improvement Measures of Occupational Safety and Health Law Policies in Korea: Focused on Administrative Rules and Guidelines (산업안전보건법정책의 문제점과 개선방안 - 행정규칙과 행정지침을 중심으로 -)

  • Jung, Jinwoo
    • Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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    • v.28 no.1
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    • pp.18-34
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    • 2018
  • Objectives: This study aims to identify and solve problems in the consistency, procedural justification, effectiveness, and other matters concerning approaches to occupational safety and health legislation, administrative rules, and administrative guidelines. Methods: In this study of policy on the industrial safety and health law of Korea, problems were raised based on important information on the approach to occupational safety and health legislation and administrative guidelines such as notices, ordinances, and instructions, as well as on their interpretation and operation standards. Secondly, based on the identified problems in the occupational safety and health law policy, core practical methods to present improvement directions for occupational safety health policy in Korea were sought. Results: It is absolutely necessary to actively promote the infrastructure for occupational safety and health by developing and disseminating notices, guidelines, and manuals that act as contact points between laws and the field in various ways at the administrative institution level. In addition to sanctions, efforts to systematically guide and promote complex professional matters must be supported. Efforts should be made to strengthen administrative expertise so that administrative authorities can secure professional authority and fully enforce legal policies according to the purpose of legislation. In order to ensure the effectiveness of occupational safety and health law policies, it is necessary to shift the focus of the legal policy toward confirming and guiding substantial compliance with legal standards. Conclusions: As a result of the above efforts, when reliable occupational safety and health law policy is implemented, the understanding and acceptance of the legal policy for the administrative object will be increased, and the safety and health management of the enterprise will be maximized to its full extent.

A Study on the Decision-Making Process of the Occupational Safety & Health Policy (우리나라의 산업안전보건 정책수립 개선방안에 관한 연구)

  • 안홍섭;고성석
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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    • v.13 no.2
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    • pp.151-163
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    • 1998
  • The government policy on the occupational safety and health is the fundamental factor for the effectiveness and efficiency of the accident prevention efforts. However this point of view is comparatively neglected and most of policy in occupational safety and health has not been successful enough in Korea. Thus, this study aims to reduce the accidents at work in Korea through the improvement of the decision-making process on the occupational safety and health policy in Korea. The recommendations are derived from the comparison between the policy decision-making organization and process of Korea and those of other major countries. Capitulated recommendations are: more involvement of professional individuals in the process of policy decision-making; intensive utilization of research institutes; and more openness of the process of policy decision-making to the stakeholders ie, the representatives of employees and employers.

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A Study on Criteria for Handling Hazardous Chemicals (학교 안전교육의 성별 정책 중요도에 관한 AHP 분석)

  • Kim, Hoi Choon;Han, Kyung Su;Kim, Kun Ok;Jun, Jin Woo;Lee, Bae Hwa;Lee, In-Bok
    • Korean Journal of Hazardous Materials
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    • v.6 no.2
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    • pp.30-38
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    • 2018
  • This study analyzed the gender factors and priorities that are on the basis for establishing the school safety education policy according to the times when the demand for customized education is increasing. AHP analysis method was used in the paper for systematic and hierarchical analysis. We had checked a safety education specialist group to identify the priorities of important factors to improve the efficiency of analysis. The male group first considered the change of the beneficiary by policy guidelines, and the female group regarded the change of interest and public opinion as important. This has studied the difference in approach between the two groups, although the key elements of the detailed policy are the same. This study suggests that school safety education is effective in improving effective gender safety education response capacity and ensuring substantive policy sustainability.

The Comparison of Activities of Occupational Safety and Health among Sub-Sectors of Manufacturing Industry (제조업의 업종별 안전보건활동 수준 비교)

  • Kim, Ki-Sik;Rhee, Kyung Yong
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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    • v.29 no.5
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    • pp.136-145
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    • 2014
  • This article has compared the level of activities of occupational safety and health in workplace among sub-sectors of manufacturing industry in order to set the priority for policy intervention. Data of manufacturing industry in the survey on the current status of occupational safety and health was used with factor analysis and radar graphic method. Authors have categorized sub-sectors of manufacturing industry into four categories, attained group, active group, neglected group, and passive group based on injury rate, level of safety and health activities. The neglected group may be the first target group for occupational safety and health policy guiding some detailed occupational safety and health activities. Limitation of this study is that cross sectional data was analyzed. The long term effect could not be analyzed.

A Comparison between the Second KoreanWorking Conditions Survey (KWCS) and the First KWCS

  • Kim, Young Sun;Park, Jungsun;Rhee, Kyung Yong;Kim, Hye Min
    • Safety and Health at Work
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    • v.6 no.2
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    • pp.85-89
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    • 2015
  • Background: The study was designed to assess the changes in working conditions through a comparative analysis of the characteristics of working conditions in 2006 and 2010. Methods: We performed a comparative analysis of the data related to the first Korean Working Conditions Survey (KWCS) and the second KWCS in the categories of demographic characteristics, quality of labor, exposure to hazards, and health problems. Results: From our analysis of the demographic characteristics, we saw an increase in labor force participation rate of women and elderly people. As a result of the investigation with regards to working hours, the ratio of employees who worked for ${\geq}49$ hours per week was decreased and the ratio of employees who worked for ${\geq}40h/wk$ increased. As for exposure to hazards, exposure to tobacco smoke notably decreased in 2010 compared with 2006. With regards to health problems, there was a sharp increase in the number of people who complained of muscle pain in their arms and legs. Conclusion: KWCS data included many aspects of working conditions as a nationwide sample. In addition, because this is a periodic nationwide survey, the labor force, working hours, harmful factor exposure, and the change in health problems characteristics according to the flow of time could be investigated. The information comparing the main results of the first survey conducted in 2006 and the second survey conducted in 2010 obtained through this study can be used as an important base material for the establishment of the national policy.

The Type of Payment and Working Conditions

  • Rhee, Kyung Yong;Kim, Young Sun;Cho, Yoon Ho
    • Safety and Health at Work
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    • v.6 no.4
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    • pp.289-294
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    • 2015
  • Background: The type of payment is one of the important factors that has an effect on the health of employees, as a basic working condition. In the conventional research field of occupational safety and health, only the physical, chemical, biological, and ergonomic factors are treated as the main hazardous factors. Managerial factors and basic working conditions such as working hours and the type of payment are neglected. This paper aimed to investigate the association of the type of payment and the exposure to the various hazardous factors as an heuristic study. Methods: The third Korean Working Conditions Survey (KWCS) by the Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute in 2011 was used for this study. Among the total sample of 50,032 economically active persons, 34,788 employees were considered for analysis. This study examined the relation between the three types of payment such as basic fixed salary and wage, piece rate, and extra payment for bad and dangerous working conditions and exposure to hazardous factors like vibration, noise, temperature, chemical contact, and working at very high speeds. Multivariate regression analysis was used to measure the effect of the type of payment on working hours exposed to hazards. Results: The result showed that the proportion of employees with a basic fixed salary was 94.5%, the proportion with piece rates was 38.6%, and the proportion who received extra payment for hazardous working conditions was 11.7%. Conclusion: The piece rate was associated with exposure to working with tight deadlines and stressful jobs. This study had some limitations because KWCS was a cross-sectional survey.