• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2017

Objectives: The major objectives of this study are to review the requirements for the advancement of occupational safety and health administrative organization and to propose measures to establish an Occupational Safety and Health Executive. Methods: The problems of occupational safety and health administrative organization in korea were examined empirically and cases of occupational safety and health administrative organizations in developed countries were investigated (United Kingdom, United States, Germany, and Japan). A plan for establishing an Occupational Safety and Health Executive was proposed over the short and medium term. Results: An occupational safety and health administration is characterized by a professional and technical nature, and even more so in modern society. Therefore the greatest value required by an occupational safety and health administrative organization is expertise. In addition, administrative values it requires include efficiency, specificity, independence, and activity. The Korean occupational safety and health administrative organization has a number of problems in terms of these values. The most appropriate way to realize these values is to establish an Occupational Safety and Health Executive. It is desirable to establish such an Occupational Safety and Health Executive in a phased manner taking into consideration its relationship with Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency(KOSHA), including KOSHA's functional adjustment Conclusions: In order to solve the deep-seated problems in occupational safety and health administrative organization and to advance occupational safety and health administration in Korea, it is necessary to establish an Occupational Safety and Health Executive as a foundation for achieving an advanced industrial safety and health administration.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.225-230
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• 2016

Background: This study seeks to examine the relationship and impact of occupational health and safety on employees' organizational commitment in Ghana's mining industry. The study explores occupational health and safety and the different dimensions of organizational commitment. Methods: A cross-sectional survey design was used for this study. The respondents were selected based on simple random sampling. Out of 400 questionnaires administered, 370 were returned (77.3% male and 22.7% female) and used for the study. Correlation and multiple regression analysis were used to determine the relationship and impact between the variables. Results: The findings of this study revealed positive and significant relationship between occupational health and safety management, and affective, normative, and continuance commitment. Additionally, the results revealed the significant impact of occupational health and safety on affective, normative, and continuance commitment. Conclusion: Management within the mining sector of Ghana must recognize the fact that workers who feel healthy and safe in the performance of their duties, develop emotional attachment and have a sense of obligation to their organization and are most likely committed to the organization. Employees do not just become committed to the organization; rather, they expect management to first think about their health and safety needs by instituting good and sound policy measures. Thus, management should invest in the protection of employees' health and safety in organizations.

• Proceedings of the Safety Management and Science Conference
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• 1999.11a
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• pp.1-7
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• 1999

The safety and health law, the basic regulation of occupational safety and health for industry, is overlappingly and unconsistently controled and by many non-profit organization or / and government organization. Because of above reasons, it is hard to investigate and suggest consistently. This study is proposed to remove inefficient and overlapping regulation and suggest how to manage the safety and health regulation in private industry. Safety and Health is the most important managed area under business environment. The safety and health regulation or law for Korean Private industry is compared with foreign country's law.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.61-67
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• 1999

The safety and health law, the basic regulation of occupational safety and health for industry, is overlappingly and unconsistently controled by many non-profit organization or / and government organization. Because of above reasons, it is hard to investigate and suggest consistently. This study is proposed to remove inefficient and overlapping regulation and suggest how to manage the safety and health regulation in private industry. Safety and Health is the most important managed area under business environment. The safety and health regulation or law for Korean private industry is compared with foreign country's.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.397-404
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• 2020

Background: Most job exposure matrices (JEMs) have been developed for chemical and physical hazards in the United States (US). In addition, the overall validity of most JEMs of work organization hazards using self-reported data in the literature remains to be further tested due to several methodological weaknesses. Methods: This paper aims to review important methodological issues with regard to a JEM of work organization hazards using self-report data and to present a research protocol for developing a four-axis (job titles, hazards, sex, and time) JEM of major work organization hazards using the US General Social Survey-Quality of Work-Life (GSS-QWL) data (2002-2018; N = 7,100 workers). Results: Five methodological weaknesses in existing JEMs of work organization hazards using self-report data were identified: having only two axes (hazard and occupation), using psychometrically weak items and scales, including scales having little interoccupational variability, unresolved optimal minimum numbers of subjects per occupation, and low accessibility. The methodological weaknesses were successfully addressed in the proposed research protocol. Conclusion: The work organization JEM to be developed will significantly facilitate and strengthen occupational epidemiological studies on work organization hazards and major health outcomes, improve national and occupational surveillance of work organization hazards, and promote interventions for a healthy work environment in the US.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.117-121
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• 2013

This paper describes progress on formulating a national asbestos profile for the country of Vietnam. The Center of Asbestos Resource, Vietnam, formulated a National Profile on Asbestos-related Occupational Health, with due reference to the International Labor Organization/World Health Organization National Asbestos Profile. The Center of Asbestos Resource was established by the Vietnamese Health Environment Management Agency and the National Institute of Labor Protection, with the support of the Australian Agency for International Development, as a coordinating point for asbestos-related issues in Vietnam. Under the National Profile on Asbestos-related Occupational Health framework, the Center of Asbestos Resource succeeded in compiling relevant information for 15 of the 18 designated items outlined in the International Labor Organization/World Health Organization National Asbestos Profile, some overlaps of the information items notwithstanding. Today, Vietnam continues to import and use an average of more than 60,000 metric tons of raw asbestos per year. Information on asbestos-related diseases is limited, but the country has begun to diagnose mesothelioma cases, with the technical cooperation of Japan. As it stands, the National Profile on Asbestos-related Occupational Health needs further work and updating. However, we envisage that the National Profile on Asbestos-related Occupational Health will ultimately facilitate the smooth transition to an asbestos-free Vietnam.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.340-346
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• 2016

Background: safety and healthy working environment has received numerous research attention over the years. Majority of these researches seem to have been conducted in the construction industry, with little attention in the health sector. Nonetheless, there are couple of studies conducted in Africa that suggest pressure in hospitals. Therefore the aim of the study was to examine how pressure influence safety behavior in the hospitals. With reference to the relevance of safety behavior in primary health care delivery, there was the need for the study. Method: Data was obtained from 422 public hospital employees. Respondents were assured that all information would be kept confidential to increase the response rate and acquire more accurate information. Collection of questionnaires from participants took four weeks (20 working days), after which the data was analyzed. Results: The result of the study showed that work pressure correlated negatively with safety behavior. General safety climate significantly correlated positively with safety behavior and negatively with work pressure, although the effect size for the latter was smaller. Hierarchical regression analysis showed management commitment to safety to moderate the relationship between work pressure and safety behavior. Conclusion: When employees perceive safety communication, safety systems and training to be positive, they seem to comply with safety rules and procedures than voluntarily participate in safety activities.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.121-140
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• 2006

Objectives: Safety is a primary health promotion issue in worksite because injury induces multi-fold loss of the human and economic resources to profit organization. The purposes of this study were to describe worksite health and safety education and management status in Korean manufacturing companies. Methods: The original population size of Korean manufacturing industry in 2004 was 74,398 and 2,960 factories were selected by the multiple stratified sampling method for this study. The health and safety manager or representatives of the selected 2,960 companies successfully finished in the face-to-face interview survey about company's general characteristics, health and safety management style, health and safety education hours conducted by the Korean Occupational Safety and Health Agency. Results: The manufacturing companies in Seoul and Kyunggi areas, small size, and clothes and press industries were related to low health and safety management and education status. The companies which assigned at least one safety manager were 70.5% and which had a health and safety room within the company were only 9.3%. The companies which took the health and safety education for their regular blue-collar employees more than the legal education hours were under 56.1% and the percentage of the companies which took their health and safety education for newcomers less than the legal limits was lower than any other types of health and safety education in workplace. The significant strong workplace health and safety management variables in predicting employee health and safety education were psycho-social variables such as the company own health and safety regulation and the workplace health and safety management committee organization. rather than physical variables such as health manager employment, safety manager employment. Conclusions: Systematic and legal approaches are effective to encourage workplace health and safety education, specifically, through sustaining health and safety managers and building the company-wide health and safety management system. Furthermore, theses approaches should primarily focus on the small companies of which sizes were under 50.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.166-170
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• 2016

A brief emergency planning educational presentation was taught during work hours to a convenience sample of employees of various workplaces in Northern Missouri, USA. Participants were familiarized with details about how an emergency plan is prepared by management and implemented by management-employee crisis management teams - focusing on both employee and management roles. They then applied the presentation information to assess their own organization's emergency preparedness level. Participants possessed significantly (p < 0.05) higher perceptions of their organization's level of emergency preparedness than non-participants. It is recommended that an assessment of organizational preparedness level supplement emergency planning educational presentations in order to immediately apply the material covered and encourage employees to become more involved in their organization's emergency planning and response. Educational strategies that involve management-employee collaboration in activities tailored to each workplace's operations and risk level for emergencies should be implemented.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.295-304
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• 2015

Background: While attention has been paid to physical risks in the work environment and the promotion of individual employee health, mental health protection and promotion have received much less focus. Psychosocial risk management has not yet been fully incorporated in such efforts. This paper presents good practices in promoting mental health in the workplace in line with World Health Organization (WHO) guidance by identifying barriers, opportunities, and the way forward in this area. Methods: Semistructured interviews were conducted with 17 experts who were selected on the basis of their knowledge and expertise in relation to good practice identified tools. Interviewees were asked to evaluate the approaches on the basis of the WHO model for healthy workplaces. Results: The examples of good practice for Workplace Mental Health Promotion (WMHP) are in line with the principles and the five keys of the WHO model. They support the third objective of the WHO comprehensive mental health action plan 2013-2020 for multisectoral implementation of WMHP strategies. Examples of good practice include the engagement of all stakeholders and representatives, science-driven practice, dissemination of good practice, continual improvement, and evaluation. Actions to inform policies/legislation, promote education on psychosocial risks, and provide better evidence were suggested for higher WMHP success. Conclusion: The study identified commonalities in good practice approaches in different countries and stressed the importance of a strong policy and enforcement framework as well as organizational responsibility for WMHP. For progress to be achieved in this area, a holistic and multidisciplinary approach was unanimously suggested as a way to successful implementation.