• 한국안전학회지
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• 제37권6호
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• pp.102-107
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• 2022

South Korea will soon be a super-aged society, as more than 20.6% of its population will be 65 years and older by 2025. As of 2022, 17.5% of the total population in South Korea is 65 years and older, which exceeds the set threshold for an aged society, where more than 14% of the population is 65 years and older. The proportion of older subway construction workers has increased. Aging workers and their work stress negatively impact their workability. A previous study demonstrated that the stress index measured using the uBioMacpa measurement device (Macpa stress index) had a significant correlation with work stress in South Korea. The device tests vascular health and measures stress levels via Macpa signal analysis. In this study, the pulse waves of subway construction workers were measured using uBioMacpa to identify their stress levels. The stress levels were analyzed by age, years of service, job position, employment type, and work type. Herein, these statistics could not be easily represented by a normal distribution; therefore, the Kruskal-Wallis test, a nonparametric statistical method, was used for the analysis of data. The results showed that age, job position, employment type, and working type affected the Macpa stress index and the stress levels of workers increased with age. In terms of job position, technical engineers were more stressed than other workers because of their poor working environment. In terms of employment type, daily-wage workers were more stressed than other workers. In terms of working type, tunneling, waterproofing, and construction scored the highest Macpa stress indexes without any significant difference, whereas earthworks scored the lowest. Based on the analysis of Macpa stress index, safety and health management plans were proposed to reduce the stress levels of workers. Moreover, a manual for efficient stress management must be developed for subway construction workers.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제14권11호
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• pp.6893-6897
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• 2013

Background: During and after the Fukushima nuclear disaster (FND), many parents were concerned about the effects of radiation on the health of their children. Purpose: To clarify the factors that influenced general workers living with children and the effect of child age groups in implementing preventive behaviorsagainst radiation following the FND. Materials and Methods: A descriptive study of preventive behaviors among general workers was carried out 3-5 months after the nuclear disaster. The subjects were 1,394 regular workers, who took part in radiation seminars run by the Fukushima Occupational Health Promotion Center between July and September, 2011. In total, 1,217 responses were submitted, of which 1,110 were eligible for the present study. This anonymous questionnaire survey inquired about the presence and age of children in the household and about radiation preventive behavior implemented after the FND. The contribution of each variable was assessed by logistic regression analysis. Results: General workers in Fukushima who lived with younger children performed more preventive behavior against radiation during and after the FND. In particular, both location-related and daily routines were practiced significantly more frequently (p<0.01) by workers living with a child in the age ranges of 0-6 (8 of 10 items) and 7-12 (5 of 10 items). Conclusions: This is the first study to assess the positive association between living with children by age group and increased preventive behavior against radiation implemented by general workers after the FND.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• 제7권2호
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• pp.171-174
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• 2016

Effective and sustainable prevention of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WR-MSDs) remains a challenge for preventers and policy makers. Coordination of stakeholders involved in the prevention of WR-MSDs is a key factor that requires greater reflection on common knowledge and shared representation of workers' activities among stakeholders. Information on workers' strategies and operational leeway should be the core of common representations, because it places workers at the center of the "work situation system" considered by the intervention models. Participatory ergonomics permitting debates among stakeholders about workers' activity and strategies to cope with the work constraints in practice could help them to share representations of the "work situation system" and cooperate. Sharing representation therefore represents a useful tool for prevention, and preventers should provide sufficient space and time for dialogue and discussion of workers' activities among stakeholders during the conception, implementation, and management of integrated prevention programs.

• 한국태양에너지학회 논문집
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• 제33권5호
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• pp.24-33
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• 2013

Renewable energy industries, including sola cell plants, has been ever increasing ones for reducing fossil fuel consumption and strengthening national energy policy. In this paper we tried to identify occupational health hazards in solar cell-related industries operated in Korea. Poly silicon, silicon ingot and wafer, solar cell and module are major processes for producing solar cells. Poly silicon operations may cause hazards to workers from metal silicon, silanes, silicon, hydro fluoric acid and nitric acid. Solar cells could not be constructed without using metals such as aluminum and silver, acids such as hydrofluoric acid and nitric acid, bases such as sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide, and solvent and phosphorus chloride oxide. Workers in module assembly process may exposed to isopropanol, flux, solders that contain lead, tin and/or copper. To prevent occupational exposure to these hazards, it is essential to identify the hazards in each process and educate workers in industries with proper engineering and administrative control measures.

• 한국산업보건학회지
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• 제25권3호
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• pp.418-427
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• 2015

Objectives: This study evaluated the association between work related characteristics and hypertension among white collar workers in Korea. Materials and methods: This study was based on the Third Korean Working Conditions Survey(KWCS) conducted in 2011 among workers 15 years of age or older. The total number of individuals included in the analysis was 10,365 white collar workers. Results: The prevalence rate of hypertension was 3.7% among men and 1.0% among women. In multiple logistic analysis the adjusted odds ratio showed statistically effective association to hypertension. For work related characteristics, 1.73 (95% confidence interval, 1.22-2.46) resulted for large-company workers compared with the small-company group, 2.14 (95% CI, 1.22-3.75) for the long working hours group (61 or above) compared with short working hours group(52 or below), 1.78(95% CI, 1.08-2.95) for night shift workers compared with day workers, and 1.54 (95% CI, 1.18-2.01) for high job stress workers compared with low job stress workers. Conclusions: This study showed that it is important for workers to manage their work environment in order to prevent hypertension by modifying their types of work.

• 대한안전경영과학회지
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• 제14권1호
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• pp.53-63
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to grasp foreign worker's industrial safety and health state, which find out the improvement to secure the basic safety net for foreign workers. We have investigated 2,050 workers through direct interviews during the period from April 12, 2010 to May 31, 2010. And the result of analysis, foreign worker's daily average working time is 10.6 hours(40.8% workers in total work 10~12 hours), the extent of exposure to harmful and dangerous working environment is 'the position which cause pain in neck, waist, hands, shoulders, legs'(69.3%), 'repetitive hands and arms movement'(66.1%). It showed 'experience of accident damage or disease related work'(27.3%), 'never apply for industrial accident compensation' is revealed high at 73%. As a result of completing a safety health education for a year, it showed 'never educated'(40.2%), 'the institute that foreign workers have used for help and advice is the foreign worker's support center'(61.9%) Thus, hiring foreign workers in the company are small in site, the environment is too harmful and dangerous. In addition, no safety and health managers, legally blind spot located in the health and safety, because it is an urgent meet for these measures to improve.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• 제12권3호
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• pp.311-316
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• 2021

Background: The present study investigated the association between two domains of physical activity (occupational physical activity [OPA] and leisure-time physical activity [LTPA]) and sleep duration. Methods: We investigated 3,421 paid workers from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2014-2015. Sleep duration was categorized into three categories (short for less than 5 h, optimal for 5-9 h, and long for more than 9 h). OPA and LTPA were defined in terms of answers to relevant questions. Odds ratios were calculated for sleep duration according to each physical activity domain using multinomial logistic regression models. Results: There were 464 subjects (13.6%) who showed short sleep duration, and 169 subjects (4.9%) who showed long sleep duration. Prevalence of OPA and LTPA was higher in male workers than in female workers (for OPA: 3.67% and 1.76%, respectively, p = 0.0108; for LTPA: 16.14% and 6.07%, respectively, p < 0.0001). The odds ratio of OPA for long sleep duration in female workers was 3.35 (95% confidence interval, 1.37-8.21). Otherwise, LTPA was not associated with sleep duration in female paid workers, nor both physical activity domains in male paid workers. Conclusion: Female paid workers with work-related physical activity were at risk of oversleeping. These findings also suggested that physical activity has distinct associations with sleep duration according to the physical activity domains and sex.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• 제6권1호
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• pp.56-61
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• 2015

Frozen food processing workers work under a cold environment which can cause several adverse health effects.This study explored factors affecting workers' health in the frozen food industry in Thailand. Participants comprised 497 workers exposed to a cold working environment and 255 office workers who served as the controls. Data were collected by a survey on the work environment, and the interview of workers for abnormal symptoms. The exposed group had the following characteristics: 52.7% male, overall average age of 27 (SD 6.6) years old, attained elementary education (Grade 4 and Grade 6) (54.1%), married (48.9%), smokers (21.3%), alcohol consumption (31.0%), duration of work was between 1 and 5 years (65.2%), working 6 days a week (82.7%), 1-5 hours of overtime per week (33.8%), office workers (33.9%); work category: sizing (6.9%), peeling (28.3%) dissecting (22.2%), and in the warehouse (8.6%). The temperature in the work environment ranged from $17.2^{\circ}C$ to $19.2^{\circ}C$ in most sections, $-18.0^{\circ}C$ in the warehouse, and $25^{\circ}C$ in the office areas. Warehouse workers had more abnormal symptoms than controls including repeated pain in the musculoskeletal system (OR 11.9; 95% CI 6.12-23.45), disturbance throughout the body (OR 4.60; 95% CI 2.00-10.56), respiratory symptoms (OR 9.73; 95% CI 3.53-26.80), episodic finger symptoms (OR 13.51; 95% CI 5.17-35.33). The study results suggest that workers' health should be monitored especially with regard to back and muscle pain, respiratory symptoms, episodic finger symptoms, and cardiovascular symptoms. Health promotion campaigns such as antismoking and reduction of alcohol consumption should be established because smoking and alcohol consumption are contributing factors to the pathogenesis of Raynaud's phenomenon and peripheral vascular disorders such as hypertension and heart disease.

• 근관절건강학회지
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• 제19권3호
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• pp.340-349
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• 2012

Purpose: This study aimed to identify the influence of knowledge and subjective health status on health promoting behavior about osteoporosis in industrial workers. Methods: The subjects were 292 industrial workers. Data were collected with structured questionnaires in July 10 to August 20, 2012. The collected data were analyzed with t-test, ANOVA, Pearson's correlation coefficients and hierarchical regression analysis by using the SPSS Win 12.0 statistics. Results: The major findings of this study were as follows; 1) The average scores of knowledge about osteoporosis, subjective health status and health promoting behavior about osteoporosis were 9.26 out of 20, 9.64 out of 14 and 39.77 out of 68. 2) There were significantly positive correlations relationship among knowledge, subjective health status and health promoting behavior. 3) The factors influencing health promoting behavior were age(${\beta}$=.069, p=.032), knowledge(${\beta}$=.026, p=.005), subjective health status(${\beta}$=.058, p<.001). Conclusion: This study suggested that we should develop preventive osteoporosis programs for industrial workers considering these results.

• 한국학교보건학회지
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• 제35권3호
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• pp.84-91
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• 2022

Purpose: This study aimed to identify the problems and improvement areas by reviewing the laws related to kindergarden healthcare workers. Methods: The laws were searched at the Korean law information center (https://www.law.go.kr/). We reviewed the 「Early Childhood Education Act」, 「School Health Act」, 「Medical Service Act」, 「Elementary and Secondary Education Act」and their enforcement decrees and rules. Results: The legal role of health teachers as school healthcare professionals was comprehensively specified by the 「School Health Act. However, the qualifications for and roles of health teachers were not fully described in 「Early Childhood Education Act], indicating a unclear legal basis for the qualifications for and roles of kindergarten health teachers. To support healthcare workers in kindergartens, it is necessary to amend the 「Early Childhood Education Act」 that provides the guidelines for qualifications for kindergarten health teachers in elementary, secondary, and special schools who have completed necessary continuing education. A health hub kindergarten could be a step-by-step option for all kindergartens to have healthcare workers. Conclusion: This review demonstrated the importance of amending the laws on kindergarten health teachers and health hub kindergartens for child health and safety. These findings could be used to support policies related to kindergarten healthcare workers.