• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.116-128
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• 2022

Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine the association of working posture with headache/eye strain in Korean waged workers. Methods: Data were collected from the 5th Korean Working Condition Survey. A total of 30,955 workers participated in this study. A four-items of working postures were measured using a 7-point Likert scale, and we categorized them into three groups ('normal', 'moderate', and 'severe') each 4 items. Headache/eye strain were measured using a self-administrative questionnaire ('yes' vs. 'no'). To examine the relationship between the total working postures score and headache/eye strain, we summed a 4-items of working postures. It was categorized into five groups according to the severity of exposures('normal', 'mild', 'moderate', 'severe', and 'very severe'). The multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed using the IBM SPSS(Ver. 25), and a p<.05 was considered significant. Results: The results show that 'fatiguing and painful posture' and 'posture repetitively using hands or arms' were associated with headache/eye strain after controlling for control variables. The total working posture score was positively associated with headache/eye strain. People with higher levels of the total working posture score were more likely to increase the risk of headache/eye strain compared to those of normal(OR: 1.844, 95% CI: 1.549~2.195 for 'mild'; OR: 2.564, 95% CI: 2.152~3.503 for 'moderate'; OR: 4.140, 95% CI: 3.432~4.994 for 'severe'; OR: 7.613, 95% CI: 5.625~10.304 for 'very severe') (p<.05 for trend). Conclusions: These results indicate that inappropriate working postures might play a crucial role in developing headache/eye strain. It is needed to improve the working environment, especially focusing on reducing inappropriate working posture at the organizational level.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2007.03a
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• pp.573-582
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• 2007

Working spaces in the construction site are much more complicated than completed spaces in the building. There are many researches focus on partition of building spaces. However, few discussed partition sequencing in building construction sites. Space syntax is a set of techniques for analyzing spatial configurations. It has become a useful tool in a variety of researches. Partition sequencing of working spaces should be related to the working direction. However, with convex space and axial line, the partition sequencing became unrelated to the working direction. When critical space is blocked, the partition sequencing with axial line will be changed. It is significant to reveal the impact of the entire spatial structure when some of the working spaces are blocked. This paper discussed the improved partition sequencing theory and highlighted the importance of critical space and analyzed the spatial structure of working space. A real case project was demonstrated in this paper.

• Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
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• v.35
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• pp.18.1-18.7
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• 2023

South Korea has the highest policy priority for working hour regulations because it has longer annual working hours than other Organization for Economic Development Co-operation and Development countries and has fewer holidays. According to the results of the Working Conditions Surveys between 2006 and 2020, in 2020, 6% of wage earners worked for > 52 hours weekly. The percentage of workers exceeding 52 hours weekly has decreased over time; however, disparities exist based on age, industry, occupation, company type, and company size, particularly in service-, arts-, and culture-related occupations and workplaces with fewer than 5 employees. South Korea's working hours system is greatly influenced by the 52-hour weekly maximum; sometimes, a maximum of 64-69 hours, including overtime, is theoretically possible. To ensure healthy working hours, it is important to actively protect workers who fall through the cracks, such as those in businesses with fewer than 5 employees.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.46-55
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• 2022

Objectives Many studies have reported noticeable increases in the proportion of employees working either relatively short or relatively long hours. Such trends have been accompanied by an increasing concern that how much subjective mental well-being of employees would be influenced by their hours of work. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between work hours and clinically relevant depressive symptoms with demographic variables adjusted. Methods Participants were employees of a total of 56 private companies and local government organizations in Korea, aged 19 to 65 years. A self-report questionnaire that included items on working hour, job stress, levels of depression, and socio-demographic factors was administered to 15360 Korean employees, with 14477 valid responses. Hierarchical linear regression analyses, adjusted for sociodemographic factors, job related demographic factors, job stress, were used additionally to estimate the association between working hours and depressive scores. Results We found that working more than 40 hours per week correlated positively with the level of depressive symptoms after adjusting for demographic variables and the level of job stress. Furthermore, working 40 or fewer hours per week correlated negatively with the level of depressive symptoms. Being younger (β = -0.078, β = -0.099), being a female (β = 2.770, β = 1.268), and possessing a lower level of education (β = -0.315, β = -1.125) were significantly associated with higher level of depressive symptoms in all respondents. Conclusions Both of working excessively long or short hours is significantly associated with the prevalence of depressive symptoms. Establishing proper office hours for employees is critical to improving the quality of working conditions and maintaining good mental health in the workplace.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.17-24
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• 2010

The purpose of this study was to investigate nutritional knowledge, practice of eating behavior guidelines, and problematic dietary habits in working high school students in comparison with non-working high school students. A survey questionnaire was formulated to obtain information on demographic variables, body size, part-time jobs, nutritional knowledge, practice of eating behavior guidelines, and dietary habits. The developed questionnaire was given out to 515 students attending a vocational high school in Yongin, Gyeonggi-Do. Those who had been working 5 hours or more per day for at least a month at the time of survey administration were defined as working students for this study. Proportions of working students were similar between male and female students (i.e. 49.5% for male, 50.5% for female). No significant difference was found in scores of nutritional knowledge between working ($8.43{\pm}2.29$) and non-working students ($8.60{\pm}2.19$). However, some dietary habits were found to be dependent on working status. While approximately 43% of non-working students reported skipping a meal, about 57% of working students did so (p<0.01). The proportion of students with any drinking experience was significantly higher among working students (92%) compared to non-working students (80%) (p<0.001). Working students were found to drink alcoholic beverages more often than non-working students (p<0.001). The mean score of practice of eating behavior guidelines was lower in working students than non-working students. The magnitude of this difference was modest ($51.33{\pm}0.63$ in working students, $53.40{\pm}0.51$ in non-working students), but reached statistical significance (p<0.01). Based on the findings from this study, it is suggested that specific behavior-oriented messages to improve certain problematic dietary habits need to be directed toward working high school students.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.165-170
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• 2012

Objective: The aim of this study is to develop new K-OWAS on the basis of the anthropometry of Koreans considering works in shipbuilding and heavy industry for evaluation whole-body working postures. Background: Work Related Musculoskeletal Disorders(WMSDs) were a leading cause of sick leaves and injuries in the industries of our country. Especially, awkward working postures and handling of heavy weight are known as a main cause of WMSDs. OWAS, RULA and REBA are much used as the method for evaluating the awkward working postures. OWAS is the working postures evaluation method that can be used for the evaluation of whole-body working postures. OWAS was the method made based on the anthropometry of the foreigner, working postures and weight does not fit our work state. Method: This method was evaluated considering the anthropometry of the Koreans, working postures and weight in shipbuilding and heavy industry work state in Korea. Results: Correlation of action level of OWAS and subjective discomfort for each body parts were not statistically significant($p{\geq}0.1$). But correlation of action level of K-OWAS and subjective discomfort for torso and waist were statistically significant($p{\leq}0.1$). Conclusion: K-OWAS was suitable in the evaluation of upper body including torso and waist. Application: New method for whole-body working postures from this study prevent WMSDs and help improvement of working environment and design of working method.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.50-59
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• 2021

Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine factors influencing depressive symptoms among married working women using the dataset of the Korean Longitudinal Survey of Women and Family (KLoWF 7th). There were 1,030 subjects. Methods: A multiple regression model was used to study the factors influencing depressive symptoms among married working women. Results: The authors found a negative relationship between satisfaction with spouse household-labor (b=-0.606, p=0.022) and depressive symptoms among married working women, a negative relationship with spouse (b=-0.237, p<0.001) and a negative spousal perception of working (b=-0.709, p=0.045), a positive relationship with excessive working hours (b=0.397, p=0.027), a positive relationship with temporal oppression on workload (b=0.422, p=0.002), and a positive relationship between workplace discrimination (b=0.053, p=0.046) and depressive symptoms among married working women. Conclusions: This study suggests that family life and working environments are important factors for depressive symptoms in married women workers. The findings of this study will be helpful to policymakers to design plans to decrease depressive symptoms among married working women.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.115-125
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• 2006

Purpose: This study analyzed the amount of stress and the different effects according to the working times(hours) of a week in two groups: more than 40 hours a week and less than 40 hours a week. Method: The study was conducted from November 1st 2005 to December 15th 2005. The purpose of the study has already been explained in the experiment objectives. 20 copies of evaluation forms were sent by mail to 50 different health sections of participating work sites. A total of 1,000 copies were sent out and 870 were sent back. Within the forms, sent back 120 copies had insufficient data, so 750 copies of evaluation forms were analyzed. Result: Working stress for under 40 hours of working time showed a total of 46.10 points and 47.18 for over 40 hours of working time. For over 40 hours, job demand and occupational climate was high and under 40 hours showed a high rate of job control. For under 40 hours of working time, the factors that caused stress were female, irregular diet habit, age of 30's, nonmanufacturing, and single. For over 40 hours of working time, the factors that causes stress were age of over 40, when the number of employees is 500~999, high rate of fatigue, when the position of the employee is higher then section chief, and when the work amount is high. Conclusion: The stress rate showed significantly higher in over 40 hours of working time. Therefore, adequate working hour distribution and health promotion programs are needed. The factors that cause stress in both under and over 40 hours of working time differed. Therefore, a distinguished program to control work stress for additional working time is needed.

• Current Optics and Photonics
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.221-227
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• 2017

To apply a square-shaped beam homogenizer to laser shock peening, it should be designed with a long working distance and by considering metal targets with various shapes and textures. For long working distances, a square-shaped beam homogenizer with a long depth of focus is required. In the range of working distance, the laser beam is required to have not only high efficiency but high uniformity, in other words, a good peening quality is guaranteed. In this study, we defined this range as the working distance for laser shock peening. We have simulated the effect of some parameters on the working distance. The parameters include the focal length of the condenser lens, pitch size of the array lens, and plasma threshold of the metal. The simulation was performed through numerical analysis by considering the diffraction effect.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.27-35
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• 2021

This study investigated the change in stiffness and deflection of a scaffold working plate caused by damage to a cross-beam in the plate. Experiments were conducted considering various load and damage conditions of cross-beams. A cross-beam falling off from the working plate was considered damaged. The load-displacement curves of specimens at the center of the uniform load showed that the working plate stiffness decreased by 14.66%-1.89%, depending on the load interval due to the damage of one cross-beam. A reduction in the stiffness of 33.94%-40.76% resulted from the damage of two cross-beams. Moreover, the displacement increased by an average of 25% when one cross-beam was damaged and an average of 65% when two cross-beams were damaged. Therefore, damage to the cross-beam in the working plate can potentially cause accidents and harm workers. As the load increases, the risk of an accident due to the aforementioned damage also increases because the stiffness remarkably decreases with the load increase. Further, the damage to the cross-beam mainly reduces the stiffness but increases the displacement rather than the strength of the working scaffold plate.