• Journal of Information Technology Services
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.215-223
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• 2009

The workplace environment monitoring system based on IP-USN proposed in this study measures and analyzes workplace environment information so as to provide services to provide better work environment and prevent occupational accidents caused by poor, shabby labor environment. This study presents the procedures to design and develop a system that monitors noise, humidity, vibration, temperature, and sensors installed in the workplace and sounds alarm when workers enter dangerous areas or are exposed to hazards. The author actually installed the IP-USN workplace environment monitoring system in a small workplace and confirmed its effectiveness.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.246-257
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• 2010

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the factors related to physical and affective well-being of taxi drivers. The main factors of interests were workplace hazards and work environment. Method: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study. A convenience sampling method was utilized. 181 taxi drivers in Seoul metropolitan area completed survey questionnaires. Result: In bivariate analysis, payment system, workplace hazards, and work environment were associated with physical health of taxi drivers. Multiple regression analysis revealed payment system and workplace hazards were significant predictors of physical health. On the other hand, age and workplace hazards, and work environment were significantly associated with affective health in the bivariate analysis. Moreover, workplace hazards and environment were significant predictors of affective health in the multiple regression analysis. Conclusion: To improve taxi drivers' health status, it is critical to reform payment system to monthly payment, establish prevention policies of workplace hazards, and encourage employers and taxi drivers to make efforts for better work environment.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.21-43
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• 2008

Objective: This study aimed to understand workplace drinking environment on drinking behaviors among female employees and thereby attempt to lay a ground for future prevention of drinking problems triggered by workplace environment. For the purposes of the study, variables related to drinking behavior and the actual conditions of female employees were explored. And the study examined the effects of individual and environmental factors on drinking behavior. Methods: The sample included 400 female and male employees in enterprises and organizations located in the metropolitan area of Korea. An in-depth interview was conducted to explore workplace variables related to female drinking, and a self-administered questionnaire was conducted to examine the relationship between workplace variables and drinking behaviors (alcohol consumption, risky drinking, and binge drinking frequencies). Results: Major findings of the study are as follows: First, positive function of drinking and drinking culture at workplace and the pressure to drink were derived from in-depth interviews. Second, 47.2% of female employees were current drinkers and 20.4% were risky drinkers. Third, drinking norms and attitude at workplace, influence of peer group, and drinking culture at workplace were found to be predictive factors of harmful drinking. Fourth, drinking expectancy and drinking norms and attitude at the workplace were found to influence drinking binge frequencies. Conclusion: The study indicates the importance of the workplace environmental factors in female employee's drinking behavior, and addresses the need for interventions geared toward changing the workplace environment regarding alcohol use.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.421-426
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• 2018

Background: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of shift work on occupational safety in various industrial sectors. The study analyzes the effects of shift work on the health of workers by considering factors such as the workplace environment and welfare. Methods: Focusing on the $4^{th}$ Korean Working Conditions Survey, this study used an ordinary least-square multiple regression analysis. The dependent variable was the annual frequency of injuries reported by workers. Independent variables were categorized as demographic, shift work, workplace environment, and welfare variables. The analysis was conducted on two levels: 1) Shift work and nonshift work groups were compared, and 2) Shift work was compared with fixed and rotating shifts. Results: For the entire group, age, a low level of education, work hours, and daily and dispatch work negatively impacted the frequency of injuries. Shift work was negatively affected by workplace environment and welfare factors. In the shift group, the frequency of injuries was lower than that of regular workers, and the higher the autonomy in the choice of work hours, the lower the frequency of injuries. Furthermore, shift workers in Korea have more extended work hours (49.25 h/week) than other workers (46.34 h/week). Conclusion: Overall, welfare factors such as workplace satisfaction and worke-life balance reduced the frequency of injuries. The effect of shift work was limited, but it was confirmed that shift worker autonomy could reduce the frequency of injuries.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.158-165
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• 2018

Objectives: We analyzed the problems that work environment measurement results don't lead to workplace improvement in the Work Environment Measurement System to propose an alternative. Methods: We reviewed reports and articles written by the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency and academic circles to identify the problems in the current Work Environment Measurement System and suggest an alternative. Results: One of the reasons that the Work Environment Measurement has not resulted in workplace improvement is that there were no proper regulating systems for managing the workplace improvement plans or improvement results. Moreover, there are not enough professional manpower in ministry of labor to evaluate the improvement plans and results from the Work Environment Measurement. Therefore, all of the workplace whose Work Environment Measurement results exceed the occupational exposure limit (OEL) should be managed by regional ministry of labor, and outside experts and new system for verifying improvement are needed. Conclusions: To accomplish the purpose of Work Environment Measurement, it is necessary to improve the work environment according to the results of Work Environment Measure. For this, it is necessary for the government to manage the fulfillment of workplace improvement plans and for measurement agencies to secure expertise.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.485-501
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• 2023

Objectives: The Ministry of Employment and Labor has revised the articles regarding management of the thermal environment in the workplace. Currently, two types of regulations exist together with indoor workplaces as the scope of application. It appears that the time has come to discuss regulations. In this study, we aim to identify the feasibility of and problems with the current system through a comparative legal review of workplace thermal environment management laws from around the world. We suggest directions for improving South Korea's workplace thermal environment management laws. Methods: For the several selected countries, we analyzed the classification and content of obligations stipulated for the thermal environment, the presence or absence of specific measures for thermal environment management, legal status and content, and the scope of application of thermal environment provisions and measures. The investigated content was classified according to Zweigelt-Kotz's legal theory. Results: In some countries, employers' obligations for regulating the thermal environment are broadly divided into two types: results and actions. The scope of application of provisions and measures on the thermal environment was extensive, with most of the selected countries targeting general workplaces. Conclusions: In the case of South Korea, restricting and classifying target workplaces and imposing separate obligations to manage a workplace thermal environment goes against global practices, and stipulating legal orders and separate action obligations in guidelines does not conform to the characteristics of South Korea's legal system, meaning that improvement is needed.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.1-6
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• 2013

This study was conducted to compare the value of the working environment measurement with the expected exposure value drawn by using a program, thereby going to investigate whether it is available to the risk assessment of domestic workplace. We used the ECETOC TRA program which is one of the exposure predictive models. Four kinds of substances were measured in two workplace which was exposed to organic solvents and one kind of substance was measured in three workplace which was exposed to dusts and then an exposure assessment of chemical risk factors was conducted. The result value of the working environment measurement, solid substance exceeded standard in one site, and it was found that the other solid and liquid substances were within the standard. The value of the exposure assessment program showd the same result; it was higher than the value of the working environment measurement, suggesting that due to its nature, the exposure assessment program is run only on the worst situation. Therefore, it was found that when the exposure assesment program is used, variables should be substituted only after accurately assessing the workplace and it is a good idea to assess the risk beforehand with the exposure assessment program in the case of the workplace which employs no more than 5 people and where it is hard to assess the working environment.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.27-38
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• 2019

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of human rights sensitivity and nursing work environment on workplace bullying victimization among nurses in small- and medium-sized hospitals. Methods: The participants were 255 nurses from 5 general hospitals in Busan. A dataset was collected using a structured self-reporting questionnaire during the month of July 2018. The data were analyzed with SPSS WIN 23.0 software (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA) using independent t-test, one-way analysis of variance, Pearson's correlation coefficient, and multiple regression analysis. Results: Nursing work environment showed negative correlation with workplace bullying victimization. Being a witness to bullying, organizational support, head nurse's leadership, and relationships with peers were found to influence workplace bullying victimization, and these 4 variables explained 37% of workplace bullying victimization. Conclusions: Formal procedures for cases of bullying and improvements in the leadership of head nurses and peer relationships are crucial to reducing workplace bullying victimization among nurses in small- and medium-sized hospitals. Hospital executives' efforts to provide sufficient physical and human resources for nursing services and to improve the welfare of nurses are also needed.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.37-45
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• 2021

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the influence of workplace violence experience on depression among female caregivers in Korea. Methods: This study was a secondary data analysis of data from the 5th Korean Working Conditions Survey (KWCS). The study sample consisted of 484 female caregivers. IBM SPSS 25.0 was used for complex sample analysis, which considered sampling the weights of variables. Based on the survey questions, we used complex sample cross-tabulation and the complex sample general linear model (CSGLM). Results: About 10.1% of female caregivers experienced workplace violence. The factors influencing workplace violence experience on depression were organizational justice (p=.048) and illness (p=.004). However, in cases with no violence, the influencing factors were psychological work environment (p=.001), work environment satisfaction (p=.024), and work engagement (p=.004). Conclusion: Caregivers are vulnerable to workplace violence. Therefore, it is necessary to formulate a policies such as organizational justice, work environment satisfaction, and work engagement to improve the working environment.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.35-41
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• 1998

The workplace noise environment is composed of three basic elements : manufacturing (in a generic sense) facilities, office areas, and the community around the facility. Work must be done by all employees , and this involves communication within a variety of locations within the facility ; areas may be extremely noisy, moderately noisy, or quiet, such as an office. At the same time, the facility should not be annoying to the community. In this paper, the workplace environmental noise of office areas in power plant are studied. Turbine generator in power plant generates the noise of 90∼95 dB(A) in the frequency range of 1 kHz, which may cause occupational hearing loss. By abatement method which are made of isolation material and distance damping effect, about 29.5 dB(A) reduction has been obtained in office areas of the Power Plant . But, the workplace environmental noise of office areas in the power plant is not suited to office's purpose.