• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.71-80
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• 2007

The purpose of this study was to assess the ambient level of Polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons(PAHs), oil mist of the metalworking fluids(MWFs), especially in heat treat industry and non heat treat industry. And we assessed the relationship of the pattern of exposed PAHs with oil mist during survey day. The study population of heat treat industries contained 98 workers, non-heat treat industry contained 40 workers. Personal samples were taken for ambient monitoring of PAHs and oil mist. PAHs was to analyze the relationship of airborne oil mist. The geometric mean of airborne total PAHs was $3.44{\mu}g/m^3$ in heat treat industry and $0.13{\mu}g/m^3$ in non heat treat industry, Pyrene and Benzo(a)pyrene was detected from heat treat industry and Naphthalene in heat treat industry was significantly detected higher than in non heat treat industry. The geometric mean of airborne oil mist was $0.19{\mu}g/m^3$ in heat treat industry and $0.70{\mu}g/m^3$ in non-heat treat industry. The correlation between oil mist and total PAHs was shown below, total PAHs in workers of non heat treat industry and heat treat industry were not significantly correlated with oil mist

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.102-110
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• 2010

Personal exposure relies on characteristics of time activity patterns of the population of concern as human activities impact the timing, location, and level of personal exposure. The information about time spent in microenvironments plays a critical role for personal exposure to air pollutants. It is useful to determine the precise times of the day that the subjects are in certain locations or engaging in specific activities because exposure to some air pollutants can depend on temporal trends. This study investigated time activity pattern for workers of Korean population over 19 years old with 8,778 workers in weekday. The residential indoor times were 12 hours. Time activity was different by gender and the mean times stayed at home in weekday were 12.9 hours in female and 11.42 hours in male, respectively. The major factors on residential indoor time and workplace time were age, monthly income, occupation and industry type, work position, education, and gender. Considering shorter than those in other countries, Korean workers spent less time at home after the working hours. Determinants of time activity pattern need to be taken into account in exposure assessment, epidemiological analyses, exposure simulations, as well as in the development of preventive strategies. Since there are substantial difference of Korean worker activity pattern, this information can be critical for exposure assessment in Korea.

• Journal of Korean Physical Therapy Science
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.55-66
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• 2009

Background: The purpose of this research was to investigate the factors affecting the low back pain of workers in hospital. 214 subjects waking at two general hospitals in Yosu city participated in this survey. Subjects consisted of doctors, nurses, medical engineers, officers and general laborers. The survey data were collected by a written questionnaire which made out by themselves for 25 days, from fourth August to 29th August, 2008. Methods: The questionnaire consisted of four categories, general, occupational, working habitual and the daily living characteristics. The collected data were analyzed by Chi-square test based on the present or absent of low back pain. Results: 1. In the general characteristics, low back pain had no significant relationship to all factors, sex, ago, body mass index, weight and height. 2. In the occupational characteristics, the phase of distribution of low back pain had statistical significant differences in the working hours a week, satisfaction of pay, satisfaction of occupation(p<0.05). However low back pain did not significantly related to the kind of occupation, period of work and degree of stress. 3. In the habitual characteristics, low back pain was significantly influenced by working posture, frequency of using lumbar and heavy material lifting, monotonous repetition of working operation and noise(p<0.05). No significant difference was shown in the factor of convenience of chair. 4. In the daily living characteristics, low back pain shown the significant differences in walking time a day, status of health and smoking pattern(p<0.05). there were, however, no significant differences in the aspect of the kind of house and bed, sleeping attitude, driving, riding time on the vehicle, exercising, frequency of cultural life and drinking alcohol. Conclusion: when I see above resultants totally, it appears a higher incidence caused by working environment rather than living habit and then consequently compared to hospital workers, they also have high incidence like others. In order to reduce incidence of low back pain and enjoy the our life we need to educate ourselves preventing program for low back pain and try to effort for preventing of low back pain on each department and individual.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.11 no.8
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• pp.2906-2916
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• 2010

Purpose : The purpose of this study was to identify musculoskeletal symptom and pain related working posture with operation-room workers. Methods: The subjects of this study were 73 people who were working from hospital operating-room. A questionnaire consisting of general characteristics, pain symptoms, and pain frequency was given. Objective working posture analysis was done by using REBA after recording moving images in hospital operating-rooms. Results: The result were as follows. The risk level of musculoskeletal symptom related working posture was high, and the management level was at the least 2; 'some management was required for musculoskeletal symptom'. The frequency of pain was 3~4 times/week and the severe pain were experienced from legs, neck, and shoulder. The result of relation of general characteristics and pain were significant variable with sex, age, marital status, weight, past working history, average working time(hr/day), working style, and working department. Conclusion: These results contribute to a better understanding of operation-room workers have high possibility of musculoskeletal disease and are severe musculoskeltal pain related working posture.

• International Journal of Safety
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.29-37
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• 2012

Since most construction workers comprehend information on work through sight, the importance of safety signs are increasing by the day. In Korea, due to the sharp economic progress and the higher standard of the workforce, since the end of 1980, each year the number of foreign workers entering the country who working simple technical jobs have increased this condition. This study researched safety signs, which are the final accident prevention measures at the workplace. Based on the study, comprehension of the standard safety signs of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) was lacking at a level of 2.5. Also, the perception level of the Industry Public Safety Law (38%) was very low. And, it was found that sex and experience or non-experience in safety training was not an issue in the level of understanding. However, when satisfying the standards of the Occupational Safety and Health Act and changing the safety signs, the level of understanding went up to 3.49 and the perception level was increased significantly to 70%. Thus, it is concluded that, since the foreign workers are mainly from non-English speaking countries and because the workers of Korea are not familiar with English, in order to provide proper safety information, there must first of all be simplistic and concise pictograms. This will provide needed information and must be coupled with simple English words that can give additional information to the worker and be effective in helping him understand and perceive the safety sign. Also, it has been determined that the existing forms of safety signs and their effectiveness in industry accident prevention must be reassessed.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.206-210
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• 2015

Background: Fatigue has a strong impact on workers' performance and safety, but expedient methods for assessing fatigue on the job are not yet available. Studies discuss posturography as an indicator of fatigue, but further evidence for its use in the workplace is needed. The purpose of the study is to examine whether posturography is a suitable indicator of fatigue in clerical workers. Methods: Thirty-six employees (${\emptyset}$ 34.8 years, standard deviation = 12.5) participated in postural tasks (eyes open, eyes closed, arm swinging, and dual task) in the morning and afternoon. Position of their center of pressure (COP) was registered using a Nintendo Wii Balance Board and commercial software. From registered COP time series, we calculated the following parameters: path length (mm), velocity (mm/s), anterior-posterior variance (mm), mediolateral variance (mm), and confidence area ($mm^2$). These parameters were reduced to two orthogonal factors in a factor analysis with varimax rotation. Results: Statistical analysis of the first factor (path length and velocity) showed a significant effect of time of day: COP moved along a shorter path at a lower velocity in the afternoon compared with that in the morning. There also was a significant effect of task, but no significant interaction. Conclusion: Data suggest that postural stability of clerical workers was comparable in the morning and afternoon, but COP movement was greater in the morning. Within the framework of dynamic systems theory, this could indicate that the postural system explored the state space in more detail, and thus was more ready to respond to unexpected perturbations in the morning.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.293-301
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• 2001

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of exercise therapy and relaxation therapy on the level of ACTH and cortisol in workers and to determine, from this information, the effectiveness of applied exercise therapy and relaxation therapy as a nursing intervention method for workers experiencing stress. Method: The subjects were divided into an exercise therapy group. a relaxation therapy group, and a control group. The research design was a nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design (exercise therapy : n=12. relaxation therapy: n=12, control group, the group without exercise or relaxation therapy: n= 12). The subjects in the exercise therapy group were given a particular intensity for each kp over 30 min, bicycle ergometer which uses the LX PE training system before and after four weeks of training. The subjects did 60-70% exercise intensity exercise therapy for eight weeks The relaxation therapy subjects were trained using a modified Jacobson's relaxation technique for eight weeks. The exercise and relaxation therapy groups were trained at the following intensity for eight weeks (3 times/week, 30 min/day). Changes in the levels of ACTH and cortisol were identified. Two-way ANOVA and multiple range test (SNK: Student Newman Keul) were used to examine the effects of exercise therapy and relaxation therapy at four and eight weeks. Result: 1. Changes in the level of ACTH in the relaxation therapy group were statistically significant at .05 level, and were better than that of the exercise therapy group after eight weeks. But there was no significant difference between the exercise therapy group and the control group. 2. Change in the level of cortisol in the relaxation therapy group were statistically significant at .05 level as compared to the exercise therapy group and the control group after four weeks, but not after eight weeks. Also, the relaxation therapy was statistically significant at .05 level after four weeks compared to before treatment, but there was a tendency toward increased cortisol after eight weeks. Conclusion: Relaxation therapy was found to be more effective in stress treatment than exercise therapy and as such is a desirable nursing intervention method for stress hormone reduction in workers.

• Journal of International Academy of Physical Therapy Research
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.938-948
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• 2016

In the present study, the general characteristics, job stress, working conditions, and aspects of pain of some industrial workers working in Changwon-si, Gyeongsangnam-do, were surveyed. In analyzing the relationship between job stress and the existence of pain, the variables "working speed" and "opportunities to develop abilities" were shown to have statistically significant relationships with the existence of pain ($p{\leq}.05$). Regarding the relationship between working conditions and the existence of pain, the variables" amount of work per hour," "amount of work per day," "number of parts handled during work," "work production per person," and" inconvenient postures or motions during work" were shown to have statistically significant relationships with the existence of pain($p{\leq}.05$). Regarding aspects of pain", within 1~3 years" was the most common answer to time of occurrence of symptoms, with a percentage of 27.6%; "appear almost always" was the most common answer to frequency of symptoms, with a percentage of 37.1%; "slight pain" was the most common answer to degree of pain, with a percentage of 50.5%; and "moderate" was the most common answer to encumbrance caused by pain to living and work, with a percentage of 41.2%. The aim of the present study was to determine the factors that affect pain due to musculoskeletal diseases in industrial workers and to define the aspects of pain in order to provide basic data for the preparation of measures to prevent musculoskeletal diseases. To control pain due to musculoskeletal diseases, factors that affect pain, as well as the aspects of pain, should be recognized early, and efforts should be made to supplement and improve systems for preventing recurrence.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.144-152
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• 2007

Diesel vehicles are a significant source of fine carbon particle emissions including polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Urinary 1-hydroxypyrene (1-OHP) is firmly established as a useful biomarker of PAHs uptake in human. To investigate the exposure effect of PAHs in miners according to using diesel truck which was for transportation of ore, we measured urinary 1-OHP as the PAHs exposure biomarker, and analyzed the relationship between urinary 1-OHP concentration and using diesel truck. The study was performed on 118 workers (56 miners in factories using diesel truck, 62 miners in factories non-using diesel truck) and 21 controls. Urine samples were obtained at the end of shift on the survey day. There was no significance in comparison with the mean concentrations on urinary 1-OHP by age, BMI, work duration, smoking, drinking and ventilation type. But significant difference were found among urinary 1-OHP concentrations on factories according to using diesel truck (p=0.000). The urinary 1-OHP mean concentration on underground miners using diesel truck ($0.54{\mu}mol/mol$ creatinine) was higher than those of surface miners using diesel truck ($0.33{\mu}mol/mol$ creatinine, p=0.028), underground miners non-using diesel truck ($0.32{\mu}mol/mol$ creatinine, p=0.001) and controls ($0.22{\mu}mol/mol$ creatinine, p=0.000). In comparison with using status diesel truck, the urinary 1-OHP mean concentration of underground miners using diesel trucks was higher than those of other mine status. The study results would be beneficial to future environmental and biological studies of PAHs exposure to diesel exhaust in mines.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.229-237
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• 2000

The purpose of this study was to be useful in working out plans for improving national health by identifying public workers' knowledge of and attitude to smoking, actual conditions of smoking within nonsmoking areas, and related factors. For the purpose, the questionnaire was carried out with 761 public officials of the division manager-level and lower working in Taegu Metropolitan City Hall in september, 1998. The results are summarized as follows; Smokers of the subject group accounted for 55.1％, and the smoking rate had a significant relation with age and religion. In view of the time when smokers started smoking, smokers who started smoking after graduation from a high school accounted for 70.6％. Smokers who smoke one pack of cigarettes per day and a cigarette to its two-thirds length was the most. In the smoking place of smokers at home, 54.9％ of the smokers responded that they smoke in an outdoor space The rate of smoking in an office was 68.3％ and the rate of smoking within the nonsmoking areas of other public institutions was 43.0％. The results of multiple regression analysis with the actual state of smoking within the nonsmoking area of other public institutions as an independent variable revealed that smokers who check for a nonsmoking area before smoking in the public institutions and who do not smoke in an office do not smoke within the nonsmoking areas of other public institutions. In conclusion, more smoking and health education for public workers is needed to reduce the rate of national smoking and allow people to have a good smoking attitude, and it is required to arrange an institutional system who can strictly control public workers' smoking in their offices or public places and to stress a function of surveillance and monitoring by nonsmokers.