• PNF and Movement
• /
• 제17권2호
• /
• pp.253-261
• /
• 2019

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the causal relationship between workplace stress and working posture and the development of work-related neck pain in office workers. Methods: The study participants included 62 office workers who had not experienced neck pain in the previous 12 months. A battery of measures to evaluate potential workplace risk factors in an office setting were conducted at baseline, and the 12-month incidence of work-related neck pain was reported via monthly questionnaires. Survival analysis was used to evaluate the longitudinal relationship between the workplace risk factors and the development of work-related neck pain. Results: The incidence of work-related neck pain was 1.91 (95% CI: 1.06-3.45) per 100 person months. The incidence of neck pain was predicted to be less likely to happen when workers had a more upright thorax posture during computer work (hazard ratio, 0.94; 95% CI: 0.89-0.99). However, stress may deteriorate the preventative effects of other risk factors on neck pain and showed a positive relationship with episodes of neck pain (hazard ratio, 1.37; 95% CI: 1.03-1.84). Conclusion: Understanding the psychophysiological effects of neck pain may explain the development of neck pain in office workers. Our interest in prevention plans and treatments should therefore involve a multifactorial pathology of neck pain in the workplace.

• 한국산업보건학회지
• /
• 제31권3호
• /
• pp.237-254
• /
• 2021

Objectives: This study aims to classify the latent profiles in the exposure to hazard factors of salaried employees and test the determinants. Methods: Latent profile analysis(LPA) was conducted using data from the fifth Korean Working Conditions Survey(KWCS). 30,050 of salaried employees were the subjects of this study. After classifying the employees, multinomial logistic regression was used to test the determinants. Results: Salaried employees were classified with three latent profiles based on the exposure to the hazard factors. Employees included in class 1(32.8%) tend to experience low level of physical hazard factors, moderate level of psychological hazard factors, and high level of office work hazard factors. Employees included in class 2(61.8%) tend to be exposed to the moderate to high level of physical hazard factors, moderate to low level of psychological hazard factors, and low level of office work hazard factors. Employees included in class 3(5.4%) tend to experience high level of psychological and physical hazard factors, and moderate level of office work hazard factors. After classification, the demographic, health-, and employment-related variables were tested. Conclusions: This study clarified the features of each class, and proved that employees in class 3 are quite hazardous in that they are exposed to physical and psychological hazard factors much more frequently than other employees. Thus, this study can be used in predicting the high-risk employees and taking preemptive measures for preventing industrial accidents.

• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• 제5권2호
• /
• pp.43-52
• /
• 2014

Because information on biological agents in the workplace is lacking, biological hazard analyses at the workplace to securely recognize the harmful factors with biological basis are desperately needed. This review concentrates on literatures published after 2010 that attempted to detect biological hazards to humans, especially workers, and the efforts to protect them against these factors. It is important to improve the current understanding of the health hazards caused by biological factors at the workplace. In addition, this review briefly describes these factors and provides some examples of their adverse health effects. It also reviews risk assessments, protection with personal protective equipment, prevention with training of workers, regulations, as well as vaccinations.

• 한국산업보건학회지
• /
• 제23권3호
• /
• pp.229-242
• /
• 2013

Objectives: This study was designed to investigate the current status of the association of job-related information such as employment status, workplace environment, and hazard material exposures with health examination outcomes. Methods: The study used data from KNHANES 2007-2009 representing the three years of 2007-2009, which was conducted annually using a rolling sampling design that involved a complex, stratified, multistage, probability-cluster survey of a representative sample of the non-institutionalized civilian population in Korea. The final analytical sample consisted of 17,240 participants. Information on age, education, smoking history and alcohol intake was collected during the health interview. Job related information consisted of employment status, workplace environment, and hazardous material exposure. The selected indices of health examination were blood pressure, fasting glucose, blood cholesterol, HDL, SGOT, SGPT, and BUN. Results: In multiple logistic regression analysis using hypertension and pre-hypertension as dependent variables and job related categories as independent variables after covariate adjustments, the odds of hypertension and pre-hypertension were significantly lower in those with responsibility and power in their job activities. Interestingly, low odds for hypertension were observed among those who reported that their jobs were fast-paced. Conclusions: This study confirmed that some job-related categories in employment status, workplace environment, and hazardous material exposure had an association with health outcome status. It is worthwhile to comment that high responsibility and power in job activities were revealed as one of the important favorable factors to improve health condition of workers.

• 한국보건간호학회지
• /
• 제8권2호
• /
• pp.57-64
• /
• 1994

The purpose of this study is to investigate the present state of worker's physical. behavioral effects and recognition about the hazard factors in their workplace. The subject consisted of 208 workers in the organic solvents related industry. The workers were surveyed by means of a Questionnaire during the period of March 24 to May 26. 1994. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics. t-test. AVOVA using the SAS program. The result of the study are follows: 1. The more than half of workers in the organic solvents related industry have experienced 'eye disturbance', 'headache', 'sputum formation' and 'dizziness'. 2. $83.4\%$ of workers have recognized the name of organic solvents in using of their workplace. $62.4\%$ of workers have recognized the harmfulness of organic solvents. $41.7\%$ of workers have not recognized the difference of harmfulness of various organic solvents. 3. $27.8\%$ of workers have called on clinic when have experienced physical symptoms. About $90\%$ of workers have called on hospitals and drugstores when have experienced physical symptoms.

• 국제학술발표논문집
• /
• The 9th International Conference on Construction Engineering and Project Management
• /
• pp.450-457
• /
• 2022

The construction industry is demanding, dynamic, and complex making it difficult for workers to recognize hazards. The nature of construction tasks exposes workers to several critical risk factors, such as a high rate of exertion and fatigue. Recent studies suggest that fatigue may impact hazard recognition in the construction industry. However, most studies rely on subjective measures when assessing the relationship between physical fatigue and hazard recognition, limiting such studies' efficacy. Thus, this study examined the relationship between physical fatigue and hazard recognition using a controlled experiment. Worker fatigue levels were captured using physiological data and a subjective exertion scale. The findings confirmed that physical exertion plays a significant role in hazard recognition skills (p < 0.05). This research contributes to theory and practice by providing a process for objectively assessing the influence of physical fatigue on worker safety and providing construction professionals with some critical insight needed to improve workplace safety.

• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• 제6권4호
• /
• pp.279-288
• /
• 2015

Background: In this study, the measurement of job stress of electric overhead traveling crane operators and quantification of the effects of operator and workplace characteristics on job stress were assessed. Methods: Job stress was measured on five subscales: employee empowerment, role overload, role ambiguity, rule violation, and job hazard. The characteristics of the operators that were studied were age, experience, body weight, and body height. The workplace characteristics considered were hours of exposure, cabin type, cabin feature, and crane height. The proposed methodology included administration of a questionnaire survey to 76 electric overhead traveling crane operators followed by analysis using analysis of variance and a classification and regression tree. Results: The key findings were: (1) the five subscales can be used to measure job stress; (2) employee empowerment was the most significant factor followed by the role overload; (3) workplace characteristics contributed more towards job stress than operator's characteristics; and (4) of the workplace characteristics, crane height was the major contributor. Conclusion: The issues related to crane height and cabin feature can be fixed by providing engineering or foolproof solutions than relying on interventions related to the demographic factors.

• 대한안전경영과학회지
• /
• 제25권4호
• /
• pp.25-33
• /
• 2023

This study analyzed the factors affecting the effectiveness of the Chemical Hazard Risk Management (CHARM). A survey was conducted on 104 learners who participated in the Risk Assessment training course at Occupational Safety and Health Training Institute. Through a self-administered questionnaire, the effect of personal characteristics, corporate characteristics, and safety and health level of the company on the effectiveness of chemical risk assessment was investigated. As a result of statistical analysis, the safety and health level of the company had a positive (+) effect on the effectiveness of Chemical Hazard Risk Management(CHARM), but personal characteristics and corporate characteristics had no relation to it. This study can be used as basic data for further research related to chemical risk assessment in workplaces.

• Advances in Computational Design
• /
• 제4권2호
• /
• pp.91-118
• /
• 2019

Every year, many people are severely injured or lose their lives in accidents such as fire, chemical spill, public pandemonium, school shooting, and workplace violence. Research indicates that the fate of people in an emergency situation involving one or more hazards depends not only on the design of the space (e.g., residential building, industrial facility, shopping mall, sports stadium, school, concert hall) in which the incident occurs, but also on a host of other factors including but not limited to (a) occupants' characteristics, (b) level of familiarity with and cognition of the surroundings, and (c) effectiveness of hazard intervention systems. In this paper, we present EVAQ, a simulation framework for modeling large crowd evacuation by taking into account occupants' behaviors and interactions during an emergency. In particular, human's personal (i.e., age, gender, disability) and interpersonal (i.e., group behavior and interactions) attributes are parameterized in a hazard-impacted environment. In addition, different hazard types (e.g., fire, lone wolf attacker) and propagation patterns, as well as intervention schemes (simulating building repellent systems, firefighters, law enforcement) are modeled. Next, the application of EVAQ to crowd egress planning in an airport terminal under human attack, and a shopping mall in fire emergency are presented and results are discussed. Finally, a validation test is performed using real world data from a past building fire incident to assess the reliability and integrity of EVAQ in comparison with existing evacuation modeling tools.

• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• 제15권1호
• /
• pp.96-101
• /
• 2024

Background: Silicosis among workers who fabricate engineered stone products in micro or small-sized enterprises (MSEs) was reported from several countries. Workplace exposure data of these workers at high risk of exposure to respirable crystalline silica (RCS) dust are limited. Methods: We surveyed workers performing cutting, shaping and polishing tasks at 6 engineered stone fabricating MSEs in Sydney, Australia prior to regulatory intervention. Personal exposure to airborne RCS dust in 34 workers was measured, work practices were observed using a checklist and worker demography recorded. Results: Personal respirable dust measurements showed exposures above the Australian workplace exposure standard (WES) of 0.1 mg/m³ TWA-8 hours for RCS in 85% of workers who performed dry tasks and amongst 71% using water-fed tools. Dust exposure controls were inadequate with ineffective ventilation and inappropriate respiratory protection. All 34 workers sampled were identified as overseas-born migrants, mostly from three linguistic groups. Conclusions: Workplace exposure data from this survey showed that workers in engineered stone fabricating MSEs were exposed to RCS dust levels which may be associated with a high risk of developing silicosis. The survey findings were useful to inform a comprehensive regulatory intervention program involving diverse hazard communication tools and enforcing improved exposure controls. We conclude that modest occupational hygiene surveys in MSEs, with attention to workers' demographic factors can influence the effectiveness of intervention programs. Occupational health practitioners should address these potential determinants of hazardous exposures in their workplace surveys to prevent illness such as silicosis in vulnerable workers.