• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.513-519
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• 2010

Since 2003 when the prevention of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) became a responsibility of management in workplaces, the effectiveness of the Korean WMSDs law has been concern for many stakeholders of this measure including workers, workers' union, researchers, professionals, and managers as well as officials in governments. WMSDs are known to be resulted from overburden on workers' body due to tasks required at their workplaces. Korean government enacted a law to require management of companies to take measures to prevent musculoskeletal disorders at work. The objectives of this paper is to review activities and actions taken to comply with this WMSDs law and problems encountered in last 7 years since the law came intoforce and suggest resolutions for problems so that this law can contribute to fulfill the real purpose of the law and make better workplaces in Korea.

• Korean Journal of Computational Design and Engineering
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.77-86
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• 2009

During manual work in shipbuilding such as blasting, grinding, and so on, a large force is acted on the body of a worker. As a result, this work induces musculoskeletal disorders of the worker and it also induces severe social problems. To solve this problem, we are developing a work support robot for the prevention of musculoskeletal disorders in shipbuilding. In this study, a result of conceptual design of this robot is presented. A worker can perform the blasting work with a small force using this robot which can lessen the force acting on the body of the worker.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.123-129
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• 2007

In 2003 the Korean Government introduced 'the risk factors analysis system' in order to prevent the work-related musculoskeletal disorders. In addition, the proclamation by the Ministry of Labor delineated eleven spheres of work associated with musculoskeletal disorders. According to Occupational Safety and Health Regulations, business proprietors who have workers engaged in tasks associated with musculoskeletal disorders are required to carry out a survey on risk factors every three years. Effective risk factors analysis principles and practices will succeed by refining the workplaces continuously. However, numerous difficulties arise during the application of risk factors analysis to the various industries. We discuss a number of issues related to risk factors analysis system, and suggest a number of directions for future work in this area.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.27-44
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• 2002

Recently, both management and labor are interested in the increasing ratio of musculoskeletal disorders. And the developed countries make efforts to consider a counterplan such as prevention activity of musculoskeletal disorders and application possibility of ergonomic program, because musculoskeletal disorders take large portion out of occupational disease. Especially, small and medium enterprises have bigger problems due to the inferior work condition and environment in comparison with big businesses. This study is to introduce developed countries' cases such as WISE(Work Improvement in Small Enterprises) and OSHA Handbook for Small Businesses and to suggest the program of ergonomic management for small and medium enterprises having comparative difficulties against big businesses in improving work environment and managing ergonomic operations.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.53-60
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• 2008

The work-related musculoskeletal disorders have constantly increased since it became an issue in 1996. In 2002, the Government established the risk factors analysis system in order to prevent musculoskeletal disorders. The proclamation by the Ministry of Labor defined eleven spheres of work associated with musculoskeletal disorders. As a result, business proprietors, who have workers engaged in tasks associated with musculoskeletal disorders, are required to conduct the risk factor analysis on a regular basis every three years. However, numerous issues have been raised while carrying out the risk factor analysis in various industries. One of the issues is that even though work sampling is an ideal method in risk factor analysis, most cases have selected extreme task postures, which is judged by an expert, due to limited time. This study will propose the desired direction of the risk factor analysis by comparing task assessment results between work sampling scenes and extreme task scenes.

• Journal of Industrial Convergence
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.3-15
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• 2006

Musculoskeletal Disorders are usually caused or aggravated by poor work processes and unsuitable working conditions - that involve or repetitive or forceful movements or the maintenance of constrained or awkward postures. The condition is characterized by discomfort and persistent pain. Case and Demographic Characteristics for Work-related Injuries and Illnesses Involving Days Away From Work, 2004. U.S" was examined. Causes of musculoskeletal disorders for assembly line workers were carpal tunnel syndrome(CTS), tendonitis, low back pain, and occupational stress. Recommendations of improvement for productivity are redesign of working conditions, exercise, prevent of musculoskeletal disorders and avoiding stress.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.124-133
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• 2010

Objectives: This study was conducted to develop a model describing the interaction between lifestyle, job, and postural factors and parts of the upper extremities in shipyard workers. Methods: A questionnaire survey was given to 2,140 workers at a shipyard in Ulsan City. The questionnaire consisted of questions regarding the subjects' general characteristics, lifestyle, tenure, physical burden, job control, posture and musculoskeletal symptoms. The overall relationship between variables was analyzed by a structural equation model (SEM). Results: The positive rate of upper extremity musculoskeletal symptoms increased in employees who worked longer hours, had severe physical burden, and did not have any control over their job. Work with a more frequent unstable posture and for longer hours was also associated with an increased positive rate of musculoskeletal symptoms. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that unstable posture and physical burden were closely related to the positive rate of musculoskeletal symptoms after controlling for age, smoking, drinking, exercise, tenure, and job control. In SEM analysis, work-related musculoskeletal disease was influenced directly and indirectly by physical and job stress factors, lifestyle, age, and tenure (p < 0.05). The strongest correlations were found between physical factors and work-related musculoskeletal disease. Conclusion: The model in this study provides a better approximation of the complexity of the actual relationship between risk factors and work-related musculoskeletal disorders. Among the variables evaluated in this study, physical factors (work posture) had the strongest association with musculoskeletal disorders.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.28-38
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• 2014

Purpose: This research is a correlative study to assess the relationships of musculoskeletal subjective symptoms disorders and health promotion behavior of the daily plant construction workers. Methods: The subjects were comprised of 306 daily plant construction workers by self-reported questionnaires on October 19, 2011. The instruments used for this study were musculoskeletal subjective symptoms disorders (NIOSH) and health promotion lifestyle profile II (HPLP-II). The data were analyzed using SPSS/WIN 14.0. Results: The scores of health promotion behavior of daily plant construction workers were 2.13, and the scores of health promotion behavior were significantly different depending on gender (t=-2.51, p=.013), religion (t=3.10, p=.002), owning house (t=2.59, p= .010), exercise (t=6.01, p<.001), time to rest during work (t=2.21, p=.027), and work satisfaction (F=8.97, p<.001). The musculoskeletal subjective symptoms disorders attack rate was 90.5%. The results of the correlative study to assess relationships showed significant negative correlation between musculoskeletal subjective symptoms disorders and health promotion behavior (r=-1.45, p=.011). Conclusion: The results of the study showed that it was lower level of health promotion behavior level. Therefore, to increase the health promotion behavior of the daily plant construction workers, a great deal of efforts are required at the level of the government, employers and workers.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
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• v.24 no.6_2
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• pp.781-786
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• 2021

Korean domestic workers are trend to avoid harmful and dangerous jobs calls 3D work due to the poor working conditions. Therefore, the incoming population of foreign workers is increasing to fulfill the required labor force. Mostly these foreign workers are placed in small and medium-size industries. As work that induces musculoskeletal disorders(WMSD) is equally exposed to domestic workers as well as foreign workers, this study attempted to investigate the work burdened by musculoskeletal disorders and derive improvement measures by understanding the actual conditions of the worksites of foreign workers. The result of this investigation defines that the possibility of developing musculoskeletal disorders is very high in the environment in which more than 40% of the respondents work with heavy objects and repetitive work of wrists and elbows. To prevent the symptoms of musculoskeletal disorders among foreign workers, three measures were proposed. To reduce the mandatory check-up period of WMSD under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, to revise the employment permit system, and to enhance the practical help of EPS education. Safety and health management of foreign workers is becoming an essential task not only for securing a workforce but also for the national image. Personal and economic losses at the national level should be minimized through policy support such as financial support for small and medium-sized businesses in Korea and supplementation of legal systems for the protection of foreign workers.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.43-52
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• 2005

A two-dimensional posture measurement system was developed to evaluate the risks of work-related musculoskeletal disorders(MSDs) easily on various conditions of work. The posture measurement system is an essential tool to analyze the workload for preventing work-related musculoskeletal disorders. Although several posture measurement systems have been developed for workload assessment, some restrictions in industry still exist because of its difficulty on measuring work postures. In this study, an image recognition algorithm was developed based on a neural network method to measure work posture. Each joint angle of human body was automatically measured from the recognized images through the algorithm, and the measurement system makes it possible to evaluate the risks of work-related musculoskeletal disorders easily on various working conditions. The validation test on upper body postures was carried out to examine the accuracy of the measured joint angle data from the system, and the results showed good measuring performance for each joint angle. The differences between the joint angles measured directly and the angles measured by posture measurement software were not statistically significant. It is expected that the result help to properly estimate physical workload and can be used as a postural analysis system to evaluate the risk of work-related musculoskeletal disorders in industry.