• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.63-70
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• 2013

Objectives: This study is planned to assess the trend of occupational injuries in Korea from 2001 to 2010. Methods: Ten years of occupational injuries, from 2001 to 2010, were analyzed in order to investigate the changing profiles according to the various characteristics of injuries; economic sectors, age of the injured, and type of injuries. The changing profile of occupational injuries was investigated by comparison with an index-created relative value based on the number of cases of reference category. Results: The fatalities of construction, forest, agriculture, and service show the increasing trend. The nonfatal occupational injuries of the manufacturing sector were higher than those of other sectors in every year but the fatal occupational injuries of construction workers were higher than those of the manufacturing sector. Occupational injuries occurring due to amputation and those of slip and trip increased. The number of occupational injuries for the worker groups of 24 years old and below decreased and 45 years old and above increased. In comparison to the figure of fall from height, the figures of slip and trip or caught in equipment are higher in every calendar year. Conclusion: This study find out construction, forest, agriculture, and service sectors, aged worker with 45 years old and over can be target population for the strategies of occupational safety.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.159-168
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• 2020

Purpose : This study was conducted to investigate the effects of stress on sports injuries that occur to the university rhythmic gymnasts in Korea. Methods : All general characteristics of rhythmic gymnasts were analyzed as descriptive statistics and, the incidence of sports injuries was analyzed. To examine the differences in the incidence of sports injuries between the group with upper-level and lower-level stress scores, the independent sample t-test was carried out. For the correlation between number of sports injuries and stress scores, Pearson correlation coefficient was used. All statistical analyses were carried out using the SPSS version 24.0 with the level of significance set to α=.05. Results : The mean stress score of university rhythmic gymnasts was 3.68±1.31. The incidence of sports injuries was 57 cases in total, and per student, 2.28±0.61 cases occurred on average. The incidence of sports injuries differed significantly between the group with upper-level and lower-level stress scores. In addition, significant differences were found in the analysis of the correlation between number of sports injuries and stress scores, with regard to the psychological and emotional stress and the social stress against overall variables. Conclusion : The incidence of sports injuries was higher for the gymnasts with higher stress scores. In addition, correlation were found in the analysis of the between number of sports injuries and stress scores, emotional and psychological stress and the social stress.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.135-141
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• 2015

According to the statistics, occupational fatal injuries by mobile cranes were about 12 per year in whole industrial. Mobile cranes are widely used in various parts of industries to improve the efficiency of the work. However considerable number of fatal injuries happen each year during the operation of the machines. In this study, the current regulations to be adequate in industrial site have to be renew in order to prevent the fatal injuries by mobile cranes. Fatal injury analyses were conducted with several accident cases by the mobile cranes. For each accident, the causes of the injuries were examined and proper safety measures were proposed. In this study, the mobile crane showed a high fatality rate in industrial accidents and no detailed cause analysis of fatal accidents was conducted in terms of unsafe acts or conditions. This study proposed a revision of the standard guideline as an accident prevention measures through in-depth analysis of fatal accidents. First, among the mainly five machines caused the accidents, mobile crane was higher for the second showed 0.6% for number of fatalities compared to number of mobil cranes and for the third showed 11% for number of fatalities compared to number of injuries. Second, main cause of cognitive engineering agenda was visibility, responsibility, affordance. As the measures to prevent accidents before starting operation, alternative revision for the fool proof including visibility, responsibility, affordance etc. for the fool proof measures was proposed. Third, alternative revision as cognitive accident prevention for the fail safe measures was proposed.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.293-303
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• 2022

In construction work, it can be difficult to know the exact number of full-time workers, so the accident rate is calculated using the approximate number of full-time workers. In addition, as the accident rate calculation is performed based on the assumption that the number of accidents is proportional to the approximate number of workers, the reliability of the calculation result may be questionable. This study proposed a new indicator for accident level based on the progress payment and the number of injuries. The accident-progress ratio, which can be calculated by simply dividing the number of injuries by progress payment, can replace the existing accident rate index or be used as an auxiliary indicator of the accident level. The correlation coefficient between the number of injuries and the progress payment was higher than that between the number of injuries and the number of construction workers. In addition, over the past 10 years, the accident rate has been increasing, whereas the accident-progress ratio has showed a decreasing tendency. This might leave room for different interpretations of the annual variation in the accident level in the construction industry.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.184-191
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• 2018

Background: Due to an increasing number of workers aged 50 years and above, the number of those employed is also on the rise, and those workers aged 50 and over has exceeded 50% of the total fatal occupational injuries. Therefore, it is necessary to implement the selection and concentration by identifying the characteristics of high-risk groups necessary for an effective prevention against and reduction of fatal occupational injuries. Methods: This study analyzed the characteristics of high-risk groups and the occupational injury fatality rate per 10,000 workers among the workers aged 50 and over through a multi-dimensional analysis by sex, employment status of workers, industry and occupation by targeting 4,079 persons who died in fatal occupational injuries from January 2007 to December 12. Results: The share of the workers aged 50 years and above is increasing every year in the total fatal occupational injuries occurrence, and the high-risk groups include 'male workers' by sex, 'daily workers' by worker's status, 'craft and related-trades workers' by occupation, and 'mining' by industry. Conclusion: The most frequent causal objects of fatal occupational injuries of the workers aged 50 years and above are found out to be 'installment and dismantlement of temporary equipment and material on work platforms including scaffold' in the construction industry and 'mobile crane, conveyor belt and fork lifts' in the manufacturing industry.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.477-486
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• 2014

Objective:This study aims to devise industrial injury prevention measures by analyzing industrial injury characteristics including the status of industrial injuries, source of industrial injury and accident type in order to prevent aging workers' industrial injuries that account for more than half in the workplaces in agriculture. Background: Continuous migration from farm to city takes place among young people in rural areas in Korea, a traditionally agricultural country due to rapid industrialization and economic development. The aging rate in rural areas in 2013 was 37.3%, about three times higher than the total aging rate of 12.2% in Korea. According to industrial injury statistics of the Ministry of Employment and Labor, the number of industrial injuries in agriculture shows an uptrend and the industrial injuries of aging workers account for more than 50% each year. Method: Of the 2,970 industrial injury cases occurred in the workplaces in agriculture for five years during 2008 and 2012 offered by a national agency related to health and safety, this study analyzed 1,767 industrial injury cases of aging workers. Results: As a result of an analysis on aging workers' industrial injuries by company size in agriculture, 89.8% of the total number of industrial injuries were analyzed to occur in small scale company. According to aging workers' industrial injuries by source of industrial injury and accident type, the outdoor floor and a fall were analyzed to be the highest at 16.5% and 26.1%, respectively. Conclusion: This study analyzed aging workers' industrial injuries by company size, age, job duration, accident severity, gender, nationality, the source of industrial injury and accident type in order to identify industrial injury characteristics in agriculture. Application: The identification of industrial injury characteristics of aging workers in agriculture is judged to be helpful to devising effective measures to prevent industrial injuries.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.483-488
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• 1992

This experiment was carried out to establish the grade of adhesion formation and changes of blood following artificial injuries such as abrasion, incision and electrocautery on colon and uterine horns in rats. 36 rats (abrasion-, incision-, electrocautery-treated groups) had laparotomy and abdominal injuries, twelve rats( control group) had only laparotomy, Ten days fellowing abdominal injuries, the score of adhesion formation and changes of blood were noted 1. Electrocautery-treated group was significant evident in adhesion formation in colon(p<0.01) and electrocautery and incision-treated groups were more evident than abrasion and control group in uterine horns(p<0.01) 2. Changes of erythrocytes number and PCV were tended to decrease during 5 days after operation, but recover normal level 10 days after operation. 3. Changes of leucocytes number were showed to significantly increase in electrocautery and incision-treated groups 5 days after operation. 4. The electrocautery-treated group was showed to significantly decrease in plasma protein and increase in plasma fibrinogen concentration.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.343-353
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• 2023

Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic led to significant changes in the lifestyle patterns of children and affected the patterns of pediatric injuries. This study analyzed the changing patterns of pediatric injury overall and by age groups, based on the datasets before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This study is based on the data of patients who presented with injuries at 23 hospital emergency departments participating in the Emergency Department-based Injury In-depth Surveillance (EDIIS) conducted by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. The surveillance data was categorized by injury mechanism, location, activity, and severity. We analyzed the injury patterns of pediatric patients aged 0 to 15 years. Subgroup analysis was conducted by age group in children aged 7 to 15 years, 1 to 6 years, and <1 year. Results: When comparing the COVID-19 pandemic period to the pre-COVID-19 period, the total number of pediatric patients with injuries decreased by 38.7%, while the proportions of in-home injuries (57.9% vs. 67.9%), and minor injuries (38.9% vs. 39.7%) increased. In the 7 to 15 years group, bicycle riding injuries (50.9% vs. 65.6%) and personal mobility device injuries (2.4% vs. 4.6%) increased. The 1 to 6 years group also showed an increase in bicycle accident injuries (15.8% vs. 22.4%). In the <1 year group, injuries from falls increased (44.5% vs. 49.9%). Self-harm injuries in the 7 to 15 years group also increased (1.6% vs. 2.8%). Conclusions: During the COVID-19 pandemic period, the overall number of pediatric injuries decreased, while injuries occurring at home and during indoor activities increased. Traffic accidents involving bicycles and personal mobility devices and self-harm injuries increased in the 7 to 15 years group. In the <1 year group, the incidence of falls increased. Medical and societal preparedness is needed so that we might anticipate these changes in the patterns of pediatric injuries during future infectious disease pandemics.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.479-489
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• 2021

Background: During 2011, a study was undertaken to assess safety conditions in Serbian underground coalmines by analysis of injury data. The study covered all Serbian coalmines, identified week spots from the aspect of safety, and recommended possible courses of action. Since then, Serbia has made changes to safety and health legislation; all coalmines introduced new preventive measures, adopted international standards, and made procedures for risk management. After 10 years a new study has been performed to analyze the impact of these changes. Materials and methods: In this study, the injuries that have occurred in the Serbian underground coal mines over the last 20 years were analyzed. Statistical data analysis was performed by IBM SPSS Statistics v23. The injuries that occurred in the last ten years were compared with the results of the previous study (2000-2009). The average values of injury rates for both periods were compared for each of the categories (severity, age, body part, qualification), and the results were presented as absolute difference or percentile difference. Results: The results showed reduction in the number of injuries in the category of 20-30 years old workers, where the new training procedures for workers, which were set by mandatory legal regulations, certainly contributed. They also showed an increase in the number of injuries in the category of old workers, which indicates that the law did not have a positive effect on this category. Conclusion: The total number of injuries is still high; therefore, it is necessary to introduce mechanization and automation in mines and have a better policy for older workers who retire later nowadays.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.52-56
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• 2011

Objectives: The occupational accident rate was officially reported to be 0.77 per 100 workers in 2001 and 0.70 in 2009. The stagnant decrease in accident rate raises a question about the effectiveness of prevention activity because there have been active prevention efforts in the past 10 years. It is also necessary to know the exact status of occupational injuries to direct a prevention strategy. Methods: The author re-analyzed occupational injury statistics to find the reason for stagnant decreases in occupational injuries. Compensated occupational injuries cases were used to calculate fatal and non-fatal injury rates. Injuries from commuting accidents and sports activities were excluded as well as occupational diseases. The number of workers was adjusted to that of full time equivalent employees. Results: The fatal injury rate excluding injuries associated with commuting accidents, sports activities, and occupational diseases decreased from 12.59 in 2001 to 8.20 in 2009. In 2007, 67.5% of accidents that involved being caught in objects, which are mostly caused by machines and equipment, occurred in the manufacturing industry; this type of incident has decreased since 2001. The fatal and non-fatal injury rates in the manufacturing industry have continuously decreased while the rates in the service industry have not changed from 2001 to 2009. Non-fatal injuries might not be reported in many cases. The number of insured workers was underestimated as long working hours were not adjusted for in the reporting system. Conclusion: The occupational fatal injury rate has decreased and the non-fatal injury rate might have decreased during the last 10 years, although the statistics show stagnancy. The decrease of the injury rate was countervailed by various factors. Hence, the current accident rate does not reflect the actual situation of accidents in Korea. Korea needs to develop an improved system to more accurately calculate occupational fatal and non-fatal injury rates.