• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
• /
• v.15 no.1
• /
• pp.58-71
• /
• 2006

Purpose: This study was performed to identify workers' Job stress status and to analyse the influencing factors. Method: Data were collected from 456 workers with Korean Occupational Stress Questionnaire Short Form(KOSQ SF) and analysed using descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA. Results: Total job stress status of men was slightly lower than Korean workers' standard. In case of women, the score of total job stress was lower than Korean workers' standard. The most significant influencing factors to stressors were insufficient sleeping time and self cognitive bad health condition. Among seven domains of job stressors, job demand was affected by 8 characteristics. Conclusion: This study indicated that workers' job stress level were various by their characteristics except workplace size. The development of stress management programs by types of industry is required. On the base of the model program, planning of customized program for every company or employee is required. High job demand, insufficient job control, insufficient sleeping time, bad health condition are the key factors of workers' job stress in this study. The change of workers' health behavior with supportive environment is essential to stress management program. More researches for adding physical environment domain to KOSQ SF are expected.

• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• v.15 no.2
• /
• pp.200-207
• /
• 2024

Background: Workers are often exposed to hazardous heat due to their work environment, leading to various injuries. As a result of climate change, heat-related injuries (HRIs) are becoming more problematic. This study aims to identify critical contributing factors to the severity of occupational HRIs. Methods: This study analyzed historical injury reports from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Contributing factors to the severity of HRIs were identified using text mining and model-free machine learning methods. The Multinomial Logit Model (MNL) was applied to explore the relationship between impact factors and the severity of HRIs. Results: The results indicated a higher risk of fatal HRIs among middle-aged, older, and male workers, particularly in the construction, service, manufacturing, and agriculture industries. In addition, a higher heat index, collapses, heart attacks, and fall accidents increased the severity of HRIs, while symptoms such as dehydration, dizziness, cramps, faintness, and vomiting reduced the likelihood of fatal HRIs. Conclusions: The severity of HRIs was significantly influenced by factors like workers' age, gender, industry type, heat index , symptoms, and secondary injuries. The findings underscore the need for tailored preventive strategies and training across different worker groups to mitigate HRIs risks.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• /
• v.19 no.3
• /
• pp.233-239
• /
• 2009

The regulatory recognition, regulatory approval, and observance for employer, inspector, and worker groups were investigated for the Korean measurement system in working environments. The employer, worker, and inspector showed an agreement of 90~97 % for the measurement of working environments. This survey showed that the measurement system of working environments has been settled in Korea. However, this survey showed an agreement of 81~87 % for reporting the results of working environment, involvement of worker representative, improvement of working environment, and holding presentations for working environment measurement. The employer recognized well for the measurement of working environments, involvement of worker representative, improvement of working environment, and holding presentations for working environment measurement, but the employee did not recognize well them as much as the employer did. Thus, the improvements for the recognition for involvement of worker representative, improvement of working environment, and holding presentations for working environment measurement by the employee are needed.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration
• /
• v.15 no.3
• /
• pp.463-470
• /
• 2009

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the level of occupational stress and depression in clinical nurses and to investigate the effects of subscales of occupational stress on depression. Method: A sample consisted of 202 nurses from 6 hospitals located in Busan and GyeongNam province. The data were collected from November 2008 to march 2009. A self-administered questionnaire was used to assess socio-demographics, job characteristics, depression measured by Korean CES-D, and occupational stress assessed by KOSS. Result: The total score of occupational stress in clinical nurses was within bottom 25%, but the scores of 'Difficult physical environment', 'High job demand', 'Inadequate social support', 'Organizational injustice' were within top 50%. The 8 subscales of occupational stress had significantly effects on clinical nurses' depression after controlling for age, marital status, type of hospital, current position. Conclusion: The administration of employee assistance program for management occupational stress is important for decreasing depression in clinical nurses.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
• /
• v.20 no.2
• /
• pp.204-211
• /
• 2011

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify visiting nurses' occupational satisfaction and their stress who are working at district health centers in Chungnam province. Methods: The subjects of the study were 109 visiting nurses of 16 district health centers in Chungnam province. The data were collected by self report questionnaires from March 1 to 31, 2010. The data were analyzed by Cronbach's ${\alpha}$, t-test, ANOVA (Sheffe's test), and correlation coefficient using the SPSS program. Results: The results of this study were as follows. The occupational stress level of the subjects was 46.7 and the level of subjects' occupational satisfaction was 2.46. There was a significant negative correlation between occupational satisfaction and occupational stress (r=-.627). Conclusion: The occupational stress level of the subjects, and stress levels of 'work environment', 'job insecurity' and 'organizational structure' were higher than those of the Korean women workers' standard. The level of subjects' occupational satisfaction was lower than that of the nurse practitioners. There was a significant correlation among occupational stress and 'burden of workload' and 'visiting nurse career'. The study showed that occupational stress was correlated with occupational satisfaction. The results suggest that further follow-up study on visiting nurse is necessary to relieve their occupational stress and increase occupational satisfaction.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• /
• v.30 no.3
• /
• pp.270-279
• /
• 2020

Objective: The aim of this study was to propose revision of the occupational exposure limit(OEL) for 1-Bromopropane(1-BP) following a review of the appropriateness of the standard in light of increasing epidemiological data and handling risk. Materials and Methods: The results of toxicity and epidemiologic investigations for 1-BP and agencies' OELs were compared and reviewed through a literature review. In order to investigate the status of 1-BP handling in South Korea, data from work environment actual condition survey results and work environment measurement results were used. Results: The toxicity of 1-BP, such as central nervous system(CNS) damage, peripheral neuropathy, hematological adverse effects, and developmental and reproductive toxicity(male and female) has been reported. ACGIH recommends 0.1 ppm as a TLV-TWA value, but the OEL of South Korea stands at 25 ppm, which is 250 times higher than the TLV-TWA. Although 1-BP is a specially managed substance under the Industrial Safety and Health Law, the currently applied OEL cannot be said to be a safe level based on the results of epidemiological studies to date. In a work environment measurement in 2017, the total number of samples was 626, which were derived from 78 industries, and the average concentration was 1.173 ppm(standard deviation 2.88). Conclusions: To protect the health of workers handling 1-BP, estimated to be 780 in South Korea, it is necessary to strengthen the OEL(TWA) to a level of 0.3 ppm(lower than the 0.34 ppm with known toxic effects), which is believed to be safe as a result of epidemiological investigation. "Skin" notation should be recommended.

• Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
• /
• v.34
• /
• pp.37.1-37.15
• /
• 2022

Background: This study investigated the effect of dispatch frequency on blood cadmium levels and the effect of blood cadmium levels on hypertension in male firefighters in a metropolitan city. Methods: We conducted a retrospective longitudinal study of male firefighters who completed the regular health checkups, including a health examination survey and blood cadmium measurements. We followed them for 3 years. To investigate the effect of dispatch frequency on blood cadmium levels and the effect of blood cadmium levels on hypertension, we estimated the short-term (model 1) and long-term (model 2) effects of exposure and hypothesized a reversed causal pathway model (model 3) for sensitivity analysis. Sequential conditional mean models were fitted using generalized estimating equations, and the odds ratios (ORs) and the respective 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated for hypertension for log-transformed (base 2) blood cadmium levels and quartiles. Results: Using the lowest category of dispatch frequency as a reference, we observed that the highest category showed an increase in blood cadmium levels of 1.879 (95% CI: 0.673, 3.086) ㎍/dL and 0.708 (95% CI: 0.023, 1.394) ㎍/dL in models 2 and 3, respectively. In addition, we observed that doubling the blood cadmium level significantly increased the odds of hypertension in model 1 (OR: 1.772; 95% CI: 1.046, 3.003) and model 3 (OR: 4.288; 95% CI: 1.110, 16.554). Using the lowest quartile of blood cadmium levels as a reference, the highest quartile showed increased odds of hypertension in model 1 (OR: 2.968; 95% CI: 1.121, 7.861) and model 3 (OR: 33.468; 95% CI: 1.881, 595.500). Conclusions: We found that dispatch frequency may affect blood cadmium levels in male firefighters, and high blood cadmium levels may influence hypertension in a dose-response manner.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
• /
• v.29 no.4
• /
• pp.228-234
• /
• 2020

Purpose: This study aimed to identify the past and present status of occupational safety and health education in Korea and to explore future plans for these fields. Methods: We summarized past empirical or theoretical literature. Results: Occupational safety and health education strive to protect workers' health and create healthy workplaces by solving various problems such as workers' occupational diseases and mental health in the rapidly changing occupational environment. For occupational safety and health education to be effectively utilized in occupational sites, a live education that can be applied to the field should be provided. The need for education to explore and develop the ability to prepare for new hazards, including infectious diseases such as COVID-19, has increased. Conclusion: It is believed that the occupational health education element of the new era will be occupational health education. This focus will develop the ability to closely assess and predict the collective, organizational, and personal responses of affected workplaces and the impact of occupational health sciences.

• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• v.3 no.3
• /
• pp.181-191
• /
• 2012

Objectives: Small enterprises have higher exposure to occupational hazards compared to larger enterprises and further, they have fewer resources to control the risks. In order to improve the working environment, development of efficient measures is therefore a major challenge for regulators and other stakeholders. The aim of this paper is to develop a systematic model for the design of tailored intervention programmes meeting the needs of small enterprises. Methods: An important challenge for the design process is the transfer of knowledge from one context to another. The concept of realist analysis can provide insight into mechanisms by which intervention knowledge can be transferred from one context to another. We use this theoretical approach to develop a design model. Results: The model consist of five steps: 1) Defining occupational health and safety challenges of the target group, 2) selecting methods to improve the working environment, 3) developing theories about mechanisms which motivate the target group, 4) analysing the specific context of the target group for small enterprise programmes including owner-management role, social relations, and the perception of the working environment, and 5) designing the intervention based on the preceding steps. We demonstrate how the design model can be applied in practice by the development of an intervention programme for small enterprises in the construction industry. Conclusion: The model provides a useful tool for a systematic design process. The model makes it transparent for both researchers and practitioners as to how existing knowledge can be used in the design of new intervention programmes.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
• /
• v.7 no.1
• /
• pp.83-96
• /
• 1998

The study was conducted to analyze employees' and employers' awareness of occupational health programs for the purpose of evaluating the effectiveness of the program employed in small-scale enterprises (SSE). The 400 SSE that have under 50 employees and have been supported by the Government were selected for mail survey, and 120 employers and 318 employees of 183 factories returned the questionnaires. The results are as follows; 1) 33.8% of employees were not aware of the fact that their factories have been supported by Government, and 69.1% of employees did not know who was the monitor of that program. Only 147% of employees and 35.5% of employers agreed that the supported program reflected their opinions well. 2) 45.1% of employees participated in health education classes more than once. But only 15.6% of them considered the classes as very helpful. 21.1% of employers were much aware of health education schedule, and 44.2% reported that it was helpful for the prevention of occupational diseases. 3) 68.8% of employers were aware of the possibility of occupational diseases that could occur in their factories. And 36.5% of employers reported that some criteria were used for job reallocation to their employees. But only 9.7% of employees were assigned new job based on the result of health status examination. 4) 65.6% of employees were aware of the periodic evaluation for work environment, and 43.3% knew the evaluation results. Among participated SSE, 5.9% have a planning department for improving work environment, and 46.2% actually carried out the program for improving work environment. The findings showed that the employers and employees of SSE had insufficient knowledge of the occupational health program that have been employed in their workplace. It is essential to lead more active participation of employers and employees in their occupational health programs so as that the programs are to improve their health status as well as work environment more effectively.