• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.3-20
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• 2019

This review aimed to identify risk factors for occupational accidents and illnesses among young workers in the Nordic countries and to attain knowledge on specific vulnerable groups within the young working force that may need special attention. We conducted a systematic review from 1994 to 2014 using five online databases. Of the 12,528 retrieved articles, 54 met the review criteria and were quality assessed, in which data were extracted focusing on identifying occupational safety, health risk factors, and vulnerable groups among the young workers. The review shows that mechanical factors such as heavy lifting, psychosocial factors such as low control over work pace, and organizational factors such as safety climate are all associated with increased injury risk for young Nordic workers. Results show that exposures to chemical substances were associated with skin reactions, e.g., hand eczema. Heavy lifting and awkward postures were risk factors for low back pain, and high job demands were risk factors for mental health outcomes. The review identified young unskilled workers including school drop-out workers as particularly vulnerable groups when it comes to occupational accidents. In addition, apprentices and young skilled workers were found to be vulnerable to work-related illnesses. It is essential to avoid stereotyping young Nordic workers into one group using only age as a factor, as young workers are a heterogeneous group and their vulnerabilities to occupational safety and health risks are contextual. Politicians, researchers, and practitioners should account for this complexity in the education, training and organization of work, and workplace health and safety culture.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.50-56
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• 2019

Objective: The aim of this study is to analyze the reliability assessment of work environment measurement, and to propose ways of improving the system. Methods: We have reviewed reports and articles on the reliability assessment written by KOSHA and academia in order to analyze problems related with the system and propose the alternatives. Results: There are three ways to improve the system of the reliability assessment. First of all, it is necessary to perform the reliability assessment by measuring the work environment when workers raise questions about the results so we can make workers trust these results of the reliability assessment. Secondly, we should inspect the workplace at first, not the work environment service provider, so we can increase the employer's recognition of his duty to practice the work environment measurement. Thirdly, the technical committee is needed for technical issues related with the work environment measurement. Conclusions: Above all, it is crucial to get the workers' interest and trust to improve the work environment measurement. The reliability assessment should support the meaning and value of the work environment measurement by practicing the reliability assessment whenever workers have a demand for this and operating the technical committee.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Sensory Integration
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.1-21
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• 2017

Objective : The aims of the this study is to identify job characteristics, to generate job description, and additionally to investigate duty task of the job for Korean pediatric occupational therapist focused on sensory integration intervention. Methods : In the first stage, job analysis of pediatric occupational therapist focused on sensory integration intervention was performed by an advisory committee consist of the DACUM panel. Through the job analysis, job description with definition was established. In the second stage, a survey was performed for 141 pediatric occupational therapist using a questionnaire based on the job description in order to investigate importance, frequency and difficulty of duty task and task elements of the job. This process was done from May to September 2017. Results : The job definition drew from this study was 'Pediatric occupational therapist provides occupational therapy services to children and adolescents to support occupational performance and social participation including daily activities and play". Through the job description established in this study, 9 duties (consulting, evaluation, intervention plan, intervention, document, education, self-development, management, and administration), 28 tasks and 169 task elements were drew. In the survey, among the duty tasks and task elements, 'ensure physical safety' and 'perform a session' were selected as the most important task, and 'ensure safety of children, sensory integrative equipment and environment' and 'prepare a safe environment' were selected as the most important element. Conclusion : This study defined job demands and characteristics of pediatric occupational therapist who performs sensory integration intervention. It is expected that this study can be used a resource to develop and/or improve educational program related.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.35-45
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• 2011

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to propose and to test a predictive model that could explain the workers' quality of life. Methods: Data were collected using self-report questionnaires from 901 workers in Daejeon, Korea. The questionnaires included nine measured variables (safety culture, self-efficacy, activity of occupational health provider, knowledge in occupational health, age, health promotion behavior, workplace environment, health level, and quality of life), as revised PRECEDE model has suggested. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS/WIN 15 and AMOS 6.01 version. Results: Based on the constructed model, behavior, environment, and health were found to have significant direct effect on quality of life. Indirect factors were perceived biological, predisposing, reinforcing, and enabling. The proposed model was concise and extensive in predicting quality of life of the participants. The final modified model yielded GFI=.85, AGFI=.89, NFI=.79, and RMSEA=.11 and exhibited good fit indices. Conclusion: Findings of this study may contribute to development of effective nursing interventions for promoting quality of life in workers.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.282-289
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• 2017

Background: The objective of this study was to report on the prevalence of musculoskeletal pain in lobstermen in the northeast USA. Methods: Crews were randomly selected from those licensed to fish in Maine and Massachusetts and followed prospectively. The survey used a Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire format to characterize musculoskeletal disorders. Results: A total of 395 individuals participated. One half of the respondents reported low back pain. Back pain was attributed to or exacerbated by lobstering. Low back pain was prevalent among both captains and sternmen, while sternmen reported more hand/wrist pain than captains. Multiple locations for pain were common in individual participants. Conclusion: Equipment or technology to assist material handling should be a priority, as the body segments with high prevalence of pain (back, hand/wrists, shoulders, knees) are all affected by the repetitive and forceful handling of the lobster traps.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.19 no.E4
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• pp.157-168
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• 2003

This study evaluated the technical feasibility of the application of titanium oxide (TiO$_2$) photocatalysis for the removal of VOCs in low ppb concentrations commonly associated with non -occupational indoor air quality issues. A series of experiments were conducted to evaluate four parameters (relative humidity (RH), hydraulic diameter (HD), photocatalytic oxidation (PCO) reactor material (RM), and inlet port size (IPS) of PCO reactor) for the PCO destruction efficiencies of the selected target VOCs. None of the target VOCs presented significant dependency on the RH, which is inconsistent with a few previous studies. However, it is noted that the three parameters (HD, RM and IPS) should be considered for better VOCs removal efficiencies for the application of TiO$_2$ photocatalytic technology for cleansing non -occupational indoor air. The PCO destruction of VOCs at concentrations associated with non-occupational indoor air quality issues can be up to nearly 100％. The amount of CO generated during PCO would be negligible in comparison to the indoor CO levels. These results can make the PCO reactor an important tool in the effort to improve non-occupational indoor air quality.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.52-65
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• 1999

This study was performed to evaluate the hand-arm vibration of the steel processing factory workers. Measurement, evaluation and as sessment were based on the International Standard(ISO 5349). The frequency weighted accelerations of the various hand-held tools and total exposure time were measured to assess the periods for the white finger symptom to occur. As a result, it was found that the air angle grinder and the air baby grinder are more harmful than other hand-held tools. It was also found that using various vibratory tools together is more harmful than using a single tool.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.164-173
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• 2012

Objectives: Epichlorohydrin is a material that has been predicted to have high volatility and strong toxicity and is used normally in working area. Therefore, the hazardous and dangerous level and the foreign management system about epichlorohydrin should be invested at home and abroad and through hazard assessment for occupational environment measurement and exposure status of industrial workers in domestic working area. Methods: To assess risk and to suggest Development and Adoption to prevent health damage of workers owing to the epichlorohydrin exposure, the hazardousness and dangerousness of epichlorohydrin and its practical examples and regulation level for domestic and abroad health impairment are researched on the base of various references. Results: The epichlorohydrin caused skin and mucus membrane irritation, respiratory paralysis, kidney and live damage under the influence of acute toxicity and in animal study, it was confirmed as a doubtful carcinogenic substance to trigger reducement of sperm number and reproduction ability, abnormal spermatogenesis, mutagen, increase of forestomach epithelium and occurrence of papilloma and so on, as well as it induced stimulus asthma and allergic contact dermatitis for exposure workers. Conclusions: Epichlorohydrin was found to occur allergic contact dermatitis, carcinogenesis doubt and reproduction toxicity and was verified as a material which would be established reinforcement of management level to care health of handlers, such as denotement dangerousness of skin absorption.

• East Asian Journal of Business Economics (EAJBE)
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.1-10
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• 2023

Purpose - Beauty service employees who perform emotional labor are becoming an important factor in their duties to be performed at customer contact with the emotional expression norms set and required by organizations and companies. There are health problems for beauty workers due to working environments such as physical, chemical, and social factors. Accordingly, this study presents practical ways to protect the health of beauty workers. Research design, data, and methodology - This review study was conducted by searching PubMed, Google Scholar, Riss, Scopus, and Research Gate. Beauty Health Care, Occupational Diseases, Beauty Industry, Beauty Employees, Work-Life Vallance (WLV). I referred to the keywords such as that. A total of 471 papers were searched, of which 46 were finally included in this study on the PRISMA flowchart. Result: The beauty service industry can be classified as a job with high job stress among the beauty industries, and establishing appropriate measures to effectively help beauty industry workers proves to be an important strategy for maintaining physically and mentally healthy lives. Conclusion - Active research is needed to create a healthy environment with sustainable well-being by identifying physical and mental outbreaks according to the degree of awareness through various causes of occupational diseases such as gender and environment of beauty industry workers.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.107-117
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• 2023

Background: Thermophysiological comfort in a cold environment is mainly ensured by clothing. However, the thermal performance and protective abilities of textile fabrics may be sensitive to extreme environmental conditions. This article evaluated the thermal insulation properties of three technical textile assemblies and determined the influence of environmental parameters (temperature, humidity, and wind speed) on their insulation capacity. Methods: Thermal insulation capacity and air permeability of the assemblies were determined experimentally. A sweating-guarded hotplate apparatus, commonly called the "skin model," based on International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 11092 standard and simulating the heat transfer from the body surface to the environment through clothing material, was adopted for the thermal resistance measurements. Results: It was found that the assemblies lost about 85% of their thermal insulation with increasing wind speed from 0 to 16 km/h. Under certain conditions, values approaching 1 clo have been measured. On the other hand, the results showed that temperature variation in the range (-40℃, 30℃), as well as humidity ratio changes (5 g/kg, 20 g/kg), had a limited influence on the thermal insulation of the studied assemblies. Conclusion: The present study showed that the most important variable impacting the thermal performance and protective abilities of textile fabrics is the wind speed, a parameter not taken into account by ISO 11092.