• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.405-417
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• 2015

Objectives: The aim of this study is to evaluate the association between physical factors, working conditions and occupational injuries among Korean workers. Methods: We used data from the 2nd Korean Working Conditions Survey, conducted in 2010. A total of 7,114 workers over 15 years of age were selected from among 10,019 Korean workers. The participants were interviewed using questionnaires. A multiple logistic regression model was used to analyze the associations among physical factors, working conditions and occupational injuries. Results: After the adjustment of socio-demographic factors, the odds ratio of injuries through physical factors such as vibration (adjusted Odds Ratio [aOR] 4.037, 95% CI 2.30-7.09), noise (aOR 4.562, 95% CI 2.64-7.89), high temperature (aOR 3.262, 95% CI 1.86-5.73), and low temperature (aOR 3.358, 95% CI 1.76-6.41) were greater in the exposed group than in the non-exposed group. The odds ratios of occupational injury(aOR 5.272, 95% CI 3.19-8.7 for very high speed work, aOR 3.303, 95% CI 1.95-5.60 for tight deadlines, and aOR 3.641, 95% CI 1.72-7.70 for not enough time to work) increased with increased work demands. Conclusions: In this study, physical factors such as vibration, noise, and high and low temperatures were significantly correlated with occupational injuries according to the increase in exposure intensity(p for trend <0.001). Also, working conditions such as high-speed work, tight deadlines and insufficient time to work showed significant associations with occupational injuries(p for trend<0.001).

• Proceedings of the Korea Air Pollution Research Association Conference
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• 1999.10a
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• pp.399-400
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• 1999

From the scientific point of view, any regulation of the emissions of toxic air pollutants in general, and ETS or VOCs in particular, will inevitably be based on exposure levels and consequential health effects, data of this nature is still lacking for most of ETS and VOCs. In this context, the importance of personal monitoring measurements of ETS and VOCs in relation to risk assessment has been emphasized previously.(omitted)

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.313-320
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• 2011

Objectives: To analyze the association between changes in perceived physical and psychosocial working conditions and change of sickness absence days in younger and older (< 50 and ${\geq}50$ years) food industry employees. Methods: This was a follow up study of 679 employees, who completed working conditions survey questionnaires in 2005 and 2009 and for whom the requisite sickness absence data were available for the years 2004 and 2008. Results: Sickness absence increased and working conditions improved during follow-up. However, the change of increased sickness absence days were associated with the change of increased poor working postures and the change of deteriorated team spirit and reactivity (especially among < 50 years). No other changes in working conditions were associated with the changes in sickness absence. Conclusion: Sickness absence is affected by many factors other than working conditions. Nevertheless, according to this study improving team spirit and reactivity and preventing poor working postures are important in decreasing sickness absence.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.483-487
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• 2023

The objectives of the study were to explore the employment factors associated with long working hours, known as a risk factor for various health outcomes. The study relied on the national representative data of the 2013 French working conditions survey and a study sample of 23,378 full-time employees. Long working hours were defined by the threshold of 48 hours a week following the European Working Time Directive. The prevalence of long working hours was higher among men (13.5%) than among women (8.5%). Employees of the private sector, with permanent work contract, in small companies, and men in the services had a higher prevalence of exposure. This prevalence increased with educational and occupational levels. Our findings may help decision-makers to define preventive strategies. More research is needed to improve our knowledge of the employment factors associated with long working hours, as there may be strong differences between countries.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.310-317
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• 2008

The objective of the survey is to define and judge exposure profiles semi-qualitative data in high risk processes using styrene. The survey was conducted on 98 factories out of 229 factories based on data from periodic working environment monitoring for styrene. Styrene is widely utilized as a raw material for PS and co-polymers such as ABS, SAN, SBR, SBL, unsaturated polyester resins(UPR) and others. An approximate breakdown of styrene's markets in Korea is PS 30%, expandable PS 17%, ABS 33%, SAN 5%, SBL 4%, SBR 3%, UPR 1% and other 7%. Although UPR accounts for 1% of total amount of styrene, workers dealing with it are exposed to very high concentrations up to 64 ppm. Especially styrene is widely used in the laminating process of fiberglass reinforced plastics(FRP) manufacturing industry. The Applications using styrene are largely classified into two sections which are applied to styrene monomer(SM) and UPR. SM is utilized for a raw material of resins, surfactant and adhesive. UPR is employed for FRP and non-FRP. For SM control targets are mixing colors and packing in the gelcoat resins manufacturing industry(MI), for UPR control targets out of works using UPR are 1) laminating in the MI of plastics, automobile parts and boats, 2) mixing and packing in the SMC/BMC MI, 3) molding and cutting in the other specific plastics MI, 4) mixing and coating in artificial marble product MI, 5) dipping in the electric motors & transformers MI, 6) molding in the button MI, 7) painting in the musical instrument MI. Findings from the study have given the information for the high risk processes and working practices so that occupational health professionals could focus on targeted workplaces to prevent occupational diseases. It is also useful to develop a control strategies and specific controls for high risk processes and facilities using styrene.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.117-126
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• 1994

Some of the important and vital roles performed by the Health Care Center of Pohang Iron & Steel Co., Ltd.(POSCO) are the periodic monitoring of the work sites as well as regular medical check-ups for each workers to ensure both pleasant and safe working conditions and to protect employees' health. Pohang Steel Works, which has 42 plants, 26 facilities and 12,000 employees, has an annual crude steel production capacity of 9,670,000 using 24,500,000 ton of raw materials. We have measured lots of areal and personal working environment according to Occupational Safety and Health Law semiannually. All data collected on industrial hygiene is stored and managed by personal computer. The developed of a computerized industrial hygiene control system linked to the company's main computer system will provide efficient evaluation of the working environment as well as critical informations on employees' health. Development of this system had begun in May, 1992 and was completed in March, 1994. The computerized industrial hygiene control system can; 1. store industrial hygiene data, providing key pertinent to the diagnosis of occupational related illnesses, and if necessary, the basis for improving the working environment, 2. decide type and time of medical examination of each work for exposure to specific agents, and supply proper protection periodically, 3. prevent occupational related illnesses through evaluation of environmental and biological monitoring, and performance of epidemiological surveillance, 4. facilitate proper job placement through linking of industrial hygiene control and personnel information systems, 5. monitor job processes. levels of chemical agents used, and new agents introduced, 6. and increase productivity by saving time resulting from the implementation of the computerized sysyte,

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.431-441
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• 2019

Objectives: The Korean Working Conditions Survey(KWCS), which has been conducted five times over the past 13 years, presents a diverse picture of Korean workers across occupations, genders, and age groups. This study summarized the use of KWCS and explored how to make the most of the KWCS by reviewing published peer-reviewed journal articles employing the KWCS data. Methods: Articles were selected in accordance with PRISMA protocol for a systematic literature review. A total of 155 articles were included in this review. Results: The number of articles utilizing KWCS data has been increasing by year. The articles were published in 40 Korean journals and 16 international journals. The journals were mainly in the field of occupational safety and health and sociology. Keywords of mental health, working conditions survey, workforce, health, exposure to risk factor, and working time were mainly highlighted. The articles were grouped by the goals of the KWCS as stated in the survey. The majority of published articles(129 articles, 83%) aimed to 'analyze relationships between different aspects of working conditions'. Fifteen articles(10%) were intended to 'identify groups at risk and issues of concern.' The number of articles to 'monitor trends' were limited. Conclusions: The findings underline the limited utilization of the KWCS. Attention to the range and scope of utilization of KWCS should be developed to address current challenges in occupational health and safety management and policy issues.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.151-161
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• 2013

The assessment of personal exposure is a critical component in population-based epidemiologic studies of air pollution. This study was conducted to apply and compare the four exposure estimation methods of individual-level to air pollution concentration in a cohort including 2,283 subjects in Gwangyang, Korea. Individual-level exposure of air pollution were estimated using multiple approaches, including average across all monitors, nearest monitor, and spatial interpolation by inverse distance weighting and kriging. The mean concentrations of $PM_{10}$, $NO_2$, $SO_2$, CO, $O_3$ by four exposure estimation methods were slightly different but not significantly different from each other. Cross-validation showed that kriging was more accurate than other exposure estimation methods because kriging has probably predicted individual exposure levels equivalent to residential locations after estimating the parameters of a model according to the spatial surface of air pollution concentration. These data support that spatial interpolation methods may provide better estimates than selecting the value from the nearest monitor and averaging across values from all monitors by reflecting spatial attributes of air pollution on personal level.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.466-476
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• 2010

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the under-reporting rate and related factors after blood and body fluid (BBF) exposure among hospital employees. Methods: Fifteen hundred l employees were conveniently sampled from ten university and acute care hospitals. The survey questionnaire consisted of 37 items. Data were collected from September 10 to November 30, 2008. Results: The survey response rate was 88.7%. The 47.9% (638/1,331) of hospital employees were exposed to BBF and the mean number of exposure was $4.7{\pm}5.942$ within the previous year. Under-reporting rate after BBF exposure was 69.4% (443/638). By multi-variate logistic regression analysis, the exposure number, exposure type, infectious disease and hospital were independently related to the under-reporting of BBF among hospital employees. Conclusion: The under-reporting rate after being exposed to blood and body fluids was relatively high. To address this problem, educational programs are needed to decrease the under-reporting rate for healthcare workers. Further, it might be helpful if other factors related to under-reporting be investigated in future studies.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.57 no.1
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• pp.73-82
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• 2024

Objectives: The unsafe use of pesticides in agriculture represents a major hazard to human health. This study was conducted to investigate the association between pesticide exposure and health symptoms among chili farmers in northeast Thailand. Methods: This cross-sectional analytic study included 141 chili farmers in Sakon Nakhon Province, in northeast Thailand. Data regarding health symptoms were gathered using a self-report questionnaire. A medical technician tested blood cholinesterase activity using an erythrocyte method, and an occupational medicine specialist at Ramathibodi Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand reviewed the results. Associations between personal characteristics, pesticide exposure factors, and health symptoms were analyzed using multiple logistic regression. Results: Of the 141 chili farmers studied, 66.7% experienced pesticide poisoning, as indicated by below-normal cholinesterase levels. Fatigue was the most frequently reported symptom associated with pesticide exposure, affecting 37.6% of participants. This was followed by nausea and vomiting (31.9%), dizziness (14.9%), and dry throat (14.9%). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that several factors were significantly associated with adverse symptoms: amount of work experience, volume of pesticides used, use of chemical pesticides, use of leaking containers during spraying, direct pesticide exposure while working, contact with pesticide-soaked clothing, consumption of food and drinks in the fields, and blood cholinesterase level indicating risk. Conclusions: This study suggests potential health risks for chili farmers stemming from exposure to and contamination by pesticides used in agricultural practices. To mitigate these risks, it is essential to supply personal protective equipment and to implement educational programs aimed at improving protective behaviors among farmers.