• Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
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• 제35권
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• pp.39.1-39.14
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• 2023

Background: Diseases affecting the lungs and airways contribute significantly to the global burden of disease. The problem in low- and middle-income countries appears to be exacerbated by a shift in global manufacturing base to these countries and inadequate enforcement of environmental and safety standards. In Ghana, the potential adverse effects on respiratory function associated with occupational wood dust exposure have not been thoroughly investigated. Methods: Sixty-four male sawmill workers and 64 non-woodworkers participated in this study. The concentration of wood dust exposure, prevalence and likelihood of association of respiratory symptoms with wood dust exposure and changes in pulmonary function test (PFT) parameters in association with wood dust exposure were determined from dust concentration measurements, symptoms questionnaire and lung function test parameters. Results: Sawmill workers were exposed to inhalable dust concentration of 3.09 ± 0.04 mg/m³ but did not use respirators and engaged in personal grooming habits that are known to increase dust inhalation. The sawmill operators also showed higher prevalence and likelihoods of association with respiratory symptoms, a significant cross-shift decline in some PFT parameters and a shift towards a restrictive pattern of lung dysfunction by end of daily shift. The before-shift PFT parameters of woodworkers were comparable to those of non-woodworkers, indicating a lack of chronic effects of wood dust exposure. Conclusions: Wood dust exposure at the study site was associated with acute respiratory symptoms and acute changes in some PFT parameters. This calls for institution and enforcement of workplace and environmental safety policies to minimise exposure at sawmill operating sites, and ultimately, decrease the burden of respiratory diseases.

• 한국환경보건학회지
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• 제46권2호
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• pp.224-231
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• 2020

Objective: The objectives of this study are to update the information on the characteristics of humidifier disinfectant (HD) usage with HD associated health problems and to discuss the role of HD exposure assessment in the national program to monitor health problems in patients with HD associated diseases. Method: A total of 201 HD associated patients who registered to undergo clinical examination at Kangbuk Samsung Hospital was interviewed to acquire their responses regarding several HD use characteristics, including type of HD brands used, HD use duration, average daily HD use hours, and the volume of the room in which HD was used. The responses of the HD associated patients to HD use-related questions were compared between responses in the lung injury investigation and this study. Results: The responses of HD associated patients in this study were found to be different from those in the lunginjury investigation. In particular, some of the patients who had not answered in the lung-injury investigation were able to answer thanks to assistance from the investigator in this study. For their responses regarding the name of the most commonly used HD brand, the number of patients who did not answer (N=11) was reduced to eight in this study. Significant changes in the responses of study subjects to questions related to HD use were achieved through the interview in this study. Conclusion: This study found significant changes in the responses regarding HD use characteristics. HD exposure assessment should be included in the program in order to allow surveillance of HD associated health problems.

• 대한감각통합치료학회지
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• 제1권1호
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• pp.17-23
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• 2003

Objective : The purpose of this study is to identify the developmental characteristics of sensory integration according to age and sex distinction using COMPS for school-aged children and to provide the preparatory data for standardization appropriate for our social and cultural environment. Methods : The COMPS was administered to 40 normal children in the first grade of elementary school by 4 occupational therapists. Results : By comparison between age groups, 6 and 7 year olds performed similarly and statistically in all items. Between males and females, there was no significant difference in performance of all items Conclusion : Findings from the study suggested that the performance of the COMPS by children followed developmental trends. The COMPS is easy to administer to groups and beneficial to discriminate children with motor problems, and it should be standardized.

• 대한통합의학회지
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• 제5권3호
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• pp.71-82
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• 2017

Purpose : This qualitative study aimed to determine the health problems and thoughts regarding health promotion of residents of the community. Method : Eighteen residents living in S-gu (local area) located in Busan city and health professionals working in health-related workplaces in the area were selected as participants. Focus groups were extracted and composed, and a focus group interview was conducted for six months from November 2015 to April 2016. Data were analyzed using a phenomenological method outlined by Colaizzi. Result : There were 187 significant statements derived from the data obtained from focus group interviews. These statements were categorized into 33 meaning units based on the researcher's interpretation. Thirteen themes were derived from the derived meaning units and finally categorized into five theme clusters: "People who are trapped in," "Health is what you make yourself," "Pathetic health problems in our community," "Finding solutions to health problems," and "Shortcuts to healthy community." Conclusion : The study results can be applied to the identification of a community health problem and the construction of a long-term health promotion system. In future research, it will be necessary to conduct an experimental study on various programs and approaches for promoting community health, which reflects the solutions to the health problems in the community.

• 한국산업보건학회지
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• 제18권4호
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• pp.282-292
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• 2008

This study was conducted to evaluate work environment monitoring program(WMP) under Industrial Safety and Health Act in Korea. WMP was evaluated by focusing on five key elements, such as purpose, subject, scope, method and workers' participation. The operation status of WMP was evaluated by using questionnaire to workers and data published by Ministry of Labor(MOL). Compliance rate of WMP was less 13 % in manufacturing workplaces. Over-exposure rate was steady state by annual trend. The degree of workers' satisfaction to WMP was just 24 %. A critical problem with the current WMP is that the employer and workers are not acting as main players. For a fundamental improvement in working condition to take place, participation of workers should be expanded and be guaranteed by law.

• 한국직업건강간호학회지
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• 제16권2호
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• pp.188-196
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• 2007

Purpose: The objective of this study was to evaluate long-term care needs using RAI MDS-HC and MI-CHOICE among the disabled workers. Methods: Data were obtained from 45 personal care recipients with the disability of mental and nervous system, and analyzed using SAS 9.1 by applying t-test, ${\chi}^2$ test, or fisher's exact test. Results: Only 'bed mobility' and 'indoor ambulation' items of ADL and problem activity were statistically significant factors by the level of personal care benefit. By MICHOICE grouping, 20.0 percent of subjects belonged to nursing home group, 51.5 percent were home care service, 28.9 percent were intermittent personal care. Conclusion: Personal care services in industrial accident compensation insurance have been categorized with two groups according to level of disability. But our results could contribute to provide personal care service according to the long term care needs.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• 제8권2호
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• pp.212-219
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• 2017

Background: Low back pain (LBP) is a major problem for office workers. Individuals adopting poor postures during prolonged sitting have a considerably increased risk of experiencing LBP. This study aimed to investigate seat pressure distribution characteristics, i.e., average pressure, peak pressure ratio, frequency of postural shift, and body perceived discomfort (BPD), during 1 hour of sitting among office workers with and without chronic LBP. Methods: Forty-six participants (chronic LBP = 23, control = 23) typed a standardized text passage at a computer work station for an hour. A seat pressure mat device was used to collect the seat pressure distribution data. Body discomfort was assessed using the Body Perceived Discomfort scale. Results: Office workers with chronic LBP sat significantly more asymmetrically than their healthy counterparts. During 1-hour sitting, all workers appeared to assume slumped sitting postures after 20 minutes of sitting. Healthy workers had significantly more frequent postural shifts than chronic LBP workers during prolonged sitting. Conclusion: Different sitting characteristics between healthy and chronic LBP participants during 1 hour of sitting were found, including symmetry of sitting posture and frequency of postural shift. Further research should examine the roles of these sitting characteristics on the development of LBP.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• 제12권2호
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• pp.261-267
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• 2021

Background: The series of serious industrial accidents in recent years at contractors to large companies has highlighted risk outsourcing as a real and urgent problem. This study aims to review the difference in the degree of risk exposure and the occurrence of industrial accidents depending on the type of company relations. Among in-house contractors, the focus will be on those handling hazardous chemicals that include companies for which outsourcing requires approval. Methods: This study uses the 9th wave of the Industrial Safety and Health Survey (2018). For determining the degree of risk exposure, the occurrence of industrial accidents, and industrial accident rate, multivariate, logistic, and fractional logit, regression analyses were used, respectively. Results: First, In-house contractors' degree of risk exposure is higher than that of the client companies. In particular, this gap is even greater for companies dealing with chemicals. Second, among only those that handle hazardous chemicals, in-house contractors do show a significantly higher rate of industrial accident occurrence. Third, In-house contractors have a significantly higher rate of industrial accidents from diseases than client companies. Conclusion: The analysis supports the intent of the legal amendment that strengthens the protection of in-house contracted workers who handle hazardous chemicals. Second, the results of this study suggest that safety and health management must go beyond legal compliance and ensure that it has substance and effectiveness. Last, there should be policy consideration is necessary to reduce attempts to hide industrial accidents.

• 한국안전학회지
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• 제35권3호
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• pp.24-31
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• 2020

The duty of construction clients in WSH (Workplace Safety and Health) system was included in the amendment of Occupational Safety and Health Act (enforced on 16 January 2020), which was estimated the shift of paradigm in the prevention of construction accidents. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the analysis results of construction clients' role in the construction project, which were performed by authors over the recent years in order to impose the duty on construction clients, and to suggest their role according the plan, design, and construction stage. Utilizing the systematic literature review process based on Meta analysis, the related papers were selected. For the selected papers, related domestic and foreign regulations, and other prominent report, the construction clients' role was analyzed by reflecting the experts' advice. Results show that the construction clients should control the designer and contractor for implementing the WHS system during the whole process of the construction project. They should supply sufficient source and time to ensure the workers' safety. In the plan stage, the key role of construction clients is to identify intensively controlled hazard and risk reduction plan and to transfer the results. In the design stage, their key role is to select the designer with the capacity in WSH and to assist the designer for the safety design. The main key role of construction clients in the costruction stage is to select the contractor with specialty in WSH including a contract reflecting the WSH requirement and to check implementation of WSH plan, WSH cost, WSH education, and accident report. In addition, it is thought that the construction clients' participations in the site WSH activity and adjustment of safety and health problem among contractors can be effect in the prevention of construction accidents.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• 제11권3호
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• pp.335-346
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• 2020

Background: Nursing service is a nonroutine work with an excessive physical load and diverse tasks. This study derived representative common tasks based on the frequently occurring tasks with a high physical load in the nursing workers' daily work and developed indicators to evaluate the work risk by reflecting the characteristics of nonroutine work. Methods: Common tasks were classified through the following stages: literature review, first focus group interview (FGI) with experts, first classification of common tasks, second FGI with hospital health managers, a survey of nursing service workers, and the final classification of common tasks for each task type. To develop an objective risk index for physical load assessment, we investigated the frequency and duration of the derived common tasks via survey. Results: Nursing common tasks were categorized into six task types and 56 subtasks. To evaluate the risks of various tasks in nonroutine works, three frequencies and three working time levels were defined by examining the task frequency and working hours. Exposure time was defined to reflect the characteristics of a nonroutine job. The final risk assessment was the product of the exposure time level and job intensity level. From this, four risk action levels were derived. Conclusion: This study has the advantage of solving the problem of focusing on some tasks in evaluating the physical load. It was meaningful in that a new risk assessment index based on exposure time was proposed based on the development of an evaluation scale for frequency and time by reflecting the characteristics of nonroutine work.