• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.268-278
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• 2022

Objectives: This study aimed to establish a control group based on the big data from National Health Insurance Service. We also presented presented the number of incidences for each cancer, and analyzed the cancer incidence rate among Korean workers. Methods: The cohort definition was separated by 'baseline cohort', 'dynamic cohort', and 'fixed- industry cohort' according to the definition. Cancer incidence was calculated based on the Korean Standard Classification of Disease code. Incidence rate was calculated among the group of all workers and public officials. Based on the study subjects and each cohort definition, the number of observations, incidences, and the incidence rate according to sex and age groups was calculated. The incidence rate was estimated based on the incidence per 100,000 person-year, and 95% confidence intervals calculated according to the Poisson distribution. Results: The result shows that the number of cancer cases in the all-worker group decreases after the age of 55, but the incidence rate tends to increase, which is attributed to the retirement of workers over 55 years old. Despite the specific characteristics of the workers, the trend and figures of cancer incidence revealed in this study are similar to those reported in previous studies of the overall South Korean population. When comparing the incidence rates of all workers and the control group of public officials, the incidence rate of public officials is generally observed to be higher in the age group under the age of 55. On the other hand, for workers aged 60 or older, the incidence rates were 1,065.4 per 100,000 person-year for all workers and 1,023.7 per 100,000 person-year for civil servants. Conclusions: This study analyzed through health insurance data including all workers in Korea, and analyzed the incidence of cancer of workers by sex and age. In addition, further in-depth researches are needed to determine the incidence of cancer by industry.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.67-75
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• 2015

Purpose: The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effects of occupational exposure to low dose organic solvents on the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors. Methods: Study design was retrospective cohort study subjected on 191 exposures and 118 controls working in a petrochemical manufacture company. The eight indicators related to CVD risk were followed up for five years from 2008 to 2012. The risk level was compared during the follow up years and subject's characteristics, and the change of risk level were analyzed with repeated measures ANOVA and multiple logistic regression analysis. Results: At the start year 2008, the rate over cutoff value (ROCV) of BS (p<.001) and mean systolic BP (p=.017) were higher in organic solvent exposure group and the others showed no difference. And by the subject's characteristics, odds ratio of the ROCV of BS were higher in organic solvent exposure group and work shift group as 2.51 and 3.07. Comparing the results in 2012 to those of 2008, cardiovascular disease risk in organic solvent exposure group was about 1.5 times higher than that of in the control group. Conclusion: Gradual increase in the CVD risk was identified in organic solvent exposure group. However, the risk might be influenced by shift work and bad behaviors rather than organic solvent exposure.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.19-30
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• 1983

This report is intended to find out the health status of the korean industrial workers based on the periodic physical examination in 1982. It has resulted in the followings: 1. As of April, 1982, total No. of industries was 81,136 of which workers was totally 3,383,700 persons classifying into 2,163,600 in male and 1,220,100 in female, and manufacturing field was occupied 44.6% of total industries and 61.0% of total workers. 2. In view of size, industries having less than 9 ordinary workers was 47.5%, those having less than 29 ordinary workers was 77.0%. 3. Applicable target industries to industrial safety & health law was 31,059 which was covered 38.3% of total establishments and No. of workers was 2,192,511, 64.8% of all industrial workers. 4. No. of establishment & workers conducting the physical examination was 26,463 which is 85.2% of all examining industries and was 2,007,091, 91.5% of all examining required workers. 5. Case having general disease by general physical examination was 3.5% of examining workers and especially it was appeared 9.7% in mining. 6. Case having general disease by special physical examination was 3.8% of examining workers and incidence rate for occupational disease was 2.4% of examining workers. 7. No. of the occupational diseased was 5,341 persons which is 2.6% of all the examining workers, 205,497 and its rate was appeared highly as 7.5% of silicosis in mining workers and 1.4% of hearing difficulty to noise in construction.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.24 no.1 s.33
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• pp.45-56
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• 1991

The history of occupational health in Korea s covered the era of the Republic of Korea after the Liberation from the Japanese colonialism. But the number of Korean workers exceeded about 2 millions at the times of liberation in 1945, so that it is expected that many occupational health problems inflicted Korean workers under the Japanese colonialism. The authors reviewed medical literatures, administrative documents, and other available data which were published under the colonial state, and collected things which had reference to the health status of Korean workers. The results were as follows : 1. Nutritional status of Korean workers was supposed to be inferior to that of general population, some students, and poor inhabitants in a remote mountain villages. 2. It was supposed that the constitution of Korean workers was near lower limit of average build of contemporary Koreans. 3. The accidents rate in mines was significantly high but decreasing year after year, and the most important cause of accidents was the fall of roof in the mine. The medical facilities and equipments for miners were supposed to be not sufficient in the mines and workshops. 4. Some occupational disease including silicosis, noise-induced hearing impairment, and decompression disease were known. But, overall incidence or prevalence of these diseases could not be identified. 5. On the whole, the fatalities of acute infectious diseases of Korean workers were higher than those of Japanese inhabitants in Korea and Korean inhabitants. The prevalence of pulmonary tuberculosis of Korean workers was increasing with every passing year. 6. The medical personnels and facilities were so deficient that most Korean workers were out of adequate medical use. We discussed only a part of the health status of Korean workers under the Japanese colonialism, so it would be necessary to have a better grasp of details of occupational health policy and health status in the era of afflicting.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.242-248
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• 2011

Objectives: Busan is reported to have the highest mortality rate among 16 provinces in Korea, as well as considerable health inequality across its districts. This study sought to examine overall and cause-specific mortality and deprivation at the town level in Busan, thereby identifying towns and causes of deaths to be targeted for improving overall health and alleviating health inequality. Methods: Standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) for all-cause and four specific leading causes of death were calculated at the town level in Busan for the years 2005 through 2008. To construct a deprivation index, principal components and factor analysis were adopted, using 10% sample data from the 2005 census. Geographic information system (GIS) mapping techniques were applied to compare spatial distributions between the deprivation index and SMRs. We fitted the Gaussian conditional autoregressive model (CAR) to estimate the relative risks of mortality by deprivation level, controlling for both the heterogeneity effect and spatial autocorrelation. Results: The SMRs of towns in Busan averaged 100.3, ranging from 70.7 to 139.8. In old inner cities and towns reclaimed for replaced households, the deprivation index and SMRs were relatively high. CAR modeling showed that gaps in SMRs for heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, and physical injury were particularly high. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that more deprived towns are likely to have higher mortality, in particular from cardiovascular disease and physical injury. To improve overall health status and address health inequality, such deprived towns should be targeted.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.693-710
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• 2022

Social interest in occupational safety and health is increasing due to ESG management and the implementation of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act. This study examines the current status of occupational accidents, which is the safety level of energy companies, and the impact of occupational accidents on the management performance (sales per capita, operating profit per capita, operating margin per capita) of energy companies over the period of 2015 to 2021 was empirically analyzed. As a result of the analysis, the level of occupational accidents in the 157 energy companies to be analyzed was lower than the occupational injury accident rate in Korea, but the disease rate was high.As a result of analyzing the impact of occupational accidents on management performance, it is estimated that an increase in the occupational accident rate reduces per capita sales, per capita operating profit, and gross margin rate.Through this study, the vulnerability of energy companies to occupational accidents was confirmed, and the direct and indirect costs of occupational accidents quantified the negative impact on management performance.Referring to the results of this study, energy companies should strengthen their efforts to prevent occupational accidents by increasing investment in safety and health to protect the lives of valuable workers and create sustainable business performance.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Navigation and Port Research Conference
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• 2006.06b
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• pp.29-38
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• 2006

The purpose of this study was to find out morbidity rate and pattern of occupational disease and affect of variables related disease of Fishing sailors' The subjects this study were 624 fisheries sailors' who took education course in Korea Institute of Maritime and Fisheries Technology. This questionnaire was focused on finding the basic data for prevention of occupational disease and promotion health on the fishing sailors' The collected data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics, Chi-square, cross tab by SPSS package. The result of this study are as follow. 1)The morbidity rate within recent 12 months was 70.2%. there were significant differences of occurred disease in age, rank, perceived health status, fatigue symptoms, rest time, workload, overtime duration 2) the more aging(p<0.01), perceived fatigue(p<0.01), workload(p<0.01), overtime(p<0.05) and the less perceived health status(p<0.01), rest time(p<0.01), the higher morbidity rate 3) Considering disease unable to work more tlnn 4 hour, the number of those who had musculoskeletal disease were 20.9%, which revealed the highest rate, digestive disease 14.3%, traumatic disease 13.5%.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.194-201
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• 2021

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to identify the distribution of diagnostic disease among applicants for shoulder musculoskeletal disease. Methods: In 2020, 47 diagnostic disease applicants were investigated for sociodemographic, health, work, job, and diagnostic disease characteristics. The data were corrected through on-site visits and analyzed using descriptive statistics with SPSS WIN23.0. Results: Most of the applicants were male and elderly. They had high blood pressure(38.3%) and diabetes (21.3%), and the drinking rate and smoking rate were also high. The most common type of employment was daily workers, and it was confirmed that the working condition was poor due to excessive working hours and short rest times. Most of the applicants for shoulder diagnostic diseases were in the construction industry, and the most common diagnostic disease was a rotator cuff tear. Conclusions: It is necessary to develop a musculoskeletal disease prevention program suitable for construction workers to reduce their work-related disease. When establishing a program, business type, task, and diagnostic disease must be considered.

• Journal of Digital Contents Society
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.417-424
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• 2015

The research of occupational injury for safety and health is a comparatively recent occurrence. As labor activities took place regarding to employee concerns in industrial uprising, human resources health was tried to enhanced as a labor safety subject. Noticing that traditional statistics approach has limitations in learning future forecasting and major factors causing occupational injuries in each industry, Korean Government initiated a quantitative systematic simulation model project to analyze how the annual injury rate has been dropped and stays in a level for recent years. From this motivation and the project, system dynamics models have been developed to explain the mechanisms for reducing annual injury rate, and the mechanisms quantitatively. The main cause effects for the reduction of annual injury rate were due to the government driven investment on safety facilities. In overall viewpoint the gain achievable from these efforts has been reached a saturated level. However, it could reduce the annual injury rate if you chose the industry and size carefully. The model for forecasting, major injury factors, safety budget and allocation are introduced and analyzed, and Analyzing occupational injury related factors can also reduce employee injury and disease related costs, including medical care, quit, and disability assistance costs.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.4
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• pp.58-83
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• 1995

The small scale industries which have less than 30 employees occupy 86.5% of total number of industries in Korea. And though they have higher accident rate and lower environmental condition than big industries, it has been not mandatory to appointing health care manager at factory. So, from 1993, government subsidizes to the health care management of small industries. The purpose of this study is to identify the real feature of health care status in small industries, and to evaluate the level of health care management, before and after the subsidiary program. 65 small plating industries which have been managed by the same health care management support institution in 1993 were selected for study. Of the 65 industries, 3 which have not taken both environmental evaluation and health screening in 1994, and 9 which have closed were excluded from study sample. And the remaining 53 were analyzed by using the results of environmental evaluation and health screening, reported to the Ministry of Labor, before and after the subsidiary program, the analysis was done by the comparison of the two year paired data of the same industry. Over-permissible-limit rate, health screening implementation rate, above grade C rate were calculated and compared. The status of health care management ; 1. Of the sample industries, 96.9% provide protective equipment and 80.0% set up ventilating system. Protective gloves (89.2%) and protective clothing (80.0%) are widely provided, but ear plugs (4.6%) are rarely provided. 21.5% of the protective equipment are well put on, and 40.4% of the ventilating systems function well. 2. In 1993, 35 industries, 53.8% of the sample, checked working environment twice. Over-permissible-limit rates of heavy metal (12.2%), suspended particle (11.1%), noise (5.5%) were high. To put on protective equipment and to set up local ventilating system were pointed out by the examiners. 3. General health screening was done at 63.1% of the sample industries and 35.3% of total workers were examined. Specific health screening was done at 93.8% of the sample industries and 75.4% of workers were examined. 15.5% of workers was provided to be above grade C and to have digestive system disease (43.3%), circulatory disease (18.9%), and hematopoietic disease (14.2%), etc. 4. In 1993, the subsidiary program of health care management was provided in forms of health education, health counseling, and rounding check of working field. And 61.5%, 83.0%, 55.4% of sample industries respectively received it. The average visit per industry was 1.8. Comparisons of the level of occupational health before and after the subsidiary program ; 1. Over-permissible-limit rates of hazardous factors of 1993 and that of 1994 were compared. The rates of suspended particle, noise, organic solvent of 1994 (37.5%, 13.4%, 24.2% respectively) were higher than that of 1993 (25.0%, 6.0%, 6.3% respectively). In the case of acid, there was no difference between the rate of 1993 and that of 1994. Only the rate of heavy metal decreased from 12.9% in 1993 to 3.0% in 1994. 2. General health screening was done at 38.7% of the sample industries in 1993 and at 44.6% in 1994. But the implementation rate of specific health screening decreased from 72.4% in 1993 to 64.6% in 1994. 3. The implementation rate of specific health screening was analyzed by some health factors. The rate of suspended particle increased from 61.8% in 1993 to 91.2% in 1994. But the rates of the others-noise, organic solvent, heavy metal, specific chemical substances-decreased. 4. Above grade C rate in health screening increased from 27.8% in 1993 to 35.5% in 1994. But that of endocrine disorders and pulmonary disease decreased.