• Safety and Health at Work
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• 제8권2호
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• pp.206-211
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• 2017

Background: Self-reported low back pain (LBP) has been evaluated in relation to material handling lifting tasks, but little research has focused on relating quantifiable stressors to LBP at the individual level. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Composite Lifting Index (CLI) has been used to quantify stressors for lifting tasks. A chemical exposure can be readily used as an exposure metric or stressor for chemical risk assessment (RA). Defining and quantifying lifting nonchemical stressors and related adverse responses is more difficult. Stressor-response models appropriate for CLI and LBP associations do not easily fit in common chemical RA modeling techniques (e.g., Benchmark Dose methods), so different approaches were tried. Methods: This work used prospective data from 138 manufacturing workers to consider the linkage of the occupational stressor of material lifting to LBP. The final model used a Bayesian random threshold approach to estimate the probability of an increase in LBP as a threshold step function. Results: Using maximal and mean CLI values, a significant increase in the probability of LBP for values above 1.5 was found. Conclusion: A risk of LBP associated with CLI values > 1.5 existed in this worker population. The relevance for other populations requires further study.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• 제10권1호
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• pp.122-124
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• 2019

Simian malaria is a zoonotic disease caused by Plasmodium knowlesi infection. The common natural reservoir of the parasite is the macaque monkey and the vector is the Anopheles mosquito. Human cases of P. knowlesi infection has been reported in all South East Asian countries in the last decade, and it is currently the most common type of malaria seen in Malaysia and Brunei. Between 2007-2017, 73 cases of P. knowlesi infection were notified and confirmed to the Ministry of Health in Brunei. Of these, 15 cases (21%) were documented as work-related, and 28 other cases (38%) were classified as probably related to work (due to incomplete history). The occupations of those with probable and confirmed work related infections were border patrol officers, Armed Forces and security personnel, Department of Forestry officers, boatmen and researchers. The remaining cases classified as most likely not related to work were possibly acquired via peri-domestic transmission. The risk of this zoonotic infection extends to tourists and overseas visitors who have to travel to the jungle in the course of their work. It can be minimised with the recommended use of prophylaxis for those going on duty into the jungles, application of mosquito/insect repellants, and use of repellant impregnated uniforms and bed nets in jungle camp sites.

• 한국환경보건학회지
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• 제40권5호
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• pp.413-424
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• 2014

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to seek measures for improvement and management of farm work safety and health by conducting questionnaire surveys and on-site investigations to ascertain the present state of occurrence of safety accidents and safety and health management levels among swine farmers. In particular, the purpose of this study is to provide basic data for the establishment of measures for the management of safety and health suitable to the characteristics of related working environments. Methods: Questionnaire surveys were conducted among 223 farmers engaged in swine farming in 14 regions, and 10 farms were visited in order to implement multilateral methods, including in-depth interviews, along with field surveys. Results: The surveys indicated that 26.2% of all respondents experienced farm-work related safety accidents and body-reaction related accidents showed a high ratio at 31.1% of all respondents. With regard to cause materials of safety accidents, work other than that directly related to swine raising showed high ratios of safety accidents, with pigsty facility related accidents at 26.6%. Although most workers recognized the dangers latent in the working environments, their behavior and responses to the prevention of safety accidents were still insufficient due to a lack of understanding of safety and health management. In the survey on the present state of personal hygiene and wearing of protective equipment, workers were found to have been exposed to dangerous and harmful environments both inside and outside pigsties, but the actual states of their wearing protective safety equipment were very poor. Conclusion: Given the results of this study, swine farmers well recognize problems in their control of safety accidents and management of safety and health, but their knowledge about safety and health education and management guidelines was insufficient. Therefore, safety and health education, public relations, and customized personal protective equipment suitable for swine raising work should be developed in order to address the foregoing problem.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• 제8권2호
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• pp.143-150
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• 2017

A huge number of chemicals are produced and used in the world, and some of them can have negative effects on the reproductive health of workers. To date, most chemicals and work environments have not been studied for their potential to have damaging effects on the workers' reproductive system. Because of the lack of information, many workers may not be aware that such problems can be related to occupational exposures. Newly industrialized countries such as Republic of Korea have rapidly amassed chemicals and other toxicants that pose health hazards, especially to the reproductive systems of workers. This literature review provides an overview of peer-reviewed literature regarding the teratogenic impact and need for safe handling of chemicals. Literature searches were performed using PubMed, Google Scholar, and ScienceDirect. Search strategies were narrowed based on author expertise and 100 articles were chosen for detailed analysis. A total of 47 articles met prespecified inclusion criteria. The majority of papers contained studies that were descriptive in nature with respect to the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms and keywords: "reproductive and heath or hazard and/or workplace or workers or occupations." In the absence of complete information about the safe occupational handling of chemicals in Republic of Korea (other than a material safety data sheet), this review serves as a valuable reference for identifying and remedying potential gaps in relevant regulations. The review also proposes other public health actions including hazard surveillance and primary prevention activities such as reduction, substitution, ventilation, as well as protective equipment.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• 제14권1호
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• pp.93-99
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• 2023

Background: Effort-reward imbalance (ERI) and overcommitment at work have been associated poorer mental health. However, nonlinear and nonadditive effects have not been investigated previously. Methods: The association between effort, reward, and overcommitment with odds of poorer mental health was examined among a sample of 68 formal United States waste workers (87% male). Traditional, logistic regression and Bayesian Kernel machine regression (BKMR) modeling was conducted. Models controlled for age, education level, race, gender, union status, and physical health status. Results: The traditional, logistic regression found only overcommitment was significantly associated with poorer mental health (IQR increase: OR = 6.7; 95% CI: 1.7 to 25.5) when controlling for effort and reward (or ERI alone). Results from the BKMR showed that a simultaneous IQR increase in higher effort, lower reward, and higher overcommitment was associated with 6.6 (95% CI: 1.7 to 33.4) times significantly higher odds of poorer mental health. An IQR increase in overcommitment was associated with 5.6 (95% CI: 1.6 to 24.9) times significantly higher odds of poorer mental health when controlling for effort and reward. Higher effort and lower reward at work may not always be associated with poorer mental health but rather they may have an inverse, U-shaped relationship with mental health. No interaction between effort, reward, or overcommitment was observed. Conclusion: When taking into the consideration the relationship between effort, reward, and overcommitment, overcommitment may be most indicative of poorer mental health. Organizations should assess their workers' perceptions of overcommitment to target potential areas of improvement to enhance mental health outcomes.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• 제12권3호
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• pp.324-338
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• 2021

Background: We hypothesized that the growing demand of Korean workers for work-life balance would change the factors influencing job satisfaction. We sought to verify our hypothesis by conducting a conjoint analysis based on the Korean Working Conditions Survey (KWCS). Methods: We analyzed the raw data of the KWCS, conducted by the Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute from 2006 to 2017. To complete the analysis, we counted on a conjoint model of analysis, typically used in the analysis of customer satisfaction. The dependent variable was the satisfaction of workers with their working conditions, and the independent variables were the job quality indicators identified by Eurofound. Results: The factors that have the greatest impact on working conditions satisfaction are summarized as follows: "physical environment" for the first wave, "adverse social behavior" for the second wave, "occupational status" for the third and fourth waves, and "management quality" for the fifth wave. "Earnings" were not a major factor in determining employee job satisfaction, and the relative importance index is decreasing. Conclusion: According to the results of the analysis of the tendencies of Korean workers, the factors that affect the satisfaction with the working conditions have changed over time. It is crucial to identify factors that affect working conditions to assure the health and productivity of workers. The results of this study demonstrate that policymakers and employers are required to attentively consider human relations and social environment at work to improve working conditions in the future.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• 제14권3호
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• pp.295-302
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• 2023

Background: Fisheries and aquaculture are statistically acknowledged to be among the most dangerous occupations. Yet, industrial safety and health precautions against occupational accidents within the sector are not sufficiently implemented in many parts of the world. The present study aims to provide a quantified overview of work accident statistics in the Turkish fisheries and aquaculture industry. Methods: This article presents an overview of reported injuries and fatalities in the Turkish fisheries and aquaculture industries from 2006 to 2020. Incident, permanent incapacity, and fatality rates were calculated, and the difference between fisheries and aquaculture was statistically examined. Results: The overall incident, permanent incapacity, and fatality rates were 449.4, 4.7, and 5.7 per 100,000 worker years, respectively, over the 15-year period. With these fatality rates, fisheries and aquaculture are two of the industries with the highest fatality rates among comparable industries in Turkey. Incident rates in fisheries and aquaculture indicated that aquaculture work is more dangerous and risky. The data set includes 25 fatalities and 22 permanent incapacity cases over 15 years and shows an increase in fatality rates and occupational accidents in the last 8 years. Conclusion: present study showed that the quality of data and reporting in the Turkish fisheries and aquaculture industries including occupational illnesses, must be improved in order to be more preventative and to develop efficient safety management in the sector. Incentives for providing thorough data on occupational incidents must be enhanced to improve occupational safety awareness in Turkish fisheries and aquaculture.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• 제2권4호
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• pp.328-335
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• 2011

Objectives: Depressive disorder (DD) is a complex disease, and the assessment of work ability in patients with DD is also complicated. The checklist depression (CDp) has recently been developed to support such work ability assessments and has been recommended for implementation in insurance medicine, starting with an analysis of the organisational and social contexts. The aim of this study was to identify the potential facilitators and barriers in the use of the CDp by insurance physicians (IPs) during work ability assessments of employees on sick leave due to DD. Methods: A qualitative research was conducted based on semi-structured interviews. The participants were IPs with at least one year of work experience in performing work ability assessments. The interviews were audiotaped, transcribed and analysed qualitatively. Results: Ten IPs (7 males, 3 females; mean 53 years) were interviewed. Important facilitators, which emerged for use of the CDp, were an oral introduction for colleagues and staff, support from management, valuing the increased transparency in work ability assessments with using the CDp, having adequate time for assessments as well as modification of the appearance (colour, plasticised form) and content (clarifying aspects of the examples) of the assessment tool. The fear of the loss of autonomy, lack of added value of the CDp, high workload, inadequate instructions and lack of time were mentioned as barriers. Conclusion: Adequate introduction to the use of CDp and the fear of the loss of autonomy of IPs need special attention in planning its implementation.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• 제8권1호
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• pp.77-83
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• 2017

Background: In contemporary China, most parents are dual-earner couples and there is only one child in the family. We aimed to examine the associations of parents' work stress with suicidal ideation among the corresponding adolescent. We further hypothesized that low parental support experienced by adolescents may mediate the associations. Methods: Cross-sectional data from school students and their working parents were used, with 907 families from Kunming City, China. Stress at work was measured by the effort-reward imbalance questionnaire. Perceived parental support was assessed by an item on parental empathy and their willingness to communicate with the adolescent. Suicidal ideation was considered positive if students reported thoughts about suicide every month or more frequently during the previous 6 months. Logistic regression was used to examine the associations. Results: We observed that parents' work stress was positively associated with low parental support, which was in turn associated with adolescent suicidal ideation. The odds ratio for parents' work stress and adolescent suicidal ideation was 2.91 (95% confidence interval: 1.53-5.53), and this association was markedly attenuated to 2.24 (95% confidence interval: 1.15-4.36) after additional adjustment for parental support. Notably, mothers' work stress levels exerted stronger effects on children's suicidal ideation than those of fathers. Conclusion: Parents' work stress (particularly mother's work stress) was strongly associated with adolescent's suicidal ideation, and the association was partially mediated by low parental support. These results need to be replicated and extended in prospective investigations within and beyond China, in order to explore potential causal pathways as a basis of preventive action.

• 보건의료산업학회지
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• 제7권4호
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• pp.81-92
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• 2013

This research was conducted to analyze the perception of the dental hygienists who work in ordinary dental clinics regading patient safety culture and to analyze the related elements. As for the research subjects and methods, 233 dental hygienists who work at the dental clinics located in Daegu, Gyeongbuk and Jeonnam were targeted from February 6, 2012 to March 5, 2012 to administer survey by utilizing patient safety culture recognition tool. Collected data was subjected to the SPSS 18.0 program to calculate average and standard deviation, and to carry out t-test, ANOVA and multiple regression analysis. Dental hygienists' level of perception towards patient safety culture was mid level, and it was demonstrated that there is a correlation with age, work experience at department, title and type of department that affect level of perception towards patient safety culture. In conclusion, Since this research targeted only a limited number of dental hygienists, it is necessary to be cautious about over-interpreting the results. Above anything, it is necessary to carry out repetitive research by targeting medical professionals of diverse jobs.