• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.52-56
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• 2011

Objectives: The occupational accident rate was officially reported to be 0.77 per 100 workers in 2001 and 0.70 in 2009. The stagnant decrease in accident rate raises a question about the effectiveness of prevention activity because there have been active prevention efforts in the past 10 years. It is also necessary to know the exact status of occupational injuries to direct a prevention strategy. Methods: The author re-analyzed occupational injury statistics to find the reason for stagnant decreases in occupational injuries. Compensated occupational injuries cases were used to calculate fatal and non-fatal injury rates. Injuries from commuting accidents and sports activities were excluded as well as occupational diseases. The number of workers was adjusted to that of full time equivalent employees. Results: The fatal injury rate excluding injuries associated with commuting accidents, sports activities, and occupational diseases decreased from 12.59 in 2001 to 8.20 in 2009. In 2007, 67.5% of accidents that involved being caught in objects, which are mostly caused by machines and equipment, occurred in the manufacturing industry; this type of incident has decreased since 2001. The fatal and non-fatal injury rates in the manufacturing industry have continuously decreased while the rates in the service industry have not changed from 2001 to 2009. Non-fatal injuries might not be reported in many cases. The number of insured workers was underestimated as long working hours were not adjusted for in the reporting system. Conclusion: The occupational fatal injury rate has decreased and the non-fatal injury rate might have decreased during the last 10 years, although the statistics show stagnancy. The decrease of the injury rate was countervailed by various factors. Hence, the current accident rate does not reflect the actual situation of accidents in Korea. Korea needs to develop an improved system to more accurately calculate occupational fatal and non-fatal injury rates.

• Journal of the Korean Society of School Health
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.139-147
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• 2020

Purpose: The study aimed to identify factors affecting unintentional injuries at school focusing on violent experiences in adolescents. Methods: The study used the raw data of the Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey (2019). A total of 60,040 students were included in the analysis. Descriptive statistics, χ2 test, and multiple logistic regression were performed, using SPSS version 25.0. General characteristics, gender, school, academic achievement, living with family, socioeconomic status, vigorous physical activity, perceived stress, sleep satisfaction, high caffeine drinking, risky alcohol drinking, smoking, sexual experience, drug use, and safety education, were adjusted for and the relationship between unintentional injuries and violence was analyzed. Results: The results showed 2.4% of the adolescents had experienced violence and 24.7% had suffered unintentional injuries. Violent experiences had a significant effect on unintentional injuries among adolescents. Injuries were 1.93 times higher among adolescents who had experienced violence. Gender, school levels, high-intensity physical activity, stress, sleep satisfaction, high caffeine drinks, dangerous drinking, drug use, and safety education were associated with unintentional injuries among adolescents. Conclusion: Adolescents at high risk of suffering violence and injuries should be identified and assessed preemptively. In addition, it is necessary to implement systematic school health-centered safety education programs in order to prevent violence and injuries.

• Journal of East-West Nursing Research
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.22-30
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• 2024

Purpose: This study aimed to examine the occupational injuries experienced by operating room nurses and investigate the relationship between these injuries and safety climate. Methods: The study involved 198 operating room nurses working in general and tertiary hospitals with more than 300 beds. Results: Among the four sub-factors of occupational injuries experienced by operating room nurses, risks due to ergonomic hazards were the most prevalent and those due to physical hazards were the least. The scores related to occupational injury showed a significantly negative correlation with the safety climate. Conclusions: The findings indicate that higher operating room nurses' awareness of the safety climate is associated with lower rates of occupational injury. Therefore, organizational efforts and interventions are imperative to improve the safety climate within hospitals. Additionally, in order to investigate the safety of operating room nurses more in-depth, it is necessary to expand not only the sample size but also the geographic scope.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.151-155
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• 2015

The study was designed to identify any trends of injury type as it relates to the age and trade of construction workers. The participants for this study included any individual who, while working on a heavy and highway construction project in the Midwestern United States, sustained an injury during the specified time frame of when the data were collected. During this period, 143 injury reports were collected. The four trade/occupation groups with the highest injury rates were laborers, carpenters, iron workers, and operators. Data pertaining to injuries sustained by body part in each age group showed that younger workers generally suffered from finger/hand/wrist injuries due to cuts/lacerations and contusion, whereas older workers had increased sprains/strains injuries to the ankle/foot/toes, knees/lower legs, and multiple body parts caused by falls from a higher level or overexertion. Understanding these trade-related tasks can help present a more accurate depiction of the incident and identify trends and intervention methods to meet the needs of the aging workforce in the industry.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.247-253
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• 2015

The purpose of this study is to investigate guidelines and safety and precautionary devices for prevention of needlestick injuries in dental offices. This study conducted comparative analysis on the domestic and overseas guidelines for infection control and surveyed safety and precautionary devices for prevention of needlestick injuries. Based on the result of analysis and survey, this study suggests safety and precautionary guidelines to prevent needlestick injuries. To prevent needlestick injuries, staff in dental offices should be well aware of the guidelines for infection control and how to use safety and precautionary devices.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.9-20
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• 2013

OSHA(Occupational Safety and Health Act) generally regulates employer's business principles in the workplace to maintain safety environment. This act has the fundamental purpose to protect employee's safety and health in the workplace by reducing industrial accidents. Authors tried to investigate the correlation between 'occupational injuries and illnesses' and level of regulation compliance using Survey on Current Status of Occupational Safety & Health data by the various statistical methods, such as generalized regression analysis, logistic regression analysis and poison regression analysis in order to compare the results of those methods. The results have shown that the significant affecting compliance factors were different among those statistical methods. This means that specific interpretation should be considered based on each statistical method. In the future, relevant statistical technique will be developed considering the distribution type of occupational injuries.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.147-151
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• 2014

Background: Agriculture ranks among the most dangerous trades worldwide. There is, however, still a lack of knowledge on nonfatal injuries in agriculture. The aim of this study was to describe the nature and occurrence of nonfatal injuries in farmers in two counties in central Norway. Methods: A questionnaire was sent to 7,004 farmers in Norway. We asked for information about the respondents and the farm, whether the farmer had had work-related injuries on the farm during the past 12 months, and details about the incidence and seriousness of the injury. Results: A total of 2,699 respondents gave a response rate of 42%. Of the respondents, 249 (9.2%) reported one or more work-related injuries. The most usual cause of injury involved an animal, and >75% of these happened inside the outbuilding. Among these, 17.5% had a consequence of sick leave or a more serious result. When all the accidents were analyzed by stepwise logistic regression, only the variables: works alone, has >3,500 stipulated working hours at the farm, and the type of production were statistical significant explanatory variables for having an injury. Conclusion: Incorporating safety aspects to a greater extend in the design and construction of outbuildings would make a substantial contribution to injury prevention in agriculture.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.148-157
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• 2011

Objectives: Although compensation for occupational injuries and diseases is guaranteed in almost all nations, countries vary greatly with respect to how they organize workers' compensation systems. In this paper, we focus on three aspects of workers' compensation insurance in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries - types of systems, employers' funding mechanisms, and coverage for injured workers - and their impacts on the actual frequencies of occupational injuries and diseases. Methods: We estimated a panel data fixed effect model with cross-country OECD and International Labor Organization data. We controlled for country fixed effects, relevant aggregate variables, and dummy variables representing the occupational accidents data source. Results: First, the use of a private insurance system is found to lower the occupational accidents. Second, the use of risk-based pricing for the payment of employer raises the occupational injuries and diseases. Finally, the wider the coverage of injured workers is, the less frequent the workplace accidents are. Conclusion: Private insurance system, fixed flat rate employers' funding mechanism, and higher coverage of compensation scheme are significantly and positively correlated with lower level of occupational accidents compared with the public insurance system, risk-based funding system, and lower coverage of compensation scheme.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.254-266
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• 2013

Purpose: This study examined the characteristics of in-home injuries of children in low-income families and sought to identify the factors affecting parental in-home injury prevention practices. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive survey design was applied, using questionnaires on in-home injury characteristics in children, parental in-home injury prevention practices, parental perceptions and knowledge on childhood injuries, and the Parental Stress Index. We queried 169 parents of children less than 5years of age who were enrolled in Nutrition Plus Projects at community health centers. Results: Overall, 92.7% of children had experienced in-home injuries, with sliding crashes and bumping injuries as the most frequent type of injury. The recovery rate with a scar after injury was 26.3%. Parental practices for in-home injury prevention were higher according parental age, educational status, and previous learning experiences regarding in-home safety and injury prevention. The two most significant factors affecting parental in-home injury prevention practices were age and parental perception of childhood injuries as being controllable and preventable. Conclusions: Considering the high risk of in-home childhood injuries in low-income families, safety education and the promotion of injury prevention practices for parents are recommended. The strategy to enhance the parental perception on preventing childhood injuries needs to be addressed.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.138-142
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• 2016

Background: Household waste collectors (HWCs) are exposed to hazardous conditions. This study investigates the patterns of workplace injuries and work-related illnesses of HWCs. Methods: This study uses cases of workplace injuries and work-related illnesses of HWCs that occurred between 2010 and 2011. We analyzed 325 cases of injuries and 36 cases of illnesses according to the workers' age, length of employment, size of workplace, injured part of body, day and month of injury, type of accident, agency of accident, and collection process. Results: There were significant differences in the effect of workers' length of employment, injured part of body, type of accident, agency of accident, and collection process. Results show that most injuries occur in workers in their 50s and older. This study also shows that 51.4% of injuries occur at businesses with 49 employees or fewer. Injuries to waste collectors happen most often when workers are electrocuted after slipping on the ground. The second most prevalent form of injury is falling, which usually happens when workers hang from the rear of the truck during transportation or otherwise slip and fall from the truck. Work-related illnesses amongst waste collectors are mostly musculoskeletal conditions due to damaging postures. Conclusion: These findings will be instructive in devising policies and guidelines for preventing workplace injuries and work-related illnesses of HWCs.