• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.21-31
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• 2018

PURPOSE: This study examined the differences between male and female workers by investigating the various factors that affected the workers' abilities to return to work according to the International Classification of Functioning standards. METHODS: We analyzed the personal factor, environmental factor, work performance and participation factor related to ICF according to worker's gender. For this purpose data from the third Worker's Compensation Insurance panel survey conducted by the Korea Workers' Compensation & Welfare Service were analyzed. In order to verify the research model, we used frequency analysis, cross analysis to compare the differences between male and female workers according to personal, environmental, work performance, and participation factors and hierarchical regression analysis to identify significant factors affecting job performance. RESULTS: The results, indicate that the level of education, license status, working period, socioeconomic status and employment type of female workers were lower than those of male workers. Factors that have the greatest influence on job performance are grade of disability, status of disability, economic activity status, and instrumental activities of daily living (p<.05). CONCLUSION: It is necessary to provide socially stable employment support and social policy support without discrimination to allow disabled female workers to return to work and maintain their jobs and to study factors influencing job performance further.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.117-122
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• 2012

Objectives: To describe the time perspective of return to work and the factors that facilitate and hinder return to work in a group of survivors of acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Methods: Retrospective semi-structured telephone survey 2 to 3 years after hospitalization with 84 employed Dutch ACS-patients from one academic medical hospital. Results: Fifty-eight percent of patients returned to work within 3 months, whereas at least 88% returned to work once within 2 years. Two years after hospitalization, 12% of ACS patients had not returned to work at all, and 24% were working, but not at pre-ACS levels. For all ACS-patients, the most mentioned categories of facilitating factors to return to work were having no complaints and not having signs or symptoms of heart disease. Physical incapacity, co-morbidity, and mental incapacity were the top 3 categories of hindering factors against returning to work. Conclusion: Within 2 years, 36% of the patients had not returned to work at their pre-ACS levels. Disease factors, functional capacity, environmental factors, and personal factors were listed as affecting subjects' work ability level.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.203-213
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• 2010

This study examined the wearing conditions of working clothes of shipbuilding industry workers according to the working environmental factors and working process features. It was also investigated the relationship between the wearing sense of working clothes and the overall comfort according to work processes. In the working process of shipbuilding industry, the process of fitting, welding, grinding and painting were chosen by considering work environmental factors, disaster types, hazardous materials, work process features, working clothes and safety equipments of each work categorized. The workers of fitting process usually wore the standard working clothes, while more than 60% of the workers of welding, grinding and painting wore the specialized protective clothes. The hazardous work environmental factors such as noise, heavy dust, high temperature and noxious fumes affected to the workers of fitting, welding and grinding. However, the workers of painting were greatly damaged by organic solvent. The dissatisfaction with the wearing performance of working clothes was highly shown in the sweat absorbency, moisture permeability and body protection. In respect of the correlation between the overall comfort and the wearing sense of working clothes, the satisfaction was decreased in orders of movement comfort> sensual comfort> physiological comfort.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.453-463
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• 2008

This study investigated the students' perceptions of environmental scientists and their work and the factors influencing the students' images of them by using the Draw-An-Environmental-Scientist-Test (DAEST). The DAEST was administered to 413 students in 10th and 11th grades selected from three high schools in Seoul. The results revealed that the students' images of environmental scientists were different from the stereotypical images of scientists. In the students' drawings, it was difficult to distinguish the gender and age of environmental scientists. Most students also perceived environmental scientists collecting data on environmental pollution by using experimental equipments and a laptop computer in the field. The students answered that the factors affecting their images of environmental scientists were mass media, school education, internet, and so on. According to the students' grade and gender, there were differences in the perceptions of environmental scientists and their work, and there were factors that influenced their images. Educational implications of these findings are discussed.

• 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).

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2024

Objectives: The study was performed to investigate characteristics of hazardous factors regarding chemical(liquid lime) tank dredging workers by case survey. Methods: Field data such as working condition, MSDS and respirators applied to chemical tank dredging work were analyzed and the work environmental factors of noise and indoor air quality were measured to compare existing data with actual work situations. Results: No health hazards to workers due to working conditions were confirmed during dredging work inside the chemical storage tank. All air quality measurement data during dredging work satisfied the management standards, and there were no by-products. During dredging work, there was a significant change in noise depending on the type of work, but considering the noise reduction rate(NRR) of the earplugs worn by workers, there was no actual health hazard due to noise exposure. Conclusions: A fit test for respirator and the expiration date of the safety helmet should be observed to ensure an appropriate level of safety and health for dredging workers in the chemical storage tank.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.421-426
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• 2018

Background: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of shift work on occupational safety in various industrial sectors. The study analyzes the effects of shift work on the health of workers by considering factors such as the workplace environment and welfare. Methods: Focusing on the $4^{th}$ Korean Working Conditions Survey, this study used an ordinary least-square multiple regression analysis. The dependent variable was the annual frequency of injuries reported by workers. Independent variables were categorized as demographic, shift work, workplace environment, and welfare variables. The analysis was conducted on two levels: 1) Shift work and nonshift work groups were compared, and 2) Shift work was compared with fixed and rotating shifts. Results: For the entire group, age, a low level of education, work hours, and daily and dispatch work negatively impacted the frequency of injuries. Shift work was negatively affected by workplace environment and welfare factors. In the shift group, the frequency of injuries was lower than that of regular workers, and the higher the autonomy in the choice of work hours, the lower the frequency of injuries. Furthermore, shift workers in Korea have more extended work hours (49.25 h/week) than other workers (46.34 h/week). Conclusion: Overall, welfare factors such as workplace satisfaction and worke-life balance reduced the frequency of injuries. The effect of shift work was limited, but it was confirmed that shift worker autonomy could reduce the frequency of injuries.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.100-107
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• 2018

Objectives: This study examines exposure to hazardous substances in the working environment caused by exposure to toxic substances produced in the aluminum die casting process in the automobile manufacturing industry. Materials and Methods: The exposure concentration levels, detection rates and time-trend of 15 hazardous factors in the aluminum die casting process over 10 years(from 2006 to 2016) were used as a database. Results: The study found that hazardous factors in the aluminum die casting process were mostly metals. The rate for detected samples was 70.6%(405 samples), and that for not detected samples was 29.4%. The noise for an eight-hour work shift showed a 49.7% exceedance rate for TLV-TWA. Average noise exposure was 89.0 dB. The maximum exposure level was 105.1 dB. Conclusion: The high numbers of no-detection rates for hazardous substance exposure shows that there is no need to do a work environment measurement. Therefore, alternatives are necessary for improving the efficiency and reliability of the work environment measurement. Moreover, to prevent noise damage, reducing noise sources from automation, shielding, or sound absorbents are necessary.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.75-83
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• 2002

By extracting the variables related to the work stress generated from dental hygiene, identifying their relationships, this study aims to contribute to academic progress on work stress. The test results of this study are as follows for each hypothesis: 1. Among the work stress sensing factors, role ambiguity showed correlation to the active coping strategy and the passive coping strategy, whereas it did not have any correlation to the evasive reation. However, the physical resource environmental factor showed correlation to the active coping strategy, whereas it did not have any correlation to the other reation. 2. The passive coping strategy, among the work stress coping strategies, influences the role ambiguity, B type, work ambiguity, physical resource environmental factor by about 18.7%. 3. The active coping strategy, among the work stress coping strategies, influences the social support, role ambiguity, work place of health center factor by about 18.9%. 4. The evasive reaction, among the work stress coping strategies, was influenced by only the 36 years old over factor by approximately 4.2%. 5. It was found in all work stress sensing factors that the group with lower social support had a more degree of experiencing stress than the group with higher social support. In case of the behavior pattern, the type A experienced more stress than the type B only in role ambiguity. 6. It was found that the group with the higher social support tended to choose more active coping strategy than the lower social support. In case of behavior pattern, the type B coped more actively than type A in the passive coping strategy.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.292-298
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• 2019

Objectives: Presenteeism is currently recognized as a significant global health issue that can potentially cause productivity losses. Hence, many studies have analyzed the relationships between workplace factors and presenteeism. However, few studies have considered non-occupational factors. This study examined the associations between presenteeism and activities outside work, including volunteering, self-development, leisure/sports, and gardening and house repair activities, in Korean wage workers. Methods: This study analyzed the fourth Korean Working Conditions Survey, in which a total of 19 294 wage workers participated. To identify relationships between presenteeism and activities outside work, multivariate logistic regression analysis was used after adjusting for general and occupational characteristics. Results: Self-development and leisure/sports activities significantly increased the odds ratio (OR) of presenteeism (OR, 1.166; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.061 to 1.282 and OR, 1.276; 95% CI, 1.181 to 1.379, respectively). Conclusions: Certain activities outside work, such as self-development or leisure/sports, were related to presenteeism among Korean wage workers. Although many previous studies have emphasized the positive effects of those activities on health, this study documented negative effects of these activities outside work on health.