Relationship between Injury Occurrence and Workplace Organization in Small-sized Manufacturing Factories / 대한산업의학회지

OBJECTIVE: This study evaluated the relationship between injury occurrence and workplace organization in small-sized, manufacturing factories in Korea. METHODS: Using data from the 2004 Occupational Safety and Health Survey in Korea, this study compared workplace organizational factors (general characteristics, employee characteristics and health and safety characteristics) with injury occurrence of 1,866 small-sized, manufacturing factories (65,921 population factories after weighting). General characteristics of factories comprised location, type and classification of industry. Employee characteristics comprised proportion of manual workers and female workers, average working hours per week and shiftwork. Health and safety characteristics comprised type of safety and health manager, committee for occupational safety and health, labor union, health and safety regulation, monthly health and safety training time, score of health and safety activity and score of safety culture. RESULTS: The following characteristics of injury-occurrence in small-sized, manufacturing factories were determined by multivariate analysis. In terms of general characteristics, the risk of injury-occurrence was higher in Jeolla area than Gyeongin area in outside associate than other enterprises and in coke, refined petroleum products and nuclear fuel, wood and products of wood, food products and beverages and fabricated metal products, except machinery and furniture industries than television and communication equipment and apparatus industries. In terms of employee characteristics, injury-occurrence significantly increased in factories with greater proportion of manual worker and with a higher rate of working hours per week. But significantly decreased in factories with a higher proportion of female workers. In terms of health and safety characteristics, injury-occurrence significantly increased in factories with a self-appointed safety manager, with unorganized union, with a more active committee for occupational safety and health, with unimplemented health and safety regulations, with longer monthly safety and health training time, and with a lower score of safety culture. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that several factors of workplace organization were significantly related with injury-occurrence in factories. These findings are supposed to raise the need for making efforts in workplace organization to improve injury prevention.

Multilevel Analysis of Risk Factors Related to Musculoskeletal Symptoms among Caterers for Elementary School Lunch Services / 대한산업의학회지

OBJECTIVES: To examine the complaint proportion and characteristics of musculoskeletal symptoms and to find risk factors of musculoskeletal symptoms among caterers for school lunch services. METHODS: The study subjects were 385 caterers who were working for school lunch services in 71 elementary schools and 114 housewives who had visited a hospital for routine health check-up. A self-recording questionnaire was used to investigate the general characteristics, labor conditions, job stress and nature of musculoskeletal symptom. Caterers were surveyed from September to October in 2003 and the housewives during September by post. The ergonomic risk factors were examined for the caterers of an elementary school in Kyonggi Province in November, 2003. RESULTS: The complaint proportion of self-reported positive musculoskeletal symptoms was 52.0% and that of severe musculoskeletal symptoms was 24.9%. Ergonomic assessment revealed that washing the dishes, carrying the soup containers and cleaning the sewage drain were highly risky activities in terms of repetitive and heavy weight-bearing motions. As for personal factors, the caterers having severe musculoskeletal symptoms had high psychological job demand. As for the workplace factors, the proportion of schools having severe musculoskeletal symptoms was significant higher where each caterer prepared more than 150 lunches. Among schools without school lunchroom, more schools had caterers having severe musculoskeletal symptoms. Using multilevel analysis, we found that the number of lunches to be prepared per caterer was a significant risk factor of severe musculoskeletal symptoms (O.R. 4.67). CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that the number of lunches prepared per caterer has a significant influence on the development of musculoskeletal disorder and that caterers work in an ergonomically highly risky job environment. The study results suggest that the number of caterers be increased to decrease the number of lunches prepared per caterer and the ergonomic environment be improved.

Relationship between Job Stress and Pulse Wave Velocity as a Cardiovascular Risk Factor / 대한산업의학회지

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to elucidate the relationship between job stress and pulse wave velocity (PWV) as a cardiovascular risk factor. METHOD: The study design was cross-sectional, and a total of 234 industrial workers were recruited. A structured-questionnaire was used to assess the general characteristics and job characteristics (work demand, decision latitude) using a modified Karasek model. Cuffs were applied to the extremities and a microphone for phonocardiography was placed at the second intercostal space at the margin of the sternum. The subjects rested in a supine position for 5 min, and PWV was measured using a VP-1000(Colin Waveform analyzer). RESULTS: There were significant correlations between blood pressure, glucose, total cholesterol, coagulation factor and PWV. The group with low decision latitude and high decision latitude showed higher levels of PWV, but the differences were not significan. The PWV (left) was significantly higher in the high strain group than in the lower strain group. After adjustment for age and cardiovascular risk factors, job strain was still associated with PWV. CONCLUSION: These result suggest that the high strain group among workers is related to an increased risk of PWV as a marker of atherosclerosis.

The Relationship between Heart Rate Variability and Metabolic Syndrome at a Rural Area / 대한산업의학회지

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of the present study was to estimate the prevalence of metabolic syndrome and to investigate the relation between metabolic syndrome and heart rate variability in a community population. METHODS: The study design was cross-sectional, and 1028 subjects, aged 20~87 years, were recruited. Heart rate variability was measured in the sitting position for five minutes. The recorded data were assessed by time-domain (standard deviation of RR interval) and frequencydomain analysis. All subjects were examined for five components of metabolic syndrome. RESULTS: The prevalence of metabolic syndrome in male and female subjects was 25.9% and 27.7%, respectively. The mean value of heart rate variability of the subjects was significantly different between healthy subjects and those with metabolic syndrome. The regression model showed that metabolic syndrome was negatively correlated with heart rate variability. CONCLUSIONS: The results demonstrate that metabolic syndrome has potentially negative effects on the cardiovascular system, and that these effects could be detected by heart rate variability. Follow-up studies able to control the cohort effect are necessary to evaluate the relation between metabolic syndrome and heart rate variability.