Discussion on common problems after introducing "reduction factor" into different working hour systems in occupational exposure assessment in GBZ 2.1—2019 / 环境与职业医学

Occupational exposure limits for hazardous agents in the workplace—Part 1: Chemical hazardous agents (GBZ 2.1—2019) has been implemented since April 1, 2020. The document redefines the evaluation of occupational exposure by introducing a "reduction factor" to adjust the occupational exposure limits of chemical hazardous agents for long working hour systems to ensure a protection level reasonable for the workers and equivalent to conventional occupational exposure limits. This paper discussed common problems encountered in the context of using this adjustment strategy, such as the adjustment being unable to cover all working hours, and the adjustment of values of terms associated with occupational exposure limits. Corresponding solutions were proposed. Working cycle and average exposure time of each working cycle were introduced to evaluate the actual working hours of workers. Regarding involved terms, adjustments of their corresponding values were clarified according to their definitions and application scenarios. Examples were provided for occupational health service providers so that their occupational health practices could be carried out in a more scientific and reasonable manner.

Effect of long working hours on work related musculoskeletal disorders and job burnout in internet enterprise employees / 中国职业医学

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the current status of long working hours among employees of internet enterprises, and explore its effects on work related musculoskeletal disorders(WMSDs)and job burnout. METHODS: A total of 3 589 employees from 35 internet enterprises in 3 provinces were selected as the research subjects using the method of cluster sampling.The Questionnaire of Musculoskeletal Disorders and Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey was used to assess employees′ WMSDs and job burnout, and to explore the influence of long working hours(>40 hours per week) on WMSDs and job burnout. RESULTS: The average weekly working hours of these workers were(48±11) hours, and the workers working for long-hour accounted for 68.0%(2 442/3 589). The prevalence of WMSDs was 80.4%(2 886/3 589), and the detection rate of job burnout was 10.5%(376/3 589). The results of binary logistic regression analysis showed that long working hour was the influencing factor of WMSDs and job burnout after removing confounding factors including gender, age, education level, marital status, income, exercise frequency, diet habit, smoking status, type of work and length of service(P<0.01). The longer the weekly working hour, the higher the risk of WMSDs and job burnout. CONCLUSION: Long working hour increases the risk of WMSDs and job burnout with a dose-response relationship in internet enterprise employees.

Effect of teacher's working conditions on voice disorder in Korea: a nationwide survey

BACKGROUND: Korean teacher’s working conditions are deteriorating. There is concern about the deterioration of teachers’ health and voice disorder is one of the most common problems. Teacher’s vocal health is important for them and their students. The aim of the present study was to investigate working conditions that may affect voice disorders. METHODS: In all, 79 primary and secondary schools were randomly selected for a nationwide school system survey (N = 3345). In 64 schools, 1617 (48.3%) teachers participated via a postal self-report questionnaire from June 2016 to August 2016. After applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, data from 1301 teachers’ were used for analysis. Multiple logistic regression was used to investigate the associations between general, work-related factors, and frequent voice disorders (fVDs) to estimate the adjusted odds ratio(aOR). RESULTS: Teachers who reported voice symptoms more than once a week (fVD) made up 11.6%. In a multiple logistic regression, fVD was significantly associated with female, difficulty in applying for sick leave as needed, music teachers (primary school), and less than 6 h of sleep per day (primary school). The aOR for fVD was 2.72 (0.83–8.10) in the longest working hours group (> 52 h/wk) among the primary school teachers, and 1.90 (0.80–4.73) in the longest class hour group (≥ 20 h/wk), 1.52 (0.90–2.62) in homeroom teachers among the secondary school teachers, but not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Korean teachers’ working conditions are associated with fVDs. The school health system must take steps to prevent and treat voice disorders of teachers.

Working conditions of interns/residents and patient safety: Painful training might not be authentic

The current working conditions of medical interns and residents in South Korea pose dangers to patient safety as well as to staff health. A national survey in 2014 showed that interns/residents worked an average of 93 hours per week. The prevalence of physical and verbal violence experienced by medical residents in the preceding 12 months was reported as 13.1% and 61.5%, respectively. Furthermore, sleep deprivation due to long working hours was strongly associated with a high risk of committing 'near miss errors'. An act to govern the working environment of interns/residents was established in 2015 and stipulates a maximum working hours of 88 hours per week. This is an important step toward improving patient safety and intern/resident health in South Korea.

A survey on training and working conditions of residents in 2015

The objectives of this study are (1) to examine the training and working conditions of residents after revision of the 'Regulations on Specialist Training and Accreditation,' (2) to determine the causes of problems with these training and working conditions, and (3) to seek improvement in these conditions. A questionnaire survey was conducted over two weeks. A total of 10,768 respondents and 1,793 valid responses were analyzed. Although revised regulations had been implemented, training conditions did not appear to have undergone any improvements. 52.9% of residents work over 80 hours per week and 27.1% respondents exceeded 100 hours per week. 76.9% of respondents indicated that they exceed the maximum continuous training time of 36 hours. 64.5% of respondents said their emergency room training time was over 12 hours. 25.4% of respondents' duty days exceeded three days a week. 34.7% of respondents said that they had less than three days off per month. The proportion of those with annual leave under 14 days is 70.2%. For substantive improvements in training and working conditions, new plans must consider practical factors in the implementation of improvements. This requires a governance structure based on participation, and an independent, objective training evaluation organization should be established to perform a reliable assessment. Above all, the government financial compensation plan must prepare for improving the training environment.

Calculation of Personnel Arrangement in Outpatient Pharmacy of a Large General Hospital by Working Hour Measurement / 中国药师

Objective:To explore the personnel arrangement in the outpatient pharmacy by calculating working hour to provide ref-erence for the rational staffing in hospital. Methods:The daily work content and working hour of 18 pharmacists in the outpatient phar-macy of a large general hospital from January to March in 2013 were following-up observed and recorded using the working hour meas-urement. The data were input the EXcellsoftware to establish the database, and the workload in various positions was collected and sorted. The obtained relative parameters were used to calculate the needed worker number on the basis of manpower planning model. Results:The research confirmed the mean operation time for 9 work programs in the outpatient pharmacy, and the time for drug dispen-sing and distributing was detailed. The needed number of pharmacists was 13. 29 according to the calculation, plus the officer-in-charge and sanitation workers, the total number was 15. 29(approx. 16). Conclusion:The working hour measurement can scientifically de-termine the time for each job, and the workload should be used as the foundation for configuring personnel qualification and the number in outpatient pharmacy.

The Relationship between Emotional Working Hour and Muscle Pain / 산업간호학회지

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate muscle pains of emotional laborers and determine whether there were differences in their muscle pains depending on the hours spent on emotional labor. METHODS: This is a secondary analysis of the data collected from the 3rd (2011) Korean Working Conditions Survey. 50,032 participants responded to the study's questionnaire. Among them, 15,669 participants were emotional laborers who directly dealt with people such as customers, passengers, pupils, patients, etc. RESULTS: Thirty three percent of subjects had reported muscle pains. Muscle pains of subjects were positively related to the hours spent on emotional labor (p<.001). According to the logistic regression analysis, the adjusted odd ratio of the subjects who spent about almost all of the work hours on emotional labor was 1.32 (95% CI: 1.15~1.52), compared to the subjects who spent about a quarter of their work hours on emotional labor, when other factors were controlled. CONCLUSION: The study's findings indicate that engaging in emotional labor for longer hours increases the risks of muscle pains. Occupational nurses must pay closer attention to the management of muscle pains of emotional laborers.

The Relationship between Emotional Working Hour and Muscle Pain / 한국직업건강간호학회지

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate muscle pains of emotional laborers and determine whether there were differences in their muscle pains depending on the hours spent on emotional labor. METHODS: This is a secondary analysis of the data collected from the 3rd (2011) Korean Working Conditions Survey. 50,032 participants responded to the study's questionnaire. Among them, 15,669 participants were emotional laborers who directly dealt with people such as customers, passengers, pupils, patients, etc. RESULTS: Thirty three percent of subjects had reported muscle pains. Muscle pains of subjects were positively related to the hours spent on emotional labor (p<.001). According to the logistic regression analysis, the adjusted odd ratio of the subjects who spent about almost all of the work hours on emotional labor was 1.32 (95% CI: 1.15~1.52), compared to the subjects who spent about a quarter of their work hours on emotional labor, when other factors were controlled. CONCLUSION: The study's findings indicate that engaging in emotional labor for longer hours increases the risks of muscle pains. Occupational nurses must pay closer attention to the management of muscle pains of emotional laborers.

Long Working Hours and Emotional Well-Being in Korean Manufacturing Industry Employees

OBJECTIVES: Korea is well known for its long work hours amongst employees. Because workers of the manufacturing industry are constantly exposed to extended work hours, this study was based on how long work hours affect their emotional well-being. METHODS: The analysis was done using the secondary Korean Working Condition Survey (KWCS). Long work hours were defined to be more than 48 hours, and they were subcategorized into units of 52 hours and 60 hours. Based on the WHO (five) well-being index, emotional state was subdivided into three groups - reference group, low-mood group, and possible depression group- where 28 points and 50 points were division points, and two groups were compared at a time. Association between long work hours and emotional state was analyzed using binary and multinomial logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: Working for extended working hours in the manufacturing industry showed a statistically significant increase (t test p < 0.001) in trend among the possible depression group when compared to the reference group and the low-mood group. When demographical characteristics, health behaviors, socioeconomic state, and work-related characteristics were fixed as controlled variables, as work hours increased the odds ratio of the possible depression group increased compared to the reference group, and especially the odds ratio was 2.73 times increased for work hours between 48-52 and 4.09 times increased for 60 hours or more and both were statistically significant. In comparing the low-mood group and possible depression group, as work hours increased the odds ratio increased to 1.73, 2.39, and 4.16 times, and all work hours from working 48-52 hours, 53-60 hours, and 60 hours or more were statistically significant. Multinomial logistic regression analysis also showed that among the reference group and possible group, the possible depression group was statistically significant as odds ratio increased to 2.94 times in working 53-60 hours, and 4.35 times in 60 hours or more. CONCLUSIONS: Long work hours have an adverse effect on emotional well-being. A more diversified research towards variables that affect long work hours and emotional well-being and how they interact with each other and their relationship to overall health is imperative.

Calculation of Jobs Intensity for Optimization of Shift Schemes / 中国药房

OBJECTIVE:To explore and extend a reasonable scheduling mode suitable for outpatient pharmacy.METHODS:The traditional scheduling mode was studied,and the fluctuation of the job intensity of dispensing personnel was revealed by drawing charts.In view of the disadvantage of the traditional scheduling mode,a new scheduling mode using mathematical conversion was adopted.RESULTS:Due to the new scheduling mode,the fluctuation of job intensity and the total man-hours were significantly decreased.CONCLUSIONS:Computing work intensity can help reasonably distribute and utilize the present human resources.

A Study on the Effects of the Reduction of Working Hours on Female Workers' Fatigue

PURPOSE: This present study has been conducted on female workers' shorter working hours in order to look into their fatigue level and the correlation between fatigue and working hours. METHOD: We surveyed 237 respondents using a questionnaire from June 1st to June 20th, 2005. RESULTS: The means of total fatigue complaint was 3.45. The fatigue level was significantly higher in the lower age group, unmarried group, manager group and shorter working duration group. And the fatigue level was significantly correlated to working hours and work intensity. In the results of stepwise multiple regression, factors affecting the fatigue level were the change of work intensity, age, regular diet habit, working hours and the type of occupation. CONCLUSION: It is necessary to prepare the health promotion programs, which can reduce female workers' fatigue level and relieve the intensity of their works.