농업인의 직업건강

Abstract

Purpose : Agricultural workers are aging and feminizing, not to mention their bodily functions are declining. Occupational accidents and diseases of agricultural workers are becoming a social issue by lowering their quality of life as well as economic difficulties for them. The purpose of this study is to investigate the industrial accidents status and prevention strategies of various occupational risk factors for agricultural workers. Methods : We summarized past empirical or theoretical literature. Results : Agricultural workers are exposed to a wide range of occupational hazards, such as pesticides, toxic gases (ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, methane etc.), diesel exhaust, heat waves, noise, vibration and organic dust. Also, agricultural workers are vulnerable to infectious diseases (tsutsugamushi disease, leptospirosis etc.) due to the biohazardous factors and to musculoskeletal diseases due to physical work loads and inappropriate posture. Conclustion : In order to prevent occupational accidents and diseases, agricultural workers should be educated in the health protection strategies such as wearing protective equipment. To this end, it is necessary to have collaboration of employers, healthcare professionals, researchers and administrators.