Abstract
Though the overall incidence of occupational injuries and accidents has decreased, they continue to happen. Many associated factors are known and managing them with limited resources is difficult. This study evaluates related risk factors and prioritizes their management for reducing occupational injuries and accidents at the workplace. We used data from the 4th Korean Working Condition Survey conducted by the Korea Occupational Safety Health Research Institute from June to September 2014. A total of 14,381 persons (9776 men, 4605 women) were selected; t-test, chi-square test, and logistic regression analyses were performed to analyze data. The influence of physical (vibration, noise, abnormal temperature) and musculoskeletal (awkward posture, handling of heavy objects, repetitive tasks) factors was compared according to gender and company size. The risk of occupational injuries and accidents among men was related to musculoskeletal factors and vibration in companies with “under 50” employees and with awkward posture, vibration, and noise in companies with “50 or above” employees; however, among women in companies with “under 50” employees, it was associated with only vibration. Although we evaluated only a few risk factors, prioritizing them based on gender and company size has provided new valuable information.
Highlights
Occupational injuries and accidents cause psychological, social, and economic problems for the affected employee [1]
An analysis of the risk factors revealed that in men the occupational injuries and accidents were related to all the physical and musculoskeletal factors, while in women, they were related to all the musculoskeletal factors, vibration and abnormal temperatures (Table 2)
“under 50” companies occupational injuries and accidents were associated with all the physical factors, in the “50 or above” companies they were associated with only vibration, noise and awkward posture (Table 3)
Summary
Occupational injuries and accidents cause psychological, social, and economic problems for the affected employee [1]. They have direct consequences on the families, coworkers, and employers [2], they indirectly increase the economic burden on society through medical, rehabilitation, and compensation costs [3,4]. According to Eurostat, the incidence rate of fatal injuries per 100,000 employees in the EU had decreased from about 4 in 1994 to about 1 in 2014. In South Korea, the number of accidents per 1000 employees was 7.3 in 2000, 6.9 in 2010, and 5.0 in In 2015, it was elevated compared to the average rate in 2012–2014 in 11 members states out of 28 EU countries [5].
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