The “fourth industrial revolution” (FIR) is an age of advanced technology based on information and communication. FIR has a more powerful impact on the economy than in the past. However, the ...prospects for the labor environment are uncertain. The purpose of this study is to anticipate and prepare for occupational health and safety (OHS) issues.
In FIR, nonstandard employment will be common. As a result, it is difficult to receive OHS services and compensation. Excessive trust in new technologies can lead to large-scale or new forms of accidents. Global business networks will cause destruction of workers' biorhythms, some cancers, overwork, and task complexity. The social disconnection because of an independent work will be a risk for worker's mental health. The union bonds will weaken, and it will be difficult to apply standardized OHS regulations to multinational enterprises.
To cope with the new OHS issues, we need to establish new concepts of "decent work” and standardize regulations, which apply to enterprises in each country, develop public health as an OHS service, monitor emerging OHS events and networks among independent workers, and nurture experts who are responsible for new OHS issues.
Webtoon, a digital form of comics created in the Republic of Korea, has spread widely with advantages that anyone can become a cartoonist and that autonomy of creation is guaranteed. The purpose of ...this study is to identify the working conditions of webtoon writers and analyze the relationship between these conditions and depressive symptoms.
A survey was carried out on webtoon writers and a survey data of 312 webtoon writers were analyzed. The questionnaire included basic socio-demographic characteristics, webtoon writers’ contractual type, fields of activity (webtoon creator, story writer, illustrator), and working environment (labor discretion etc.). We investigated depressive symptoms and analyzed its relation to the work environment of webtoon writers.
Webtoon writers were exposed to long working hours, high labor intensity, limited labor discretion, negative comments from readers, and had a high prevalence of depressive symptoms. Compared to story writers who contracted directly with platforms, story writers and the illustrators who contracted with content providers (CPs) were 9.51 times (OR = 9.51, 95% CI = 1.47 - 61.33) and 6.47 times (OR = 6.47, 95% CI = 1.08 – 38.75) more likely to have depressive symptoms, respectively.
This study emphasizes the urgent necessity to improve the overall working environment in the webtoon industry and implement measures to tackle the escalating mental health challenges faced by illustrators and story writers contracted with CPs, especially given the increasing popularity of novel comics.
This study aimed to investigate the mental health of new police trainees during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Korea. Two groups of police trainees were surveyed considering the ...distribution of gender, age, and education level: those who joined the school before COVID-19 and those who joined during the outbreak. Mental health indicators, including insomnia, depression, and anxiety, were compared between the two groups. The prevalence of insomnia, depression, and anxiety significantly varied in the group that joined during COVID-19 compared with the group that joined before. Specifically, insomnia showed a significant change in women, with a higher rate of 2.6%. Although the prevalence of depression was initially low, it increased from 0.4% to 1.3% during the pandemic. Anxiety rates also showed notable differences, particularly among women, with a higher rate of 4.7%. The highest differences in prevalence were observed in the low-income group, with a rate of 7.7% for anxiety. The findings highlight the vulnerability of police officers to psychosocial effects during disasters such as pandemics. Disaster preparedness programs or education can be integrated into new police officer training institutions to help manage mental health changes and promote overall well-being.
Research on carcinogens causing occupational cancer has been updated. Further, social interest in occupational cancer has increased. In addition, the standard for recognizing cancer as a work-related ...disease has also been revised. The present study aims to describe the distribution of occupational cancer claims or its approval rate and their association with work-related variables.
We analyzed 1299 claim cases for occupational cancer from 2010 to 2016 provided by the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service (KCOMWEL). The status of approval rate was shown by year, sex, industry, occupation, age of diagnosis, duration from employment to diagnosis, and cancer site.
The approval rate was 39.0% from 2010 to 2016 and tended to increase annually since 2011. Both the number of claims and the approval rate were higher in men. Mining and quarrying showed the highest approval rate (78.4%). The approval rates by age of diagnosis and duration from employment to diagnosis increased as the time periods increased. Respiratory organ had the highest number of claims and the highest approval rate by cancer site.
The approval rate of occupational cancer has shown an increasing trend since 2011. The increase of occupational carcinogens and cancer sites and the improvement of social awareness about occupational cancer could have resulted in this trend. The present study provides unique, and the latest and most accurate findings on occupational cancer data of recent 7 years that could be helpful to researchers or policy makers on occupational cancer.
It has been suggested that long working hours are associated with various diseases through dietary patterns. However, few studies have reported the association between working hours and dietary ...habits. Thus, the objective of this cross-sectional study was to explore the difference in dietary fiber intake by working hours. Data of a total of 10,760 workers in South Korea who participated in the Korea National Health and Nutrition Survey (KNHANES), a nation-wide survey, were analyzed to determine different distributions of dietary fiber insufficiency using multiple logistic regression models. Fiber insufficiency proportion was different from working hour groups. 70.1% of the total population eat fiber insufficiently. Working <40 h group showed 66.8% of fiber insufficiency. But working more than 52 h group marked 73.2% of fiber insufficiency. Logistic regression analysis of 10,760 nation-wide study participants revealed that working for 41-52 h a week (OR: 1.32, 95% CI: 1.18-1.47) and working for over 52 h a week (OR: 1.42, 95% CI: 1.25-1.62) were significantly associated with insufficient fiber intake compared to workers with standard working hours (30-40 h a week). These associations were still robust in an adjusted model, with working for 41-52 h a week (OR: 1.13, 95% CI: 1.01-1.27) and working for over 52 h (OR: 1.26, 95% CI: 1.09-1.45) showing high associations with dietary fiber insufficiency. Those with long working hours tend to have insufficient intake of dietary fiber. To promote desirable dietary habits, intervention programs on working conditions should be considered.
South Korea has the highest policy priority for working hour regulations because it has longer annual working hours than other Organization for Economic Development Co-operation and Development ...countries and has fewer holidays. According to the results of the Working Conditions Surveys between 2006 and 2020, in 2020, 6% of wage earners worked for > 52 hours weekly. The percentage of workers exceeding 52 hours weekly has decreased over time; however, disparities exist based on age, industry, occupation, company type, and company size, particularly in service-, arts-, and culture-related occupations and workplaces with fewer than 5 employees. South Korea's working hours system is greatly influenced by the 52-hour weekly maximum; sometimes, a maximum of 64-69 hours, including overtime, is theoretically possible. To ensure healthy working hours, it is important to actively protect workers who fall through the cracks, such as those in businesses with fewer than 5 employees.
Social jetlag, which is the mismatch between endogenous rhythm and social timing, is prevalent among the working population. Social jetlag may result in mood changes; however, evidence of ...relationship between social jetlag and depressive disorders has not been fully verified. Hence, this study aimed to investigate the association between social jetlag and depressive symptoms in a representative working population of South Korea.
This study included 5447 Korean employees in the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Social jetlag was calculated as the difference between the midpoint of sleep time on weekdays and free days. Depressive symptoms were assessed using Patient Health Questionnaire-9. Multiple logistic regression was used to estimate the odds ratio after adjusting for confounding factors. Moreover, social jetlag and continuous depression scores were evaluated using linear regression and generalized additive models.
The proportion of the participants who had >2 h of social jetlag was 10.26 %. Depressive symptoms increased as social jetlag increased. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that the adjusted OR (95 % confidence interval) for 1 to 2 h of social jetlag was 1.355 (0.891–2.059) and for >2 h was 1.859 (1.084–3.187), which <1 h was reference.
This study used a cross-sectional design and measurements were based on self-reported scales.
This study found that social jetlag and depressive symptoms were significantly related in the Korean working population.
•Social jetlag is a mismatch between endogenous circadian rhythm and social timing.•Social jetlag can cause mood changes, especially in late chronotypes.•However, evidence of social jetlag and depressive disorders is lacking.•This study showed that depressive symptoms increased as social jetlag increased.
Study Objectives: Shift work is known to be detrimental to an individual's health as it disrupts the circadian rhythm and is a risk factor for cancer. It has been reported that elevated fibroblast ...growth factor (FGF)-23, increased serum soluble alpha-klotho, and decreased vitamin D.sub.3 are associated with cancer progression. We studied the relationship between shift work and the levels of FGF-23, alpha-klotho, and vitamin D.sub.3 amongst firefighters, as they work in long shifts outside the traditional daytime schedule. Methods: The study consisted of 450 participants who were firefighters. We measured FGF-23, alpha-klotho, and vitamin D.sub.3 levels in their blood and a set of questionnaires were given to the participants to evaluate their health habits. After determining and adjusting for potential confounding factors, we compared the levels of FGF-23, alpha-klotho, and serum vitamin D.sub.3 by job and shift types. Results: FGF-23 and alpha-klotho levels were significantly higher in shift workers than traditional day workers, and in 3-day cycle shift workers than workers with another shift schedule. When the levels of these substances were compared based on different types of jobs, firefighters had a lower level of vitamin D.sub.3. We conclude that shift work is positively correlated with the levels of FGF-23 and alpha-klotho. Conclusions: Levels of FGF-23 and alpha-klotho were linked to shift work and job types. Although vitamin levels did not differ by shift types, vitamin D.sub.3 levels were lower in firefighters. These findings suggest that high levels of FGF-23 and alpha-klotho are potential risk factors for cancer among firefighters. Key words: Klotho; fibroblast growth factor; vitamin D.sub.3; 25-(OH) vitamin; shift work; firefighter
Social jetlag is a circadian misalignment that arises from a discrepancy between activity/sleep schedules on school/work days and free days. This study explored the correlation between social jetlag ...and self-rated health (SRH) in a representative sample of Korea.
This study included 8259 working population in the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2016–2018. Social jetlag was calculated as the difference between the midpoint of sleep time on work day and work-free day. Five-point Likert scale of SRH was used to assess subjective health perception on general health conditions. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to calculate the odds ratios (ORs) and 95 % confidence interval (CI) for poor SRH in the 1–2 h or longer than 2 h social jetlag groups compared to that in the reference group (less than 1 h), after adjusting for age, sex, marital status, occupation, household income, and weekly working hours.
The proportions of those with <1 h, 1–2 h, >2 h of social jetlag were 63.80 %, 25.67 %, and 10.53 %, respectively. The risk of poor SRH increased as social jetlag increased. Greater social jetlag was significantly associated with an increased likelihood of reporting poor SRH. The adjusted ORs for the groups with social jetlag between 1 and <2 h, and >2 h were 1.100 (95 % CI = 0.935–1.295), and 1.503 (95 % CI = 1.097–1.727), respectively. Moreover, the OR trend was statistically significant (p for trend = 0.008).
This study found that social jetlag and poor SRH were significantly related in the Korean working population.
•Social jetlag is a circadian misalignment that arises from a discrepancy between activity/sleep schedules on school/work days and free days.•This study showed that social jetlag was significantly associated with poor self-rated health in a representative working population in South Korea.•This suggests that the risk of poor self-rated health occurs even in individuals without major health disorders when their endogenous rhythm and social timing are misaligned.•Therefore, it is necessary to develop measures that enable workers to control their working hours according to their health status and personal preferences.
Suicide is a major public health concern in South Korea, and self-poisoning by pesticides is one of the common methods of suicide. Pesticide ban policies have been successful for suicide prevention; ...however, no studies have shown their effect according to occupational groups. The present study analyzed suicide and suicide by pesticide rates among South Korean workers aged 15-64 in 2003-2017, their associations with occupational groups, and the impact of three major economic indices on these factors. Workers in the agriculture, forestry, and fishery industries had relative risks of 5.62 (95% CI: 5.54-5.69) for suicide overall and 25.49 (95% CI: 24.46-26.57) for suicide by pesticide. The real gross domestic product had a positive association with suicide overall only in the last five-year period investigated in this study, and the unemployment rate consistently had a positive association. The economic status and policy for suicide prevention affected suicide and suicide by pesticide rates differently among occupational groups and different time periods. Policy addressing suicidal risk for different occupational groups should be of concern in South Korea.
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