4 in 10 Fear Hurt at Worksites
By Kim Hyun-cheol
Staff Reporter
About 40 percent of local employees think they are exposed to work-related health problems, according to a report Thursday.
Three out of 10 workers have actually experienced accidents or diseases due to work, the Korea Occupational Safety & Health Agency (KOSHA) said Thursday, quoting its survey of 10,043 workers aged 15 to 65.
Male workers called in sick for a combined 15.4 days a year, compared to female workers' 11 days.
Muscular pain was the most common health-related symptom workers suffered from.
The survey also showed that workers were exposed to unfavorable work conditions, with about 20 percent exposed to noise, while 70 percent are engaged in work that requires repetitive motion.
According to the survey, 7 percent of those surveyed work shifts, with half of them on two shifts.
By industry, agriculture, food-production and transportation are the top three areas where workers most likely suffer from a variety of physical illnesses.
``There were similar surveys in the past, but none of them had such a large sample or a more robust statistical base,'' said Park Jung-sun, a director of the agency's occupational disease research center. "The center plans to make it quadrennial study in the future, so the outcomes can be a reference for further synchronic and diachronic studies in the field.''
The report will be officially presented at a conference on work stress, scheduled for next week at Yonsei University.