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Purpose: This study is to identify the seriousness of industrial accidents recognized by the general public and the effect of the Serious Accident Punishment Act. Methods: The survey period was from January 18 to January 19, 2022, and data collection was conducted by automated phone call, and the number of respondents was 1,000. Results: The response that industrial accidents are serious was very high at 93.4%, and the response that the Serious Accident Punishment Act is helpful in preventing industrial accidents was high at 80.1%. As for measures to reduce industrial accidents, 31.1% of respondents said active investment and efforts by business owners were needed, and 28.7% of respondents said thorough government supervision and management were needed. Conclusion: Since the public’s awareness of the seriousness of industrial accidents was found to be very high, active efforts should be made to prevent industrial accidents. Since the public responded that the Severe Accident Punishment Act would be effective in preventing industrial accidents, efforts should be made to ensure that the Severe Accident Punishment Act is properly implemented. It is necessary for business owners and the government to make more efforts to prevent industrial accidents.

Purpose: This study is based on a survey aimed at analyzing the effects of various changes during the COVID-19 pandemic on the depression of workers. Method: Data collection was conducted from May 20 to May 26, 2021 from 132 workers in the manufacturing and construction industries. Depression in connection with general characteristics was analyzed by independent sample t-test and variance analysis, and multiple regression analysis was used to identify the factors affecting depression. Result: 45.4% of the participants experienced depression during the COVID-19 pandemic. The differences in the level of depression among workers were caused by the following factors: gender; age; employment type; industry type; change in job stress; changes in fatigue level; fear of COVID-19. Conclusion: The level of depression of workers caused by COVID-19 is severe. Therefore, it calls for measures to reduce the worker depression, infection prevention activities to alleviate fear, and education and psychological support conducted on a regular basis. Also, the effects of job stress and fatigue caused by infectious diseases should be managed together.

Purpose: This study looks at the prevalence rate of such metabolic syndrome among shift workers and aims to figure out related risk factors. Method: Data from night duty workers who had special medical examinations in 2014, in a university hospital situated in Incheon, were used. Data of 343 people taking medicine for high blood pressure, diabetes and hyperlipidemia were discarded. Of the remaining 3,305 people, data on their blood pressure, diabetes, waist measurement, neutral fat level and HDL cholesterol level were used. Results: In this study, the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in shift workers was found to be 12.7% by applying NCEP's ATPⅢ diagnostic criteria. By analyzing the effects of subjects’ general characteristics, lifestyle and job-related characteristics on prevalence of metabolic syndrome using logistic regression analysis, we found out that prevalence rate was higher for those who are older, are men, smoke and do not exercise have worked in shift for over 10 years, work for over 52 hours a week on average, have worked for more than 4 consecutive days on night duty, have less than 11 hours of rest after work, are not allowed to sleep during working hours. Conclusion: It can be concluded from the result that it is important to help shift workers protect their health through setting reasonable working hours, improving working condition, promoting healthy lifestyle and providing customized management plans that take individual characteristics into consideration.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to compare workers’ experiences of discrimination, health problems, and satisfaction according to changes in the working conditions. Method: For analysis, data from the 5th working conditions survey (survey period: 2017.07.11. to 11.17) and the 6th working conditions survey (survey period: 2020.10.05. to 2021.04.04.) were used for analysis. In the response data, in the case of not answering the main survey items or responding ‘refusal’, the subject were excluded, and the number of study subject was 62,452. Result: First, the importance of the team system appeared as the company’s overall performance compensation tended to increase, and the performance of working over 10 hours a day tended to decrease due to the strengthened application of the Labor Standards Act. Second, due to legal changes, there was a tendency to decrease the experience of discriminatory treatment based on age, nationality, gender, religion, disability, academic background, and employment type (non-regular workers) at work. Third, lower back pain, upper extremity muscle pain, headache and eye fatigue, anxiety and general fatigue increased in response to changes in the occurrence of work-related health problems due to the environmental impact of the COVID-19 infectious disease. Fourth, satisfaction with the working environment tended to increase due to the influence of the anti-bullying clause and the enactment of the Severe Accident Punishment Act to protect workers. Conclusion: The enactment and enforcement of various laws to protect workers increased workers’ satisfaction with the working environment. For the protection and expansion of workers in the future, policies to expand the sickness allowance system and strengthen awareness and protection of workers’ safety are needed.