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KMID : 0381319940330020053
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Korean Journal of Occupational Health
1994 Volume.33 No. 2 p.53 ~ p.59
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New Trends of Occupational Health
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Cho Kyu-Sang
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Abstract
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1. History of Occupational Health
The industrial Revolution brought about asverse health effects to many European workers because working conditions at that time were unhygienic. As a remedy, the factory Acts and the Workers’Compensation Law were promulgated.
It was not until the 20th century, however, that the systematic medical approaches to occupational health were established and the subsequent applications of industrial hygiene engineering condepts played a pivotal role in preventing occupational diseases.
Such events apparently had influenced upon the awareness of the manpower management in industrial settings.
Although automation in the workplace has freed many workers form hard manual labours, new problems such as neruopsuchologic and sensory disorders have been increasing because of automatic machine gives rise to a sense of alienation.Meanwhile, the advancement of space-age technologies and a rapid development in the fields of electronic engineering permits precise measurements and analyses of even a minute amount of toxic substance. These high technologies have also opened a newera in estblidhing precised permissible exposure limits in studying carcinogenic, mutagenic effects in chronic exposures to many chemicals. And the proliferation of animber of industrial robots poses new challenges in the occupational health field.
Desptie these developments, occupational health problems in small scal industries(SSI) remain to be solved. These SSIs ccount for the overwhelming majority of all industries. Occupational health, thus, requires a new systematic approach. That is to say, improving workers’ health by active participation in production line utilizing new regulations.
Occupational health in Europe has a histoy of almost 300 years, but Lorea has a mere 30 years’ experience and this entailed committing many mistakes and errors. There are more occupational health problems to be tacked than beeb solved in this country.
Now-a-days, workers are more concerned about their health than ever before. The emphasis laid on occupational helath is shifting from preventing occupational diseases to promoting workers’ health.2. Leadership Role in Occupational Health
The ILO code of practice No. 161 and new occupational safety and health legislations of many countries stipulate the roles of government, the responsibilities of empliyer, and the rights ans duties of empliyees on occupational health.
The ways of implimenting occupational health are changing from controlling and superviding workplases with rigid regulations and relying heavily in a small number of experts in the past to more close cooperations between the empliyer and the employee with assistion processes by experts. Pccupational health of SSIs is being carried out by a primary health care approach under district and group htalth care systems, bexause thses SSIs are alcking in terms of personnel, facilities, and funds.
Research for advanenement of occupational health needs the standardization of data as well as the establishment of nationwide monitoring systems. Rield studyes should be well disegned in advance and the results obtained should be assessed and applied and should not be wasted.
3. Major Activities of Occupational Health
(1) Control techniques
The primary task of occupational health is the prevention activities such as identification, assessment, and montoring of health risks and hazards and subsequent provision of preventive measrres for environment and wxposure sources.
control techniques vary depends on countries and workplaces. Preventive measures should be introduced at the stage of designing a factory. Importation of faulty technologies and hazardous chemical substances to developing countries often bring about adverse health effects to workers and their inhabitants. The essence of control Techniques id the establishment of appropriate information and monitoring systerns and setting up a control center.
(2) Health surveillance
Another primary preventive activity is the biological monitoring of workers. It is to assess the degree of health risk by monitoring the conecntrations of hazardous substances absorbed into workers’ body. These bilogical eaposure indices (BEI) are being utilized as an indicative value of health surveillance but they often lead to a confusion among emplyers and emplyees.
Both environmental and biological monitoring activities are considered as primary preventive health care while medical examination as the secondary one. The items of pre-employment and periodic medical examinations are vary between countries. An in-depth study should be directed on the extent of medical examinations of these astivities are to be more productive and effective.
(3) Disease prevention and health promotionA number of heman life styles and environmental faxtors such as smoking, alcoholism, drug abuse, sports, food, and stresses, et cetera are closely realted to occupational diseases. Controlling these factors through diseases and work-related diseases.
A major premise of healthy person is that health is the results of a continuing end-eavor to attain healthy life patterns. It will lead to disease prevention rather than disease treatment. It is believed that many basic healthy problems can be prevented by altering human life styles.
Currently, healthy promotion movements in the workplaces are actively implimented in many countries.(4)Public information, education, and training
Worldwide trends on occupational health are changing from just planning and implementing occupational health objectives to transferring knowledge of occupational hazards to workers and can enabling them to identify the hazards and control the ridks by themselves. Many European countries are greatly interested in this field and are applying it to the labour management. In the U.S.A., the Right-to-Know Law and the Worker Notification Standards have been passed. Many developing countries are, in stead, education their workers through informative publications.The most critical need in the world is the education and training of the occupational health specialists. Thus, a new measure is being raised in the U.S.A., that general preactitioners be trainde basic knowledge in occupational health and be utilized. The best means of providing occupational health education is through the graduate schools having a variety of occupational health ralated courses.
Considering the group occupational health service system as the most successful approach for industry, the most essential point is to secure enough public health specialists possessing basic training of occupational health. Additionally, periodic refresher courses are more than necessary to ensure the effectiveness of their activities.
Thus, cooperations among the related field professionals are very important.Education is considered to be the most fundamental factor for many practicing occupational health personnel. Since these personnel need a broad knowlodge, they have to be educated to maintain utmost professional knowledge in order toeffectively accomplish their tasks. To slove health problems, one needs to bae a correct understanding of social issues and poverty and has to apply all kinds of knowledge obtained from society, technology, and policy, et cetera.
The importance of occupational health is still not correctly and widely accepted by the industry today. Occupational health service in plants have been carried out by "rule-based" but ot be changed "enabling form" in the future.Workers health should be maintained and accomplished by the responsibility of the socity. One can judge the level of a country’s social welfare by the livel of public health services. It is not difficult to imagine that no denuine social welfae can be achieved without protectio of all workers’health.
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