Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine

Original Article

Occupational Diseases among Agricultural, Forestry and Fishery Workers Approved by Korea Labor Welfare Corporation: Yeon Soon Ahn, Hyun Sul Lim; Korean Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 2007;19(1):1-16. Published online March 31, 2007; DOI: https://doi.org/10.35371/kjoem.2007.19.1.1

OBJECTIVES
To analyze the characteristics of occupational diseases among agricultural, forestry and fishery workers compensated under the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance that is operated by the Korea Labor Welfare Corporation (KLWC).
METHODS
Using the KLWC database, we collected 667 cases of occupational disease compensated during the 8 years between 1 January 1998 and 31 December 2005. We analyzed the characteristics of occupational diseases using the KLWC electronic data and the data investigated by the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency.
RESULTS
KLWC approved 667 cases, including 69 deaths (10.3%). Men accounted for 76.0%of the approved cases. The most common age group was 50~59 years of age (37.3%). The most common size of enterprise was 5 to 49 workers (47.5%). The proportion of occupational diseases was 54.1%, of which 45.9% was work-related. Among occupational diseases, the most common was skin diseases (147 cases, 40.7%), followed by infectious diseases (131 cases, 36.3%), including scrub typhus (123 cases) and intoxication (40 cases, 11.1%). The causal hazardous agents were biological (320 cases, 88.6%), chemical (29 cases, 8.0%), and physical (11 cases, 3.0%). The major type of industry and occupation were forestry (445 cases, 66.7%) and elementary (151 among 235 cases, 89.3%), respectively.
CONCLUSIONS
Major compensated occupational diseases were infectious diseases, including scrubtyphus, skin diseases and toxic disease, which occurred among workers who were older, and had short tenure and elementary occupation, and these workers were out of the occupational health policy. A management policy must be established to prevent occupational diseases occurring in such vulnerable workers.

Citations

Citations to this article as recorded by

Survey of the knowledge, safety climate, and compliance with hospital infection standard precautions among dental hygienists
Ho Jin Jeong, Jung Hwa Lee
Journal of Korean Academy of Oral Health.2017; 41(4): 237. CrossRef
Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases in Special Populations: Farmers and Soldiers
Young-Jun Kwon, Soo-Jin Lee
Journal of Korean Medical Science.2014; 29(Suppl): S24. CrossRef
Work-related diseases of agricultural workers in South Korea
Sangchul Roh
Journal of the Korean Medical Association.2012; 55(11): 1063. CrossRef
Work-related hazards among farmers
Soon Chan Kwon, Soo-Jin Lee, Mihye Jeong
Journal of the Korean Medical Association.2012; 55(11): 1046. CrossRef
Comparison of the Awareness and Knowledge of Scrub Typhus between Case and Control Groups
Kwan Lee, Byeong-Chan Park, Hyun-Sul Lim, Sun-Seog Kweon, Jin-Su Choi, Jang-Rak Kim, Keon-Yeop Kim, So-Yeon Ryu
Journal of agricultural medicine and community health.2012; 37(1): 1. CrossRef
Occupational Infection in Korea
Yun Kyung Chung, Yeon-Soon Ahn, Jae Sim Jeong
Journal of Korean Medical Science.2010; 25(Suppl): S53. CrossRef
Disease Prevalence and Mortality among Agricultural Workers in Korea
Won Jin Lee, Eun Shil Cha, Eun Kyeong Moon
Journal of Korean Medical Science.2010; 25(Suppl): S112. CrossRef

60 View
1 Download
7 Crossref

First
Prev
Page of 1
Next
Last

Search