As the end of June 2017, a total of work related diseases were 4,272, up 17.2% from the same period last year. There has been no significant change in the number of disease victims in Korea since 2010, and it should be urgent for the government and employers to make efforts to reduce the number of occupational disease for workers in industry. Government and employers should establish occupational safety and health policies to promote the safety and health of workers, and take preventive measures, support, and guidance on workplace disasters. In order to do this, it should be necessary to select the risky work sites considering hazard factors and possibility of exposure. In this study, by using the results of the work environment measurement, the government might suggest the risk prediction and management method by considering the harmful chemical substances used in the workplace, hazardous factors that can be generated by each type of industry.
The source of the workers’ exposures used in this study was database of work environment measurement results of the measurement institutes designated by the Ministry of Employment and Labor of 15 institutions from all over the country. Although this study used the data measured by some designated measurement institutes in Korea, it accounted for 8.6% of the manufacturing workplaces of 5 or more employees registered in the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act, and 25.5% of the workplaces where the work environment measurements were conducted. The results of this study are expected to show the exposure characteristics of hazardous factors in the whole workplace in Korea. Dust and physical factors were excluded in order to extract the chemical factors to be analyzed. The used risk assessment method was Hallmark method among the guidelines for control banding analysis presented by the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA).
The most frequent of the target industry type was 「Manufacture of other parts and accessories for motor vehicles n.e.c(30399)」(1351, 9.0%). The number of substances according to the hazard rating (HR) was the highest in grade 6(113,56.5%). The hallmark risk assessment method was developed to manage small-scale workplace and is a method of evaluating each workplace. However, in this study, the assessment method was applied to each industry category without evaluating each workplace, which may lead to a difference in risk probability rating. We compared the risk probability rating averages by workplace and the risk probability rating by industry. As a result, the average risk probability rating of each workplace was lower and the risk probability rating of each industry was higher than that of each workplace. However, it is reasonable to evaluate conservatively in terms of prevention and management from a health point of view.
In the case of 「Manufacture of other parts and accessories for motor vehicles n.e.c(30399)」, the number of styrene and hexavalent chromium compounds exceeded the OEL (Occupational exposure limit) was 1 and 2, respectively. Accordingly, the evaluation of the risk probability rating (RPR) became 10 each. There were 9 industries classified into control banding group 4. The control banding group 4 belongs to the 「Manufacture of accumulators(28202)」, 「Manufacture of other parts and accessories for motor vehicles n.e.c.(26299)」, 「Manufacture of other parts and accessories for motor vehicles n.e.c.(30399)」, 「Manufacture of all other chemical products n.e.c.(20499)」, 「Manufacture of other basic precious and non-ferrous metals(24290)」, 「Manufacture of basic organic petrochemicals(20111)」, 「Manufacture of plastic windows and doors(24219)」, 「Manufacture of plastic windows and doors(22223)」, 「Manufacture of foamed plastic products(22250)」.
In the case of choosing a workplace for the management of the workplace in Korea, there was a limitation in effectively performing the reliability evaluation when selecting the target workplace using only the work environment measurement result. In order to efficiently implement the workplace management and evaluation system in Korea, it is necessary to select a risk industry and randomly select a workplace corresponding to the risk industry.
This study suggests the risk estimate and management according to industrial classification. using of this study results. Therefore, the government might expect data to be used as a basis for efficient workplace management and provide information to workers and employers to recognize the risk of their working environment.