Occupational Health Injuries by Job Characteristics and Working Environment among Street Cleaners in South Korea

Abstract

In 2018, 1822 incidents relating to death or injury occurred among street cleaners in South Korea. However, South Korea currently lacks comprehensive studies on related injuries based on street cleaners’ job characteristics and environments in the country. This study analyzed injuries according to the job characteristics and environment through a survey of 150 Korean street cleaners working in the Seoul and Gyeonggi-do areas. This study assessed three category measures—demographic, job characteristics, and environments—to determine the effects of injuries. The demographic measures consisted of age, gender, and education level. Job characteristic variables consisted of length of time on the job, job contract, monthly income, working hours per day, working start time, overtime per month, and days off per month. For job environments, this survey included job duty, classification, main tasks, work intensity, and safety equipment. The data were analyzed according to descriptive statistics, injury ratio, and Probit regression analysis. The results of the analysis demonstrated that the participants with the highest risk of injury were mostly males with less than a middle school education. Assessment of the job characteristics showed that the most prevalent length of working experience was less than 5 years, with most engaging in contract/day work. A share of 36.67% of the participants reported injuries. The most prevalent reason for injury was overwork (32.73%), and the most frequent injury area was the lower back (49.09%). In summary, injuries among street cleaners were associated with education level, job experience, days off from work, and work intensity. As such, street cleaners should receive more education to decrease the risk of injuries, regardless of the number of employees or their contract status.

Magnitude and possible risk factors of musculoskeletal disorders among street cleaners and solid waste workers: a cross-sectional study

“…These findings corroborate the results of previous studies. These findings corroborate with the results of studies conducted in Nigeria [25], India [26], Vietnam [27], Thailand [28], Korea [7], and Iran [29] with the observed prevalence of 78.2%, 72%, 74.4%, 88%, 69.4%, and 93% respectively. In contrast, a lower prevalence was observed in the studies conducted in Malaysia (54.5%), Egypt (60.8%), Brazil (60%), Australia (58.1%), Mekelle, Ethiopia (53.28%), and India (Chandigarh 56.8, Himachal Pradesh 58.9 [30][31][32][33][34][35][36].…”

“…Numerous literature has reported the occupational exposure of street cleaners to pollutants or hazardous materials and the development of diseases like; asthma, chronic respiratory diseases, eye irritations, skin conditions, stress, and hypertension [3][4][5][6][7]. Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are the most common non-fatal and very disabling health problem among street cleaners.…”

Days away from Work Injury and Associated Factors among Waste Collectors in Mekelle City, Northern Ethiopia: A Cross Sectional Study

“…This study found injury is less likely to occur in female as compared to male. This study is supported by a study done on South Korea (30) and Tanzania (31). This is attributed to the job category of respondents as more women were involved in street sweeping.…”

“…Most of accidents in waste management setting are related to the implementation of safety measures (16,26,27), working condition (2,22,28), environmental factors (29,30), personal factor (8,30,31), organizational factor (29). In solid waste workers, accident hazards originate from a variety of causes.…”

Prevalence and Associated Factors of Occupational Injuries among Municipal Solid Waste Collectors in Urban Dire Dawa Administration, Eastern Ethiopia

“…In addition to these problems, the protection of workers from occupational hazards depends on the availability and proper utilization of protective equipment, which in low-and middle-income countries is in short supply with very limited monitoring of their utilization (7,12). Evidence also suggests that long working hours, working environments, and behavioral and technical factors adversely affect the health and wellbeing of workers (9,(13)(14)(15)(16).…”