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Self‐employed individuals performing different types of work have different occupational safety and health problems
Author(s) -
Park Jungsun,
Han Boyoung,
Kim Yangho
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
american journal of industrial medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1097-0274
pISSN - 0271-3586
DOI - 10.1002/ajim.22862
Subject(s) - occupational safety and health , medicine , human factors and ergonomics , work (physics) , environmental health , physical hazard , injury prevention , physical health , poison control , suicide prevention , mental health , gerontology , psychiatry , mechanical engineering , pathology , engineering
Abstract Introduction We assessed the occupational safety and health (OSH) issues of self‐employed individuals in Korea. Methods The working conditions and OSH issues in three groups were analyzed using the Korean Working Conditions Survey of 2014. Results Among self‐employed individuals, “Physical work” was more common among males, whereas “Emotional work” was more common among females. Self‐employed individuals performing “Mental work” had more education, higher incomes, and the lowest exposure to physical/chemical and ergonomic hazards in the workplace. In contrast, those performing “Physical work” were older, had less education, lower incomes, greater exposure to physical/chemical and ergonomic hazards in the workplace, and more health problems. Individuals performing “Physical work” were most vulnerable to OSH problems. Conclusion The self‐employed are a heterogeneous group of individuals. We suggest development of specific strategies that focus on workers performing “Physical work” to improve the health and safety of self‐employed workers in Korea.