보건업 종사자의 업무상 질병

Abstract

Objectives: Occupational disease that occurs during or due to work commonly occurs in the manufacturing industry, but there are now more incidences happening in the service industry due to changes in industrial structure. Health workers are exposed to direct factors and various other causes of occupational disease at work, such as chemical and biological substances. This study aims to identify the occupational disease affecting health care workers that is recognized as industrial accidents. Methods: The research is based on data on people who were affected by industrial accidents as collected by the Korean Occupational Safety and Health Agency. Amongst the approved working patients for 2011 to 2015, the data focuses on the standard middle occupation category of healthcare workers and healthcare-related workers. Descriptive statistics were performed. Results: The number of healthcare service workers with approved occupational disease was 1,707 over five years. The number of healthcare workers excluding paramedics was 370 (21.7%), and of healthcare-related workers it was 736 (43.1%). Out of the healthcare workers and healthcare-related workers who were approved for their illnesses, 80% were women, and 88% of the healthcare-related workers were female. Most workers were in their 50’s. Conclusions: Healthcare providers are exposed to various danger factors from their profession and are affected by occupational disease. Mostly this happened to female workers. The common diseases were musculoskeletal and infectious diseases. It is necessary to focus on this issue and provide preventive measures.