A Study on the Relationship between Work-Related Health Problems and the Working Conditions of Electronics Industry Workers in South Korea

Abstract

Background: The electronics industry has characteristics, such as the continuous occurrence of new hazards and risk factors due to rapid technological changes, the occurrence of safety and health blind spots due to the outsourcing of work, trade secrets, and a lack of information, so research is needed from a safety and health perspective. This study sought to determine the relationship between work-related health problems and the working conditions of electronics industry workers. Methods: The study subjects were 3354 workers in the electronics industry from the raw data of the 4th to 6th Korean Working Condition Survey (KWCS). The variables were divided into general, occupational, and working environment characteristics, and a logistic regression analysis was conducted to determine the relationship between work-related health problems and working conditions. Results: Among the general and occupational characteristics, gender, education, night work, and working time appropriateness were analyzed as effect factors. In terms of working environment characteristics, physical work risk, musculoskeletal work risk, possibility of risk to work, subjective health impact, and working environment satisfaction were found to have effects on work-related health problems. Conclusions: The results of this study are meaningful in that they identified the effect factors of work-related health problems in the working conditions of workers in the electronics industry, where prior studies are lacking. Therefore, improvements, such as the management of night workers, appropriate working time, reduction in exposure to work risk factors, and improvement in working environment satisfaction, appear to be necessary.