Some types of workers such as farmers and soldiers are at a higher risk of work-related injury and illness than workers from other occupations. Despite this fact, they are not covered under the Industrial Safety Health (ISH) Act or the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance (IACI) Act. The Safety Aid System for Farmers (SASF) is a voluntary insurance scheme, and it is the only public compensation plan for self-employed farmers. Fifty percent of SASF premiums are subsidized by the Korean government. Soldiers are compensated by the Veterans' Pension (VP) Act. The approval standard of and procedure for the VP Act are provided in the Decree of VP Act, and the Council for VP Benefits determines work-relatedness in the claimed cases. Meanwhile, SASF applies the insurance clause automatically without any expert advice or additional procedures. Furthermore, compared with IACI, these programs pay fewer benefits to workers. Thus, a stronger institutional strategy is needed to maintain a safe work environment, to protect workers' health in unavoidably hazardous environments, and to compensate for work-related injuries and diseases.
Accidents, Occupational/economics ; *Agriculture ; Female ; Humans ; Insurance, Accident/economics ; Insurance, Health/economics ; Male ; *Military Personnel ; Occupational Diseases/*economics/mortality ; Occupational Health/economics ; Occupational Injuries/classification/*economics/mortality ; Republic of Korea ; Risk ; Workers' Compensation/*economics/standards

The Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act (IACIA) regulates the workers' compensation insurance system and the standards for the recognition of occupational diseases (ODs). Since its establishment in 1994, the IACIA has been amended several times. Before 2008, the approval of compensation for work-related musculoskeletal diseases (WMSDs) was decided based on the recommendation of consultants of the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service (COMWEL). The IACIA was amended in 2008, and since then, the approval of compensation for occupational injuries has been decided based on the recommendation of COMWEL consultants, whereas the approval of compensation for ODs was decided based on the judgment of Committee on Occupational Diseases Judgment (CODJ) which was established in 2008. According to the 2013 amendment to the IACIA, degenerative musculoskeletal diseases among workers engaged in musculoskeletal-burdening work should be considered compensable ODs. Despite some commendable changes to the workers' compensation insurance system, other significant issues persist. To resolve these issues, related organizations including the associations of orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery, and occupational and environmental medicine; Ministry of Employment and Labor; and COMWEL need to work cooperatively.
Accidents, Occupational/*economics ; Humans ; Insurance, Accident/economics ; Insurance, Health/economics/standards ; Musculoskeletal Diseases/*economics ; Occupational Diseases/*economics ; Occupational Injuries/*economics ; Republic of Korea ; Workers' Compensation/*economics/standards

The purpose of this study was to discuss the history of, and concerns regarding, the newly amended criteria of occupational cerebrovascular or cardiovascular diseases (CCVDs). Since the early 1990s, CCVDs have been the second most common occupational disease, despite fluctuations in their criteria. The first issue was the deletion of cerebral hemorrhage on duty as a recognized occupational disease in 2008. The second issue was the obscurity regarding definitions of an acute stressful event (within 24 hr before disease occurrence), short-term overwork (within 1 week), and chronic overwork (for 3 or more months). In this amendment, chronic overwork was defined as work exceeding 60 hr per week. If the average number of weekly working hours does not exceed 60 hr, night work, physical or psychological workload, or other risk factors should be considered for the recognition of occupational CCVDs. However, these newly amended criteria still have a few limitations, considering that there is research evidence for the occurrence of disease in those working fewer than 60 hr per week, and other risk factors, particularly night work, are underestimated in these criteria. Thus, we suggest that these concerns be actively considered during future amendment and approval processes.
Cardiovascular Diseases/*economics ; Cerebrovascular Disorders/*economics ; Humans ; Insurance, Health/economics ; Occupational Diseases/*economics ; Organization and Administration ; Republic of Korea ; Work Capacity Evaluation ; Workers' Compensation/*economics ; *Workload

In the Workers' Compensation Insurance (WCI) system in Korea, occupational diseases (ODs) are approved through deliberation meetings of the Committee on Occupational Disease Judgment (CODJ) after disease investigations when workers or medical institutions requested the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service (COMWEL) for medical care benefits. Insufficient data presented by employers or workers or lack of objective evidence may increase the possibility of disapproval. The expertise of accident investigation staff members should be reinforced and employers' and related institutions' obligations to cooperate and submit data should be specified under the law. The deliberation meetings of the CODJ are held separately for musculoskeletal, cerebro-cardiovascular, and medical diseases, and the judgments of ODs are made by the chairperson of COMWEL and six committee members by majority vote by issue. To reinforce the expertise of the members of the CODJ, periodic education and a system to accredit the committee members after appropriate education should be introduced. To fairly and quickly compensate for diseases that occur in workers, the criteria for the recognition of occupational diseases should be continuously amended and the systems for disease investigations and judgments should be continuously improved.
Accidents, Occupational/*economics ; Humans ; Insurance, Accident/economics ; Insurance, Health/economics ; Occupational Diseases/*economics ; Organization and Administration ; Republic of Korea ; Workers' Compensation/*economics

The legal scope and criteria for occupational cancer in Korea was out of date. The aim of this study was to review the current criteria for occupational cancer and amend the existent criteria on the basis of recent scientific evidence. The scientific evidence and the legal list of occupational cancer were analyzed to identify the causes of occupational cancer on a global scale. The relationship between compensated occupational cancer cases and carcinogen exposure in Korea was examined. The factors associated with specific causes and target cancers were determined to produce additional criteria. Five-hundred and nineteen cases of 2,468 were awarded compensation for occupational cancer including lung, malignant mesothelioma, lymphohematopoietic, and liver cancers from January 2000 to October 2012. Between 1996 and 2005, benzene accounted for 84.4% of cases, and between 1999 and 2005, asbestos was associated with 62.3% of cases. Fourteen novel causative agents and 12 additional target cancers were identified and the final guidelines were amended to include 23 causative agents and 21 target cancers. This amendment of the criteria for occupational cancer represents the widest change in Korean history and is expected to improve the understanding of occupational cancer by providing an up-to-date and accurate reference guide.
Asbestos/toxicity ; Benzene/toxicity ; Carcinogens/toxicity ; Female ; Humans ; Insurance, Health/*economics ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasms/chemically induced/*economics ; Occupational Diseases/*economics/mortality ; Occupational Exposure/*adverse effects ; Republic of Korea ; Workers' Compensation/*economics/legislation & jurisprudence/standards

The range of diseases covered by workers' compensation is constantly expanding. However, new regulations are required for the recognition of occupational diseases (ODs) because OD types evolve with changes in industrial structures and working conditions. OD criteria are usually based on medical relevance, but they vary depending on the social security system and laws of each country. In addition, the proposed range and extent of work-relatedness vary depending on the socio-economic conditions of each country. The Labor Standards Act (LSA) and the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act (IACIA) of Korea employ lists based on their requirements without listing causes and diseases separately. Despite a considerable reshuffle in 2003, the basic framework has been maintained for 50 yr, and many cases do not fit into the international disease classification system. Since July 1, 2013, Korea has expanded the range of occupational accidents to include occupational cancers and has implemented revised LSA and IACIA enforcement decrees. There have been improvements to OD recognition standards with the inclusion of additional or modified criteria, a revised and improved classification scheme for risk factors and ODs, and so on.
Accidents, Occupational/*classification/*economics ; Humans ; Insurance, Accident/economics ; Insurance, Health/economics ; Neoplasms/chemically induced ; Occupational Diseases/*classification/*economics/mortality ; Occupational Exposure/adverse effects ; Occupational Health ; Republic of Korea ; Risk Factors ; Workers' Compensation/*economics/legislation & jurisprudence/standards

OBJECTIVETo investigate workers' willingness to participate and wiliness to pay for a hypothetical industrial injury insurance scheme, to analyze the influential factors, and to provide information for policy making of the government.

METHODSMultistage cluster sampling was used to select subjects: In the first stage, 9 small, medium, orlarge enterprises were selected fromthree cities (counties) in Zhejiang province, China, according to the level of economic development, transportation convenience, and cooperation of government agencies; in the second stage, several workshops were randomly selected from each of the 9 enterprises. Face-to-face interviews among all workers in the workshops were conducted by trained interviewers using a pre-designed questionnaire.

RESULTSIt was found that 73.87% (2095) of all workers were willing to participate in the hypothetical work injury insurance scheme and to pay 2.21% of monthly wage (51.77 yuan) on average, and more than half of the workers were willing to pay less than 1%of monthly wage (35 yuan). Of the 741 workers who were not willing to participate, 327 thought that the premium should be borne by the state or enterprises, instead of individuals, and others were not willing to participate because of low income, unstable job, or poor understanding of the hypothetical industrial injury insurance scheme. Logistic regression analysis showed that workers with higher education levels, longer length of services, longer weekly working time, or more knowledge of occupational diseases showed higher willingness to participate in the scheme; workers who were exposed to physical hazards, had health records, or had participated in the existing medical insurance or industrial injury insurance were more willing to participate. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that with increasing average monthly wage, weekly working time, and self?health evaluation, the proportion of workers with willingness to pay increased; however, with increasing work intensity and awareness of occupational disease, the proportion of workers with willingness to pay decreased. The workers who were not covered by the industrial injury insurance paid more than those covered by the industrial injury insurance.

CONCLUSIONThe hypothetical industrial injury insurance scheme increased the applicability and advantage of independent third-party running and lifetime insurance, which significantly increased the workers' willingness to participate in or to pay for the insurance scheme. Therefore, the industrial injury insurance can be improved in these aspects to promote workers' willingness to participate in and to pay for the insurance scheme. This conclusion provided a reference for the solution of delayed or shirking corporate responsibility for paying the premium.

Accidents, Occupational ; economics ; Attitude to Health ; China ; Cluster Analysis ; Financing, Personal ; Health Policy ; Humans ; Insurance ; Insurance, Health ; economics ; utilization ; Models, Theoretical ; Occupational Diseases ; economics ; Surveys and Questionnaires

OBJECTIVETo study the economic burden caused by occupational chronic n-hexane poisoning.

METHODSInformation about the cost of treatment, compensation, board, wage, diagnosis, escorts, transportation and the days off work were collected in a 34 cases of occupational chronic n-hexane poisoning accident to estimate the economic burden.

RESULTSThere were 4 mild, 19 moderate, 11 severe in the 34 cases and the total cost was 6 084 809 yuan. The hospitalization days was respectively (204.0 ± 3.7) d, (226.6 ± 78.3) d and (417.6 ± 94.1) d, averaging (285.8 ± 96.3) d. The treatment cost was respectively 62 525.8, 69 409.7 and 128 155.6 yuan. The compensation was respectively 20 000.0, 20 052.6 and 30 290.9 yuan. The wage was respectively 23 460.0, 26 062.6 and 47 644.0 yuan. The board was respectively 17 566.5, 19 499.8 and 36 230.1 yuan. The days of work was respectively (176.8 ± 3.2) d, (196.4 ± 67.9) d and (361.4 ± 81.6) d, averaging (247.7 ± 83.5). The lost productivity was respectively 1 809 724.8, 2 010 350.4 and 3 699 290.4 yuan.

CONCLUSIONThe economic burden of occupational chronic n-hexane poisoning was so heavy that prevention measures should be strengthened.

Adolescent ; Chronic Disease ; economics ; Cost of Illness ; Female ; Health Care Costs ; Hexanes ; poisoning ; Humans ; Male ; Occupational Exposure ; economics ; Young Adult

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to use cost-benefit analysis of activity to clarify the economic effect of prepared nurses versus atmospheric environment managing engineers as healthcare managers. METHODS: For the study 111 workplaces were surveyed, workplaces in which nurses or atmospheric environment managing engineers were employed as healthcare managers. The survey content included annual gross salaries, participation in external job training, costs in joining association covered by the company, location and year of construction of the healthcare office, various kinds of healthcare expenditures, costs in operating healthcare office, health education, and activity performance in the work of environment management. RESULTS: In the case of the healthcare manager being a nurse, benefit was larger than input costs at a ratio of 2.31. On the other hand, in the case of healthcare manager being an atmospheric environment managing engineer, input costs were larger than benefits (benefit-cost ratio 0.88). CONCLUSION: Results indicate that nurses are an effective healthcare human resource and can offer good quality healthcare service. Therefore companies should hire nurses and actively promote the economic efficiency of nurses in workplace.
Adult ; *Cost-Benefit Analysis ; Female ; Health Personnel/*economics ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Nurses/*economics ; Occupational Health Nursing/*economics/statistics & numerical data ; Retrospective Studies

OBJECTIVETo take intervention measures for health promotion after investigation of occupational health needs among employees, to analyze the economic input and output of the intervention measures, and to analyze the feasibility of health promotion through cost-effectiveness analysis and cost-benefit analysis.

METHODSA survey was conducted in an enterprise using a self-designed questionnaire to investigate the general information on enterprise, occupational history of each employee, awareness of occupational health knowledge, awareness of general health knowledge, awareness of hypertension, acquired immune deficiency syndrome, etc., lifestyle, and needs for health knowledge. Intervention measures were taken in the enterprise according to the investigation results, and then investigation and economic analysis of investment in health promotion, economic benefit, and absence of employees were performed using the questionnaire.

RESULTSAfter intervention, the awareness rate of the Code of Occupational Disease Prevention increased from 4.5% to 15.3%, the awareness rate of the definition of occupational diseases increased from 4.5% to 73.5%, and the awareness rate of the prevention and control measures for occupational diseases increased from 38.4% to 85.8%. Before intervention, 25.4%of all employees thought salt intake needed to be reduced, and this proportion increased to 92.5% after intervention. After the control strategy for health promotion, the benefit of health promotion that results from avoiding absence of employees and preventing occupational diseases was more than ten times the investment in health promotion, suggesting a significant benefit of health promotion conducted in the enterprise.

CONCLUSIONThe return on health promotion's investment for enterprise is worth. Health promotion really not just contribute to improve hygienic knowledge but increase the economic benefit.

Cost-Benefit Analysis ; Health Promotion ; economics ; Occupational Health Services ; economics ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Workplace