Risk Factors of Occupational Injuries or Illnesses Among Korean-Chinese Migrant Workers Living in Korea

Wednesday, 24 July 2013

Hyeonkyeong Lee, PhD, RN
Dept. of Nursing Environment and Systems, Yonsei University College of Nursing, Seoul, South Korea
Duckhee Chae, MSN, RN
Dept. of Nursing Environments and Systems, Yonsei University College of Nursing, Seoul, South Korea

Learning Objective 1: The learner will be able to describe multiple risk factors on occupational injuries and illnesses among Korean-Chinese migrant workers.

Learning Objective 2: The learner will be able to discuss effective occupational health and safety program to prevent occupational injuries and illnesses among migrant workers.

Purpose: Increasing number of migrant workers has filled high risk and low status works since late 1990s in Korea. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of four factors such as personal characteristics, work organization and psychosocial demands, exposure to physical and chemical hazards, and acculturation on occurring occupational injuries or illnesses.

Methods: Data for this study was drawn from the Migrant Workers’ Health and Safety Survey, the first national survey to understand migrant workers health and safety status, conducted by Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency (KOSHA) from April 12 to May 31, 2010. The survey was conducted by face-to-face interviews between participants and trained survey staff. In the present study, we selected 486 Korean Chinese migrant workers. Odds ratios were calculated to estimate the association between occupational injury and illness and four factors using logistic regression.

Results: Among the Korean Chinese migrant workers, 17.1% reported occupational injuries or illnesses during the previous 12 month period. Individual heath status (OR 8.3 95% CI 2.0-7.3), safety training (OR 0.39, 95% CI 0.2-0.9), job satisfaction (OR 1.90, 95% CI 1.1-3.4), level of physical and chemical hazards exposure (OR 1.05, 95% CI 1.0-1.1), and length of stay (OR 1.01, 95% CI 1.0-1.0) were identified risk factors on occurring occupational injuries or illnesses.

Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that personal, work organization and psychosocial demands, exposure to physical and chemical hazards are important as well as acculturation in increased risk of occupational injuries or illnesses among Korean-Chinese migrant workers.