Better Ways for Safety, Health Care for Aged Workers
- The Int'l Seminar on Management and Health Care for Workers held in Seoul Nov. 18

The Ministry of Labor and the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency collaborated together to host the "International Seminar on Corporate Management and Health Care for Workers," Nov.18 at COEX in southern Seoul.
The seminar was intended to search for better ways to improve the quality of life and health care for workers with the aged society and diversification of employment emerging as hot issues.
In particular, in the aged industrial society, such diseases as musculo-skeletal disorder, cardio-vascular disease and job-stress have become a serious problem for workers and the international seminar took steps to find out ways to improve measures to prevent these diseases by comparing the similar situation in advanced countries with those in the country.
About 500 people representing labor-management, safety and health organizations, those in charger of corporate health and professors took part in the international event.
Kazutaka Kogi, research advisor of the Institute of Science of Labor spoke on health management of labor in the aging society.
He said aged workers have been put on priority lists in the strategies for industrial health drawn up by the Japanese Labor and Welfare Ministry for the reasons that aged workers' health has become an important issue in the nation's competitiveness.
Naomi G Swanson, acting chief, Organization and Stress Section, National Institute for Occupation Safety and Health(NIOSH), said aged workers have been exposed to a considerable physical damage, but more important is mental stresses related to jobs.
To prevent it, the companies should provide support so that the workers would be able to hold medical consultations on stress, management of time and drug abuse.
Norman G. West, operations director, Health and Safety Laboratory, spoke on the prevention and management of musculoskeletal disorders in the United Kingdom, said the musculoskeletal disease topped the list of occupational diseases in the UK. He added that it is critically important for corporate competitiveness to invest in measures to improve the safety of aged workers; Corporate leaders should know that such an investment is not a waste of money, but it goes a long way toward enhancing corporate competitiveness.
Kim Yong-dal, president of the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency, said Korea's industrial structure has been moving fast toward aging and knowledge-based industry with is hiring practice diversified, throwing a new challenge to corporate management and labor policies. Under such circumstances, it is very important to secure healthy workers , who will lead the world for continued development of society and business firms and the need has been spreading all sectors of society including individuals and systems.Workers' health care should not end simply with treatment and prevention of diseases as it is a key to the potential of corporate growth.
In the '80s, Japan began campaigns to promote the health of middle and aged workers, but from 1988, they turned its campaigns around to cover all workers.
Kim said under such a world trend, time has come that we have to have more positive approach to promoting workers' health from the view point of corporate competitiveness.
Korea entered the aging society in 2000 with the percentage of its population older than 65 recording 7.2 percent and by 2019, the percentage is expected to rise to 14.4 percent, becoming the aged society. Korea's speed of aging surpassed those of advanced countries such as the United States, Japan and France, among others,making safety, health and welfare of aged workers to become a large issue. The number of aged workers older than 50 years with jobs totaled 4,694,000 or 23.1 percent in 1999, but the number increased to 5,316,000, up 620,000 in 2003.
The number of workers more than 50 years old with on-the-job injuries stood at 12,970 but it rose to 28,527 in 2004 jumping by 120 percent in four years. The situation shows that there is a need for measures to take care of safety and health problems for the aged as the rate of injuries for workers less than 30 years old has been going down.
Musculo-skeletal disorder, cardio-vascular disease and job-stress, which have been known to occur a lot in the aged and knowledge-based industrial society, have been rising lately in accordance with rises in simple-repeated work, handling heavy stuffs and job-stresses.
Adviser Kogi said the situation is not unique to Korea; It is a world trend requiring a special concern for those occupational diseases. He called for a number of special measures such as early physical checkups, regular health check ups, aptitude tests and education. He also said it is important to provide them with a sound business and job environment and other services.
President Kim said the Korean society needs to be changed to an affluent society with diversified employment and the arrival of the knowledge-based industry. Under the circumstance, health problems for workers are be turned over to society and systems, he said.
A Chung, 56, who retired from a company he worked for his entire career, has been an in-patient at a hospital for over five months now. After retiring from his company, he got a job working for a construction company jobsite to earn his pocket money. But he hurt his waist badly.
He has been healthy and followed every safety instruction spelled out by his bosses, but he got hurt because the safety and health standards at the jobsite were for young workers in their 30s, he insisted.
Jobsite injuries have rising for five years in a row since 1998. According to the Ministry of Labor, job-injury rate among 1,000 construction firms in the country recorded 0.86 percent last year, compared to 0.6 percent in 1999, 0.61 percent in 2000, and 0.69 percent in 2001 and 0.72 percent in 2002. A ministry official explained that the rise has been caused by increases in the number of aged and unskilled workers who came to take up any job at construction jobsites after retiring while construction companies have not done any thing to make their jobs safe.
The official said as of March 31, 96 percent of workforce at construction worksites or 78,000 were 40 or older with those older than 60 years accounting for 25,000, rising 30 percent from the end of last year. They boosted the average of construction workers to 42.1 years old, the highest in history. The average age of construction workers at worksites except those in administrative jobs recorded 48 years old.
The number of workers more than 50 years old has been increasing rapidly lately. In 1999, the number totaled 4,694,000 or 23.1 percent of the total, but it increased by 620,000 to 5,316,000 in 2003 or 24 percent. The situation gave the call for special measures for aged workers such as safety, health and welfare. The situation is well reflected in the number of injuries at worksites with the number of those more than 50 years old rising to 28,527, up 120 percent or 15,557 in four years in 2003.
But reports say the actual number is well over those official statistics because the line dividing natural injuries and accidental injuries are not clear cut. Its been generally said the definition of jobsite injury in Korea is too rigid.
Many experts note that the criteria should be changed according to changes in industrial and manpower structures.
Naomi Swanson said job stress definition is the harmful physical and emotional responses that occur when the requirements of the job do not match the capabilities, resources and needs of the worker.
Job stresses can come in organization level including communication between managers and workers. They also develop in job level such as the lack of control and heavy workload. They also can come from the individual and non-work moderators such as individual coping skills and support from friends and co-workers. nw