Chungsik Yoon, Jinjoo Chung, Jongran Lee, Kwonchul Ha, Joseph DiGangi, Jeong-Ok Kong
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: This study analyzed occupational diseases compensated through the government system in the Korean electronics industry and observed changes in the rationale for compensation.
Methods: Data from the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service (KWCWS) from 2012 to 2023 were analyzed to examine occupational disease issues in South Korea's semiconductor and display industries.
Results: KWCWS received 174 occupational disease claims between 2012 and 2023, with 88 (50.6%) approved. The case of a 22-year-old semiconductor worker who died from leukemia has raised awareness and appears to be leading to more claims and higher approval rates. Cancer-related claims, particularly for breast and blood cancers, were the most common. Since 2018, the approval rate for occupational diseases has increased to 60%, which may have been influenced by the Supreme Court's Principle of Presumption of Occupational Diseases and the government's reduction of the burden of proof. However, approval rates remain lower in small- and medium-sized enterprises (38.0%) compared to large corporations (55.6%), likely because of better documentation and unionization in the latter. The semiconductor industry had more claims and approvals than the LCD industry, primarily due to its longer operational history and greater chemical exposure.
Conclusions: In South Korea, the increasing approval rate of occupational diseases in the electronics industry from 2012 to 2023 appears to reflect changes in how causal relationships and occupational health policies have been implemented and this is likely due to stakeholder involvement and relevant legal decisions.
期刊介绍:
Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (AOEM) is an open access journal that considers original contributions relevant to occupational and environmental medicine and related fields, in the form of original articles, review articles, short letters and case reports. AOEM is aimed at clinicians and researchers working in the wide-ranging discipline of occupational and environmental medicine. Topic areas focus on, but are not limited to, interactions between work and health, covering occupational and environmental epidemiology, toxicology, hygiene, diagnosis and treatment of diseases, management, organization and policy. As the official journal of the Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (KSOEM), members and authors based in the Republic of Korea are entitled to a discounted article-processing charge when they publish in AOEM.