Work-related diseases of agricultural workers in South Korea

Sangchul Roh

doi:10.5124/jkma.2012.55.11.1063

J Korean Med Assoc > Volume 55(11); 2012 > Article

Roh: Work-related diseases of agricultural workers in South Korea

Focused Issue of This Month

Work-Related Diseases and Injury of Korean Farmer

Journal of the Korean Medical Association

Journal of the Korean Medical Association 2012; 55(11): 1063-1069.

Published online: November 16, 2012

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5124/jkma.2012.55.11.1063

Work-related diseases of agricultural workers in South Korea

Sangchul Roh, MD

Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Dankook University College of Medicine, Cheonan, Korea.

Corresponding author: Sangchul Roh, scroh@dku.edu.kr

Received August 30, 2012 Accepted September 15, 2012

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Agricultural work involves many health hazards, and these can induce related health problems. However, because of low public concern and insufficient political support in the South Korean agricultural sector, agricultural health and safety is facing a serious crisis. The common work-related diseases of agricultural workers are the work-related musculoskeletal diseases like osteoarthritis of the hip and low back pain, skin diseases, pesticide poisoning, infectious and respiratory diseases, and the health effects of exposure to physical agents. For the most part, these health problems are related directly to agriculture work. Given the paucity of research into agricultural practices in Korea in general, there is little information about agricultural health and safety conditions in particular. To protect agricultural worker health and prevent the hazards related to farm work, comprehensive approaches are needed in rural areas.

Work; Occupational diseases; Agriculture; Republic of Korea

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Table 1

Occupational health hazards and outcomes of agricultural workers

COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.