□ A seminar paved the way to the establishment of occupational safety research strategies reflecting changes in the working environment in the 21st century.

□ Work Environment Research Bureau of Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute (OSHRI) held the Summer Conference and Technical Seminar of Korean Industrial Hygiene Association on the topic of 「Changes in the 21st Century Working Environment and Occupational Health Research Strategy」 in Gyeongju on Thursday August 18, 2016.

○ At the seminar, 50 or more participants including experts from academia, labor circles, and business owners and CEOs and the workers from working environment monitoring agencies had heated discussions.

□ During the seminar, participants gave presentations on the analysis of current occupational environment and the forecast on future occupational environment while focusing on resolving problems incurring from rapid changes in the industrial structure and working environment.

○ According to the fact-revealing analysis conducted based on domestic and foreign researches conducted in the occupational hygiene field and the working environment surveys conducted in the past 10 years, the researches on occupational health mainly focused on the assessment of exposure to harmful chemical materials in the manufacturing and construction industries. The survey of working environment also indicated a shift in the type of occupation from the manufacturing industry to the service industry.

○ In the survey asking workers about harmful factors, most workers chose muscular skeletal disease and sleeping disorder.

□ In the discussion following the presentation, many participants argued that the research needs to expand its scope on the new industry since the focal point of industrial structure is shifting from manufacturing industry to new industry, thereby causing changes in work patterns and risk factors

○ and that the policy and system shall be improved to fulfill the role of public agencies and the focus shall be placed on the research of exposure risk management.

□ The seminar provided a chance to establish the research strategies for future occupational healthy (occupational hygiene) based on the outcomes derived from discussions. The details of presentations and discussions will be also reflected in the future research direction of Work Environment Research Bureau and the establishment of policies and systems in the occupational health area.

□ Inspired by this seminar, Work Environment Research Bureau of OSHRI is planning to regularly hold discussions on the research direction for occupational health to continuously monitor the direction of research.