The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Workplace Accidents in Korea.

(1) Background: Although the number of people infected with COVID-19 has increased over time, its effects on workplace accidents are still poorly understood. On the one hand, COVID-19 can reduce workplace accidents through contracted economic activities or changes in work methods. On the other hand, it can increase workplace accidents by spreading in the workplace. The main purpose of this paper is to examine how COVID-19 affected workplace accidents in Korea during the early part of the pandemic. (2) Methods: This paper utilizes the administrative data on workplace accidents in Korea collected by Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency. In particular, we use monthly data from February 2016 to August 2020. This period was chosen to rule out the effect from the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome outbreak in 2015 and to include COVID-19 effects in 2020, given the available data. To examine the impact of COVID-19 on workplace injury and illness, we estimate fixed effects regression models, allowing us to control for group and time effects. (3) Results: COVID-19 was generally found to reduce workplace accidents in Korea, particularly through a reduction in occupational diseases. However, we also found that COVID-19 increased occupational injuries for males and workers in the transportation industry. We provide some evidence that these workers experienced an increase in workload and were unable to change work methods including working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. (4) Conclusions: Our results indicate that to reduce workplace accidents, government interventions should be directed at workers who are unable to change work methods and who are likely to suffer an increase in work burden due to COVID-19.

Reinforcement Effects of Social Network Intervention during Nutritional Supplementation in Frail Older Adults.

INTRODUCTION: Chronic undernutrition and a homebound state are corelated and are both important components of frailty. However, whether social network intervention combined with protein supplementation is an effective strategy to prevent functional decline among frail older adults is unclear. METHODS: 150 frail older adults participated in a 3-month, 3-armed, community-based clinical trial and were randomly assigned to one of 3 groups: high-protein supplementation (additional 27 g of protein/day), the Social Nutrition Program (additional 27 g of protein/day and social network intervention), or a control group. Those assigned to the Social Nutrition Program group received individual counseling from 1 dietitian and 1 social worker during 6 home visits and were encouraged to participate in 4 sessions of community-based cooking activities, the social kitchen program. Primary outcomes were changes in Physical Functioning (PF) and the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test and were assessed at 0 months (baseline), 1.5 months (interim), and 3, 6, and 9 months (postintervention). RESULTS: Compared with the control group, participants in the Social Nutrition Program showed an average improvement of 2.2-3.0 s in the TUG test and this improvement persisted for 3 months after the end of the program (post hoc p ≤ 0.030). The Social Nutrition Program also increased PF by 1.3 points while the control group showed a 1.4 point reduction at the end of the program (post hoc p = 0.045). Improvement in PF and TUG results was primarily observed for the socially frail subgroup of older adults in the Social Nutrition Program group rather than the physically frail subgroup. Frequency of leaving home functioned as a mediator (p = 0.042) and explained 31.2% of the total effect of the Social Nutrition Program on PF change. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that social network intervention combined with protein supplementation can improve both the magnitude and duration of functional status among frail older community-dwelling adults.