A study of expectations of occupational health and safety officers in business establishments in the Eastern Special Development Zone on the competencies of occupational medicine physicians
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14456/dcj.2023.38Keywords:
competency, occupational medicine physician, occupational health and safety officers, Eastern Economic CorridorAbstract
This research was a cross-sectional study conducted at a given timepoint between September and November 2021. The objective was to study the expectations of competencies of occupational health and safety officers in business establishments on the competencies of occupational medicine physicians in the Eastern Special Development Zone (also known as the Eastern Economic Corridor or EEC). The study was conducted on the sample group comprised of 103 occupational health and safety officers of business establishments in the EEC area. The structural questionnaires developed by the researchers were used to survey the expectations of the occupational health and safety officers of business establishments. The efficiency indicators of questionnaires were based on item objective congruence of 0.90 and validity and reliability based on Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.95. Data were analyzed by descriptive and analytical statistics. The one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare the mean scores of expectations of business establishments on the competencies of occupational medicine physicians among varying sizes of business establishments. The research results were as follows: 1) More than 90 percent of business establishments in the EEC area provided occupational health and safety services that were in accordance with the existing laws. However, only 78.6% of business establishments provided medical examinations before returning to work and systematic storage and maintenance of medical records; 2) There is still a shortage of occupational medicine physicians in the EEC area; 3) The mean total score of expectations of competencies was 3.66+0.91. The top three highest mean expectation of competencies score were the ability to identify occupational hazards to health (3.87+0.63), to perform fitness for work and disability assessment (3.81+0.62), and to provide health promotion and education in the workplace (3.68+0.88); and 4) The mean expectation score of officers from three enterprise sizes (small medium and large) was statistically different in the health promotion and education, and occupational medicine-related research (p<0.05).
References
Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC). Why EEC - Government Initiative [Internet]. Bangkok; 2019 [cited 2021 May 3]. Available from: https://eeco.or.th/en/government-initiative. (in Thai)
Department of Industrial Works. Factory information for officials: An overview of Chonburi Province on 18 March 2021 [Internet]. 2021 [cited 2021 Apr 20]. Available from: http://reg.diw.go.th/executive/Prov3.asp?prov=20. (in Thai)
Department of Industrial Works (TH). Factory information for officials: An overview of Chonburi Province on 18 March 2021 [Internet]. 2021 [cited 2021 Apr 20]. Available from: http://reg.diw.go.th/executive/Prov3.asp?prov=21. (in Thai)
Department of Industrial Works (TH). Factory information for officials: An overview of Chachoengsao Province on 18 March 2021 [Internet]. 2021 [cited 2021 Apr 20]. Available from: http://reg.diw.go.th/executive/Prov3.asp?prov=24. (in Thai)
Narongrit K, Adul B, Suthee R. The cross-sectional survey of occupational medicine specialties opinion about occupational medicine physician competency in Thailand by Modified Delphi technique. Thammasat Medical Journal. 2013;13 (2):181-93. (in Thai)
Lehnert G, Wrbitzky R. Occupational health in Germany and other countries of the European Union. Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 1998; 11(1):9-18.
Somjit P. Fundamental Occupational Medicine for Physicians. BMJ. 2016;3(1):47-55. (in Thai)
Aphidej C, Oraphan C. The practice of physicians in the public sector and physicians in the private sector who have passed the fundamental occupational medicine training course for 2 months. Journal of Preventive Medicine Association of Thailand. 2020;10(3). (in Thai)
Yuttana Y, Soontorn S. Role of corporate physicians from perspective of corporate safety officers in Eastern seaboard industrial estates of Thailand. Thammasat Medical Journal. 2015;15 (2):218-24. (in Thai)
Reetoo K, Macdonald E, Harrington J. Competencies of occupational physicians, The customer’s perspective 2004. 1st ed. The University of Glasgow: United Kingdom; 2004.
Cloeren M, Gean C, Kesler D, Green-Mckenzie J, Taylor M, Upfal M, et al. American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine’s Occupational and Environmental Medicine Competencies-2014. JOEM. 2014;56(5):21-40.
Faculty of Occupational Medicine. Occupational medicine competencies. Specialist training curriculum for Occupational Medicine. London: 2016.
Australasian Faculty of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. Guidelines on ethics and professional conduct for occupational physicians. 1st ed. Sydney: Royal Australasian College of Physicians; 1998.
Promdit B, Ngamkiatphaisan S, Prapansilp M, Sithisarankul P. Occupational health administration and manager’s expectation towards occupational physician’s role among corporate enterprises in Thailand. Chula Med J. 1999;43 (10):723-37. (in Thai)
The Association of Occupational and Environmental Diseases of Thailand. Courses and criteria for resident training for a certificate of expertise in the field of preventive medicine (occupational medicine) 2018 edition [Internet]. 2021 [cited 2021 Apr 14]. Available from: https://www.aoed.org/ocmed/wfme/standard1/main. (in Thai)
Khazanie R. Statistics in a World of Applications. 4th ed. New York, USA: HarperCollins College Publishers; 1996.
Reetoo K, Harrington J, MacDonald E. Required competencies of occupational physicians: A Delphi survey of UK customers. Occup Environ Med. 2005;62:406-13.
Cortina JM. What is coefficient alpha? An examination of theory and applications. Journal of Applied Psychology. 1993;78(1):98-104.
Lalloo D, Demou E, Kiran S, Cloeren M, Mendes R, Macdonald E. International perspective on common core competencies for occupational physicians: a modified Delphi study. Occup Environ Med. 2016;73:452-8.
Macdonald E, Ritchie K, Murray K, Gilmour W. Requirements for Occupational Medicine training in Europe: a Delphi study. Occup Environ Med. 2000;57:98-105.
Demou E, Lalloo D, Macdonald E. Differences in opinions of occupational physicians on the required competencies by field of practice: results of an international Delphi study. BMC Medical Education. 2018;62.
Ministry of Labour (TH). Ministerial Regulation for the Administration and Management of Occupational Safety, Health and Environment B.E. 2549 (2006) [Internet]. 2006 [cited 2021 Mar 15]. Available from: http://www.pwo.co.th/ewt_dl_link.php?nid=456. (in Thai)
Ministry of Labour (TH). Ministerial Regulation prescribed on health check for employees who work with risk factors B.E. 2563 (2020) [Internet]. 2020 [cited 2021 Mar 15]. Available from: http://www.ratchakitcha.soc.go.th/DATA /PDF/2563/A/080/T_0030.PDF. (in Thai)
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Disease Control Journal
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Articles published in the Disease Control Journal are considered as academic work, research or analysis of the personal opinion of the authors, not the opinion of the Thailand Department of Disease Control or editorial team. The authors must be responsible for their articles.
.png){kind=logo}
