The purposes of this study were to examine safety accidents related to school food service, the working environments and operating environments for school food service, the state of safety education, awareness of it, and educational needs and to provide information on the qualitative improvement of school food service. The subjects in this study were 234 workers who were in charge of cooking in elementary and secondary schools in Chungbuk. A survey was conducted from July 30 to August 8, 2012, and the questionnaires from 202 respondents were gathered. 194 questionnaires were analyzed for results due to eight incomplete ones. The collected data were analyzed by using the statistical package SPSS 19.0. The results of this study were as follows:
First, as for the type of employment, 72.7 percent were in technical post, and 21.1 percent were indefinite-term employees. 6.2 percent were contract workers. Thus, the largest group was in technical post. By academic credential, the biggest group(51.8%) was high-school graduates. As to age and career, the respondents were at the average age of 49.68, and they had a 13.73 years of career on average as school employees for food service. They worked for 4.51 years on average in the current workplaces.
Concerning the general characteristics of the schools in which they worked, 75.8 percent worked in elementary schools. 61.3 percent served in rural schools, and 34.5 percent worked in urban schools. 4.1 percent worked in schools located in remote areas or on islands.
In regard to the type of food distribution, 99.0 distributed food at school cafeteria. Concerning the type of operation, the largest group (77.8%) was in exclusive charge of food service.
As to food service frequency, 91.2 percent provided meals once a day, and the average number of meals that were provided at a time was 497.05. The average number of food service personnels was 5.07, in which the nutrition teachers and dietitians were excluded.
Second, concerning the state of safety accidents, 44.3 percent replied that safety accidents took place in the current workplaces, and 55.7 percent didn''t.
The most dominant frequency of safety accident was once(60.5%), and the most safety accidents took place in between June and August (31.4%). The time at which the most safety accidents happened was between 8 and 11.
The work process in which the most safety accidents took place was cooking(52.3%), followed by cleaning(37.2%). The equipment that caused the most safety accidents was pots for soup and frying(52.4%). The most common type of safety accidents was skin burn and getting slightly burned(64.7%), followed by pain in the wrist and arms(41.2%). As for how to deal with safety accidents, the largest group of the employees(57.6%) beared the expenses on their own, and the second biggest group(35.3%) benefitted from accident compensation insurance.
The most dominant period they received treatment according to accident compensation insurance was between four and 14 days(45.3%). When their awareness of safety accidents was analyzed, the heavy workload of employees in charge of cooking was most widely pointed out as the major cause of safety accidents(41.2%), and securing a sufficient number of food service personnels was considered to be most important for safety guarantee of school meals.
A shortage of employees in charge of cooking was regarded as the biggest problem that triggered safety accidents in the workplaces(45.9%), and the largest group gave top priority to the improvement of ventilation facilities(28.4%) among physical working environments, followed by the modernization of facilities(22.7%). Concerning the prevention of safety accidents, the greatest group placed the most importance on systematic and regular safety education(46.4%). They gave a mean of 2.88 points(out of 5 points), which was a low score, to the safety of physical working environments in the workplaces such as facilities and equipment, and they gave a mean of 3.11points, which was above average, to the efficiency of the operating system of school food service.
3. Regarding the evaluation of working environments for school food service, they gave three points, which was on average, to every item of working environments. Respondents gave the highest points to the use of protection devices of nonslip or safety high boots. 84.4 percent used nonslip or safety high boots, but they gave very low marks to the use of the other protection devices.
As to the evaluation of the operating environments of school food service, they gave a mean of 3.18points to the preventive and follow-up measures of safety accidents; a mean of 3.76points to the supply and utilization of information; and a mean of 3.30 to work efficiency, which were all above average. But they gave a very low mark of 1.77points to budgeting.
4. Concerning the state of safety education for the school employees for food service, 94.8 percent ever received safety education, and 5.2 percent didn''t.
The yearly education frequency was 3.45, and the average length of education was 5.10 hours. The most dominant educational method was lectures(74.5%). As to post-education evaluation, the biggest group (59.2%) replied no evaluation was conducted.
As a result of analyzing the awareness of the school employees of food service about safety education, they gave a mean of 3.72 points to understanding of safety and health education; a mean of 3.88 points to the appropriateness of the content of industrial safety and health education; 3.99points to the application of what they learned from industry safety and health education; and 4.42points to the necessity of industrial safety and health education. Respondents considered it quite necessary to receive industrial safety and health education. In regard to needs for safety education, they gave four points or more to every item, which indicated that there were strong needs for safety education.