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. 2025 Jun;16(2):249-254.
doi: 10.1016/j.shaw.2025.02.003. Epub 2025 Mar 1.

Status of Psychosocial Safety Climate in the Korean Workforce: A Nationwide Survey

Hyo Jeong Kim  1 , Seong-Sik Cho  2 , May Young Loh  3 , Min Young Park  1 , Dong-Wook Lee  4 , Jaesung Choi  5 , Mo-Yeol Kang  1
Affiliations

Status of Psychosocial Safety Climate in the Korean Workforce: A Nationwide Survey

Hyo Jeong Kim et al. Saf Health Work. 2025 Jun.

Abstract

This study investigated status of psychosocial safety climate (PSC) among Korean workers. Data were collected from 5,064 wage earners as part of the 4th wave of the Korean Work, Sleep, and Health Study. PSC was measured using the validated 4-item PSC questionnaire. The results revealed an average PSC score of 8.70, with 50.71% of participants classified as high-risk. Significant variations were observed across age, gender, and employment type. These findings suggest that PSC in the Republic of Korea is generally lower than in other countries, highlighting the need for targeted interventions. Disparities in PSC perception across different demographic and occupational groups suggest that targeted strategies are necessary to enhance psychological safety in the workplace. Future research should focus on addressing these perception gaps to create more effective interventions for improving PSC and employee mental health in the Republic of Korea.

Keywords: Mental health; Psychosocial; Psychosocial safety climate; Safety; Workplace.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Forest plot of mean PSC-4 score according to demographic variables and work characteristics. CI, confidence interval; PSC, psychosocial safety climate.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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