• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• /
• v.30 no.4
• /
• pp.405-411
• /
• 2020

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to investigate whether airborne fibers were released to the outside air from the asbestos removal area in buildings, and to confirm the existence of asbestos fibers in samples using transmission electron microscopy(TEM). Methods: A total of 1,295 samples was collected from inside and outside 155 asbestos removal areas. To investigate the release of asbestos fibers from the removal area, samples were collected at three locations, such as an entrance to change room, an exit of negative pressure unit(NPU) and perimeter areas. Samples were also collected in the removal area prior to and after removal activity. All samples were analyzed by phase contrast microscopy(PCM) and one-tenth of the samples was analyzed using TEM to discriminate asbestos fibers. Results: During the asbestos removal activity, 27(4.1%) of 662 samples collected outside the removal area showed airborne fiber concentrations equal to or in excess of 0.01 f/cc, the permissible emission standard of the Korean Ministry of Environment. Further, 111 samples were analyzed using TEM. The distribution of asbestos fiber concentrations was log-normal. It was found that 51 of 111 samples(46%) contained asbestos fibers. Conclusions: There is a potential risk of asbestos exposure among neighbors and the public outside the asbestos removal areas. It is recommended that the asbestos removal work be conducted strictly following the specifications required by government and/or professional organizations.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• /
• v.23 no.3
• /
• pp.212-221
• /
• 2013

Objectives: Asbestos fibers are accumulated in negative pressure unit (NPU) or vacuum cleaner in asbestos removal. Failure of operation or poor use performance of the NPU or vacuum cleaner causes asbestos fibers to spread in the air. Asbestos contractors should have an NPU fitted with a HEPA , vacuum cleaner, decontamination area, respirators, wetting equipment, and differential pressure manometer to register with the Ministry of Employment and Labor. There should be performance criteria of equipment used in asbestos removal. But there are none such criteria used in asbestos removal. This study was performed to investigate international or national performance criteria of equipment used in asbestos removal. Methods: Regulations, approved code of practice, guidance and national standards of the UK, USA and Korea were reviewed. A survey was done to investigate the requirements for equipment used in asbestos removal in Korea. Results: Air flow of NPUs used in Korea usually covers from$500m^3/h$ to over $3000m^3/h$. Some requirements for NPUs used in Korea were missing compared to the requirements of British standards for NPUs. All NPUs have different missing requirements. The UK also has separate British standard for leak tests for NPUs. Highly hazardous class vacuum cleaners should be used in asbestos removal in the UK. It has national standards on the operation of vacuum cleaners used in asbestos removal. There is only a certification system for less than 2.5kw rated voltage vacuum cleaners for home use in Korea. Powered (-assisted) respirators with mask are recommended in asbestos removal. Type 5 coveralls should be used in asbestos removal in the UK. There are international standards for requirements and leak tests of type 5 coveralls. A manometer for measuring differential pressure is needed in asbestos removal. The manometer's measuring range should cover less than ${\pm}125$ Pa and the gradation of manometer should be less than 2.5 Pa. The definition of decontamination area should be corrected. Installation of airlock and minimum area should be considered in decontamination area. Conclusions: Equipment should be used in asbestos removal proper performance and no leaks. There should be a certification system for equipment used in asbestos removal. This study can help to a certification system for equipment used in asbestos removal in Korea.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
• /
• v.29 no.6
• /
• pp.137-143
• /
• 2014

Asbestos is given to a variety of six naturally occurring silicate minerals. These minerals possess high tensile strength, flexibility, resistance to chemical and thermal degradation, and electrical resistance. These minerals have been used for decades in thousands of commercial products, such as insulation and fireproofing materials, automotive brakes, textile products, cement and wallboard materials. When handled, asbestos can separate into microscopic-size particles that remain in the air and are easily inhaled. It is now known that prolonged inhalation of asbestos fibers can cause serious and fatal illnesses including malignant lung cancer, mesothelioma, and asbestosis. Therefore the use of asbestos and asbestos products has dramatically decreased in recent years. Also all constructions including asbestos should be removed under strictly controlled conditions and very tightly implemented health & safety management systems. In this study, the process of the removal work of the asbestos cement slate was analyzed by IDEF-0 modeling and evaluated by 4M risk assessment method. The results show that removal work of the asbestos cement slate was classified five process and eighteen detail process. The risk of safety side the higher than the risk of health side in 4M risk assessment.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
• /
• v.13 no.3
• /
• pp.55-61
• /
• 2011

Unit cost for asbestos removal work which have been made out at government contract award for recent three years has been reviewed and shown with table. And the cost have been compared with ones made out by two agencies, American asbestos removal specialists, government ministry for making out comparison tables. First, legal and practical work status survey have been made to determine reasonability of introducing separate contract-awarding system, as a part of ensuring reasonable unit work cost. And then, two different status have been compared and there in introduction possibility of separate contract-awarding system, it is found out. In interior removal work case, it is thought that 50% by owner, 60% unit work cost by the expert of which removal specialist think as reasonable unit cost. the results for exterior and spray work method are shown with almost same context. Impact factors for determining unit work cost such as project mount, project kind, contract-awarding method, subcontract method have been compared with parties. Removal specialist and expert group have almost same ideas for project amount which has been hightestly weighed but owner's recognition has partially lower than specialists idea. There are almost no difference of recognition between three(3) parties for project kind. Idea comparison of reasonable unit work cost for asbestos removal work between three concerned parties has been analyzed and found out that expert group do unit work cost, 65% of which removal specialists estimate, in interior tex removal. And there is almost no difference between them in exterior roof slate removal. But there is considerable difference between them that owner estimates 50% unit cost of specialist one while expert group estimate 50% of specialist idea of unit removal cost.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
• /
• v.2 no.5
• /
• pp.411-415
• /
• 2000

To be able to work safely and efficiency, the Threshold Limit Values (TLV) for work in the heat are widely used. Since these TLV are only applicable to workers in regular clothing, TLV should be adjusted when applied to the asbestos removal workers who wear extra impermeable protective clothing. Although abbreviated guidelines for heat stress exposure have been proposed, literature advocating their use in the asbestos removal industry is limited. Therefore, we planed a survey to evaluate the workload of asbestos abatement workers in summer, and an experiment with climatic chambers to evaluate the effects of resting in a cool environment between work periods. From these studies, we got following conclusions. There is a high risk of suffering from heat illness by asbestos abatement work in summer in Japan. It is proposed to create a cool room inside the workplace of asbestos abatement work to reduce thermal stress.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.259-266
• /
• 2011

Project owner, asbestos removal specialist, experts on asbestos removal work, as counter parts to be defined in the study to make out research goals have been asked with questionnaire survey and replied with 65, 275, 32 cases, respectively. And additionally, direct interview 73 sheets have been collected to find out current status of required engineers and equipments assigned and provided to the field, from them, three(3) concerned parties. Questionnaire subjects are composed of common items, reasonable unit cost, need of separate contract-awarding system, status of performing standard contract, status of providing legal engineers and equipments. Concentrated review of two~three questions by subject has been made to find out and compare idea results between three(3) concerned parties. First, legal and practical work status survey have been made to determine reasonability of introducing separate contract-awarding system, as a part of ensuring reasonable unit work cost. And then, two different status have been compared and there is introduction possibility of separate contract-awarding system, it is found out. The possibility of separate contract also has been confirmed by comparison of domestic legal grounds. Justificating grounds to introduce separate contract-awarding system have been shown. Standard contract status between asbestos removal specialists has been compared using two cases of providing removal work contract and receiving it. It is shown that case of 50 percent or less contains 38.5% when they receive contract, but only 10 percent reduction of original contract amount has been made when they provide it. It means that asbestos removal specialists do not keep occupational safety and health regulations.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
• /
• v.17 no.3
• /
• pp.579-588
• /
• 2021

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to analyze how the participating companies related to asbestos dismantling affect the safety of residents near asbestos dismantling worksites, and to present important criteria for selecting asbestos dismantling related companies based on the analysis results. Method: In this study, based on the Occupational Safety and Health Act and the Asbestos Safety Management Act, important items about participating companies related to asbestos dismantling and the safety of residents near the asbestos dismantling workshop were derived, and then questionnaire items were determined through FGI. Multiple regression analysis was performed to analyze the influence relationship. Result: In order to secure the safety around the asbestos dismantling site, it was confirmed that the ability of asbestos dismantling supervisors among the participating companies (dismantling companies, investigation agencies, and supervisors) had the greatest influence. Conclusion: It showed that it is essential to select an excellent asbestos dismantling supervisor and an excellent asbestos dismantling and removal company in order to ensure the safety of residents near the asbestos dismantling site.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.8-15
• /
• 2009

This study was examined to find out asbestos exposure level the factors which affected the level at asbestos abatement sites. We visited a total of thirteen building demolition sites(3 apartments, 3 schools, 4 stores, and 3 houses) were visited to collect samples and related data from August to November, 2006. The results of this study were as follows 1. The results of an analysis of bulk samples to identify types of asbestos at the asbestos abatement sites showed that the kinds of the asbestos detected were chrysotile by 50.0%, were tremolite by 2.6%, and were the contents of chrysotile by 3 to 20%. 2. The geometric mean concentration of asbestos was 0.007 f/cc(range 0.001-0.34 f/cc) and its geometric standard deviation was 5.83. Of the samples, however, 12 exceeded the Korean Occupational Exposure Limit(0.1f/cc). 3. Of the materials, textile material had the highest concentration with geometric mean of 0.016 f/cc. When asbestos-containing materials were removed using T type tools, the geometric mean concentration of asbestos was 0.061 f/cc. The level by this method was much higher than by other removal methods. In analysis by the type of building, the geometric mean concentration of asbestos in stores was 0.042 f/cc and was higher than in other buildings. 4. The Poisson regression analysis was applied to find out the factors that affect the airborne asbestos concentration. As a result of the analysis, removal using a T type tool was the most important factor affecting the asbestos concentration(p<0.01). In conclusion, the airborne asbestos concentration(geometric mean) in asbestos abatement sites was 0.007 f/cc(0.001~0.34 f/cc), and 12(14.6%) of all samples were over the 0.1 f/cc. These results showed that asbestos abatement workers have been exposed to the high level of airborne asbestos because they have not been keeping asbestos removal rule. In accordance with increases of the number of building demolition sites, the better government regulation on asbestos abatement methods should be made and be performed well at building demolition sites.

• Magazine of RCR
• /
• v.4 no.1
• /
• pp.43-48
• /
• 2009

• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• v.2 no.3
• /
• pp.201-209
• /
• 2011

The incidence of asbestos-related diseases (ARD) has increased in the last four decades. In view of the historical use of asbestos in Singapore since the country started banning it in phases in 1989 and the long latency of the disease, the incidence of ARD can be expected to increase further. As occupational exposure to asbestos still occurs, preventive measures to eliminate ARD continue to be required to protect the health of both workers and the public from asbestos exposure. The majority of occupational exposures to asbestos at present occur during the removal of old buildings. Preventive measures have been utilized by different government ministries and agencies in eliminating ARD in Singapore over the past 40 years. These measures have included the enforcement of legislation, substitution with safer materials, and engineering controls during asbestos removal as well as improvements in personal hygiene and the use of personal protective equipment. The existing Workman's Compensation System for ARD should be further refined, given that is currently stipulates that claims for asbestosis and malignant mesothelioma be made within 36 and 12 months after ceasing employment.