• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.384-389
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• 2023

Background: Exposure to welding fume is associated with adverse effects on worker health. The use of various control measures can reduce levels of exposure and the resulting health effects. However, little is known about the factors that may influence workers' use of control measures in the workplace and their perceived intervention needs. This study aimed to investigate workers' and other stakeholders' views on ways to improve the use of welding fume control measures in Australian workplaces. Methods: We conducted a series of online focus group discussions and individual interviews with participants who have some occupational involvement in welding, whether as workers, employers or industry representatives, union representatives, or regulators. A semi-structured question guide was used, and all discussions and interviews were recorded and transcribed for analysis. Results: Five focus group discussions and five individual interviews were conducted with a total of 21 participants. Three major themes emerged. The first addressed the current awareness of welding fume harms and concern about exposure; the second focussed on the current use of control measures, and barriers and facilitators to their use; and the last centred around intervention needs and the contents of a potential effective intervention. Conclusion: Improving the use of control measures to prevent exposure to welding fume requires knowledge around the barriers and facilitators of control, use, and the intervention needs of stakeholders. This study has provided such knowledge, which will facilitate the design and implementation of an intervention to reduce welding fume exposure and ultimately protect the health of workers.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.33-42
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• 1994

This study was carried out to assess worker exposure to vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) and to present control measures in the factories processing and producing polyvinyl chloride (PVC) resin. The conclusion remarks are as follows. Only two personal samples in the factory ("E") processing polyvinyl chloride resin were analysed to be 27.6 ppm and 12.6 ppm, respectively. But, these concentration exceed 1 ppm, Permissible Exposure Limits (PEL) of OSHA. So, worker's exposure to VCM at "E" factory should be reevaluated. In "A", "B" and "C" factory producing polyvinyl chloride resin, the average worker's exposures to VCM were 0.12 ppm, 0.86 ppm and 1.23 ppm, respectivery. Worker exposure to VCM at distillation and dry process was higer than other processes at "A" factory. The average exposure concentration of worker at polymerization process of "B" and "C" factory was 1.23 ppm, and 1.46 ppm respcetively. These concentration exceed 1 ppm, Permissible Exposure Limits of OSHA. Control room of "B" and "C" factory had 0.91 ppm and 0.65 ppm of worker's exposure concentration respectively. "A" factory was evaluated to be "acceptable", but "B" and "C" factories were evaluated to be "not acceptable", by the workplace exposure assessment program of AIHA. Process other than bagging and control room of "A" factory was evaluated to "not acceptable". Immediate correction measures for preventing workers from exposure to VCM should be performed in the factories or process that were evaluated to be "not acceptable". After these control measures are taken, worker exposure to VCM must be reevaluated through personal air monitoring. Control measures presented by this study are complete sealing of connecting pipe lines, flanging, packing, bolting and nutting. Periodic leak test for leak parts is also required. And positive pressure facility should be constructed at control room of "B" and "C" factory. Fresh air through cleaner such as HEPA filter should be supplied to control room. In addition to these control measures, periodic personal monitoring for evaluating worker exposure to VCM should be performed.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.264-278
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• 1997

The average level of coke oven emissions in the work site was $0.04mg/m^3$, which was below the permissible exposure level($0.2mg/m^3$). The average level of 1-OH-pyrene in the urine of the wokers was $0.745{\mu}mol/mol$ creatinine which is far below the BEI($2.3{\mu}mol/mol$ creatinine). Correlation between airborne COE in working environment and urinary 1-OH-pyrene concentration was statistically significant. These results explain that exposure level by biological monitoring is much higher than that by environmental monitoring. The effect of hygienic measures for reducing internal exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons was studied in 25 coke-oven workers. Their 1-OH-pyrene levels increased by $0.77{\mu}mol/mol$ creatinine, while working with ordinary protective measures. The average levels of the same workers with extra hygienic measures increased by $0.34{\mu}mol/mol$ creatinine. The average increase of the urinary 1-OH-pyrene concentration over the 5-day work week was 56.3%($0.43{\mu}mol/mol$ creatinine) lower when extra hygienic measures were taken(p=0.0001).

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.182-189
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• 2023

This study investigates the psychological effects of positive/negative valence order in repeated exposure to a suspenseful text. Specifically, the study seeks to understand how the order in which positive and negative elements are presented in a narrative impacts the experience of suspense, arousal, and enjoyment in readers or listeners. Using a suspenseful short story, participants were exposed to narratives with varying valence orders in a repeated-measures design. The study employed self-report questionnaires and psychophysiological measurements to capture participants' psychological responses. The results supported the hypothesis that repeated exposure impacts suspense, with negative valence enhancing suspense and arousal. Moreover, the order of valence influenced participants' psychological responses, indicating that positive valence can mitigate the impact of repeated exposure. However, the influence on enjoyment was not significant. Psychophysiological measures, specifically skin conductance level (SCL), revealed trends of habituation over repeated exposure. The findings underscore the significance of negative valence in heightening suspense and suggest directions for future research in exploring diverse factors that contribute to suspense in both fictional and real-life contexts.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.142-153
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• 2019

Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine environmental chemical exposure related to residential and personal lifestyle characteristics in the adult Korean population. The observations of this study can provide information useful for developing reduction approaches for exposure to chemicals among the general adult population. Methods: The second stage of the Korean National Environmental Health Survey (KoNHES) was conducted from 2012 to 2014, with 6,478 persons participating. Using the results of the survey, the relationship between exposure levels of heavy metals and organic chemicals and exposure factors, e.g. residential and personal lifestyle characteristics, were analyzed. Results: The exposure levels of VOCs and PAHs were significantly lower in participants living at a distance of more than 100 m from roads versus living closer to roads. Home ventilation lowered VOC and PAH exposure but did not lower chemical exposure from household products. Use of public transportation showed lower exposure to heavy metals, VOCs, and PAHs. Current smoker was significantly higher for levels of heavy metals, VOCs, and PAHs, and the exposure trend was similar for current drinkers. Physical activity was related with higher exposure to phthalates and environmental phenols. Conclusion: Our observations based on a nationally representative population for Korea show that exposure to chemicals varies by residential and personal lifestyle, and this should be considered for developing appropriate mitigation measures and policies. Given the health concerns surrounding environmental chemicals, it is necessary to develop comprehensive measures to reduce chemical exposure.

• Journal of Korean Society of Transportation
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.26-36
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• 2013

Highway traffic safety evaluation of area on the basis of the accident rate has a limitation, thus its result is dependent on the exposure variables. It works an obstacle to decision making for effective budget execution. In this paper, we developed a methodology of taking simultaneously macroscopic exposure indicators into account in evaluating the safety using least squares method. The weight of exposure indicators to make up of highway traffic safety evaluation index is that accident rate per population, accident rate per registration vehicle and accident rate per length of road is 0.29, 0.52 and 0.19 respectively and calculated the highway traffic safety index of total local governments in Korea. The methodology to calculate highway traffic safety evaluation index proposed in this paper can be utilized in executing the traffic safety policies to increase the efficiency of investment about traffic safety budget.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.572-580
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• 2018

Objectives: Human biomonitoring (HBM) is a measurement of the chemicals and their metabolites in human biological samples and has been successfully employed to determine the exposure levels of environmental chemicals. In this study, we analyzed seasonal variations of the blood or urinary levels of chemicals, and assessed that these differences could affect the results of association study. Methods: The Korea National Environmental Health Survey (KoNEHS) is a nationwide survey that analyzes exposure levels of environmental pollutants, 19 kinds of chemicals including heavy metals and organic chemicals, and the exposure factors in the general population. Based on KoNEHS data, we analyzed the levels of chemicals concentrations over the total survey period (2012-2014) and each season, and assessed the association of thyroid measures with phthalate metabolite and BPA. Results: Exposure levels of blood mercury and lead were lower in summer compare to winter. Bisphenol A and PAHs metabolites were higher in spring and summer, but lower in autumn. VOCs metabolites were generally lower in summer and autumn. Phthalate metabolites were higher in all other seasons than in winter. Pyrethroid metabolite, 3-PBA, was higher in summer and autumn. Regarding seasonal variation of chemical exposures, the statistical significance and size of effects between thyroid measures and phthalate and BPA were changed with season. Conclusion: Seasonal variations of chemical exposure and health outcome should be considered for interpreting biomonitoring results from a public health context.

• The Journal of Korean Society for School & Community Health Education
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.69-77
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• 2007

Background & Objectives: International radiation protection committee recognized the importance of radiation protection from medical practices because the exposure to the radiation in medical practice is higher than any other exposure. The factors on knowledge, attitude and practice of radiation safety of the medical workers engaged in radiation were analyzed in order to improve radiation safety technology. Method: Questionnaires were used for 1200 radiation workers in medical institution from July 23 through September 4 and collected for analysis. Results: Different level of safety measures were practiced by age, marital status, career, and medical facility. The difference was statistically significant. Higher levels of safety measures were practiced in the age group of 50s and married persons. The workers who have more than 20 years experience have higher level of safety measures. The workers of health centers have higher level of safety measures to compare with other workers. The factors which give more concerns on safety practice were self efficacy, practice and knowledge in order. Conclusion: Safety conscious operators should get additional education program to maintain higher level of safety. The operators who do not have much safety concern should be intensive training program for self efficacy and safety.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.153-159
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• 2021

Objectives: Life course exposure to passive smoke may predict health, but there are few validated measures. We tested the reliability and validity of a retrospective life course passive smoking questionnaire. Methods: Participants from the third follow-up of the Childhood Determinants of Adult Health study (2014-2019, ages 36-49 years) retrospectively reported mother/father/other household member smoking when living at home during childhood, including duration (years) and smoking location (never/sometimes/always inside house). The severity of exposure index (SEI; sum of mother/father/other years smoked multiplied by smoking location), cumulative years of exposure (CYE; sum of mother/father/other years), and total household smokers (THS) were derived. The reliability of retrospective passive smoking reports was examined with intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) using household smoking reported 34 years earlier in 1985 by participants when aged 7-15 years. Construct validity was examined by correlating retrospective passive smoking with participants' smoking in adulthood and lung function in childhood and adulthood. Results: Among 2082 participants (mean±standard deviation [SD], 45.0±2.5 years; 55.2% females), THS ranged from 0 to 5 (mean±SD, 0.9±1.0), CYE ranged from 0 to 106 (mean±SD, 10.5±13.9), and SEI ranged from 0 to 318 (mean±SD, 24.4±36.0). Retrospective measures showed moderate agreement with total household smokers reported in childhood (ICC, 0.58 to 0.62). The retrospective measures were weakly but significantly (p<0.05) correlated with participants' smoking (r=0.13 to 0.15) and lung function (r= -0.05 to -0.06). Conclusions: The retrospective passive smoking questionnaire showed reasonable reliability and validity. This measure may be useful for epidemiological studies.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.569-576
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• 2019

Objectives: The main purpose of this study was to assess firefighters' daily personal noise exposure and explore noise levels related to specific tasks and their contributions to total noise exposure using 24-hour full-shift noise exposure measurements with task-based data. Methods: Noise exposure was assessed for eight firefighters (two rescuers, two drivers, and four suppressors) using time-activity diaries. We collected a total of 24 full-shift personal noise sample sets (three samples per a firefighter). The 24-hour shift-adjusted daily personal noise exposure level (L_ep,d), eight weekly personal noise exposures (L_eq,w), and 40 task-specific L_eq values (L_{eq activity}) were calculated via the ISO/NIOSH method. Results: The firefighter noise-sample datasets showed that most firefighters are exposed to noise levels above EU recommended levels at a low-action value. The highest noise exposure was for rescuers, followed by drivers and suppressors. Noise measurements with time-at-task information revealed that 82.3% of noise exposure occurred when checking equipment and responding to fire or emergency calls. Conclusions: The results indicate that firefighters are at risk of noise-induced hearing loss. Therefore, efforts at noise-control are necessary for their protection. This task-specific noise exposure assessment also shows that protective measures should be focused on certain tasks, such as checking and testing equipment.