• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.138-145
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• 2024

Background: Appropriateness issues have emerged regarding the non-application of hazardous substance safety standards for items classified as 'other textile products'. Objectives: Testing for formaldehyde (HCHO) and risk assessment were conducted on 'other textiles products' to provide reference data for promoting product safety policies. Methods: Testing was conducted on five items (102 products) classified as 'other textile products' according to relevant standards (textile products safety standards), and the risk of each product was assessed using the evaluation methodologies of the European Centre for Ecotoxicology and Toxicology of Chemicals (ECETOC) and European Chemical Agency (ECHA). Results: Out of the 102 products tested, HCHO was detected above the quantification limit in five. Based on these results, the screening risk assessment indicated that three products exceeded the criteria. Upon reassessing the emission and transfer rates of products exceeding the criteria, it was confirmed that there were no instances of exceeding the criteria. Conclusions: Risk assessment results can be used as supporting data for non-application of hazardous substance standards. However, it is deemed necessary to transition towards a management approach based on risks in order to addressing emerging trends such as convergence/new products.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.35-43
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• 2024

With continuous advancements in industry, science, and technology, there is a steady increase in the number and utilization of new chemicals. The growing societal emphasis on chemical safety management is paralleled by an increasing public demand for robust safety measures. While various ministries at the government level oversee the safety management of chemical substances, the occurrence of accidents related to chemical substances remains frequent each year due to problems such as aging facilities and careless handling. Upon analyzing domestic chemical accident cases, incidents occurred predominantly in the sequence of leakage, explosion, fire, and others. The main causes of these accidents were examined, revealing facility defects and non-compliance with safety management as the primary contributing factors. In this study, Hazard and Operability Analysis (HAZOP) was employed to identify hazardous risk factors associated with the handling of hydrofluoric acid in workplaces, and a risk assessment was performed using Bow-Tie method. Based on the results of this study, it is expected to enhance safety management plans aimed at preventing chemical accidents in workplaces dealing with similar facilities. Ultimately, these insights contribute to the development of an advanced chemical safety management system, capable of proactively preventing potential chemical accidents.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.31-36
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• 2013

Maritime University cadets must be on board ship's after thoroughly completing a Basic Safety Training Course. During their spare semester they must complete basic principle of the course and then, attend to both Advanced Safety Training Course and Tankers Training Course before they graduate. However, all cadets are exposed to risks during their onboard training. It means that most of commercial ships have to train them before boarding and perform duties according to all sorts of check lists based on the ISM. Accordingly, this research will deal with the treatment for toxic chemicals which is not fully covered by shipping firms, vessels and even a Maritime University for cadets. The lack of pre-knowledge about it is considerably hazardous to the cadets who have no onboard experience. As stated above, the majority of the onboard cadets board their ships without previous training on treatment and knowledge for toxic chemicals. As a result, there are some cases that cadets are injured due to the lack of knowledge to treat toxic chemicals and due to carelessness. Furthermore, they end up leaving a ship prematurely. To prevent these incidents from occurring, this paper recommends thorough training before going onboard provided by Maritime University, the systematic database on the safety of the toxic chemicals and the development of the online contents for safety education of toxic chemicals fitted on each ship's types are necessary to avoid risks and accidents onboard. Furthermore, it is suggested that shipping companies should manage the ship according to the safety check list on toxic chemicals and the crew in charge with qualification for the treatment of toxic chemicals should provide a safety education and supervision.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.22 no.7
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• pp.846-853
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• 2016

This study prioritizes Noxious Liquid Substances (NLS) transported by sea via a risk-based database containing 596 chemicals to prepare against NLS incidents. There were 158 chemicals transported in Korean waters during 2014 and 2015, which were prioritized, and then chemicals were grouped into four categories (with rankings of 0-3) based on measures for preparedness against incident. In order to establish an effective preparedness system against NLS spill incidents on a national scale, a compiling process for NLS chemicals ranked 2~3 should be carried out and managed together with an initiative for NLS chemicals ranked 0-1. Also, it is advisable to manage NLS chemicals ranked 0-1 after considering the characteristics of NLS specifically transported through a given port since the types and characteristics of NLS chemicals relevant differ depending on the port. In addition, three designated regions are suggested: 1) the southern sector of the East Sea (Ulsan and Busan); 2) the central sector of the South Sea (Gwangyang and Yeosu); and 3) the northern sector of the West Sea (Pyeongtaek, Daesan and Incheon). These regions should be considered special management sectors, with strengthened surveillance and the equipment, materials and chemicals used for pollution response management schemes prepared in advance at NLS spill incident response facilities. In the near future, the risk database should be supplemented with specific information on chronic toxicity and updated on a regular basis. Furthermore, scientific ecotoxicological data for marine organisms should be collated and expanded in a systematic way. A system allowing for the identification Hazardous and Noxious Substances (HNS) should also be established, noting the relevant volumes transported in Korean waters as soon as possible to allow for better management of HNS spill incidents at sea.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.22 no.2 s.55
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• pp.84-97
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• 1983

Under the limited arable land, the enhancement of agricultural productivity is indispensable to provide the food demand which is concomitant with the rapid increase in population. From this viewpoint, the upbringing and dissemination of high-yielding varieties has been promoted continuously and several modifications in cultural practices, including heavy fertilization, dense planting, and early transplanting, also have been gradually developed. However these changes in cultivation have led to the increased outbreak of insect pests and diseases. And this unexpected results have accelerated the number and complexity of pesticides employed as well as their consumption. Even though pesticides are essential materials contributing to the steady production of agricultural crops, large scale consumption of them has given rise to several adverse impacts, such as mammalian hazard and/or environmental contamination. In this respect, recent development of new pesticides has been concentrated on 'safe pesticide', as it were, that has the highly selective properties without unfavorable side influences on other ecosystem. According to literature cited up to now, feasibilities of safe pesticide development would be summarized as two categories. One of them is the development of chemical pesticides, which include the molecular structure modification of established pesticides for increased safety and synthesis of new safe chemicals which can attack the vulnerable point of physio-ecological characteristics in insect pests and diseases. The other is the biological pesticides which comprise natural enemies and microorganisms to act selectively on confined insect pests and diseases, In addition, improvement of physico-chemical properties of available pesticide formulations would be one of the desirable means for safe pesticide development in view of efficacy enhancement and minimization of hazardous properties or safe pesticide development, various approaches are feasible and needed to study, however, long period and much financial outlay are necessary to develop a new item. And under the present situation in Korea, there are many difficulties for performing research on all the possible routes. Therefore, combined pesticides by the reasonable combination of already registered resticides evaluated as the fairly safe pesticides and safe formulation based on their physico-chemical properties would be developed primarily. And many efforts would be given gradually for the development of new chemical and biological pesticides.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.281-290
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• 2018

Exposure to chemical agents is an inevitable consequence of modern society; some of these agents are hazardous to human health. The effects of chemical carcinogens are of great concern in many countries, and international organizations, such as the World Health Organization, have established guidelines for the regulation of these chemicals. Carcinogens are currently categorized into two classes, genotoxic and non-genotoxic carcinogens, which are subject to different regulatory policies. Genotoxic carcinogens are chemicals that exert carcinogenicity via the induction of mutations. Owing to their DNA interaction properties, there is thought to be no safe exposure threshold or dose. Genotoxic carcinogens are regulated under the assumption that they pose a cancer risk for humans, even at very low doses. In contrast, non-genotoxic carcinogens, which induce cancer through mechanisms other than mutations, such as hormonal effects, cytotoxicity, cell proliferation, or epigenetic changes, are thought to have a safe exposure threshold or dose; thus, their use in society is permitted unless the exposure or intake level would exceed the threshold. Genotoxicity assays are an important method to distinguish the two classes of carcinogens. However, some carcinogens have negative results in in vitro bacterial mutation assays, but yield positive results in the in vivo transgenic rodent gene mutation assay. Non-DNA damage, such as spindle poison or topoisomerase inhibition, often leads to positive results in cytogenetic genotoxicity assays such as the chromosome aberration assay or the micronucleus assay. Therefore, mechanistic considerations of tumor induction, based on the results of the genotoxicity assays, are necessary to distinguish genotoxic and non-genotoxic carcinogens. In this review, the concept of threshold of toxicological concern is introduced and the potential risk from multiple exposures to low doses of genotoxic carcinogens is also discussed.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.70-77
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• 2001

This study was conducted to identify the current status of occupational safety and health by checklist and to evaluate the airborne exposure to chemicals and to provide the appropriate recommendation for safety and health of laundries. A total of 20 laundries located in tile Gyungi district area were surveyed from July 20 to September 15, 2000. The prevalence of laundries having a stove and gas range were found to be 25 % and 55 %, respectively. Smoking is not allowed in 60 % of the laundries. Only 10 % of dry-cleaners were isolated. Ventilation systems in laundries had not been annually inspected. Most of the workers didn't put on respirators, MSDS were not available, and storage bottles did not contain warning labels. The bulk samples of dry cleaning agent include many chemicals that are not controlled by the MOL in Korea. The detected airborne organic solvents in the laundries were benzene, toluene, p-xylene, m-xylene, o-xylene, perchloroethylene, and 2-butoxy ethanol. The airborne concentrations of organic solvents were much less than the occupational exposure limits proposed by the Ministry of Labor(MOL) in Korea. But the concentrations of benzene exceeded the TLV of ACGIH. This study showed that the current status of occupational safety and health was not appropriate for workers in laundries. It is recommended that laundry workers should be educated for the treatment and storage of hazardous organic solvents to improve the occupational safety and health of the working environment as well as MSDS usage. Also, extended research and survey for the organic solvents that are not controlled by the MOL has to be conducted.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.39-49
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• 2020

Objectives: We investigated the status of accidents and deaths caused by chemical leakage and skin contact in Korea. The purpose of this study was to produce and provide technical reference data for the efficient management of accidents and the rational management of accidental chemicals. Methods: Accidents and deaths caused by chemical leakage and skin contact in industry were investigated. Based on 68 accident reports related to chemical leakage and skin contact, the causes of accidental deaths were analyzed. In addition, we investigated the chemical substances and articles that caused these accidents and deaths. Based on the results of the investigation, the causes of accidents caused by chemical leakage and skin contact were identified and practical management measures for the chemicals were suggested. Results and Conclusions: In 2018, 372 people suffered from chemical leaks and skin contact, up by 123 (about 49.4%) from the previous year. The number of accident deaths was 14, an increase of five (about 55.6%) from the previous year. In the last three years (2016-2018), 91 chemical substances and article groups were involved in accidents caused by chemical leakage and skin contact. There were 16 chemical substance and article groups involved in accidental deaths. There were ten cases of accidents involving two or more casualties due to chemical leakage and skin contact, and 23 deaths occurred. Most of these accidental deaths were caused by subcontractor workers outsourcing risks. Therefore, there is an apparent need to strengthen the responsibility for safety and health among subcontractors.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.41-55
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• 2010

The aims of this study were to develop the suitable "system software" in chemical ranking and scoring (CRS) for the food hazardous chemicals associated with environmental emission and to suggest the priority lists of food contamination by environmental-origined pollutants. Study materials were selected with reference to the priority pollutants list for environment and food management from domestic and foreign research and the number of study materials is 103 pollutants (18 heavy metals, 10 PBTs, 10 EDs, and 65 organic compounds). The Food-CRS-Korea system consisted of the environmental fate model via multimedia, transfer environment to food model, and health risk assessment by contaminated food intake. We have established that health risks of excess cancer risks, hazard quotients (HQs) by chronic toxicity and HQs by reproductive toxicity convert to score, respectively. The creditable scoring system was designed to consider uncertainty of quantitative risk assessment based on VOI (Value-Of-Information). The predictability of the Food-CRS-Korea model was evaluated by comparing the presumable values and the measured ones of the environmental media and foodstuffs. The priority lists based on emissions with background-level-correction are 15 pollutants such as arsenic, cadmium, and etc. The priority lists based on environmental monitoring date are 17 pollutants including DEHP, TCDD, and so on. Consequently, we suggested the priority lists of 13 pollutants by considering the several emission and exposure scenarios. According to the Food-CRS-Korea system, arsenics, cadmium, chromes, DEHP, leads, and nickels have high health risk rates and reliable grades.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.185-194
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• 2018

The purpose of this study was to understand the dental hygienist's perception of dental materials and to understand the safety status of harmful chemicals. The study was conducted from January to February 2015 for 250 dental hygienists working in Gwangju Metropolitan City. as a result, the degree of recognition of MSDS for dental materials was higher with age (P <0.05) and higher in dental hygienist (P <0.001) working at dental hospital. (P <0.001), and the factors affecting the perception of first aid treatment were positively correlated with experience of hazard education (P <0.001). Therefore, by understanding the MSDS awareness of dental materials by dental hygienists and the safety situation in the handling of hazardous chemical substances, we provide basic data for establishing proper recognition of safety in the handling of harmful chemical substances and developing educational programs to prevent accidents.