• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.143-150
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• 2023

The global outbreak of COVID-19 has underscored the pressing need for robust infection control practices in pulmonary function laboratories (PFL). However, the existing guidelines and regulatory frameworks provided by relevant authorities in the country have revealed certain deficiencies in effectively addressing this significant public health crisis. This study surveyed the infection control regulations, disposable item usage, ventilation facilities, spatial separation, and the configuration of entrance doors in 51 domestic hospital facilities from Oct 1, 2021, to Nov 2, 2021. The survey findings revealed that while there was a relatively satisfactory adherence to airborne, droplet, and contact precautions with adequate awareness and utilization of personal protective equipment, the environmental disinfection practices exhibited a suboptimal performance rate of 39.22% per patient. Depending on the specific survey domains, substantial variations were observed in the utilization of disposable items (81.05%), ventilation systems (45.75%), dedicated testing spaces (80.39%), separation of administrative areas (15.69%), and the installation of automated doors (19.61%). This study not only highlights the paramount importance of infection control in PFLs within domestic medical institutions but also provides foundational data for developing and enhancing standardized guidelines that align with international benchmarks for infection control in these settings.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.342-352
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• 2020

Objectives: The characteristics of research workers are different from those working in the manufacturing industry. Furthermore, the reagents used change according to the research due to the characteristics of the laboratory, and the amounts used vary. In addition, since the working time changes almost every day, it is difficult to adjust the time according to exposure standards. There are also difficulties in setting standards as in the manufacturing industry since laboratory environments and the types of experiments performed are all different. For these reasons, the measurement of the working environment of research workers is not realistically carried out within the legal framework, there is a concern that the accuracy of measurement results may be degraded, and there are difficulties in securing data. The exposure evaluation based on an eight-hour time-weighted average used for measuring the working environment to be studied in this study may not be appropriate, but it was judged and consequently applied as the most suitable method among the recognized test methods. Methods: The investigation of the use of chemical substances in the research laboratory, which is the subject of this study, was conducted in the order of carrying out work environment measurement, sample analysis, and result analysis. In the case of the use of chemical substances, after organizing the substances to be measured in the working environment, the research workers were asked to write down the status, frequency, and period of use. Work environment measurement and sample analysis were conducted by a recognized test method, and the results were compared with the exposure standards (TWA: time weighted average value) for chemical substances and physical factors. Results: For the substances subject to work environment measurement, the department of chemical engineering was the most exposed, followed by the department of chemistry. This can lead to exposure to a variety of chemicals in departmental laboratories that primarily deal with chemicals, including acetone, hydrogen peroxide, nitric acid, sodium hydroxide, and normal hexane. Hydrogen chloride was measured higher than the average level of domestic work environment measurements. This can suggest that researchers in research activities should also be managed within the work environment measurement system. As a result of a comparison between the professional science and technology service industry and the education service industry, which are the most similar business types to university research laboratories among the domestic work environment measurements provided by the Korea Safety and Health Agency, acetone, dichloromethane, hydrogen peroxide, sodium hydroxide, nitric acid, normal hexane, and hydrogen chloride are items that appear higher than the average level. This can also be expressed as a basis for supporting management within the work environment measurement system. Conclusions: In the case of research activity workers' work environment measurement and management, specific details can be presented as follows. When changing projects and research, work environment measurement is carried out, and work environment measurement targets and methods are determined by the measurement and analysis method determined by the Ministry of Employment and Labor. The measurement results and exposure standards apply exposure standards for chemical substances and physical factors by the Ministry of Employment and Labor. Implementation costs include safety management expenses and submission of improvement plans when exposure standards are exceeded. The results of this study were presented only for the measurement of the working environment among the minimum health management measures for research workers, but it is necessary to prepare a system to improve the level of safety and health.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.112-117
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• 2012

With the development of nanotechnology, nano-consumer products have been popularized. For the past 10 years, potential risk of nanomaterials to human and environment have been raised carefully. Especially, workers, who directly handle nanomaterials in laboratories and manfacturers, will lead to direct exposure of nanomaterials. Therefore, direct exposure assessment and field monitoring of nanomaterials are required to assess and manage the nanomaterial exposure to human and environment. In this work, two nano-manufacturing companies, which had plasma and sol-gel processes, were selected to analyze the main exposure source and process with in-situ SMPS (scanning mobility particle sizer) and ex-situ TEM (transmission electron microscopy). The results showed that the colloidal nanoparticle in liquid phase was easily evaporated and monitored by SMPS. Most serious thing is that the workers does not know about the potential risk of nanomaterials, and thus they are not taking proper protection activities, such as PPE (personal protective equipment). Therefore, exposure assessment for nanomaterial handling facilities should be additionally carried out, and nano-safety management protocols are also provided.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.271-276
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• 2012

This study intented to standardize the method for total polysaccharide, which is a functional marker for aloe vera gel in Korea. We used four lyophilized raw materials and commercial aloe gel products, certified as Health Functional Food by Korea Food and Drug Administration, including powder, solution, jelly, tablet and capsule, to optimize the analytical condition of dialysis and phenol-sulfuric acid reaction in polysaccharide analysis. The optimal conditions for polysaccharide analysis included 1 L water for dialysis and change 3 times for 24hr against 25 mL prepared sample solution. Validation test showed lower than 5% of coefficient of variation(CV) in intra-, interday validation in lyophilized raw materials and 4 types of commercial products. In inter-person and inter-laboratory validation with 4 persons from 4 different laboratories, CV(%) were 5.50 and 6.64 respectively. The linearity of polysaccharide analysis was assessed using 5 serial concentration of lyophilized raw materials(0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5%(w/v)). The results showed $R^2{\geq}0.995$ of high linearity. In the commercial aloe vera gel products, the results of reproductivity showed lower than 7.08% and revealed that the standardized method from this study ensured high precision for polysaccharide analysis.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.143-150
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• 2021

The recent spread of novel and highly variant pathogenic viruses, including the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), has increased the demand for diagnostic testing for rapid confirmation. This has resulted in investigating the functional capability of each space, and preparing facility guidelines to secure the safety of medical technologists. During viral evaluations, there is a requirement of negative pressure facilities along with thread separation, during pre-treatment of samples and before nucleic acid amplification. Space composition therefore needs to be planned by considering unidirectional air flow. This classification of safety management facilities is designated as biosafety level 2, and personal protective equipment is placed accordingly. In case of handling dangerous materials, they need to be carried out of the biosafety cabinet, and sterilizers are required for suitable disposal of infectious agents. A common feature of domestic laboratories is maintenance of the sample pre-treatment space at a negative pressure of -2.5 Pa or less, and arranging separate pre-treatment and reagent preparation spaces during the test process. We believe that the data generated in this study is meaningful, and offers an efficient direction and detailed flow for separation of the inspection process and space functions. Moreover, this study introduces construction of the laboratory by applying the safety management standards.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.25-30
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• 2017

Because of the vertical combustion characteristics of combustible substances, accurate substance safety information for their safe use, handling and transportation is essential. The flash point, fire point, explosion limits and autoignition temperature (AIT) are important safety parameters which need special attention in chemical plants and laboratories that handle dangerous materials. In this study, tert-butylbenzene which is widely used as an intermediate material in the chemical industry was selected. For the reliability of the flammable properties of tert-butylbenzene, this study was investigated the explosion limits of tert-butylbenzene in the reference data. The flash points, fire points and AITs by the ignition delay time for tert-butylbenzene were experimented. The lower flash points of tert-butylbenzene by using the Setaflash and Pensky-Martens closed-cup testers measured $39^{\circ}C$ and $44^{\circ}C$, respectively. The flash points of tert-butylbenzene by using the Tag and Cleveland open cup testers are measured $51^{\circ}C$ and $54^{\circ}C$. And the fire points of tert-butylbenzene by the Tag and Cleveland open cup testers were $54^{\circ}C$ and $58^{\circ}C$ respectively. The AIT of tert-butylbenzene measured by the ASTM 659E tester was measured as $450^{\circ}C$. The lower explosion limit of $39^{\circ}C$ which measured by the Setaflash flash point tester was calculated to be 0.68 vol%.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.71-76
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• 2018

This study examined the status of the laboratory biosafety of researchers in Korea during 03 Jan 2017~25 Mar 2017. Questionnaires were given out to 500 researchers working with pathogens in the laboratory of universities and institutes. According to the results, the respondents showed a high level of awareness but not compliance on the overall biosafety rules and regulations. Regarding the Biosafety facility level, 279 (55.8%) of respondents answered "know" and 221 (44.2%) of respondents answered "no". Despite the insufficient safety equipment and biosafety plans, researchers believed that appropriate safety measures could protect the workers and that their laboratories are safe. In a study involving biosafety education, 80% of the researchers had been trained in laboratory safety and 20% had never received safety education. The need for biosafety education was 66% and the satisfaction rate of education was 46%. These results suggest that the researchers already had experience in biosafety training, but they believed that continuing education is necessary. In addition, there were opinions that the most important thing to improve the biosafety status is to strengthen the training program and education system. In conclusion, it is necessary to develop a better training system for laboratory biosafety regarding the exposure risks.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.501-508
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• 2014

Objectives: This study identified the general characteristics of asbestos inspection/analysis laboratories in Korea and confirmed the actual situations in terms of technical aspects from these characteristics. In addition, given the background of the current problem, it offers preliminary data for determining future plans for improvement. Methods: A questionnaire was developed and distributed to the asbestos inspection/analysis laboratories that used the ISO/IEC 17025 for asbestos sampling and testing by UKAS(United Kingdom Accreditation Service) and the Korea Laboratory Accreditation Scheme(KOLAS). A total of 202 institutions in Korea were selected for the study and 145(71.8%) questionnaires were returned. Results: The number of personnel of the surveyed institutions averaged $4.2{\pm}2$ and 79.3% operated with less than five persons. In terms of education, the capital and other densely populated areas showed a high level of education(p<0.05). The level of education and facilities were determined by the magnitude of the institution(p<0.05). Institutions managed by highly educated directors were well-stocked with education and facilities(p<0.05). Institutions which had directors with considerable experiences received high scores overall and in particular higher scores in terms of education and facilities(p<0.05). At the level of the bottom five percent, the factor of education was 40.4% while the factor of measurement 49%, the factor of analysis 59%, the factor of facilities 61%, and the factor of survey 81%, respectively. Conclusions: To improve the quality of the institutions, in the short term, the problems identified in this study can be used to revise the related regulations. In the long term, a grading system of survey institutions needs to be established through the introduction of an accreditation system. However, the ongoing support of a government agency is required, including holding seminars and open education, suggesting guidelines for operation of asbestos inspection/analysis labs, and other means.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.505-516
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• 2016

With the development of nanotechnology, nanomaterials are used in various fields. Therefore, the interest regarding the safety of nanomaterial use is increasing and much effort is diverted toward establishment of exposure assessment and management methods. Occupational exposure limits (OELs) are effectively used to protect the health of workers in various industrial workplaces. This study aimed to propose an OEL for domestic multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) based on animal inhalation toxicity test. Basic procedure for development of OELs was examined. For OEL estimation, epidemiological study and quantitative risk assessment are generally performed based on toxicity data. In addition, inhalation toxicity data-based no observed adverse effect level (NOAEL) and benchmark dose (BMD) are estimated to obtain the OEL. Three different estimation processes (NEDO in Japan, NIOSH in USA, and Baytubes in Germany) of OELs for carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were intensively reviewed. From the rat inhalation toxicity test for MWCNTs manufactured in Korea, a NOAEL of $0.98mg/m^3$ was derived. Using the simple equation for estimation of OEL suggested by NEDO, the OEL of $142{\mu}g/m^3$ was estimated for the MWCNT manufacturing workplace. Here, we used test rat and Korean human data and adopted 36 as an uncertainty factor. The OEL for MWCNT estimated in this work is higher than those ($2-80{\mu}g/m^3$) suggested by previous investigators. It may be greatly caused by different physicochemical properties of MWCNT and their dispersion method and test rat data. For setting of regulatory OELs in CNT workplaces, further epidemiological studies in addition to animal studies are needed. More advanced technical methods such as CNT dispersion in air and liquid should be also developed.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.53-62
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• 2007

목적: 1990년대 초반부터 시작된 우리나라의 산업 보건에 대한 사회적 관심의 증대와 시장의 요구에 따라 산업위생기관의 양적인 팽창이 이루어지긴 하였으나 실험실 관련 안전보건규정이 미비한 상태에서 추진되어 산업위생 실험실에서 다양한 유해 위험성 인자를 취급함에도 불구하고 사용되는 량이 소규모로 인해 안전보건과 관련된 사항은 대부분 간과하고 있으며, 산업위생 실험실의 안전보건관리 실태는 선진외국에 비해 상당히 낙후되어 있는 실정이다. 따라서 본 연구는 우리나라 산업위생 실험실과 관련한 안전보건관리 실태를 평가함으로써 향후 실험실의 안전보건관리 수준을 향상 시키는데 효과적인 자료로 활용하는데 기여하고자 한다. 방법: 산업위생실험실의 안전보건 실태를 파악하기 위해 설문조사를 수행하였으며, 설문은 실험실의 전반적인 안전보건, 화학물질 저장 및 용기, 가연성 및 인화성 화학물질, 가스 실린더, 의사전달, 응급처치 및 비상사태 장비, 정리정돈, 소방안전, 전기안전, 개인보호구, 흄후드 및 환기, 및 이황화탄소 취급 사례로서 12개 영역으로 구성되었다. 연구대상은 2001년 한국산업안전공단 정도관리프로그램에 참여한 기관으로서 총 대상은 119개 기관이었다. 연구기간은 2002년 7월 01일부터 8월 30일까지 약 60일 이었다. 설문은 반송봉투에 넣어 설문완성 후 연구자에게 보낼 수 있도록 배려하였으며, 1차 설문을 보낸 후 2주 후에 설문 참여를 독려하기 위해 엽서를 발송하였고, 다시 2주 후에 각 산업위생기관에 개별 전화 연락을 취하였다. 그 결과 63% (75개 기관)의 완성된 설문을 얻을 수 있었다. 설문의 총 조사항목은 79문항으로 구성되어 있으며, 산업위생실험실의 안전보건 수준을 정량적으로 평가하기 위해 안전보건 매뉴얼, 교육훈련프로그램 및 한국산업안전공단 실험실 지침서를 보유한 기관과 그렇지 않은 기관간의 차이는 선별된 67문항에 대해 각 문항에 합당하거나 적절할 경우 1점을 부여하는 방식으로 점수화하였다. 이들의 관련성을 파악하기 위하여 Microsoft-Excel 2000 프로그램을 이용하여 two-tailed t-test 분석을 실시하였다. 결과 1. 산업위생실험실 운영과 관련한 67개 항목(항목별로 각 1점 부여)에 대한 안전보건 성과지수화 (100점으로 점수 환산) 결과 안전보건 매뉴얼을 보유한 기관은 $42.98{\pm}13.36$(p<0.001)점, 교육훈련프로그램을 보유한 기관은 $50.75{\pm}14.12$(p<0.01)점, 한국산업안전공단 실험실 지침서를 보유한 기관은 $43.58{\pm}11.92$(p<0.01)점으로 그렇지 않은 기관에 비해 통계적으로 유의하게 높은 점수분포를 보였다. 2. 화학물질 보관 캐비닛이 있는 기관 중 64.8%의 기관은 화학물질을 알파벳 순으로, 27.8%는 분류 기준에 따라, 그리고 7.4%는 무작위로 보관하고 있었다. 3. 단지 8.0% (6개)의 기관만이 실험실내에 눈세정 분수(2 개), 샤워기(3개) 및 눈세정물병(3개, 2개 중복 응답 기관)과 같은 응급처치 장치 및 물품을 갖추고 있었다. 4. 89.0%의 기관이 흄후드내에 화학물질을 보관하고 있었다. 5. 물질안전보건자료, 흄후드 기록지, 비상사태 절차서 및 한국산업안전공단 실험실 지침서와 같은 문서관리는 부적절하게 관리 및 기록되고 있었다. 6. 대부분의 산업위생 실험실은 응급처치 장비, 화학물질 또는 가스용기 보관실과 같은 실험실 안전설비가 부족할 뿐만 아니라 정리정돈, 화학물질 저장 캐비닛, 안전보호구 및 흄후드와 같은 관리가 미비하였다. 결론: 이상의 결과에 근거하여 기관장은 실험실의 안전보건관리를 위하여 문서관리체계를 제공하고, 모든 실험실 종사자가 적절한 개인보호구를 착용할 수 있도록 하며, 비상 장비를 설치하고, 실험실과 관련한 적절한 규정을 제정하며, 교육훈련 프로그램을 제공하여야 한다. 또한 실험실 종사자는 실험 중 적절한 개인보호구의 착용하고, 비상장비 이용에 대한 교육훈련에 참여하며, 적절한 실험실 운영관리에 대한 책임감을 가져야 한다. 위의 권고사항 이행을 위해서 KOSHA는 KQCP 프로그램에 실험실 안전보건관리 항목을 삽입하여 주기적인 평가를 수행할 필요가 있다. 우리나라 실험실의 특성을 고려할 때 본 연구결과는 일반 실험실에도 적용될 수 있을 것으로 생각된다.