• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제38권4호
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• pp.449-456
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• 2005

Objectives : The biosafety level (BSL) practiced in microbiology laboratories in Korea according to the laboratory biosafety manual published by the World Health Organization (WHO) was evaluated using the data obtained by a survey. Methods : Under the advise of Clinical Laboratory Physicians, 144 types of microorganisms were screened based on the guidelines of biosafety in microbiological and biomedical laboratories published by the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention and classified into 1-4 risk groups. A questionnaire containing 21 questions in 5 areas was developed using the biosafety manual by published WHO. Of the 1,876 different organizations sent the survey, 563 responded to the survey (response rate: 30.0%). The species of microoganisms handled by as well as the biosafety level in microbiology laboratories were analyzed. Results : There were 123 species of microorganisms handled in microbiology labs in Korea. The BSL required in 512 microbiology labs was answered by the survey responders as the first grade in 33 labs (6.4%), 2nd in 437 (85.4%), 3rd in 42 (8.2%), and 4th in none. The average number of items satisfied was 12.2, showing only a 57.9% satisfactory rate and normal distribution. Conclusions : The state of overall observance of BSL in most microbiology labs of Korea was evaluated as lagging compared with the standard set up by WHO. Therefore, the Korean government need to produce and distribute a biosafety manual in microbiology laboratories and make efforts to prevent this threat through measures such as training in biosafety in microbiology labs.

• 한국산업보건학회지
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• 제4권1호
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• pp.96-102
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• 1994

Factors affecting non-proficient analytical ability were compared and evaluated by rating of laboratories and round. Analyst Indices between proficient and non-proficient participants were different. Coefficients of determination($R^2$) for standard of toluene, xylene and trichloroethylene of the 4th round between some proficient and non-proficient participants were significantly different(p<0.05). But, there was no difference in the 5th round. Average desorption efficiency of non-proficient participants was 88%-98%, which was lower than 96%-100% of some randomly selected proficient participants. Also non-proficient participants have a large variance of desorption efficiency, 11.79-19.69%. In the 5th round, desorption efficiency of metyl iso-butyl ketone(MIBK) reported by all participants was lower than 90% tested by NIOSH and especially low compared to other analytes. Participants evaluated to be non-proficient in the metal part have 85%-100.84% of average recovery, which was larger variance than 98% of some proficient participants. Although it is difficult to find quantitatively factors causing non-proficiency in analytical ability, pretreatement techniques and experience of analyst seems to be more important factors to produce accurate analytical result.

• 한국학교ㆍ지역보건교육학회지
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• 제22권4호
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• pp.49-60
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• 2021

Objectives: Laboratories have various latent physical, chemical, biological, and ergonomical factors according to the diversification and fusion of research and development activities. This study aims to investigate the chemical exposure concentrations of college laboratories and evaluate their health risks, and use them as basic data to promote the health of college students. Methods: The sampling and analysis of harmful chemicals in the air in laboratories were performed using Method 1500 of the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)의 Method 1500. The harmful chemicals in the laboratories were divided into carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic chemicals. Risk assessment was performed using the cancer risk (CR) for carcinogenic chemicals and using the hazard index (HI) for non-carcinogenic chemicals. Results: The harmful chemicals in college laboratories consisted of acetone, diethyl ether, methylene chloride, n-hexane, ethyl acetate, chloroform, tetrahydrofuran, toluene, and xylenes. They showed the highest concentrations in laboratories A (acetone 0.001~2.34ppm), B (chloroform 0.95~6.35ppm), C (diethyl ether 0.08~8.68ppm), and D (acetone 0.07~14.96ppm). The risk assessment result for non-carcinogenic chemicals showed that the HI of methylene chloride was 2.052 for men and 2.333 for women, the HI of N-hexane was 4.442 for men and 5.05 for women. Thus, the HI values were higher than 1. The risk of carcinogenic chemicals is determined by an excess cancer risk (ECR) value of 1.0×10^-5, which means that one in 100,000 people has a cancer risk. The ECRs of chloroform exceeded 1.0×10^-5 for both men and women, indicating the possibility of cancer risk. Conclusion: College laboratories showed the possibility of non-carcinogenic health risks for methylene chloride, n-hexane, tetrahydrofuran (THF), toluene, and xylenes, and carcinogenic health risks for chloroform, methylene chloride. However, this study used the maximum values of measurements to determine the worst case, and assumed that the subjects were exposed to the corresponding concentrations continuously for 8 hours per day for 300 days per year. In consideration of the nature of laboratory environment in which people are intermittently exposed, rather than continuously, to the chemicals, the results of this study has an element of overestimation.

• 한국산업보건학회지
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• 제20권3호
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• pp.184-191
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• 2010

Although the usage of nanomaterials including carbon nanotubes (CNTs) has increased in various fields, scientific researches on workers' exposures and controls of these materials are very limited. The purpose of this study was to compare the airborne nanoparticles concentrations from two university laboratories conducting experiments of CNTs growth based on containment of thermal chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Airborne nanoparticle concentrations in three metrics (surface area concentration, particle number concentration, and mass concentrations) were measured by task using three direct reading instruments. In a laboratory where CVD was not contained, the surface area concentration, number concentration and mass(PM$_1$) concentration of airborne nanoparticles were 1.5 to 3.5 times higher than those in the other laboratory where CVD was confined. The ratio of PM$_1$ concentration to total suspended particles(TSP) in the laboratory where CVD was not confined was about 4 times higher than that in the other laboratory. This indicates that CVD is a major source of airbone nanoparticles in the CNTs growth laboratories. In conclusion, researchers performing CNTs growth experiments in these laboratories were exposed to airborne nanoparticles levels higher than background levels, and their exposures in a laboratory with the unconfined CVD were higher than those in the other laboratory with the confined CVD. It is recommended that in the CNTs growth laboratories adequate controls including containment of CVD be implemented for minimizing researchers' exposures to airborne nanoparticles.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• 제11권4호
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• pp.431-442
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• 2020

Background: Psychosocial risks are increasingly a type of risk analyzed in organizations beyond chemical, physical, and biological risks. To this type of risk, a greater attention has been given following the update of ISO 9001: 2015, more precisely the requirement 7.1.4 for the process operation environment. The update of this normative reference was intended to approximate OHSAS 18001: 2007 reference updated in 2018 with the publication of ISO 45001. Thus, the organizations are increasingly committed to achieving and demonstrating good occupational health and safety performance. Methods: The aim of this study was to characterize the psychosocial risks in a cryopreservation laboratory and to develop a predictive model for psychosocial risk management. The methodology followed to collect the information was the inquiry by questionnaire that was applied to a sample comprising 200 employees. Results: The results show that most of the respondents are aware of the psychosocial risks, identifying interpersonal relationships and emotional feelings as the main factors that lead to this type of risks. Furthermore, terms such as lack of resources, working hours, lab equipment, stress, and precariousness show strong correlation with psychosocial risks. The model presented in this study, based on artificial neural networks, exhibited good performance in the prediction of the psychosocial risks. Conclusion: This work presents the development of an intelligent system that allows identifying the weaknesses of the organization and contributing to the enhancement of the psychosocial risks management.

• 한국안전학회지
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• 제23권6호
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• pp.44-50
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• 2008

This paper presents study on the electric potential distribution when have a short in street lamp. In order to measure electric potential testing ground is built in. A experiment is conducted to simulate dry and submerged situation of street lamp. The street lamp is leaked by artificial means. And electric potential is measured in grounded street lamp and street lamp alone. The results show that touch voltage of grounded street lamp is possible more high than street lamp alone. And the electric shock hazard is high because high electric potential is distributed near submerged street lamp. Also if street lamp is submerged ground is not useful to decrease electric shock hazard.

• 한국안전학회지
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• 제28권3호
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• pp.88-94
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• 2013

In university laboratories, areas of studies are becoming diverse and complicated according to the development of the industry. New forms of potential risk factors are increasing and they are unlike existing ones. In addition, many students are conducting various experiments in the laboratory. Therefore, they could be exposed to risk more often. Despite these risks, people do not recognize university lab safety activities properly and observe safety precautions. They are exposed to various laboratory accidents continually. In this study, we do not apply the present diagnosis method, checklist, but the safety assessment that is widely used in industry. Then we can find lots of hazard that checklist method could miss. This study will use the 4M and Hazard & Operability to design a new Laboratory safety assessments method.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• 제13권3호
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• pp.261-262
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• 2022

Globally, it is estimated that the number of people living outside of their country of origin reached 281 million in 2020. The primary drive of those migrants when migrating voluntarily is work to increase their income and provide for their families left behind in their home countries. Those who migrate immediately seek means of income to sustain themselves through a perilous process as currently evidenced in the war in Ukraine and not too long ago in Syria and Venezuela. Unfortunately, migrant workers are globally known to predominantly be working in "4-D jobs"- dirty, dangerous, and difficult and discriminatory; the fourth D was recently added to acknowledge the discriminatory aspect and other social determinants of health migrant workers face in their host country while exposed to precarious work. Consequently, migrant workers are at considerable risk of work-related illnesses and injury but their health needs are critically overlooked in research and policy. Recognizing the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights "Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment", we cannot consider any human life - thus, the life of migrant workers - as dispensable through a structural discriminatory process that undervalues their occupational safety and health, livelihood and the contribution these workers bring to their host countries. This was seen during the preparation for the upcoming world cup in Qatar where migrant workers were exposed to a multiplicity of serious hazards including deadly heat hazards.

• 한국산업보건학회지
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• 제30권2호
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• pp.99-108
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• 2020

Objectives: This study aimed to compare the regulatory systems for laboratory safety and health management between Korea and Germany and discuss the implications. Methods: Laboratory safety and health regulations for legal enforcement and relevant technical guidelines in Korea and Germany were reviewed. Results: Lab safety and health management is enforced by the Act on the Establishment of Safe Laboratory Environment in Korea. Most provisions focus on supervisory control, that is, the principal's liability is emphasized. In addition, there is a lack of laboratory-specific procedures for safety and health management in the act since it is stipulated that other relevant regulations apply to some technical contents. Non-compulsory technical guidelines for lab safety and health management are also provided by the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency (KOSHA) in order to enable researchers to follow safe procedures. There is no independent regulation for lab safety and health in Germany, and it is also governed by several regulations. The German Social Accident Insurance Institute provides technical guidelines on lab safety and health, and these contain more specific content to allow them to be followed more easily compared to the KOSHA guidelines. The most remarkable differences between the regulation of each country were contents of the risk assessment and specific protect measures from hazardous agents. Conclusions: Regulatory control is an essential way to prevent accidents, but it is more important to create an environment in which all stakeholders, including individual lab members, are allowed to participate actively in safety and health management activities.

• 한국환경보건학회지
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• 제36권6호
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• pp.441-455
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• 2010

Researchers who work in science and engineering R&D laboratories are commonly exposed to a wide range of chemical, biological and physical hazards. They also may adopt ergonomically poor postures for long periods of time. These factors may increase the risk of adverse health outcomes in laboratory workers. Recently, there were several fatal accidents in the laboratories in universities and research institutes in Korea. Consequently, the 'Laboratory Safety Act' was enacted in 2006. However, there are concerns about the health risk associated with chronic exposures to hazards, as the management measures provided in this Act are very limited, focusing primarily on accident prevention and compensation for lab work-related accidents. In this article, the methods for assessing exposure to chemicals in laboratory environments are discussed. Also, epidemiological studies examining the association between laboratory exposure and health effects, including cancer and reproductive toxicity are extensively reviewed. Finally, the possible roles of environmental health professionals in this area are suggested, along with a list of critical research needs for properly assessing laboratory workers' exposure and risk.