• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.836-843
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• 2022

In the present study, exposure to heavy metals by consumption of edible seaweeds (green laver, laver, hijiki, sea tangle, and sea mustard) was assessed based on their concentrations of lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), arsenic (As), and mercury (Hg). The mean of heavy metal concentrations were 0.006-0.023 mg/kg for Pb, 0.037-0.156 mg/kg for Cd, 1.117-15.928 mg/kg for As, and 0.008-0.021 mg/kg for Hg. In multivariate analysis, the correlations were high between Pb levels in sea mustard, Cb levels in laver, and As and Hg level in Hijiki. However, the estimated daily intake and target hazard quotient (THQ) of the heavy metals in edible seaweeds were below their approved limits suggesting no health risks associated with seaweed consumption by Koreans.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.78-93
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• 1996

Background : The goal of this study was to establish the QA items and guidelines for preventing and improving of safety management. Therefore we investigated the nurses' recognition and knowledge of the safety and risk procedures and policies, and the agreement between the nurses beliefs on the degree of importance of those procedures and policies, with actual implementation in hospitals. Method : The subjects of this study were 201 nurses who participated in a program called continuing education for nurses, which held in December, 1993. Result: The results of this study were as follows: 1. Among 18 types of hospital risks, the items that scored highest or the need of closer attention in safety management was the needle stick, medication errors, falling, and bed sores. 2. In most questions of the 18 incidences, the nurses showed that the estimated result would have positive signs except for hospital infections, burns, and bed sores. 3. Even though the survey shows that incidences and types of occurences varies according to the person's age and the time of incident, they mostly occur between midnight to 6AM. Falls and bed sores can be seen more in the elderly. Medications errors, hospital infections and burns are frequently found between the ages of one through twenty. 4. There was a higher mean score for recognizing the importance of those items than the importance of implementing them. Conclusion : In summary, nurses did perceive the need of safety management but the hospital policy for proper safety management was not established. So we recommended that the hospital administration would undertake an early detection and proper management system for hospital precautions, based on QA items & guidelines presented in this study.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.178-186
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• 2014

Background: This study was conducted to assess health risks in regard to exposure by children to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in children's products. Methods: Ten VOCs were measured by head-space gas chromatography in children's products, including toys, oil pastels, sign pens, furniture, ball pools, and playmats. We estimated the average daily dose (ADD) via inhalation during the use of these children's products and calculated hazard quotient (HQ) by dividing ADD by reference dose of VOCs. Results: Among the measured VOCs, five compounds were identified in children's products: benzene, ethylbenzene, styrene, toluene, and xylene. The detection rates of VOCs in toys, ball pools, furniture, playmats, sign pens, and oil pastels were 85%, 100%, 100%, 30%, 100%, and 60%, respectively. The maximum levels of VOCs were 0.18 mg benzene/kg in toys, 5.92 mg toluene/kg in playmats, 10.37 mg ethylbenzene/kg in ball pools, 24.85 mg xylene/kg in toys, and 118.29 mg styrene/kg in ball pools. From exposure levels of VOCs in the children's products HQs were calculated within a range of $5.71{\times}10^{-10}$ to $4.77{\times}10^{-4}$. The HQ of xylene was the highest for children aged 0-6 playing on the playmats. However, the HQ via inhalation exposure to VOCs in individual products did not exceed 1.00. Conclusion: Based on the results, it was concluded that the use of these children's products do not pose health risks to children.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2020.12a
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• pp.96-102
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• 2020

The construction industry remains serious accidents, injuries, and fatalities due to it's unique, dynamic, and temporary nature. On workplace sites, Safety pre-task planning is one of the efforts to minimize injuries and help construction personnel to identify potential hazards. However, the working conditions are complicated. Many activities, including tasks or job steps, are executing at the same time and place. It may lead to an increase in the risks from simultaneous tasks. This paper contributes to addressing this issue by introducing a safety risk interaction analyzing framework. To accomplish this objective, accident reports of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) are investigated. The pairs of task incompatibility, which have time-space conflicts and lead to incidents, are found. Ontology technology is applied to build the risk database, in which the information is acquired, structuralized. The proposed system is expected to improve pre-task planning efficiency and relieve the burdens encountered by safety managers. A user scenario is also discussed to demonstrate how the ontology supports pre-task planning in practice.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.48 no.6
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• pp.265-270
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• 2015

The recent Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) outbreak has originated from a failure in the national quarantine system in the Republic of Korea as most basic role of protecting the safety and lives of its citizens. Furthermore, a number of the Korean healthcare system's weaknesses seem to have been completely exposed. The MERS-CoV outbreak can be considered a typical public health crisis in that the public was not only greatly terrorized by the actual fear of the disease, but also experienced a great impact to their daily lives, all in a short period of time. Preparedness for and an appropriate response to a public health crisis require comprehensive systematic public healthcare measures to address risks comprehensively with an all-hazards approach. Consequently, discussion regarding establishment of post-MERS-CoV improvement measures must focus on the total reform of the national quarantine system and strengthening of the public health infrastructure. In addition, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must implement specific strategies of action including taking on the role of "control tower" in a public health emergency, training of Field Epidemic Intelligence Service officers, establishment of collaborative governance between central and local governments for infection prevention and control, strengthening the roles and capabilities of community-based public hospitals, and development of nationwide crisis communication methods.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.401-417
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to investigate consumer concerns about hazardous elements on foods and recognition of the roles of government, food producers, and consumers in securing food safety. The data were collected from the 443 adult consumers living in Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Incheon, Kwangju and Daejeon through a self-administered questionnaire. Frequencies, t tests, analysis of variance and Duncan's multiple range tests were conducted using SPSS Windows. The results of the survey were as follows: (1) the respondents were worried about health risks related to hazardous elements on foods, (2) many respondents were more worried about preservatives of imported foods than those of domestic foods, and (3) most respondents mentioned that observance of enforcement regulations by producers was the most important factor for ensuring food safety in the future. These results imply that regulations regarding the safety of imported foods should be increased.

• Proceedings of the Safety Management and Science Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.255-259
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• 2000

Despite improved working environment with increased automation in industry, the nursing professions are subject to great deal of potential occupational risks, including chemical exposure, occupational stress, and musculoskeletal stress. In this study, we investigated the work-related Low Back Pains(LBPs) among hospital nursing profession by questionnaire survey. The results showed that over 89% of nursing personnel answered had experienced work-related LBPs. Among these personnel, patient handling caused more than 78% of the incidents occurring at work. This study will thus contribute as a basic reference to the hospitals and ergonomic practitioners for nursing profession training program development, facility and equipment redesign, and for guiding future research concerning prevention of this very important occupational health problem.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.32-37
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• 2016

Background: Previous research has shown that paramedics are exposed to risks in the form of injuries to the musculoskeletal system. In addition, there are studies showing that they are also at increased risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and psychiatric diseases, which can partly be explained by their constant exposure to stress. The aim of this study is to evaluate whether the use of shoulder straps decreases physical effort in the form of decreased heart rate and cortisol concentration. Methods: A stretcher with a dummy was carried by 20 participants for 400 m on two occasions, one with and one without the shoulder straps. Heart rate was monitored continuously and cortisol samples were taken at intervals of 0 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 45 minutes, and 60 minutes. Each participant was her or his own control. Results: A significant decrease in heart rate and cortisol concentration was seen when shoulder straps were used. The median values for men (with shoulder straps) at 0 minutes was 78 bpm/21.1 nmol/L (heart rate/cortisol concentration), at 15 minutes was 85 bpm/16.9 nmol/L, and at 60 minutes was 76 bpm/15.7 nmol/L; for men without shoulder straps, these values were 78 bpm/21.9 nmol/L, 93 bpm/21.9 nmol/L, and 73 bpm/20.5 nmol/L. For women, the values were 85 bpm/23.3 nmol/L, 92 bpm/20.8 nmol/L, and 70 bpm/18.4 nmol/L and 84 bpm/32.4 nmol/L, 100 bpm/32.5 nmol/L, and 75 bpm/25.2 nmol/L, respectively. Conclusion: The use of shoulder straps decreases measurable physical stress and should therefore be implemented when heavy equipment or a stretcher needs to be carried. An easy way to ensure that staff use these or similar lifting aids is to provide them with personalized, well-adapted shoulder straps. Another better option would be to routinely sewn these straps into the staff's personal alarm jackets so they are always in place and ready to be used.

• Journal of Technologic Dentistry
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.221-232
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• 2010

Purpose: It is necessary for dental technicians exposed to hazardous chemicals in the dental laboratories to be informed of the various harmful effects of chemicals for their health and safety. The purposes of this study was to investigate the actual condition of the use of MSDS in dental laboratories and the recognition rate of MSDS for dental technicians. Methods: 231 dental technicians who were self-written questionnaire. The results were analyzed by SPSS 12.0. The answers to the questionnaire underwent frequency analysis, chi-square test and correlation analysis were performed to investigate association between health effects and recognition rate of chemical information. Results: The results from the effects of damage caused by chemicals 60.7%, and when it was less than 2 years working experience 47.6%. Currently any dental laboratories(rooms) was not furnished MSDS(0%) and even similar data furnishing rate was only 17.3%. Answer rate of 'Do not know about MSDS' was 73.6%. In addition to, education in the types and characteristics of chemicals(74.5%) does not receive all the higher education. For the question of 'To prevent human risks and accidents, is to provide chemical information needed', the answer rate of 'needed' was 87.2%. Moreover, the answer rate of 'To provide chemical information that could prevent accidents' was 76.6%. Therefore it was found that dental technicians need to be provided for chemical information. In addition, they wanted to get education related to chemicals used in the workplace(80.5%), and 90.9% was answered that they was willing to keep MSDS in they workplace. Conclusion: This study investigated the current dental laboratories(rooms) and the MSDS for the awareness and recognition of workers was very low, education was not being conducted properly. The dental laboratories(rooms) of the compact characteristics of the MSDS was not reasonably accessible and the furnishing location, dental laboratories(rooms) for the real item was needed for improvement. MSDS for dental technicians through education and promotion of information about chemicals and chemicals was to prevent health problems caused by the MSDS that will raise awareness of the necessity.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.7-12
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• 2016

Total mercury (TM) is a hazardous element that is of particular concern to human health. Due to the diversity of dietary habits among fishes, tissue-specific analysis of hazardous elements is necessary. In this study, the tissue-specific TM in cultured fish was analyzed to conduct risk assessment. The highest concentrations of TM were found in the farmed marine fish Pagrus major (0.111 mg/kg) and in the farmed freshwater fish Channa argus (0.162 mg/kg). TM concentration was significantly correlated with total fish length (P<0.01). Significant differences in TM were found between three types of fish tissue, with the concentration in fish muscle being significantly higher than those of gill or liver (P<0.01). Moreover, the tissue-specific TM concentrations of farmed freshwater fish were significantly higher than those of farmed marine fish (P<0.01). According to the risk assessment, the TM body exposure rate of muscle and liver in cultured fishes ranged from 0.001 to 0.389% of the Provisional Tolerable Weekly Intake. Therefore, these results showing the tissue-specific TM contents of cultured fish could be useful to assess the health risks of Korean dietary habits.