• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• /
• v.30 no.2
• /
• pp.99-108
• /
• 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.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.23 no.1
• /
• pp.75-95
• /
• 2006

Two-step identification approaches for effective bridge health monitoring are proposed to alleviate the issues associated with many unknown parameters faced in real structures and to improve the accuracy in the estimate results. It is suitable for on-line monitoring scheme, since the damage assessment is not always needed to be carried out whereas the alarming for damages is to be continuously monitored. In the first step for screening potentially damaged members, a damage indicator method based on modal strain energy, probabilistic neural networks and the conventional neural networks using grouping technique are utilized and then the conventional neural networks technique is utilized for damage assessment on the screened members in the second step. The effectiveness of the proposed methods is investigated through a field test on the northern-most span of the old Hannam Grand Bridge over the Han River in Seoul, Korea.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.41 no.4
• /
• pp.539-558
• /
• 2012

The diagnosis of bridge serviceability is carried out by a combination of in-situ visual inspection, static and dynamic loading tests and analyses. Structural health monitoring (SHM) using information technology and sensors is increasingly being used for providing a better estimate of structural performance characteristics rather than above traditional methods. Because the mechanical behavior of bridges with various kinds of damage can not be made clear, it is very difficult to estimate both the damage mode and degree of damage of existing bridges. In this paper, the sensitivity of both static and dynamic behaviors of bridges are studied as a measure of damage assessment through experiments on model bridges induced with some specified artificial damages. And, a method of damage assessment of bridges based on those behaviors is discussed in detail. Finally, based on the results, a possible application for structural health monitoring systems for existing bridges is also discussed.

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.5 no.2
• /
• pp.173-191
• /
• 2009

Civil infrastructures are always subjected to various types of hazard and deterioration. These conditions require systematic efforts to assess the exposure and vulnerability of infrastructure, as well as producing strategic countermeasures to reduce the risks. This paper describes the needs for and concept of advanced sensor technologies for risk assessment of civil infrastructure in Japan. Backgrounds of the infrastructure problems such as natural disasters, difficult environment, limited resource for maintenance, and increasing requirement for safety are discussed. The paper presents a concept of risk assessment, which is defined as a combination of hazard and structural vulnerability assessment. An overview of current practices and research activities toward implementing the concept is presented. This includes implementation of structural health monitoring (SHM) systems for environment and natural disaster prevention, improvement of stock management, and prevention of structural failure.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
• /
• v.6 no.1
• /
• pp.185-193
• /
• 2012

This study is to observe the effect of oral health of elderly on overall health status and social activity to provide basic data for oral health improvement program for the elderly and development of related policies. The survey was conducted from July 25th to July 29th, 2011, and used 145 copies for this research analysis. As a result of correlation analysis, it is observed that all of 4 sub factors of Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Index have significant static correlation with overall health status of elderly and social activity also has significant static correlation with oral health. As a result of regression analysis, the functional limitation out of sub factors showed significant positive effect on health status and psychological effect has significant positive effect on social activity. Based on the above result, it is observed that, at the time of rapidly entering to an aging society, the life quality related to oral health of elderly which is part of overall health and overall health status and social activity areas that are recognized by the elderly have significant correlation. And, it is important to understand the factors of oral health affecting health status and social activity. Based on the result of this study, more researches on the development of oral health program and development of assessment tool that can be easily employed should be made.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.45 no.4
• /
• pp.267-275
• /
• 2012

Objectives: This study was conducted to assess the potential health impacts and improve the quality of the free immunization program in Jinju City by maximizing the predicted positive health gains and minimizing the negative health risks. Methods: A steering committee was established in September 2010 to carry out the health impact assessment (HIA) and began the screening and scoping stages. In the appraisal stage, analysis of secondary data, a literature review, case studies, geographic information systems analysis, a questionnaire, and expert consultations were used. The results of the data collection and analyses were discussed during a workshop, after which recommendations were finalized in a written report. Results: Increased access to immunization, comprehensive services provided by physicians, the strengthened role of the public health center in increasing immunization rates and services, and the ripple effect to other neighboring communities were identified as potential positive impacts. On the other hand, the program might be inaccessible to rural regions with no private clinics where there are more at-risk children, vaccine management and quality control at the clinics may be poor, and vaccines may be misused. Recommendations to maximize health gains and minimize risks were separately developed for the public health center and private clinics. Conclusions: The HIA provided an opportunity for stakeholders to comprehensively overview the potential positive and negative impacts of the program before it was implemented. An HIA is a powerful tool that should be used when developing and implementing diverse health-related policies and programs in the community.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.21 no.3
• /
• pp.171-185
• /
• 1989

On the basis of equal health hazard risk, economic assessment of nuclear was compared with that of coal for the expansion planning of electric power generation in the year 2000. In comparing health risks, the risk of coal was roughly ten times higher than that of nuclear according to various previous risk assessments of energy system. The zero risk condition can never be achievable. Therefore, only excess relative health risk of coal over nuclear was considered as social cost. The social cost of health risk was estimated by calculation of mortality and morbidity costs. Mortality cost was ＄250,000 and morbidity cost was ＄90,000 in the year 2000.(1986US＄) Through Cost/Benefit Analysis, the optimal emission standards of coal-fired power generation were predicted. These were obtained at the point of least social cost for power generation. In the year 2000, the optimal emission standard of SOx was analyzed as 165ppm for coal-fired power plants in Korea. From this assessment, economic comparison of nuclear and coal in the year 2000 showed that nuclear would be more economical than coal, whereas uncertainty of future power generation cost of nuclear would be larger than that of coal.

• Clean Technology
• /
• v.3 no.1
• /
• pp.88-95
• /
• 1997

Energy required, air emission, and solid waste generation are calculated with available foreign data ad domestic status using Life Cycle Analysis in order to compare the environmental impact of beverage containers such as PET bottle, aluminum can, glass bottle, and paper pack. Glass bottles are found to be the worst acceptability when considering only recycling rate of glass cullet, however it becomme the best when the refill(reuse) rate of glass bottles is accounted into. To assess tile current and future environmental impact of beverage containers, energy required, air emission, solid waste generation of current data and recycling goals are compared. As a result of the study, recycling of each containers and the reuse of glass bottles must be increased by governmental enforcement to reduce the environmental impacts by beverage containers. Further study on this subject using detailed LCA(life cycle assessment) data should be implemented for the exact environmental and economic assessment.

• The Journal of Health Technology Assessment
• /
• v.6 no.2
• /
• pp.106-113
• /
• 2018

Objectives: The purpose of the study was to estimate the economic burden of stroke in Korea using post stroke disability grades and to measure smoking attributed economic burden. Methods: The disability grade of stroke patient was assessed for stroke patients who did not have a history of stroke before from a large cohort study in Korea. Treatment costs of patients were estimated by the National Health Insurance Service annual statistical report and care cost was estimated by the need of care defined by the assessed disability grades of patients. The population attributable fraction from WHO was used to calculate the proportion of cost due to smoking. Results: The study revealed that the cost of the stroke in 2015 was about 3.228 trillion won, while the care-giver cost was approximately 176 billion won. The cost of the smoking attributed stroke was about 724 billion won. Conclusion: This study is useful for estimating the cost of smoking considering the post-stroke disability and the results is important for achieving the national goal of extending healthy life from the Fourth National Health Promotion Plan.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
• /
• v.45 no.4
• /
• pp.370-380
• /
• 2019

Objective: This study was performed to investigate the distribution of individual exposure characteristics according to an exposure assessment classification for humidifier disinfectant and to identify the factors that influence assessment classification. Methods: We examined the exposure characteristics of 4,482 subjects who applied for the 4-1 and 4-2 assessments of environmental exposure to humidifier disinfectant conducted by the Korea Environmental Industry & Technology Institute (KEITI). Environmental exposure assessment classification was assessed using the following seven criteria: 1) Distance from humidifier to face; 2) Spray direction; 3) Time used, daytime 4) Time used, during sleep; 5) Time used, cumulative; 6) Exposure intensity; and 7) Cumulative exposure level. Each criteria was then classified as 'high' or low'. When participants answered for more than four criteria, exposure assessment was determined as 'definite,' 'probable,' or 'possible' depending on the ratio of 'high' responses. If participants' responses were inconsistent, exposure assessment was listed as 'unlikely.' If participants answered for less than four criteria, exposure assessment was considered 'indeterminate.' Results: For the exposure assessment classes, definite was assigned to 38.5% (1,725 subjects), probable assigned to 32.9% (1,474 subjects), 25.0% (1,122 subjects) were assigned to as possible, unlikely assigned to 0.1% (3 subjects), and indeterminate assigned to 3.5% (158 subjects). Overall, participants who used 'Oxy Ssakssak New Gaseupgi Dangbun,' 'Aekyung Gaseupgi Mate,' 'Homeplus Gaseupgi Chungjungje,' and 'E-Mart Gaseupgi Salgyunje' totaled 2,996, 557, 176, and 162 subjects, respectively. There was a statistical difference in the type of humidifier disinfectant products between high-exposed and low-exposed participants. Based on the assessment criteria of humidifier disinfectant exposure, subjects were likely to be in the highly exposed classes (definite and probable) when the subjects were exposed 1) for more than ten hours per day and 2) for more than four hours at night 3) when the total cumulative exposure time was higher than the average, 4) when the direction of humidifier spray was toward the face, 5) when the respiratory position was less than 1 meter of distance from the humidifier, 6) when the concentration of indoor contaminants (ug/m3) was higher than the average exposure intensity, and 7) when overall exposure level ($ug/m3^*hr$) was higher than the average exposure level. Conclusion: This study suggests that each exposure assessment criteria was able to appropriately estimate cumulative exposure levels.