• Title/Summary/Keyword: Laboratory safety awareness

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An Investigation on the Recognition of Biosafety Regulation Systems for the Living Modified Organism (유전자변형생물체 안전관리제도 인식조사)

  • Rho, Young-Hee;Hong, Jeong-Yoo
    • Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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    • v.33 no.1
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    • pp.63-67
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    • 2014
  • BACKGROUND: The present study is an exploratory research to establish national biosafety regulation systems through a survey on the recognition of safety regulation systems for the living modified organism(LMO). METHODS AND RESULTS: We have conducted a survey on an awareness of LMO safety regulation systems in scientific working groups. The data of 235 respondents were analyzed using various statistical methods. As a result, 72.8% of the respondents were male; 27.2% were female, and 43.4% of them work in the university. A total of 33.2% of the respondents majored in general biology, and their most common job position was the laboratory safety manager. The difference of an awareness on LMO law and regulatory system was not statistically significant by either work places or job positions. CONCLUSION: For the rapid settlement and the efficient implementation of LMO safety management policy, we conclude that it is required to reduce the gap between the recognition and fulfillment of safety management. Furthermore, the mutual exchanges of information among researchers are needed with the settlement of the safety management system and the harmony of policy with improvement of the absurd regulations. The ongoing and specialized training, inspections, and the strengthening of public relations are also required along with the efforts to improve the absurd regulations.

An Empirical Study on the Safety Consciousness of Experimental Researchers in University Laboratories (대학 실험·실습활동 종사자의 안전의식 실증분석 연구)

  • Lee, Young Jai;Kang, Seong Kyung;Lee, Byoung Ho
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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    • v.33 no.1
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    • pp.118-127
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    • 2018
  • The study aims present data collection on the current state of safety and safety consciousness in universities' laboratories to verify the relation between investigation factors and further draw implications. The first finding is that laboratories with high risk level do not have better safety management performance than those with lower risk level. Secondly, labs that experienced accidents has a higher level of control than those without any. Regarding to the university's acceptance of safety requirements, the group with a high level of risk awareness or accidents were concerned that their universities did not provide sufficient support in safety management. It means that safety is low on the list of priorities in Universities' overall agenda and individual labs are responsible of their own safety. Most of the causes of accidents in the labs are man-made than physical errors. It requires that continuous safety educations and measures through safe research activities are means to eliminate and reduce the individual's safety frigidity. Through the survey, it is known that current education's system and contents are too generalized to reflect the characteristics of each laboratory. Thus, it is difficult to recognize various risk situations and to actually prevent safety accidents. Therefore, it is necessary to shift to customized curriculum and system for various major fields.

Study of the safety education condition and injury occurrence in dental technicians- in Seoul and Gyeonggi (치과기공사의 안전교육 실태 및 상해발생 조사연구 -서울·경기 지역을 중심으로)

  • Kim, Jin;Choi, Se-Woong;Shin, Su-Jeong;Cho, Yoon-Sang;Lim, Su-Min;Shim, Jeong-Seok;Lee, Jung-Soo;Bae, Eun-Jeong
    • Journal of Technologic Dentistry
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    • v.39 no.3
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    • pp.179-185
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    • 2017
  • Purpose: It is intended to raise awareness of importance of protective equipment and necessity of safety education by examining the actual condition of measures to deal with accident, occurrence of injury, whether safety education is received or not, the actual condition of wearing protective equipment, and working environment of dental lab and dental technician. Methods: A self-administered survey was conducted for a total of 150 dental technologists. A chi-squared test and independent-samples t-test was carried out by using SPSS WIN Program (version 12.0) in order to analyze the actual condition of safety education according to work experience and position and whether injury occurred according to whether to wear protective equipment. Significance level was 0.05. Results: With regard to whether injury occurred according to whether safety education was received, there was 'receiving the safety education-injured (71.8%)', 'not receiving the safety education-injured (79.7%)', 'receiving the safety education-not injured (28.2%)', and 'not receiving the safety education-not injured (20.3%)'. The statistical results of injury occurrence according to safety education were not significant. With regard to whether to be injured according work experience, there was 'less than 10 years-injured (68.4%)', 'less than 10 years- not injured (31.6%)', '10 years or above-injured (89.1%)', and '10 years or above-not injured (10.9%)'. The statistical results of injury occurrence according to work experience were significant (p<0.001). Conclusion: Dental lab and specialized agencies should continue to be interested in periodic safety training, recommending wearing protective equipment and personal protective equipment support and so on.

Biosafety Challenges for the Microbiology Laboratory

  • Montville, Thomas J.
    • Proceedings of the Korean Society for Applied Microbiology Conference
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    • 2005.06a
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    • pp.66-70
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    • 2005
  • Microbiology research must be conducted in a fashion that assures the health and well being of the researcher and the safety of the community. This lecture raises awareness of biosafety issues and discusses how the interaction of the pathogen being studied, the person conducting the research, and the practices being used can be manipulated to assure safety. The characterization of pathogens into Risk Groups, how these relate to Biosafety Levels, and the personal practices and laboratory design criteria associated with each Biosafety Level are explained. The importance of preventing or containing aerosols, limiting opportunities for cross-contamination, and taking a flexible multi-component approach to biosafety are emphasized.

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General Public Knowledge Regarding Topical Corticosteroids: A Nationwide Survey in South Korea

  • Seo, Heenam;Song, Seoung Yeon;Kim, Dahye;Park, Ji Hwan;Shin, Yoonho;Lee, Kang Hyuk;Choi, Soo An;Lee, Ju-Yeun;Kim, Do Young;Shin, Wan Gyoon;Kim, Eunyoung
    • Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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    • v.32 no.2
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    • pp.84-92
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    • 2022
  • Background: Topical corticosteroids (TCs) are available both as over-the-counter drugs and prescription medicines at pharmacies. Although they are generally safe drugs, inappropriate and excessive use could result in potential side effects. Thus, it is important to have appropriate knowledge regarding the use of TCs. We performed a cross-sectional survey to assess public knowledge and the potential misuse or overuse of TCs. Methods: A cross-sectional and nationwide online survey was conducted among participants who were aware of TCs. The survey items included sources of information, indications, potential side effects, and methods of application of TCs. A comparative analysis was conducted between those with (TC users) and without (TC non-users) an experience of using TCs. Results: Among 3,000 participants, 74.4% were TC users. The mass media was the most common information source of TCs, and only one-third of the surveyed people relied on pharmacists or doctors for information. Regarding indications and application methods, incorrect answer rate was high in some items, but respondents showed adequate knowledge. However, awareness of the safety of TCs was low. Overall, the TC users showed a higher knowledge of TCs than TC non-users. Conclusions: Public knowledge of the use of TCs appears to be appropriate. However, we found potential misuse or overuse of some items and a lack of awareness of the side effects concerning TCs. Thus, healthcare professionals' significant role is required.

Status of Laboratory Biosafety and Biosecurity in Veterinary Research Facilities in Nigeria

  • Odetokun, Ismail Ayoade;Jagun-Jubril, Afusat Toyin;Onoja, Bernard A.;Wungak, Yiltawe Simwal;Raufu, Ibrahim Adisa;Chen, Jessica Corron
    • Safety and Health at Work
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    • v.8 no.1
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    • pp.49-58
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    • 2017
  • Background: This study determined current status of laboratory biosafety in Nigerian veterinary research facilities. Methods: A questionnaire was developed to obtain information from researchers across Nigeria from July 2014 to July 2015. Information regarding demographics, knowledge of laboratory biosafety, availability and proper use of personal protective equipment (PPE), any priority pathogens researched, attitude on and use of standard laboratory practices, and biosafety awareness was obtained using a numeric scoring system. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, and univariate and multivariate logistic regression. Results: A total of 74 participants from 19 facilities completed the questionnaire. General knowledge scores ranged from 3 to 28 (out of 28 possible points), with 94.6% of respondents receiving low scores (scores < mean + 1 standard deviation). Very few (17.6%) reported availability or use PPE. Many participants (63.5%) reported no access to biosafety level (BSL)-1-3 facilities. None reported availability of a BSL-4 facility. Knowledge scores pertaining to biosafety management practices ranged from 0 to 14 (out of 14 possible points) with 47.3% of respondents receiving good scores (scores > mean + 1 standard deviation). Only 16.2% of respondents (from four facilities) reported having biosafety officers. Rabies virus was the most researched pathogen (31.1% of respondents). The majority (71.6%) were unaware of laws guiding biosafety. Researchers [odds ratio (OR) = 18.0; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.63, 198.5; p = 0.023], especially in BSL-2 (OR = 258.5; 95% CI: 12.71, 5256; p < 0.001) facility of research institute (OR = 25.0; 95% CI: 5.18, 120.6; p < 0.001), are more likely to have adequate access to and properly utilize biosafety devices and PPE. Conclusions: Current knowledge of laboratory biosafety is limited except among a few researchers.

Laboratory Biosafety Status of Researchers in Korea (국내 연구원들의 생물안전 개념에 대한 현황)

  • Kim, Dae Sik;Kim, Mi Kyung
    • 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.

Red ginseng monograph

  • So, Seung-Ho;Lee, Jong Won;Kim, Young-Sook;Hyun, Sun Hee;Han, Chang-Kyun
    • Journal of Ginseng Research
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    • v.42 no.4
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    • pp.549-561
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    • 2018
  • Ginseng has been traditionally used for several millennia in Asian countries, including Korea, China, and Japan, not only as a nourishing and tonifying agent but also as a therapeutic agent for a variety of diseases. In recent years, the various effects of red ginseng including immunity improvement, fatigue relief, memory improvement, blood circulation improvement, antioxidation, mitigation of menopausal women's symptoms, and anticancer an effect have been reported in clinical as well as basic research. Around the world, there is a trend of the rising consumption of health functional foods on the level of disease prevention along with increased interest in maintaining health because of population aging and the awareness of lifestyle diseases and chronic diseases. Red ginseng occupies an important position as a health functional food. But till now, international ginseng monographs including those of the World Health Organization have been based on data on white ginseng and have mentioned red ginseng only partly. Therefore, the red ginseng monograph is needed for component of red ginseng, functionality certified as a health functional food in the Korea Food and Drug Administration, major efficacy, action mechanism, and safety. The present red ginseng monograph will contribute to providing accurate information on red ginseng to agencies, businesses, and consumers both in South Korea and abroad.

Adaptive Multimodal In-Vehicle Information System for Safe Driving

  • Park, Hye Sun;Kim, Kyong-Ho
    • ETRI Journal
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    • v.37 no.3
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    • pp.626-636
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    • 2015
  • This paper proposes an adaptive multimodal in-vehicle information system for safe driving. The proposed system filters input information based on both the priority assigned to the information and the given driving situation, to effectively manage input information and intelligently provide information to the driver. It then interacts with the driver using an adaptive multimodal interface by considering both the driving workload and the driver's cognitive reaction to the information it provides. It is shown experimentally that the proposed system can promote driver safety and enhance a driver's understanding of the information it provides by filtering the input information. In addition, the system can reduce a driver's workload by selecting an appropriate modality and corresponding level with which to communicate. An analysis of subjective questionnaires regarding the proposed system reveals that more than 85% of the respondents are satisfied with it. The proposed system is expected to provide prioritized information through an easily understood modality.

The effects of Inter-professional Patient Safety Education in clinical practice for healthcare college students (보건의료계열 대학생 대상 전문직 간 환자안전 교육프로그램이 임상실습에 미치는 효과)

  • Shin, Eunhee
    • Journal of Digital Convergence
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    • v.17 no.11
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    • pp.409-417
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    • 2019
  • This study was done to identify the effects of the inter-professional education program on the knowledge, attitude, and self-confidence of patient safety in the clinical practice of nursing, physical therapy and biomedical laboratory students. Each week for 6 weeks, a lecture and group discussion were given to twenty-nine students. Data were collected by self-administered questionnaire and interview. The knowledge and self-confidence were increased but the attitude was not changed. Students showed the increased their awareness of patient safety and the importance of collaboration with other occupational groups. It is necessary to establish a inter-professional education program between departments to enhance the ability to work collaboratively based on good communication along with knowledge, attitude in clinical settings.