• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.49-53
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• 2016

The goal of this study is to analyze accidents occurred at experimental laboratory and to suggest hierarchical taxonomy applicable to prepare countermeasures reducing the experimental laboratory accidents. Recent 5 years accidents were analyzed and classified according to their primary cause, facility or human. Then in case of facility, the accidents were further classified whether they can be fixed by organization or by individual. In case of human factor, they were classified into physical, chemical, or biological to prepare precise measures. Depending on the adequacy of appropriate practice, several measures were suggested such as; whether to improve training of laboratory workers, or to improve training the system, or to improve or prepare practice substantially. A new taxonomy for laboratory accident was suggested complying other governmental agencies' classification such as KOSHA and KGS. Additionally, two kinds of possibilities were suggested such as possibility of major accident and possibility of disaster which can be defined as laboratory accident causing large scale of harmful consequence to residential area or environment by fire, explosion and/or toxic release of hazardous chemicals and/or microbiology.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.286-287
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• 2021

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.214-219
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• 2017

Coal workers' pneumoconiosis (CWP) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are characterized as chronic inflammation of the lung in miners exposed to coal mine dust. The aim of the present study was to compare the levels of serum lactate dehydrogenase (LD) and C-reactive protein (CRP) as the inflammatory indices between subjects with CWP and those with CWP and COPD (CWP+COPD), among a total of 97 subjects (27 control, 40 CWP, and 30 CWP+COPD patients). The mean levels of serum LD (165.7 vs 184.6 U/L, p=0.016) and CRP (0.08 vs 0.15 mg/dL, p=0.002) in subjects with CWP were higher than those of in subjects without CWP. The mean level of serum CRP (0.10 vs 0.19 mg/dL, p=0.008) in subjects with COPD was higher than that in subjects without COPD. In an analysis of covariance adjusted by age, the mean level of serum CRP showed statistical significance among the study groups, control, CWP, and CWP+COPD (0.07 vs 0.13 vs 0.19 mg/dL, p=0.005); the mean level of serum CRP in the CWP+COPD group was significantly higher than that of the control group (p=0.001). The results suggest that a high level of CRP in the serum may be associated with CWP and COPD in retired coal miners.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.7-16
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• 2012

The Korean GDP per capita doubled during the last 10 years. As the GDP increases, Korean health behaviors such as, eating, drinking, smoking, and exercise habits changed as well. Compared to the remarkably advanced diagnostic technologies and therapeutics during the last decade, the leading causes of death in Korea scarcely changed. Among the leading causes of death, cerebrovascular disease, heart disease, diabetes, liver disease and hypertension are closely related to health behaviors. Using the database of medical check-up between 2001 and 2010, the authors performed a longitudinal study for the prevalence rates and the trends of major chronic adult diseases among the 2,721 workers along with their health behavior. Among the diagnostic test items, fasting blood sugar, cholesterol and BMI levels showed steady increase and these three test items all showed linear trends (p<0.001). The average blood sugar and cholesterol levels were near worrying levels. Moreover, the average BMI of males was found to be at the overweight level, intimating the possibility reaching thee Obese Class I level soon if there are no aggressive counter measures. Fasting blood sugar and cholesterol levels were higher in a drinking group as compared to a non-drinking group, and the BMI levels were also higher in the drinking group and the smoking group as compared to the non-drinking and the non-smoking group (p<0.001). Finally, the authors believe that the fasting blood sugar, cholesterol and BMI levels should be designated as target monitoring test items in the medical check-up for Korean employees.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2022.06a
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• pp.344-352
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• 2022

Accurate indoor localization of construction workers and mobile assets is essential in safety management. Existing positioning methods based on GPS, wireless, vision, or sensor based RTLS are erroneous or expensive in large-scale indoor environments. Tightly coupled sensor fusion mitigates these limitations. This research paper proposes a state-of-the-art positioning methodology, addressing the existing limitations, by integrating Stereo Visual Inertial Odometry (SVIO) with fiducial landmarks called AprilTags. SVIO determines the relative position of the moving assets or workers from the initial starting point. This relative position is transformed to an absolute position when AprilTag placed at various entry points is decoded. The proposed solution is tested on the NVIDIA ISAAC SIM virtual environment, where the trajectory of the indoor moving forklift is estimated. The results show accurate localization of the moving asset within any indoor or underground environment. The system can be utilized in various use cases to increase productivity and improve safety at construction sites, contributing towards 1) indoor monitoring of man machinery coactivity for collision avoidance and 2) precise real-time knowledge of who is doing what and where.

• Journal of Technologic Dentistry
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.381-399
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• 2016

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the awareness of dental technicians on demand for this occupation, their occupational satisfaction and factors affecting the supply and demand of dental technicians. Methods: A self-reported questionnaire survey was carried out by having convenience sampling as 200 dental technicians who work in Seoul Metropolis, Gyeonggi-do Province, Chungnam-do Province from September 26, 2016 to October 15. An analysis of the collected data was computationally processed by using SPSS Win 19.0 program. An analytical technique was made by using statistical techniques such as frequency & percentage, T-test, One-way ANOVA or ANCOVA analysis. The following are the analytical results of the collected materials. Results: When the occupational satisfaction of the selected subjects was analyzed, there were significant differences according to academic credential, marital status, duties in charge, position and monthly income. Their preference for this occupation as a lifelong job significantly varied with age, academic credential, duties in charge, position and monthly income. Their turnover plans significantly differed with age, position, career and monthly income(p<.05). As a result of analyzing what factors affected manpower supply and demand, they placed a lot of importance on the areas of required time and satisfaction, and they attached a less importance to the areas of interpersonal relationships and workload. Their total average score in these areas was 3.06. Conclusion: As a result of research, the manpower supply and demand factors that exerted significant influences on occupational satisfaction were pride. required time and the appropriateness of the number of workers, and the manpower supply and demand factors that had significant impacts on job preference as a lifelong occupation were satisfaction, pride and the appropriateness of the number of workers. The manpower supply and demand factors that affected turnover plans in a significant way were pride, satisfaction and the appropriateness of the number of workers.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.243-249
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• 2011

Objectives: Cement contains hexavalent chromium, which is a human carcinogen. However, its effect on cancer seems inconclusive in epidemiologic studies. The aim of this retrospective cohort study was to elucidate the association between dust exposure in the cement industry and cancer occurrence. Methods: The cohorts consisted of male workers in 6 Portland cement factories in Korea. Study subjects were classified into five groups by job: quarry, production, maintenance, laboratory, and office work. Cancer mortality and incidence in workers were observed from 1992 to 2007 and 1997-2005, respectively. Standardized mortality ratios and standardized incidence ratios were calculated according to the five job classifications. Results: There was an increased standardized incidence ratio for stomach cancer of 1.56 (27/17.36, 95% confidence interval: 1.02-2.26) in production workers. The standardized mortality ratio for lung cancer increased in production workers. However, was not statistically significant. Conclusion: Our result suggests a potential association between cement exposure and stomach cancer. Hexavalent chromium contained in cement might be a causative carcinogen.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.120-123
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• 2016

Background: To assess in a laboratory setting the ability to stay awake in a sample of workers of an Italian hospital and to investigate the association between that ability and the risk of occupational injury. Methods: Nine workers at the University Hospital of Udine who reported an occupational injury in the study period (cases), and seven noninjured workers (controls) underwent a polysomnography and four 40-minute maintenance of wakefulness tests (MWT). Differences in sleep characteristics and in wakefulness maintenance were assessed using Wilcoxon's rank sums tests and Fisher's exact tests. Results: Controls had greater sleep latency, lower total sleep time, fewer leg movements, and a higher percentage ratio of cycling alternating pattern, were more likely not to fall asleep during the MWT and were less likely to have two or more sleep onsets. Although not all the differences reached statistical significance, cases had lower sleep onset times in Trials 1-3. Conclusion: In the literature, the evidence of an association between MWT results and real life risk of accidents is weak. Our results suggest a relationship between the MWT results and the risk of injury among hospital workers.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.50-56
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• 2012

Purpose: Those who access to the nuclear medicine department are classified as radiation workers, temporarily access group, and occasional access group as defined by the atomic energy law. The radiation workers and temporarily access people wear a personal radiation dosimeter for checking their own radiation absorbed dose periodically. However, because of the sanitation workers, classified as temporarily access group, who are working in the nuclear medicine department are moved in a cycle with other departments and their works are changeful, it is hard to control their radiation absorbed dose. Thus, this study is going to examine the state of the sanitation worker's radiation absorbed dose, and then make sure whether they are classified as temporarily access group or not. Materials and methods: In the first instance, the first sanitation worker who works in vitro laboratory and PET room and the second sanitation worker who works in gamma camera rooms (invivo room) wore radiation dosimeter-OSL(Optically Stimulated Luminescence)- to measure their own radiation absorbed dose during work time from May to June 2011. Secondly, this study was taken place 5 places in gamma camera rooms, 2 places in PET bed room, operating room, waiting room and cyclotron room in PET and 4 places in vitro laboratory. And then to measure the radiation space dose rate, it is measured 10 times each of places as sanitation worker's work flow by using radiation survey meter. Results: The radiation absorbed dose on OSL of the first c who works in vitro laboratory and PET room and the second one who works in gamma camera rooms are 0.04, 0.02 mSv per month respectively. That means the estimated annual radiation absorbed doses are less than 1mSv as 0.48, 0.24 mSv/yr respectively. The radiation space dose rates as sanitation worker's work flow using survey meter are 0.0037, 0.0019 mSv/day, so the estimated annual radiation absorbed dose are 0.93, 0.47 mSv/yr respectively. The weighted exposure dose of first sanitation worker of each places are 1.62% in cyclotron room, 3.88% in waiting room, 2.39% in operating room, 81.01% in bed room of PET and 11.01% in vitro laboratory. The weighted exposure dose of second sanitation worker of each places are 45.22% in radiopharmaceutical laboratory, gamma 30.64% in camera rooms, 15.65% in waiting room, 8.49% in reading room. Conclusion: The annual radiation absorbed doses on OSL of both sanitation workers are less than 1 mSv per year and the annual radiation absorbed doses by using survey meter are less than 1mSv either, but close up to 1 mSv. Thus, to clarify whether the sanitation workers are temporarily access group or not, and to be lessen their s radiation absorbed dose, they should be educated about management of radiation and modified their work flow or work time appropriately, their radiation absorbed dose would be lessen certainly.

• 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.