• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.128-138
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• 2011

Objectives: It has been pointed out that there are problems in handling and managing chemicals due to trade secrets of Material Safety Data Sheet(MSDS). To date, some company intentionally leave out of several parts and use an inaccurate expression in MSDS. In particular, with the result of the inspection of the government and labour community, it is required that the 2nd section in MSDS included the composition and information on ingredients has to be provided with comprehensive expression to secure more reliability. Methods: Therefore, this study is aimed: 1) to recognize the current status of trade secrets of MSDS in workplaces with both domestic manufacturers of chemical products and multinational corporations; 2) to make contributions to prevention of the industrial accidents by providing the accurate information of MSDS; 3) to improve the risk communication system related with chemicals; 4) to impress workers on the importance of right of known for MSDS. With the result we analyzed the status of trade secrets in MSDS in 73 companies, such as petrochemistry production, paint production, metal processing oil production, detergent production, and international company related with chemicals, we have found that 38,150 (45.5%) have the trade secrets parts in the total number of 83,832 in MSDS. Also, based on the 288 MSDS gathered by the Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute (OSHRI) from 2005 to 2009, 41.7% of the MSDS are classified into the trade secrets. Conclusions: Therefore, to procure an assurance system of MSDS, we suggest that a MSDS picking up and checking system be legislated in the Occupational Safety and Health Act to protect workers from the unidentified chemical hazards due to the secret trade of MSDS.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.85-91
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• 2001

The regulation of Material safety data sheets(MSDS) was required for the chemicals in use in the workplace from July 1976. Under the provisions of the workplace hazardous materials information system, employers in Korea must be provided with accurate and comprehensive MSDS. To examine the reliability of MSDS for organic solvents, 63 organic solvents and MSDS were collected from the workplace of 39 companies located in Kyonggi province. Manufacture\`s MSDS were compared with the actual composition of the collected samples, and further examined the reliability by checking whether the chemicals analyzed were included in the MSDS correctly. 38 solvents were able to analyze their composition by gas chromatography-mass selective detector(GC-MSD). Among them, 28 solvents were incorrect in their composition and contents. In some case, health hazardous or carcinogenic chemicals which were not included in the MSDS were detected from samples. As a result of evaluating whether the MSDS correspond to the regulation required by Industrial Safety and Health Act (ISHA), the information in the MSDS including hazard classification, occupational exposure level, toxicity, regulatory information were incorrectly provided, and some MSDS did not disclose carcinogenic in their MSDS, and some MSDS were not written in the standard format. From this survey, continuous monitoring and promoting correct MSDS, and analyzing the components of the solvents were required to endure the reliability of MSDS for organic solvents.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.18-26
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• 2000

Since the regulation of MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheets) had started from July 1996, employers were required to furnish MSDS for the chemicals in use in their workplace. However, many MSDS did not contain upright information for the chemicals, and they were not updated regularly, and were not written in the standard format required by the Industrial Safety and Health Act (ISHA). The purposes of this study were 1) to examine the reliability of MSDS for mixed solvents, 2) to provide reliable MSDS to employers or employees, 3) to find out any difficulties in implementing MSDS after the initiation, and 4) to promote regular MSDS updating and to ensure the reliability of MSDS for chemical manufacturers. To check the reliability of MSDS of mixed chemicals, 21 samples of mostly degreasing solvents were collected along with their MSDS from the work place. The samples were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass selective detector(GC-MSD). Their components were classified as saturated hydrocarbon, cyclic hydrocarbon, aromatics, and halogen containing hydrocarbon, and the amount of each class were measured. Manufacture's MSDS were compared with the actual composition of the collected samples, and further examined the reliability by checking whether the chemicals analyzed were included in the MSDS correctly. Finally, each item of MSDS was evaluated whether the MSDS correspond to the regulation required by ISHA. The results were following: 1) most of the degreasing solvents in MSDS were incorrect in their composition and contents, 2) the information in the MSDS including hazard classification, exposure level, toxicity, regulatory information were incorrectly provided, and 3) some MSDS did not disclose carcinogens in their MSDS. Continuous monitoring of MSDS was required to ensure reliability of MSDS. The Chemicals containing hydrocarbons from C10-C15 need to be tested to provide toxicity data. In addition, governmental support for providing correct MSDS was recommended to ensure reliability of MSDS. The MSDS regulation relating to the confidential business information may need to be revised to ensure reliability of MSDS.

• Journal of Wellbeing Management and Applied Psychology
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.25-32
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• 2023

Purpose: This study is to improve awareness of MSDS in order to prevent university accidents and protect university laboratory workers. In order to improve awareness, measures to increase accessibility through auxiliary means (warning signs, One Page Sheet MSDS, etc) and ways to strengthen safety training (improvement and strengthen MSDS training). Research design, data and methodology: A questionnaire survey was adopted as a research method for this study. Question items were selected, modified, and supplemented by referring to the previous paper. Results: As a result of the survey, MSDS found that it was difficult to find the information they wanted and that there were many technical terms and limitations in using it. In addition, MSDS training is underway, but few university laboratory workers felt that training was helping. This shows that the effectiveness of training is virtually insignificant. Therefore, it seems that improvement measures are needed to solve this. Conclusions: One Sheet MSDS, an effective way for university laboratory workers to communicate information, and MSDS information should be provided with warning signs with large phrases and good visibility. In addition, this study proposes a One Sheet MSDS that prioritizes important MSDS items over all items in the MSDS, and in the field of education, several improvements are proposed, such as "To prevent problems and answers from being shared on the Internet" and "To improve the difficulty of checking the online curriculum".

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.17-24
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• 2005

The objective of this study is to examine the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders(MSDs) among nursing personnels. A self-reporting survey adapted from Nordic questionnaires was used as diagnostic tool, and conducted for 162 nurses working for a general hospital. The survey was performed five times every three months during a year. The MSDs were defined by using three criteria, depending upon the frequency, duration and pain intensity of the symptoms. The results showed that the 12-month prevalences of MSDs at any body site by criterion 1, 2, 3 were 56.8%, 53.7%, 45.7%, respectively, and that the shoulder was the most susceptible to MSDs, followed by knee/lower leg, lower back, hand/wrist, neck, ankle/feet, finger, etc. Only one statistically significant risk factor of departments or units was identified through the Chi-square test. The prevalence of MSDs was the highest in intensive care unit, second in surgical ward, while the prevalence was the lowest in emergency room. The MSDs prevalence of Korea at any body part or by body part was much lower than that of foreign countries such as Japan, USA, Sweden, etc. This implies that when considering poor working conditions and load in Korea, the incidence rate of MSDs may rapidly increase in Korea in the future.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.276-283
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• 2012

Objectives: This study was conducted to survey the viewpoints on the material safety data sheets(MSDS) training for safety and health managers(SHMs) and workers. Subjects and Methods: A surveillance was made using a self-reported questionnaire for 78 SHMs and 122 workers to survey their viewpoints on the MSDS training. Survey results were analyzed using the SPSS program(Version 12.0 SPSS Inc., USA). Results: The result of the study shows that there are contrasts with the cognition of SHMs' and workers' on the education of MSDS and the program preference for education efficiency of MSDS. Workers were significantly more interested in the MSDS education than the SHMs did. Workers preferred the education program which is easily to be understood, to voluntarily participate on MSDS education, but SHMs did the quiz program. Also we found that the SHMs wanted to learn the education program via the expert(37.3%) rather than education resources(33.3%) which were served by government or relevant agency. In contrast, workers wanted the audio-visual education program, which is mainly consisted of accident cases (33.3%), rather than periodical education program(22.1%). Conclusions: This study showed that effectiveness of MSDS education was associated with the program served by company, and the education program for the voluntary participation of the workers should be made practical and attractive.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.56-60
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• 2007

The usage of MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) is increased world widely for the implementation of GHS and REACH. In order to know the accuracy of the data in MSDS the flash point of n-Decanol was measured by using a Tag closed tester, a Seta-flash closed tester, a Pensky-Martens closed tester and a Cleveland open tester in Japan and Korea, respectively. The test results of flash points of n-Decanol purchased different manufacturer were compared to the data of the references and MSDS. The flash points determined in Japan were similar to those in Korea but have shown much difference from those in MSDS and literatures. It is suggested that the results of flash points determined in this research have validity and manufacturers should be more careful when they make MSDS as well as for the classification of GHS and REACH.

• 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.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.48-55
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• 2019

For preventing the accidents generated from the chemical materials, thus far, MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) data have been made to notify how to use and manage the hazardous and chemical materials in safety. However, it is difficult for users who handle these materials to understand the MSDS data because they are only listed based on the alphabetical order, not based on the specific factors such as similarity of characteristics. It is limited in representing the types of chemical materials with respect to their characteristics. Thus, in this study, a lots of MSDS data are visualized based on relationships of the characteristics among the chemical materials for supporting safety managers. For this, we used the textmining algorithm which extracts text keywords contained in documents and the Self-Organizing Map (SOM) algorithm which visually addresses textual data information. In the case of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in the United States, the guide texts contained in MSDS documents, which include use information such as reactivity and potential risks of materials, are gathered as the target data. First, using the textmining algorithm, the information of chemicals is extracted from these guide texts. Next, the MSDS map is developed using SOM in terms of similarity of text information of chemical materials. The MSDS map is helpful for effectively classifying chemical materials by mapping prohibited and hazardous substances on the developed the SOM map. As a result, using the MSDS map, it is easy for safety managers to detect prohibited and hazardous substances with respect to the Industrial Safety and Health Act standards.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.340-349
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• 2022

Objectives: The importance of MSDS is emphasized for communicating hazardous information due to the increase in the types and usage of chemical substances. The purpose of this study is to assess the reliability of MSDS by collecting and examining paint thinners commercially available in South Korea. Methods: Twenty-five paint thinners were purchased at paint stores and the provision of MSDS was checked. Quantitative and qualitative analysis was performed on the chemical constituents of the thinners using GC-MSD and GC-FID. Reliability was evaluated by the MSDS collection rate for the paint thinners and calculating the rate of matching between laboratory analysis results and the contents and composition of chemical constituents given in the MSDS. Results: Unlike a study conducted in 2006, MSDS were provided for all 25 thinners. As a result of qualitative analysis using GC-MSD, 104 chemical substances were detected. The substances with the highest detection rate were identified in the order of toluene, butyl acetate, acetone, xylene, and ethyl benzene. A component matching rate of 41% was found by comparing the differences between the number of substances detected in laboratory testing and the number of substances listed in the MSDS. Benzene, a carcinogen not listed in the MSDS, was detected in two thinners produced by a small company. The detected benzene contents were 0.039 and 0.040%. When benzene is used, it should be strictly handled according to the Industrial Safety and Health Act. However, since it is not listed on the MSDS, it is judged that benzene was not being managed as a carcinogen in the workplaces where it is used. Conclusions: Since the reliability of MSDS, which play an important role in hazard communication, was evaluated to be low, it is necessary to systematically and continuously secure this reliability. In particular, carcinogens should be managed more strictly.