• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• v.13 no.4
• /
• pp.421-428
• /
• 2022

Background: The exposure to solar ultraviolet radiation is a significant risk factor generally underestimated by outdoor workers and employers. Several studies have pointed out that occupational solar exposure increased eye and skin diseases with a considerable impact on the lives and productivity of affected workers. The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness against ultraviolet radiation of some measures recently undertaken for the protection of lifeguards in a coastal area of Tuscany. Methods: Different shading structures (gazebos and beach umbrella) were tested during a sunny summer's day on a sandy beach by means of two radiometers; the UV protection offered by some T-shirts used by lifeguards was also tested in the laboratory with a spectrophotometer. Results: The analysed shading structures strongly reduced the ultraviolet radiation by up to 90%, however a not always negligible diffuse radiation is also present in the shade, requiring further protective measures (T-shirt, sunglasses, sunscreen, etc.); the tested T-shirts showed a very good-excellent protection according to the Australian/New Zealand standard. Conclusion: Results obtained in this study suggest how the adoption and dissemination of good practices, including those tested, could be particularly effective as a primary prevention for lifeguards who are subjected to very high levels of radiation for long periods.

• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• v.10 no.2
• /
• pp.141-150
• /
• 2019

Background: Evidence on associations between occupational diesel exhaust and gasoline exposure and colorectal cancer is limited. We aimed to assess the effect of workplace exposure to diesel exhaust and gasoline on the risk of colorectal cancer. Methods: This case-control study included 181,709 colon cancer and 109,227 rectal cancer cases diagnosed between 1961 and 2005 in Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. Cases and controls were identified from the Nordic Occupational Cancer Study cohort and matched for country, birth year, and sex. Diesel exhaust and gasoline exposure values were assigned by country-specific job-exposure matrices. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were calculated by using conditional logistic regression models. The results were adjusted for physical strain at work and occupational exposure to benzene, formaldehyde, ionizing radiation, chlorinated hydrocarbons, chromium, and wood dust. Results: Diesel exhaust exposure was associated with a small increase in the risk of rectal cancer (odds ratio - 1.05, 95% confidence interval 1.02-1.08). Gasoline exposure was not associated with colorectal cancer risk. Conclusion: This study showed a small risk increase for rectal cancer after workplace diesel exhaust exposure. However, this finding could be due to chance, given the limitations of the study.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.53 no.1
• /
• pp.351-356
• /
• 2021

Korean nuclear power plants (NPPs) have various radiation protection programs to attain radiation exposure as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA). In terms of ALARA, this paper provides a comprehensive overview of administrative dose control for occupationally-exposed workers in Korean NPPs. In addition to dose limits, administrative dose constraints are implemented to resolve an inequity of radiation exposure in which some individuals in NPPs receive relatively higher doses than others. Occupational dose constraints in Korean NPPs are presented in this paper with the background of how those values were determined. For pressurized water reactors, 80% and 90% of the annual average limit for an effective dose, 20 mSv/y, are set as the primary and secondary dose constraints, respectively. Pressurized heavy water reactors (PHWRs) have also established the primary and secondary dose constraints corresponding to 70% and 80% of the effective dose limit, and additional constraints for tritium concentration are provided to control internal exposure in PHWRs. Follow-up measures for exceeding these administrative dose constraints are also introduced compared to exceeding the dose limits. Finally, analysis results of dose distributions show how the implementation of administrative dose constraints impacted the occupational dose distributions in Korean NPPs during the years 2009-2018.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
• /
• v.11 no.7
• /
• pp.555-564
• /
• 2017

The current radiation risk assessment for occupational exposure is based on the measured exposure dose and health checkups of workers. This people-centered risk assessment may occur errors because absence of using personal dosimeter or unrelated health symptoms of individuals lead to difficulties in obtaining accurate data from workers. In addition, although the established legal upper dose limit was used as a reference for the assessment, it does not imply that this limit is the optimal dose of radiation workers should get; ALARA principle should always be appreciated. Therefore, a new risk assessment model that can take account of all the important factors and implement optimization of radiation protection is required at the national level. In this paper, based on the KOSHA Risk Assessment, we studied on the workplace-centered risk assessment model for radiation field rather than the people-centered. The result of the study derived a right model for radiation field through the analysis of the risk assessment methods in various fields and also found data acquisition methods and procedures for applying to the model. Multidimensional model centering on the workplace will enables more accurate radiation risk assessment by using a risk index and radar plot, and consequently contribute to the efficient worker management, preemptive worker protection and implementation of optimization of radiation protection.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
• /
• v.5 no.4
• /
• pp.195-200
• /
• 2011

The purpose of this study is to investigate the dose of radiation exposure to radiation-related workers in a hospital setting, thus increasing awareness of the health risk to the radiation-related workers. The result of the analysis showed the average dose of radiation exposure to radiation-related workers in hospital K was $0.75{\pm}0.26mSv$ in 2008, $0.67{\pm}0.30mSv$ in 2009, and $0.92{\pm}0.33mSv$ in 2010. The average dose of radiation exposure in hospital P was $0.43{\pm}0.13mSv$ in 2008, $0.43{\pm}0.20mSv$ in 2009, and $0.33{\pm}0.85mSv$ in 2010. The average dose of radiation exposure in hospital K by age group was 13.39mSv for age 20 to 29, 8.37mSv for age 30 to 39, 1.19mSv for age 40 to 49, 0.28mSv for age 50 to 59, and 0.32mSv for age 60 to 69 The average dose of radiation exposure in hospital P by age group was 0.33mSv for age 20 to 29, 1.41mSv for age 30 to 39, 0.83mSv for age 40 to 49, 1.66mSv for age 50 to 59, and 1.12mSv for age 60 to 69. Moreover, the average radiation exposure to radiation-related workers over 3 year period by gender group in hospital K was $2.92{\pm}1.03mSv$ for male group and $0.94{\pm}0.93mSv$ for female group. The average radiation exposure over 3 year period by gender group in hospital P was $0.66{\pm}0.18mSv$ for male group and $1.80{\pm}0.60mSv$ for female group. Persons working in diagnostic radiology department received mean of $1.65{\pm}1.54mSv/year$, mean $1.17{\pm}0.82mSv/year$ in radiation oncology, mean $1.79{\pm}1.42mSv/year$ at nuclear medicine department and mean $0.99{\pm}0.51mSv/year$ at other departments. Radiation exposure was higher than that of other departments(p<0.05). Doctors and technologists received higher radiation exposure (mean $1.75{\pm}1.17mSv/year$, $1.60{\pm}1.39mSv/year$ each) than other workers(p<0.05). Measurement and evaluation of radiation exposure in radiation-related workers should be widely conducted accurately and consistently in the radiation-related occupational setting so that people in these occupational settings are more aware of the risk from radiation exposure, and thus give more attention and caution to decrease radiation exposure. It would be essential to minimize accumulated radiation dose in the radiation-related occupational setting in order to maintain and improve the health of radiation-related workers.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
• /
• v.39 no.4
• /
• pp.213-217
• /
• 2014

Medical operations and diagnosis using interventional radiology techniques have been increased. The management and monitoring of occupational radiation exposure to the staff of interventional radiology become important, specially because they stand in close proximity to the patient. The operational radiation protection quantity, Hp(10) which can be obtained from personal dosimeter do not always represent the effective dose to the staff. So, in this study, to estimate the critical organ doses to the staff of interventional radiology, Monte Carlo calculations with mathematical human phantom and dose measurements with personal dosimeters were carried out for the major interventional radiology procedures using C-arm. Results showed that the values of Hp(10) measured by personal dosimeters were higher than critical organ doses which were calculated. And the calculated dose to thyroids was much higher than those of other critical organ doses. For the proper radiation protection of the medical staff of interventional radiology, additional radiation protection for thyroids as well as for whole body shielding like wearing a lead apron should be considered.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
• /
• v.47 no.2
• /
• pp.93-98
• /
• 2022

Background: This study aims to derive the characteristics of each work type for industrial radiography based on empirical evidence through expert advice and a survey of radiation workers of various types of industrial radiography. Materials and Methods: According to a Korean report, work types of industrial radiography are classified into indoor tests, underground pipe tests, tests in a shielded room (radiographic testing [RT] room test), outdoor field tests, and outdoor large structure tests. For each work type, exposure geometry and radiation sources were mainly identified through the expert advice and workers' survey as reliable empirical evidence. Results and Discussion: The expert advice and survey results were consistent as the proportion of the work types were high in the order of RT room test, outdoor large structure test, underground pipe test, outdoor field test, and indoor test. The outdoor large structure test is the highest exposure risk work type in the industrial radiography. In most types of industrial radiography, radiation workers generally used ¹⁹²Ir as the main source. In the results of the survey, the portion of sources was high in the order of ¹⁹²Ir, X-ray generator, ⁶⁰Co, and ⁷⁵Se. As the exposure geometry, the antero-posterior geometry is dominant, and the rotational and isotropic geometry should be also considered with the work type. Conclusion: In this study, through expert advice and a survey, the external exposure characteristics for each work type of industrial radiography workers were derived. This information will be used in the reconstruction of organ dose for health effects assessment of Korean radiation workers.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
• /
• 2018.11a
• /
• pp.547-548
• /
• 2018

• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• v.14 no.1
• /
• pp.17-30
• /
• 2023

The human reproductive system can be affected by occupational exposure to many physical and chemical risk factors. This study was carried out to review the studies conducted on the issue of the pathophysiological effects of occupational physical and chemical risk factors on the reproductive system of females and males. In this systematic review, the databases such as "Google Scholar," "Pub-Med," "Scopus," and "Web of Science" were used. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA 2020), the studies included in our study were published between 2000 and 2021. In order to extract the required data, all sections of the articles were reviewed. Out of 57 articles we reviewed, 34 articles were related to field studies and 23 articles to clinical studies. Among them, 43 studies dealt with the pathophysiological effects of chemical agents, six studies dealt with the pathophysiological effects of physical factors, and 8 studies dealt with the pathophysiological effects of physicochemical factors on the human reproductive system. Physical (noise, heat, and radiofrequency radiation) and chemical (such as carbamate and organophosphate pesticides, benzene, toluene, xylene, formaldehyde, NO2, CS2, manganese, lead, nickel, and n-hexane) risk factors had pathophysiological effects on the human reproductive system. The presence of these risk factors in the workplace caused damage to the human reproductive system. The rate of these negative pathophysiological effects can be reduced by performing appropriate managerial, technical, and engineering measures in work environments.

• Journal of Radiation Industry
• /
• v.17 no.1
• /
• pp.61-67
• /
• 2023

A Study on the Introduction of Dose Constraints for Occupational Exposures: Focusing on Experts' Opinions by Field of Radiation Industry. The International Commission on Radiological Protection suggests Justification, Optimization, and Dose Limits as the three principles of radiological protection, among which, as a means of protection optimization, ICRP 103 recommends to set dose constraints. In this study, opinions are collected from experts in each category of radiation industries for stakeholder participation to qualify dose constraints. A guidance and questionnaire for analyzing the dose constraints have been developed for their collection, and opinions were collected from radiation protection experts in selected categories. 20 out of 22 experts, consisted with 91%, have assessed the dose constraints setting is necessary, and 2 experts, consisted with 9%, assessed it is unnecessary. The average of dose constraint presented by experts for RI production institutions is to be the highest level of 15.3 mSv, and light-water reactors (14.6 mSv), non-destructive inspection (14.4 mSv), heavy-water reactor and medical institutes (13.9mSv) is to be above the overall average dose constraint. In case of public institutions, the average dose constraint is to be 8.6mSv, and research institutions (8.8mSv), educational institutions (9.6 mSv), waste disposal sites (9.7 mSv), and general industries (10.6 mSv) are resulted to below the overall average dose constraint. As for the means of setting dose constraints, 8 experts out of 22 suggested setting dose constraints for each specific industry or task. And, 5 experts especially suggest setting dose constraints for the specific groups with relatively high exposure, such as workers with above the record levels. As a countermeasure for workers who exceed the dose constraints, 15 experts out of 22 expressed that the cause analyses for them and preparation for a plan of reducing them are necessary.