• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.28
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• pp.17.1-17.3
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• 2013

The fact that hazardous metals do not bio-degrade or bio-deteriorate translates to long-lasting environmental effects. In the context of evidently rapid global industrialization, this ought to warrant serious caution, particularly in developing countries. In the Republic of Fiji, a developing country in the South Pacific, several different environmental studies over the past 20 years have shown levels of lead, copper, zinc and iron in sediments of the Suva Harbor to be 6.2, 3.9, 3.3 and 2.1 times more than the accepted background reference levels, respectively. High levels of mercury have also been reported in lagoon shellfish. These data inevitably warrant thorough assessment of the waste practices of industries located upstream from the estuaries, but in addition, an exposure and health impact assessment has never been conducted. Relevant government departments are duty-bound, at least to the general public that reside in and consume seafood from the vicinities of the Suva Harbor, to investigate possible human effects of the elevated hazardous metal concentrations found consistently in 20 years of surface sediment analysis. Furthermore, pollution of the intermediate food web with hazardous metals should be investigated, regardless of whether human effects are eventually confirmed present or not.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.32-40
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• 2008

Methyl bromide has been used as a representative fumigant for quarantine, and several poisoning cases have occurred recently by this chemical in Korea. The purpose of this study is to evaluate workers' exposures to airborne methyl bromide in the importing and exporting plant products quarantine companies. Air samples were collected 400/200 mg Anasorb 747TM and were analyzed by gas chromatograph /flame ionization detector according to the Occupational Safety and Health Agency (OSHA) Method PV2040. Geometric mean (GM) and arithmetic mean (AM) of total 27 workers' exposure concentrations to airborne methyl bromide were 1.12 ppm and 0.24 ppm, respectively. Two exposures(12.1 ppm and 12 ppm as 8hr-TWA) of total 27 workers' exposures exceeded the Korean standard (5 ppm) of Ministry Labor, while 4 exposures (15%) exceeded the Threshold Limit Value (TLV) (1 ppm) of American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH). Seven samples (11%) of total 63 short-term air samples exceeded the OSHA Permissible Exposure Limit (PEL) 20 ppm (Ceiling). The opening (management) task in wood fumigation by tent showed the highest short-term exposure concentrations (AM: 18.6 ppm, GM: 0.58 ppm, maximum: 340.7 ppm). The maximum level in treatment task of the same process was 2.01 ppm. Methyl bromide concentrations in opening operation was significantly higher than that in treatment operation (p<0.05). In conclusion, the GM of workers' 8hr-TWA exposures to airborne methyl chloride in the importing/exporting plant quarantine industry was estimated below the ACGIH TLV (1 ppm). However, opening task in the fumigation of wood being covered with tent or fumigation of pant products in container showed the levels exceeding ACGIH TLV (1 ppm), and opening task in the fumigation of wood being covered with tent showed the level exceeding the Korean standard of Ministry of Labor (5 ppm).

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.72-78
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• 2015

According to the report of the WHO, workers have been exposed to much job strain such as job load, responsibility, role, interpersonal conflict etc. In Korea, studies on job strain started to become active from 1990s and now hundreds of studies are actively under going or publishing so that the studies are contributing to development and improvement of job strain. Representative measurement models of job strain are Job Strain Model of Karasek, Job Stress Model of NOISH, Korea Occupational Stress Scale, JSQ(Job Stress Questionnaire), K-OSI(Korea Version of Occupational Stress Inventory) etc. (Lee Kwan-Suk, 2012 ; KOSHA, 2003). Among them, Job Strain Model of Karasek had been loved by many researchers of job strain before Korea Occupational Stress Scale was developed. Job Strain Model of Karasek had been fitted to Korean style and then, used to analyze job strain of Korean people so that this Scale highly contributed to seeking relationship with cardiovascular disease, musculoskeletal disease caused by job, smoking, drug, alcohol poisoning, and pulse(Lee Kwan-Suk, 2012). But as this Model was studied and developed based on foreign culture and life pattern, a model fit to Korea was developed to measure job strain for Korean people, which is Korea Occupational Stress Scale now most frequently used in measuring job strain. Accordingly, after this study made questionnaire survey about same population using the two methods used most frequently in measuring job strain, the study investigated what features appeared, what correlations appear between two models, and comparatively analyzed characteristics each independent and dependent variable. Based on this, the study aimed to exactly express job strain of Korean people. The subjects of the study were a population of 233, and Karasek's Questionnaire and KOSS's Questionnaire were surveyed at the same time. The results were analyzed by statistical program to obtain significant difference between two models. Four particular groups were divided with Job Strain Model of Karasek and the four particular groups were measured with Korea Occupational Stress Scale. And job strain come from combination of two models was measured, with which new comparative analysis method was suggested.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.113-122
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• 1999

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to describe the trends of original research in the Korean Journal of Preventive Medicine, and to evaluate the quality of original articles about lead poisoning. Method: The data for the analysis of trends in preventive medicine research was taker from a total of 829 original articles published in the Korean Journal of Preventive Medicine from 1968 to 1997, The qualitative meta-analysis was measured against a checklist of evaluation criteria, which were divided into 10 categories, with 46 articles on lead poisoning. The evaluation process was performed independently by two evaluators, Results: The number of articles per 100 members over the study period increased by almost 4 pieces in the early 1980s, and by more than 9 pieces in the mid-1990s. In the major classifications of subjects, environmental and industrial health, epidemiology and health statistics, and health policy and management published 370 pieces (44.0%), 137 pisces (16.5%), 322 pieces (38.9%) respectively. In the order of the number of articles, five themes about health significance, including metal exposure (73 pieces), diseases associated with exposure to organic solvents (45 pieces), air pollution (36 pieces), maternal and child health (32 pieces), and occupational health (3D pieces) received consistent attention throughout the years $1968\sim1997$. The overall mean score of article qualify about lead poisoning was 37.8 out of 50. Of the articles any information on the purpose and hypothesis described well, Of those the originality of the subjects, the form of article's (including tables and figures), and the number of inappropriate words of abstracts showed very low score. For multiple regression analyses, the number of joint research institutes and the acceptance of research grants about the article quality were statistically significant. Conclusions: The number of original research reports in the Korean J Prev Med has recently increased and their subjects bave diversified. Of the basis of this study, the articles need improvement in the areas of abstracts, tables and illustrations (figures), etc. The Korean Society for Preventive Medicine will revise contribution regulations for manuscripts submitted to the Korean J Prev Med. Future studies should address these issues and perform the quantitative mata-analysis about the specific subjects including the quality of articles.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.29-38
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• 1989

5 cases of lead poisoning were investigated clinically. Of the 5 patients, 4 were male and 1 was female. The causes of lead poisoning in 3 cases were ingestion of herb drug pills and in 2 cases were occupational poisoning. Chief complain at admission in 4 cases were in defined colicky abdominal pain and constipation. Only 1 case complained of dizziness and palpitation without gastrointestinal symptom. On peripheral blood, normocytic normochromic anemia (mean Hgb 9.2gm/dl), reticulocytosis (mean 4.7%) and basophilic stippling were found in 100% of patients. Bone marrow aspiration was done in 4 cases. Erythroid hyperplasia and basophilic stippling were found in all 4 cases. Mean M : E ratio was 0.7 : 1. The lead concentration in serum was in creased in 4 cases (80%) of patients. Lead concentration, deltaaminolevulinic acid concentration in 24 hours collected urine were in creased in 5 patients (100%). Qualitative test of coproporphyrin of urine was positive in all 5 cases. 3 patients treated with Ca-EDTA, abdominal pain was improved rapidly and hemoglobin level was in creased slowly.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.50-57
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• 2020

Objectives: Methyl bromide is a highly toxic substance that can cause systemic poisoning, neurotoxicity, pulmonary edema. Methyl bromide is a widespread fumigation agent used for import and export quarantine, but there is little data on exposure assessment of workers participating in such fumigation. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the exposure level of methyl bromide among workers and the concentration distribution of methyl bromide in the workplace during fumigation. Methods: For this study, one wood tent and one container fumigation area in Pusan, and one wood tent fumigation area in Incheon were investigated over three months from June 2001. Results: Methyl bromide exposure levels for container fumigation workers were from undetected to 1.86 ppm and from undetected to 2.28 ppm for tent fumigation workers as an 8 hr TWA. After opening the container door, the methyl bromide concentration in the container decreased rapidly over time, but the concentration remained over 1 ppm even after about one hour. The concentrations around the tent during its removal were highly affected by wind, but were detected in a range from undetected to 11.97 ppm. Conclusions: This study confirmed that both container and tent fumigation caused workers to exceed the exposure limit of 1 ppm as an 8 hour TWA. In particular, it could be confirmed that a situation exists in which the worker may be exposed to high concentrations of methyl bromide when opening the container or removing the tent due to the nature of the work. Therefore, it is very important to improve working methods and to wear appropriate personal protective equipment.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.8-15
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• 1995

The reliable measurement of metal in biological media in human body is one of critical indicators for the proper evaluation of its toxic effect on human health. Recently in Korea the necessity of quality assurance of measurement in occupational health and occupational hygiene fields brought out regulatory quality control program. Lead is often used as a standard metal for the program in both fields of occupational health and hygiene. During last 20 years lead poisoning was prevalent in Korea and still is one of main heavy metal poisoning and the capability of the measurement of blood lead is one of prerequisites for institute of specialized occupational health in Korea. Furthermore blood lead is most important indicator to evaluate lead burden of human exposure to lead and the reliable and accurate analysis is most needed whenever possible. To evaluate the extent of the interlaboratory differences of blood lead measurement in several well-known institute specialized in occupational health in Korea, authors prepared 68 blood samples from two storage battery industries and all samples were divided into samples with 2 ml. One set of 68 samples were analyzed by authors's laboratory(Soonchunhyang University Institute of Industrial Medicine: SIIM) and 40 samples of other set were analyzed by C University Institute of Industrial Medicine(CIIM) and the rest 28 samples of other set were analyzed by Japanese institute(K Occupational Health Center:KOHC). Authors also prepared test bovine samples which were obtained from Japanese Federation of Occupational Health Organization (JFOHO) for quality control. Authors selected 2 other well-known occupational health laboratories and one laboratory specialized for instrumental analysis. A total of 6 laboratories joined the interlaboratory comparison of blood lead measurement and the results obtained were as follows: 1. There was no significant difference in average blood lead between SIIM and CIIM in different group of blood lead concentration, and the relative standard deviation of two laboratories was less than 3.0%. On the other hand, there was also no significant difference of average blood lead between SIIM and KOHC with relative standard deviation of 6.84% as maximum. 2. Taking less than 15% difference of mean or less than 6 ug/dl difference in below 40 ug/dl in whole blood as a criteria of agreement of measurement between two laboratories, agreement rates were 87.5%(35/40) and 78.6%(22/28) between SIIM and CIIM, SIIM and KOHC respectively. 3. The correlation of blood lead between SIIM and CIIM was 0.975 (p=0.0001) and the regression equation was SIIM = 2.19 + 0.9243 ClIM, whereas the correlation between SUM and KOHC was O.965(p=0.0001) with the equation of SIIM = 1.91 + 0.9794 KOHC. 4. Taking the reference value as a dependent variable and each of 6 laboratories's measurement value as a independent variable, the determination coefficient($R^2$) of simple regression equations of blood lead measurement for bovine test samples were very high($R^2>0.99$), and the regression coefficient(${\beta}$) was between 0.972 and 1.15 which indicated fairly good agreement of measurement results.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.590-602
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• 2019

Objectives: This study was conducted to prevent asphyxiation of firefighters during confined space rescue. The specific purpose was to identify the magnitude of the problem, identify the cause of the accidents, and suggest measures to ensure safety of confined space rescues. Methods: We collected data from National Fallen Firefighters Memorial, press releases, and other sources In order to identify the current situation of asphyxiation incidents among firefighters from 1945 to 2019. In addition, an incident investigation was conducted for each case, and the processes, causes, and control measures of the incidents were described as a narrative data entry. Results: Over the past 73 years, eight incidents involving firefighter in Korea have occurred. In these incidents, five firefighters were killed, and eight were injured. The confined spaces incidents occurred were water supply tanks, wastewater treatment tanks, pickling pits, septic tanks, and more. The causes were three cases of hydrogen sulfide poisoning, one of oxygen deficiency, one of carbon monoxide poisoning, and three unclassifiable asphyxiations. The people in need were all workers in various industries. Conclusions: The number of firefighters' deaths and injuries during rescues in confined spaces was severe and the risks have not been completely eliminated. By establishing and implementing a precise incident investigation system, according control measures should be initiatedin order to prevent a recurrence of the same type of disaster and reflected in the SOP. In particular, due to the high risk of occurrence at workplaces, cooperation between fire and rescue authority and relevant agencies such as the Ministry of Employment and Labor and the KOSHA should be strengthened.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.11
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• pp.421-425
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• 2018

Methanol is a clear, colorless, volatile, and poisonous liquid that is commonly used as an industrial solvent. Visual impairment is a common symptom of methanol poisoning; however, visual impairment rarely occurs after exposure through inhalation. Therefore, visual loss after methanol intoxication via respiration has rarely been reported. We report a case of visual damage associated with methanol poisoning via respiratory exposure in an industrial setting. In this case in South Korea, a 28-year-old woman who worked at a cell phone factory was admitted to the emergency department with mental changes. She had blurred vision that began two days prior, but she did not come to the hospital until she experienced mental changes. She ranked 9 on the Glasgow Coma Scale and presented with severe metabolic acidosis. So, she was admitted to intensive care, and continuous renal replacement therapy was performed. Finally, she was discharged after recovery of her mental state, but had to undergo rehabilitation for six months. Also, her visual impairment was permanent. Methanol intoxication can occur through inhalation, which is difficult to detect initially. However, treatment of methanol poisoning is time-critical. Therefore, doctors should always keep in mind that methanol intoxication may occur via respiration. If in doubt, treatment should be given as soon as possible.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.sup3
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• pp.205-211
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• 2016

Excessive exposure to chemicals in the workplace can cause poisoning and various diseases. Thus, for the protection of labor, it is necessary to examine the exposure of people to chemicals and risks from these materials. The purpose of this study is to evaluate semi-quantitative health risks of exposure to harmful chemical agents in the context of carcinogenesis in a latex glove manufacturing industry. In this cross-sectional study, semi-quantitative risk assessment methods provided by the Department of Occupational Health of Singapore were used and index of LD50, carcinogenesis (ACGIH and IARC) and corrosion capacity were applied to calculate the hazard rate and the biggest index was placed as the basis of risk. To calculate the exposure rate, two exposure index methods and the actual level of exposure were employed. After identifying risks, group H (high) and E (very high) classified as high-risk were considered. Of the total of 271 only 39 (15%) were at a high risk level and 3% were very high (E). These risks only was relevant to 7 materials with only sulfuric acid placed in group E and 6 other materials in group H, including nitric acid (48.3%), chromic acid (6.9%), hydrochloric acid (10.3%), ammonia (3.4%), potassium hydroxide (20.7%) and chlorine (10.3%). Overall, the average hazard rate level was estimated to be 4 and average exposure rate to be 3.5. Health risks identified in this study showed that the manufacturing industry for latex gloves has a high level of risk because of carcinogens, acids and strong alkalisand dangerous drugs. Also according to the average level of risk impact, it is better that the safety design strategy for latex gloves production industry be placed on the agenda.