• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.41-48
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• 2019

The industrial safety helmets are personal protective equipment (PPE), used to protect the head against falls from a height. This study indicated the necessity of wearing a safety helmet while working at heights below 4 m, through analysis of fall accidents occurring in the industrial field. The stress, displacement, and strain of the safety helmet shell structure have been analyzed using the finite element method with various thicknesses, engineering plastics, and designs. It was preferred that the safety helmet shell structure had a reinforcement frame of uniform thickness in terms of increased impact strength and strain energy absorption rate. The thickness can be reduced to lighten the total weight for workers wearing safety helmets.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.424-431
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• 2021

Background: This study aims to introduce the formulation of the regulation for the selection of respirators for accident preparedness chemicals (APCs) according to chemical workplace situations and to determine on-site applicability. Methods: Workplaces were grouped into seven work categories, and APCs were classified into six groups to select adequate respirators. A survey was conducted to enhance the understanding of work situations and adequate respirators. The total number of subjects surveyed in 2018 was 201 managers and handlers, and that in 2019 was 91 handlers and 204 managers. Results: Adequate respirators were allocated to each cell using the matrix method. The study observed an overall lack of understanding of work situations, especially in the operation of open devices, which was the highest at 32.7%. Despite its implementation in 2015, 17.6% and 25.0% of the managers and APCs handlers, respectively, were unaware of the regulations for selecting respirators. Only 70.4% of the APCs handler wore respirators in compliance with regulations. Conclusion: The method for selecting respirators according to work situations using the matrix method is considered reasonable. Thus, this study suggests that the development of educational contents and reinforcing education should be essential steps to increasing awareness of regulations.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.32 no.11
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• pp.1792-1801
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• 2008

This study was to develope the pesticide-proof clothes(PPC) for fruit-grower which has been well known over applied agricultural chemicals. The ergonomic evaluation of PPC were tested in two ways. Male adults volunteered the tests to evaluate the safety to pesticide in the field and the thermal comforts in the climate-chamber($30^{\circ}C$, 60%R.H.). PPC were made of 4 different fabrics. Two of them were on the market(coated non-woven and coated nylon). Others were water-repellent treatment and coated waterproof film by developed polyester. The field study was conducted for farmers growing apples to evaluate pesticide exposure. In this experiment, we collected data with patch test on the head, chest, back, right upperarm, right forearm, left thigh and left calf. From the results, the developed PPC showed the more excellent comfort than an existing PPC with nylon coated polyurethane. But the developed PPC of water-repellent fabric was penetrated into the PPC. Therefore, we designed the functional pesticide-proof clothes of 2 different developed polyester fabrics(water-repellent treatment in chest, abdomen, the lower of back, waist, and calf; coated waterproof film in head, shoulder, the upper of back, the crotch, hip, upper arm and thigh).

• Journal of Appropriate Technology
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.226-237
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• 2020

As the number of reported COVID-19 cases rises around the world, regions affected by the virus are taking serious measures to contain its spread. Face shields are one of the highest-need personal protective equipment (PPE) during COVID-19 pandemic. Beyond traditional face masks, as known cases of the coronavirus soar, currently there is a significant shortage of face shields around the world. In response, the protective face shields were designed and fabricated with open-source 3D modelling software and 3D printing technology, respectively. Our face shield consisted of two parts only; a reusable 3D printed headband and a visor made of transparent plastic sheet, as barrier. The resulting 3D printed face shields are affordable, lightweight, one-size-fits-most and ready-to-wear with minimal assemblies, and go on easily over glass, goggle and face mask. To ensure being donated to the healthcare professionals without risk infected by any pathogens, the 3D printed face shields were successfully be disinfected with ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI dosage of 1000 mJ/cm²) and 70% alcohol. For routine disinfection a UVGI chamber was designed and optimized to provide uniform UV-C illumination with an appreciated fluence for complete decontamination. More than 1,000 face shields were produced already and donated to the special hospitals for COVID-19 patients, quarantines, government and medical agencies in Ethiopia as well as in East-African countries. With certainty, our intention goes beyond the hospitals and other first responders, but not limited for all those who have to stay in the service or be in contact with many other people in the time of COVID-19 pandemic.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.136-147
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• 2022

The purpose of this study is to analyze four cases of firefighter burns in various fire scenes and to find prevention measures to decrease firefighter injuries. Among the analysis reports prepared by the National Fire Research Institute of Korea from 2016 to 2020, four burn-related accidents are summarized and the main causes are conveyed. The four accidents include second-degree burns from using extinguishers during containment of fires; nine firefighters burned due to re-ignition in the LPG car repair shop; two firefighters injured with third-degree burns from using fire extinguishers during life-saving events in residential housing; and injuries from the radiant heat of the tank BLEVE near the factory fire. These cases are comprehensively investigated in their respective scenes and analyzed based on the fire site investigation reports from the fire department and related theoretical explanations of risk for each accident scene. In the third case study, some experimental research is conducted to evaluate the risk involved with the use of safety gloves. This is evaluated by reviewing Fire Tactics and Standard Operational Procedures (SOP) to determine improvements and recommendations for an efficient firefighting response. Results show that the main causes of burn accidents are the insufficient use of personal protective equipment (PPE), such as safety gloves, and the failure to follow firefighting tactics or SOPs. Through the accident investigation and assessment, it is concluded that to reduce the frequency of burn accidents, the performance of firefighting equipment, SOPs, protection tactics, and safety policy systems require improvement.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.317-321
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• 2016

Background: This study was conducted with aim of providing an overview of the current status of occupational health services and identifying the most common harmful agents at workplaces of Iranian self-employed enterprises (Nano-Scale Enterprises). Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed among a random sample including 1,758 employees engaging in self-employed enterprises with 5 and less employees. Results: Coverage of occupational health surveillance was very poor, annual health examinations were been conducted only for 64 (3.64%) of males and 31 (1.76%) of females, and occupational health trainings were not included of the services at all. Personal Protective Equipment were available in 462 (26.3%) of the enterprises. only in 0.4% of the enterprises working processes were been equipped by a local exhaust ventilation system. Difficult postures were the most common (81.5%) adverse working conditions. Conclusion: This study revealed a poor level of the implementation of occupational health services in Iranian self-employed enterprises. Based on the findings, providing basic training on the occupational health, more enforcing in conduction of health examinations and providing PPE, and taking appropriate strategies aimed at eliminating or minimizing work environment harmful agents are the major factor that should be considered to improve the level of occupational health services among the studied enterprises.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.202-210
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• 2006

Objectives : Although dairy farming ranks as the industry with the highest injury incidence rate, the information on the injuries is limited in Gyeonggi Province. The purpose of this study was to investigate the occurrence of farm accidents and injuries. Methods : The occurrence of accidents among dairy farmers due to work-related injuries were investigated from 2,799 dairy farms of Seoul Dairy Cooperative. Among 171 total accidents, the number of accidents for human was 108. In this study, the 108 human accidents were investigated. Results : The results of this study were as follows; First, the injury rate in dairy farming was 1.60%. Second, the highest injury in dairy farm was occurred in the spring and at 6~8 p.m. Third, a variety of injuries occurred when doing the milking. Fourth, cow, machinery and falls were among the most common causes. Fifth, the most common injuries was fracture (52.8%) and the most common body part of injuries were torso (25.9%), legs (22.2%) and hand (18.5%). Sixth, 45% of the accidents indicated the lost work time from 4 weeks to 3 months. Recommendations: With the results, it is recommended that practical control methods to prevent accidents in dairy farming, for instance, wearing adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) or designing a moderate floor of works etc. be studied and developed.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.112-117
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• 2012

With the development of nanotechnology, nano-consumer products have been popularized. For the past 10 years, potential risk of nanomaterials to human and environment have been raised carefully. Especially, workers, who directly handle nanomaterials in laboratories and manfacturers, will lead to direct exposure of nanomaterials. Therefore, direct exposure assessment and field monitoring of nanomaterials are required to assess and manage the nanomaterial exposure to human and environment. In this work, two nano-manufacturing companies, which had plasma and sol-gel processes, were selected to analyze the main exposure source and process with in-situ SMPS (scanning mobility particle sizer) and ex-situ TEM (transmission electron microscopy). The results showed that the colloidal nanoparticle in liquid phase was easily evaporated and monitored by SMPS. Most serious thing is that the workers does not know about the potential risk of nanomaterials, and thus they are not taking proper protection activities, such as PPE (personal protective equipment). Therefore, exposure assessment for nanomaterial handling facilities should be additionally carried out, and nano-safety management protocols are also provided.