• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.21 no.3 s.75
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• pp.53-58
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• 2006

Following a Mediterranean fruit fly outbreak in South Australia, a bait spray program involving the pesticides like malathion(MAL) was carried out. During the application, dermal exposure was considered for the pest controllers wearing PVC gloves. However there is a lack of information about PVC glove performance like break through times and permeation rates with MAL, therefore, a new analytical method for HPLC-UV was developed. A standard permeation test cell was used in this study. From the results of this study, more than 96% solubility of MAL was provided at 30% isopropyl alcohol in distilled water as a collecting media. However, there was significant decomposition of MAL when the solutions were kept at over $50^{\circ}C$ for 2-3 hours. As a mobile phase, 50% acetonitrile water solution (pH 6.0) gave the greater sensitivity compared with other compositions of acetonitrile solution. The arm section of the gloves had shorter breakthrough times and higher permeation rates compared with the palm. There was no malathion solution breakthrough up to 24 hours using the 1% MAL working strength solution. When the temperature was changed from $22{\pm}1^{\circ}C\;to\;37{\pm}1^{\circ}C$, the breakthrough times were decreased by 14.5% on palm and 37.5% on arm, and permeation rates were increased significantly. The findings of this study indicate that further investigations on used gloves, periods of use and varying working conditions like tasks and seasons should be carried out to assess potential worst case scenarios.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.13-23
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• 2006

Grip strength provides a quick and objective index of the functional integrity of the upper extremities. It is widely used as an assessment measure in physical and rehabilitation medicine. In this study, maximum voluntary grip strength of 20 college students wearing 5 different gloves were measured using Jamar hand dynamometer. The results show that maximum voluntary grip strength was generally reduced when wearing gloves as compared to bare-handed. More specifically, the grip strength was highest when wearing PVC coated glove or bare-handed and getting lowered as wrist band, rubber, leather, and cotton glove in these order. Depending on the measuring posture of grip strength, shoulder height with arm extended forward was higher than the elbow was flexed 90 degree. Moreover, subjects' demographic factors and hand dimensions were not closely related to the grip strength. It is thus recommended that the proper glove should be provided to reduce the negative consequences including dropping a tool, poorer control of a tool. lower quality work, and increased muscle fatigue and in turn to increase the user safety and satisfaction.