• 한국농공학회논문집
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• 제56권6호
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• pp.31-43
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• 2014

Confined and mechanically ventilated broiler house has been recently come into wide use to increase productivity and control rearing conditions. However, high dust concentration inside facility can threaten respiratory welfare of farmers and broilers. In Korea, there is no regulation in terms of air quality control inside agricultural facilities and sufficient data is not available. To cope with these, periodic monitoring of inhalable and respirable dust concentration were conducted according to season, broiler's activity and specific events such as shipment work for broilers in mechanically ventilated broiler house. Chamber experiment was also designed to analyze mechanism of dust generation from ground beds according to water contents and surrounding wind environment. Results showed that significant increase of inhalable (p=0.002) and respirable (p=0.03) dust were observed when activity of broilers was high according to entrance of the workers. Even shipment work for matured broilers, high level of dust were observed; inhalable dust was exceeded the threshold limit over maximum 303 % and respirable dust was over maximum 1,550 %, implying that acute respiratory symptoms could be manifested for the workers. From the chamber experiment, critical water contents for interrupting of dust generation were measured; about 45 % for inhalable dust and about 50 % for respirable dust. These results can be a trigger for designing plan of dust control however it still needs consideration of various environmental conditions, hygiene problems, etc.

• 한국환경보건학회지
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• 제36권4호
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• pp.264-270
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• 2010

Agricultural workers are often exposed to high levels of dust during field operations. A systematic exposure assessment of annual task-weighted exposure has not been thoroughly examined. The occupational dust exposure in two wine grape vineyards was measured. Exposure levels to total and respirable dust were determined for a 1-year cycle of work. An operation profile including the frequency of tasks was established. The means of total and respirable dust exposure were $1.08\;mg/m^3$ and $0.07\;mg/m^3$, respectively. Based on the exposure for each task and the task frequency, task-weighted mean exposures to total and respirable dust were estimated as $1.115\;mg/m^3$ and $0.079\;mg/m^3$, respectively. The task-weighted exposure was significantly represented by three operations and could be attributed to the exposure frequency rather than the exposure intensity of operations. The measurement of a few of the most frequent tasks may be an alternative method of estimating task-weighted exposure. Agricultural dust exposure can be significantly reduced by targeting those tasks most important to task-weighted dust exposure.

• 한국산업보건학회지
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• 제8권1호
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• pp.50-66
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• 1998

This study was conducted to estimate crystalline silica contents in airborne respirable dust from various manufacturing industries and to compare analytical performance of two methods of quantifying crystalline silica, X-ray diffraction(XRD) and Fourie transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). For this study, various manufacturing industries with a history of having pneumoconiosis cases and also known to generate dusts containing crystalline silica were investigated. These industries include: foundry, brick, potteries, concrete, and abrasive material, etc. Both personal and area respirable dust samples were collected using 10 mm, Dorr-Oliver nylon cyclone equipped with 37mm, $5{\mu}m$ pore size, polyvinylchloride (PVC) filters as collection media. In addition, total dust samples were collected side-by-side to the respirable samples. All samples were weighed before and after sampling and were pretreated according to the NIOSH sampling and analytical methods 0500, 7500, and 7602 for dust collection and quartz analysis. In addition, bulk samples were collected and analyzed by X-ray fluorescence (XRF) for minerals. In this article, only the results obtained from foundry are reported. The results from various other industries will be published in future articles. The respirable dust concentrations from personal samples by cyclone were $0.46-1.06mg/m^3$ and those from area samples were $0.34-0.73mg/m^3$. Dust concentrations of personal samples were significantly higher than those of area samples. The highest dust concentration was obtained from the personal samples of the finishing operation. Total dust concentration ranged $1.24-3.40mg/m^3$. The mean quartz contents estimated by FTIR and XRD in the personal respirable dust samples were 5.12% and 4.41%, respectively, without significant difference between them. For quartz analyses, the two techniques were highly correlated with $r^2$ ranged 0.803-0.920. But the results by FTIR were mostly higher than those by XRD. In addition, cristobalite was not detected by FTIR. Significant correlations between contents of crystalline silica and such minerals as $Al_2O_3$, CaO, $TiO_2$, and $K_2O$ suggest possible interferences from these minerals.

• 한국환경보건학회지
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• 제13권2호
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• pp.25-33
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• 1987

This study was carried out to evaluate student exposures to dust in classroom of middle schools. A total of four schools, such as two in an urban and two in a rural area, were selected for this study. In this study, airborne dust concentrations were measured during a period from July 8 to July 18, 1986. Additional measurements of dust concentrations were conducted from November 4 to 7, 1986 to compare the results by seasonal variation. The results of this study were as follows. 1. Respirable dust concentrations were measured by both filtration method (C mg/m$^3$) and Digital Aerosol Monitor (cpm) to calculate anexchange factor K. K- value was 0.159 as follows. $K=\frac{c}{cpm} = \frac{2.71}{17.09} = 0.159$ 2. In summer when windows were opened, the concentrations of airborne respirable dusts measured by filter sampling method were 0.54-1.37 mg/m$^3$ in the morning and 0.79-1.75 mg/m$^3$ in the afternoon. Thus, higher levels were indicated in the afternoon. Meanwhile, the concentrations of airborne respirable dusts measured in winter were approximately twice as high as those in summer. 3. The highest dust concentrations were determined in School D which is a coeducational school with classroom of concrete floor. Walking roads in School D were not paved and students did not wear indoor-shoes. Dust levels in School D were approximately twice as high as levels in School B. All of the measured dust levels in four schools exceeded Korean Standard for outdoor air, 0.3 mg/m$^3$ for 24 hours. Results by Digital Aerosol Monitor indicated that there was no significant difference in dust levels among grades. The concentration of airborne dusts in the classroom was 1.5-3.0 times higher than that in the hall way. The concentration of airborne dusts during recess was 1.3-1.6 times higher than that during class. In winter, the dust concentrations during clean-up exceeded the permissible exposure limit, 10 mg/m$^3$ (as total dusts), for occupational exposures. 4. The concentrations of total dusts measured in winter were 1.5-2.4 times higher than those of respirable dusts measured simultaneously.

• 한국산업보건학회지
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• 제27권1호
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• pp.46-58
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• 2017

Objectives: Particulate matter (PM) at construction sites mostly originates from either construction activities or the atmospheric environment. This study was conducted to evaluate the exposure level to PM and the contribution ratio of atmosphere sources at construction sites. Methods: We reviewed literature and governmental systems related to PM exposure in occupational settings and summarized them. In the field evaluation, five construction sites and one golf course were selected: two from Gyeonggi-do Province and four from North Gyeongsang-do Province. For each site, personal samples from outdoor construction workers and area samples from the outdoor area around the construction site office were collected according to construction work types. PM concentrations reported from nearby National Ambient Air Monitoring Stations were recorded. Respirable dust concentrations, respirable silica concentrations, and several metal concentrations including Cd, Cr, Pb, and As were monitored over four months. In the end we suggested how to manage particulate matter exposure at construction sites. Results: There was little literature reporting on exposure levels of construction workers to PM. Respirable dust concentrations measured in Gyeonggi-do Province were higher than those measured in North Gyeongsang-do Province. The geometric means of respirable dust concentrations in personal samples and area samples were $37.89{\mu}g/m^3$ and $92.86{\mu}g/m^3$, respectively. The respirable dust concentrations were higher than the PM concentrations reported from nearby National Ambient Air Monitoring Station. The geometric means of respirable silica concentrations of personal samples and area samples were $1.3{\mu}g/m^3$ and $1.1{\mu}g/m^3$, respectively. All metal concentrations were lower than 10% of individual Korean occupational exposure limits. Conclusions: Assuming that personal samples consisted of ambient PM and dust originating from work activities and area samples only collected ambient PM, we concluded that the dust exposure of outdoor construction workers originated 40.8% from the atmosphere and 59.2% from construction activities. PM exposure at construction sites should be controlled by employers, as in the case of outdoor heat stress. The Korean government needs to consider setting an occupational exposure limit for respirable dust.

• 한국산업보건학회지
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• 제1권1호
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• pp.82-88
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• 1991

Determination of Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb, and Zn concentrations in coal and respirable coal dust were performed by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The coal samples of 18 coal mines in Gangneung area were collected and 25 coal mines in Taebaek area. Crushed coal samples were divided into three mesh sizes. The results were as follows : 1. Metal concentrations of coals in Gangneung area by sieve sizes( -100/+200 mesh, -200/+325 mesh, -325 mesh) were as follows: Cu ; 20, 18, 19, Fe ; 1,830, 1,765, 1,107, Pb ; 6, 8, 14, Ni ; 17, 17, 14, Zn ; 4, 2, $4{\mu}g/g$, respectively. Metal concentrations in coals in Taebaek area by sieve sizes(-100/+200 mesh, -200/+325 mesh, -325 mesh) were as follows: Cu ; 30, 32, 26, Fe ; 1,741, 1,822, 1,773, Pb ; 8, 9, 7, Ni ; 13, 13, 13, Zn ; 8, 5, $4{\mu}g/g$, respectively. There were not significant differences of Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb, and Zn concentrations of coals statistically in Gangneung and Taebaek area by sieve size. 2. Metal concentrations of coals in Gangneung and Taeback area were as follows : Cu ; 19, 30, Fe ; 1,514, 1,778, Pb ; 9, 8, Ni ; 16, 13, Zn ; 3, $6{\mu}g/g$, respectively. Differences of copper and zinc concentrations of coal samples were significant between Gangneung and Taebaek area, but those of iron, nickel and lead concentrations were not significant. 3. Copper, iron, lead, nickel and zinc concentrations of coals and respirable coal dust were as follows : Cu ; 30, 6, Fe ; 1,779, 5,075, Pb ; 8, 7,814, Ni ; 13, 5,681, Zn ; 5, $134{\mu}g/g$, respectively. Differences of nickel, lead and zinc concentrations were significant between coals and respirable coal dust but those of copper and iron concentrations were not significant.

• 한국산업보건학회지
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• 제7권2호
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• pp.196-208
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• 1997

This study was performed to estimate quartz contents in the both bulk and airborne dust samples and to determine particle size distribution of airborne dust from the selected foundry operations. Total dust samples were collected by a 37mm cassette and respirable by a 10 mm nylon cyclone. Particle size distributions were determined by a Marple's 8-stage cascade impactor at the melting, molding, shakeout and finishing operations. The presence of elements in the dust samples were confirmed by the scanning electron microscopy equipped with the energy dispersive x-ray spectrometry. The quartz contents were estimated using the intensity of the absorption peak of quartz at 799 cm-l by the Fourie Transformed Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). The results were as follows: 1. The analysis of data from cascade Impactor showed bimodal distributions of particle size at the melting, molding and shakeout operations. Mass median aerodynamic diameters for the distributions determined by histogram were $0.48-1.65{\mu}m$ for small and $13.43-19.58{\mu}m$ for large modes. In the dust samples collected at the finishing operations, however, only a large mode of $18.89{\mu}m$ was found. 2. The percentages of total to respirable dust concentration calculated from the impactor data ranged from 42 % to 66 %. The average concentrations of respirable dust by cyclone were $0.85-1.28mg/m^3$ collected from the workers, and were $0.23-0.56mg/m^3$ from the areas surveyed. Dust concentrations of personal samples were statistically significantly higher than those of area samples. The highest dust concentration was obtained from the personal samples of the finishing operation. 3. The mean percentages of silicon and oxygen estimated by SEM-EDXA in the bulk samples ranged from 35.83 % to 36.02 % and from 39.93 %-41.64 %, respectively. 4. The average quartz contents estimated by FTIR in the respirable dust from personal samples ranged from 4.32 % to 5.36 % and 4.54 % to 4.70 % in the bulk samples. No statistical difference of quartz content was found between foundry operations. In this study, quartz content was quantified by FTIR. Although no statistically significant difference in quartz content between airborne and bulk, samples and between different foundry operations was found, it is recommended that quartz content in the individual sample of respirable dust be analyzed and the results be used either to select an applicable quartz limits or to calculate the exposure limit. Further studies, however, are needed to compare the results by FTIR and XRD since it is reported that the quartz content determined by FTIR is different from that by XRD.

• 한국입자에어로졸학회지
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• 제17권1호
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• pp.1-8
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• 2021

The purpose of this study is to assess respirable crystalline silica (RCS) exposure levels in workers who collect and dispose used coal briquette ash (CBA) in sanitation companies that are subcontracted by one medium-sized local government on the collection of municipal household waste (MHW), and to analyze the quartz content in CBA. When the CBA powder that undergone specialized pretreatment in several steps were subjected to mineral identification and quantitative analysis using X-ray diffraction (XRD), it was found that quartz represented 18%, and in addition, mullite, and plagioclase were included. For two CBA collectors, samples were collected by the personal sampling evaluation method. After respirable dust was collected in accordance with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health 7500 method, the concentration of quartz was analyzed using XRD. Meanwhile, a portable real-time dust monitor (Sidepak AM520, TSI Inc., USA) was also used to observe the dust exposure level for each time zone and job task. The RCS exposure level of one worker was as high as 0.024 mg/㎥, which was the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) Threshold Limit Values (TLV) level. The other worker also exhibited a concentration of 0.013 mg/㎥, which was more than half of TLV. The Sidepak results revealed that the work of collecting CBA and loading it onto a vehicle was hardly exposed to the dust of a significant level. It was found, however, that the work of transferring the collected CBA to a container through a conveyor belt was exposed to a very high average respirable dust concentration of 2.238 mg/㎥. The results of this study confirmed that quartz, which is crystalline silica and a carcinogen, is contained in CBA, one of municipal household waste (MHW), in high concentration. It was also confirmed that workers are exposed to high RCS concentrations while transferring collected CBA into a container. Although each local government in South Korea handles CBA in different ways, it is imperative to investigate the CBA exposure level of sanitation workers and improve their working conditions.

• 한국산업보건학회지
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• 제1권1호
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• pp.62-67
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• 1991

석탄광산에서 발생하는 갱내 부유분진의 입경분포와 부유분진 중에서 호흡성 분진이 차지하는 비율을 파악하기 위하여 태백, 화순, 점촌 지역의 일부 석탄광산을 대상으로 조사한 결과를 요약하면 다음과 같다. 1. 굴진막상의 부유분진의 입경이 가장 작으며 대표입경이 ACGlH(1989)에서 정의한 호흡성 분진의 입경보다 작고 채탄막장의 입경은 호흡성 분진의 입경과 같으며 선탄장의 입경도 기관지 침착성 분진의 입경을 나타내고 있다. 2. 굴진부서의 공기 중에 부유하고 있는 분진 중에서 호흡성 분진이 차지하는 비율이 다른 부서에 비하여 가장 높게 나타났다.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• 제15권1호
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• pp.96-101
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• 2024

Background: Silicosis among workers who fabricate engineered stone products in micro or small-sized enterprises (MSEs) was reported from several countries. Workplace exposure data of these workers at high risk of exposure to respirable crystalline silica (RCS) dust are limited. Methods: We surveyed workers performing cutting, shaping and polishing tasks at 6 engineered stone fabricating MSEs in Sydney, Australia prior to regulatory intervention. Personal exposure to airborne RCS dust in 34 workers was measured, work practices were observed using a checklist and worker demography recorded. Results: Personal respirable dust measurements showed exposures above the Australian workplace exposure standard (WES) of 0.1 mg/m³ TWA-8 hours for RCS in 85% of workers who performed dry tasks and amongst 71% using water-fed tools. Dust exposure controls were inadequate with ineffective ventilation and inappropriate respiratory protection. All 34 workers sampled were identified as overseas-born migrants, mostly from three linguistic groups. Conclusions: Workplace exposure data from this survey showed that workers in engineered stone fabricating MSEs were exposed to RCS dust levels which may be associated with a high risk of developing silicosis. The survey findings were useful to inform a comprehensive regulatory intervention program involving diverse hazard communication tools and enforcing improved exposure controls. We conclude that modest occupational hygiene surveys in MSEs, with attention to workers' demographic factors can influence the effectiveness of intervention programs. Occupational health practitioners should address these potential determinants of hazardous exposures in their workplace surveys to prevent illness such as silicosis in vulnerable workers.