• International journal of advanced smart convergence
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.378-385
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• 2023

The importance of wearing respiratory protective equipment has been highlighted even more during the COVID-19 pandemic. Even if the suitability of respiratory protection has been confirmed through testing in a laboratory environment, there remains the potential for leakage points in the respirators due to improper application by the wearer, damage to the equipment, or sudden movements in real working conditions. In this paper, we propose a method to detect the occurrence of leak holes by measuring the pressure changes inside the mask according to the wearer's breathing activity by attaching an IoT sensor to a full-face respirator. We designed 9 experimental scenarios by adjusting the degree of leak holes of the respirator and the breathing cycle time, and acquired respiratory data for the wearer of the respirator accordingly. Additionally, we analyzed the respiratory data to identify the duration and pressure change range for each breath, utilizing this data to train a neural network model for detecting leak holes in the respirator. The experimental results applying the developed neural network model showed a sensitivity of 100%, specificity of 94.29%, and accuracy of 97.53%. We conclude that the effective detection of leak holes can be achieved by incorporating affordable, small-sized IoT sensors into respiratory protective equipment.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.402-410
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• 2016

Purpose: Personal protective equipment (PPE) is critical to protect healthcare workers from pandemic outbreaks. This study was designed to identify nurses' knowledge, attitude and perceptions on PPE. Methods: Data were collected from 154 nurses working at a tertiary general hospital, where positively diagnosed and suspected patients were accepted and admitted during the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus outbreak in 2015. The PPE tool consists of 20 items for knowledge, and 5 each for attitudes and perceptions. Results: Overall, knowledge for PPE was higher than moderate (76.95/100), but there was a lack for items related to powered air purifying respirator (PAPR). For attitudes, willingness to work in pandemic outbreaks was the most positive (4.04/5.00). Goggles and PAPR were perceived as the most uncomfortable barriers to work. There was no correlation between knowledge, attitude and perceptions, despite a strong positive correlation between attitude and perceptions. PPE training was identified as a factor to improve knowledge and attitudes on PPE. Conclusion: To respond to pandemic influenza, nurses need to expand their knowledge on PPE up to Level C, and be updated through regular training. Study findings suggest that repetitive studies targeting nurses and other healthcare workers at various hospital settings are necessary.

• Proceedings of the ESK Conference
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• 1993.10a
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• pp.15-19
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• 1993

Numerous motivational methodologies were analyzed with respect to improvement of the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) in the industrial field. Common industrial protective devices under consideration included hearing protection devices, respiratory protection devices, eye and face protection devices, etc. It was found that several of such methods could readily be implemented in the real world to protect workers from hazardous industrial sterssors, such as intense noises, toxic air contaminants, and other dangerous industrial objects (e,g., chemicals). Current research issues and recommendations for future research are addressed.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.79 no.4
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• pp.234-240
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• 2016

Transmission of tuberculosis (TB) is a recognized risk to patients and healthcare workers in healthcare settings. The literature review suggests that implementation of combination control measures reduces the risk of TB transmission. Guidelines suggest a three-level hierarchy of controls including administrative, environmental, and respiratory protection. Among environmental controls, installation of ventilation systems is a priority because ventilation reduces the number of infectious particles in the air. Natural ventilation is cost-effective but depends on climatic conditions. Supplemented intervention such as air-cleaning methods including high efficiency particulate air filtration and ultraviolet germicidal irradiation should be considered in areas where adequate ventilation is difficult to achieve. Personal protective equipment including particulate respirators provides additional benefit when administrative and environmental controls cannot assure protection.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.407-409
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• 2017

Air pollutants of concern include traffic-related air pollution, including particulate matter in respirable coarse and fine size fractions. There are no critical studies to date into associations between knowledge, awareness, and attitudes in using proper respiratory masks and prevalence of respiratory symptoms among urban street vendors in Thailand. In this study, we estimated adverse respiratory health outcomes among street vendors, in particular young adults, in Bangkok, Thailand, using a self-report questionnaire. Street vendors, who were not currently smoking and not having known diagnosed respiratory diseases, were recruited. They were selected from selected roadsides at Chong Nonsi, Bangkok. Participants (n = 30) reported having lower respiratory (50%), upper respiratory (37%), and other symptoms (70%). Also, 53% of participants had never used respiratory personal protective equipment (PPE: masks). Among those using PPE, all used masks not proper for particulate matter. Results suggested knowledge, awareness, and attitudes concerning proper PPE use needs to be increased among street vendors in Bangkok, Thailand.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.110-122
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• 2006

Objective : This study was conducted to quantify chronic lead exposure from various media(ie. working environment, food, ambient air), and to certify the usefulness of exposure assessment using Monte-Carlo simulation in the fields of occupational health. Methods : Data were obtained from Korean Industrial Health Association, Korea Food and Drug Administration, and the Ministry of Environment. Then lead worker's exposure was estimated indirectly from various media and parameters (ie. volume inhaled, body weight, dietary intake, etc.). Uncertainty was analyzed by Monte Carlo simulation with Crystal Ball software. Exposure doses and hazard indices were simulated with various hypothetical scenarios including weekly working hours and respiratory protective equipment. Results : Without respiratory protective equipment, the total exposure dose per kilogram of body weight of lead workers was estimated as $5.45{\times}10^{-3}mg/kg/day$, and hazard index was estimated as 2.26, and exposure contributions were calculated as follows : working environment(82.42 %); foods(17.57 %); and ambient air(0.01 %). But, if working condition has changed - reduction of working hours and using respiratory protective equipment, the total exposure dose per kilogram of body weight was estimated between $1.34{\times}10^{-3}-1.49{\times}10^{-3}mg/kg/day$, and hazard index was estimated between 0.56 - 0.62. Conclusions : This study suggested that occurrence of hazardous impact(ie. increased blood pressure) through lifetime lead exposure would be expected, and that the Monte-Carlo simulation was useful for the fields of occupational health.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.40 no.6
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• pp.454-468
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• 2014

Objectives: This study was conducted to investigate the actual condition of the farm work environment and personal protective equipment as part of the effort to improve livestock work for the safety and health of poultry farmers and provide basic data for establishing plans to improve and develop personal protective equipment. Methods: For this purpose, a questionnaire survey on general information about stables, the poultry work environment, accidents, the wearing of work clothes and personal protective equipment, and the level of awareness related to personal protective equipment was conducted among 148 poultry farmers. Results: As a result, it was found that poultry workplace environment was exposed to such risks as fine dusts; organic dusts; poisonous gases; odorous substances; chicken excrement; contact with chickens, bacteria or viruses; and accidents related to machine operation. Thirteen percent of respondents suffered severe respiratory diseases, and the most frequently injured sites due to accidents were the hands (25.7%), knees (23.8%), arms (17.3%), and head (10.9%). The most frequent type of accident was collisions between the body and obstacles or machinery during movement (36.4%), followed by erroneous machine operation such as feeders and electric shocks (8.5%). Regarding the wearing of work clothes and personal protective equipment, 51.7% of the respondents wore worn-out clothing or everyday clothes, whereas only 32.0% wore work clothes. The percentage of farmers who wore proper protective equipment for the work environment during poultry work was 48.4%. The most frequently used type of protective equipment was boots (38.9%), followed by mask (36.7%), gloves (36.3%), appropriate work clothes (22.6%), quarantine clothes (17.6%), helmets (13.4%), and goggles (12.6%). The rate of wearing goggles was low because they were considered inconvenient and lowered work efficiency. Furthermore, they purchased everyday products available on the market for their personal protective equipment which were not appropriate for maintaining safety in an actual harmful environment and its consequent risks. As a result of the survey of the awareness level related to personal protective equipment, their levels of awareness of accidents and attitude proved to be average or higher, but the practice of wearing protective equipment and the level of knowledge and management of personal protective equipment were lower. Conclusion: This survey found that the wearing status of personal protective equipment among poultry farmers was insufficient even though they were exposed to risks. Most respondents were aware of the necessity of wearing personal protective equipment and of the potential for accidents, but they did not wear proper protective equipment. Their wearing rate was low due to a lack of knowledge about protective equipment, as well as the inconvenience of wearing it. Therefore there is a need to improve and develop specialized personal protective equipment for respiration, hands, and eyes, as well as work clothes that can protect farmers from major harmful matter that is generated in the poultry workplace. Based on the results of this investigation, we will conduct further studies on the required performance and design directions of personal protective equipment while collecting more objective data through field-oriented assessments.

• Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
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• v.34
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• pp.42.1-42.11
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• 2022

Background: Occupational pesticide exposure is a potential risk for respiratory health effects. Most clinical studies on pesticide exposure were related to acute exposure, and only a few studies on chronic exposure have been conducted. This study investigated the chronic respiratory health status and the chronic effects of occupational pesticide exposures of farmers in Gyeonggi-do. Methods: Surveys and pulmonary function tests were conducted on 1,697 farmers in 16 regions of Gyeonggi-do. The structured questionnaire included demographic characteristics, medical history, recent respiratory symptoms and diseases, and work-related conditions, and was conducted through one-on-one interviews. The prevalence of respiratory diseases was compared by the odds ratios (ORs) at 95% confidence intervals (CIs) estimated by logistic regression analysis. Additional multivariate logistic regression analysis was also conducted. Results: Pesticide work groups showed significant association with an obstructive pattern in the lung function test (unadjusted OR, 2.38; 95% CI, 1.17-5.52). Selected work-related variables of pesticide exposure were 'start age,' 'cumulative duration,' 'mixing pesticides,' and 'protection(goggle).' The obstructive pattern of lung function test showed significant associations with mixing pesticides (OR, 2.30; 95% CI,1.07-5.46), and protection (goggle) use (OR, 0.34; 95% CI, 0.12-0.79). Conclusions: Mixing two or more pesticides showed a significant association. Wearing goggles can be seen as an indicator of awareness of the protective equipment and proper wearing of protective equipment, and loss of pulmonary function can be prevented when appropriate protection is worn.

• Journal of Technologic Dentistry
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.89-112
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• 2000

Although dental laboratory technicians are prone to be exposed to various work-related health hazardous materials such as dusts, chemicals, etc., the prevalence and nature of work-related health problems of them have not been a matter of great concern in the field of occupational health service in Korea. The purpose of the present investigation was to describe a collected profile of subjective health symptoms and their attributable factors in Korean dental laboratory technicians. A questionnaire listing five groups of health symptoms and five health symptom-related factors was mailed to randomly selected 1,900 dental laboratory technicians. Among them, 1,344 dental laboratory technicians filled out the questionnaires and returnde them. Five groups of health symptoms included musculoskeletal symptom, dermal symptoms, respiratory symptoms, eys symptoms, and ear symptoms. Five health symptom-related factors were occupational environment-related health risk factors, work history, health related habits and status, use of personal protective equipment and general characteristics. Detailed parameters of health risk factors were work posture, vibration, and chemical or physical hazards such as dust, fume, vapor, solvent, light, and noise for occupational environment-related factors; work place, area, number of employees, work hours, career, work part, and work load for work history; Broca's index, hours of sleep, eating, smoking, alcohol, exercise, health examination, and self assessed health status for health habits and status; face masks, goggles, and so on for use of personal protective equipment, and; age, sex, marital status, and education for general characteristics. Before the start of main survey, a pilot survey was carried out for validity and reliability tests of the questionnaire. All the data obtained were coded and analyzed with PC/SAS 6.12 program. The prevalence of health symptoms was the highest in musculoskelton (87.3%), and followde by eyes (78.9%), respiratory organs (64.3%), ears (57.8%), and skin (52.2%) in descending order. Statistically significant risk factors by multiple logistic regression analyses were sex, health examination, self assessed health status, and hand/finger posture in musculoskeletal symptoms; sex, self assessed health status, career, acid gas, and hand contact with resin mixture in deraml symptoms; Broka's smoking, exercise, self assessed health status, and face mask in respiratory symptoms; sex, hours of sleep, self assessed health status, work hours, work load, plaster dust, inadequate lighting, and goggle in eys symptoms, and eating, smoking, self assessed health status, and work load in ear symptoms. With the above considerations in mind, prevalence of subjective symptoms among Korean dental laboratory technicians was relatively high, and they were attributable to most of the occupational environment-related factors, work history, use of personal protective equipment, health habits and status, and general characteristics. Particularly, it is suggested that health promotion programs for promoting self- assessed health status and smoking cessation, preventive measures for protection of the female technicians’health, and reducing work load be necessary, since those factors were associated with more than one subjective symptom.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.372-377
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• 2020

Infection risks of handling specimens associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) by public health laboratory services teams were assessed to scrutinize the potential hazards arising from the work procedures. Through risk assessments of all work sequences, laboratory equipment, and workplace environments, no aerosol-generating procedures could be identified except the procedures (mixing and transfer steps) inside biological safety cabinets. Appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) such as surgical masks, protective gowns, face shields/safety goggles, and disposable gloves, together with pertinent safety training, was provided for laboratory work. Proper disinfection and good hand hygiene practices could minimize the probability of SARS-CoV-2 infection at work. All residual risk levels of the potential hazards identified were within the acceptable level. Contamination by gloved hands was considered as a major exposure route for SARS-CoV-2 when compared with eye protection equipment. Competence in proper donning and doffing of PPE accompanied by hand washing techniques was of utmost importance for infection control.