• Title/Summary/Keyword: Safety and Health Levels

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Knowledge and attitude change towards radiation protection after radiation safety management education in dental hygiene students (치위생과 학생들의 학업관련 특성에 따른 방사선안전관리 교육 후 방사선 방어에 대한 지식과 태도의 변화)

  • Kim, Sung-Ae;Lee, Ji-Young;Hwang, Se-Hyun;Cho, Mi-Suk;Park, Jung-Hyun;Jung, Nam-Yeong;Yu, Byeng-Chul
    • Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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    • v.15 no.1
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    • pp.101-109
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    • 2015
  • Objectives: The purpose of the study is to investigate the knowledge and attitude towards radiation protection after radiation safety management education in dental hygiene students. Methods: After receiving informed consents, a self-reported questionnaire was carried out for 135 dental hygiene students in Busan on June 17 for preliminary survey and September 3 for post-education survey, 2011. The questionnaire was modified from Han and consisted of 5 questions of general characteristics, 6 questions of radiation use, 7 questions of scholastic characteristics, 15 questions of knowledge towards radiation safety management, and 15 questions of attitude towards radiation safety management. Cronbach's alpha was 0.808 in the knowledge towards radiation safety management. Attitude towards radiation safety management included 15 questions of general attitude towards radiation safety management, individual and patient, and attitude toward radiation exposure reduction measured by Likert 5 scale. Cronbach's alpha was 0.970 in the attitude towards radiation safety management. Data were analyzed using SAS version 9.2 for educational analysis, technical analysis and multivariate analysis, paired t-test, and GLM. Results: Significant differences were shown in the knowledge and attitudes towards radiation safety management; the level of knowledge was respectively $9.8{\pm}3.0$ and $12.9{\pm}1.9$ points before and after education, and the level of attitude was $4.28{\pm}0.51$ and $4.53{\pm}0.47$ before and after the education. The levels of knowledge and attitude according to general characteristics showed a significant differences in grade and academic results. Post-education survey suggested that the education is very important and necessary and can change the knowledge and attitude towards radiation safety management in the dental hygiene students. Conclusions: Through the radiation safety management education, the levels of knowledge and attitude towards radiation safety management have changed significantly, which showed that the radiation safety management education proved to be very effective. Therefore, an effective radiation safety management education program is necessary to improve the levels of knowledge and attitude towards radiation safety management in the dental hygiene students.

STUDIES ON THE HEPATOTOXICITY PRODUCED BY INTERACTION OF SEVERAL DRUGS CONTAINING AMINO GROUPS AND NITRITE

  • Moon, Hwa-Hwey;Kim, Pu-Young;Park, Han-Soo;Choi, Cheol-Hee
    • Toxicological Research
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    • v.3 no.2
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    • pp.81-88
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    • 1987
  • Hepatotoxicity study of the nitrosamine produced by interaction between drugs containing amino groups and soduim nitrite was conducted. In the in vitro study, interaction of 32mM Promethazine HCL or Oxomemazine HCL with 200mM Sodium nitrite produced N-nitroso dimetylamine (NDMA) at 0.4% or 0.03%, respectively. When sodium nitrite was administered with Promethazine HCL or Oxomemazine HCL, trace of NDMA was detected from the gastric contents. After three days of consecutive administration of sodium nitrite with Promethazine HCL or Oxomemazine HCL, the levels of GOT, GPT and SDH in the serum of treated groups were significant higher than that of control group.

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Effectuality of Cleaning Workers' Training and Cleaning Enterprises' Chemical Health Hazard Risk Profiling

  • Suleiman, Abdulqadir M.;Svendsen, Kristin V.H.
    • Safety and Health at Work
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    • v.6 no.4
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    • pp.345-352
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    • 2015
  • Background: Goal-oriented communication of risk of hazards is necessary in order to reduce risk of workers' exposure to chemicals. Adequate training of workers and enterprise priority setting are essential elements. Cleaning enterprises have many challenges and the existing paradigms influence the risk levels of these enterprises. Methods: Information on organization and enterprises' prioritization in training programs was gathered from cleaning enterprises. A measure of enterprises' conceptual level of importance of chemical health hazards and a model for working out the risk index (RI) indicating enterprises' conceptual risk level was established and used to categorize the enterprises. Results: In 72.3% of cases, training takes place concurrently with task performances and in 67.4% experienced workers conduct the trainings. There is disparity between employers' opinion on competence level of the workers and reality. Lower conceptual level of importance was observed for cleaning enterprises of different sizes compared with regional safety delegates and occupational hygienists. Risk index values show no difference in risk level between small and large enterprises. Conclusion: Training of cleaning workers lacks the prerequisite for suitability and effectiveness to counter risks of chemical health hazards. There is dereliction of duty by management in the sector resulting in a lack of competence among the cleaning workers. Instituting acceptable easily attainable safety competence level for cleaners will conduce to risk reduction, and enforcement of attainment of the competence level would be a positive step.

The Assessment of Occupational Injuries of Workers in Pakistan

  • Noman, Muhammad;Mujahid, Nooreen;Fatima, Ambreen
    • Safety and Health at Work
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    • v.12 no.4
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    • pp.452-461
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    • 2021
  • Background: The prevailing global work scenario and deteriorating health facilities in economies indulge the risk perspective in the labor market model. This is the reason that the risk factor is cautiously attributed to wages and labor market efficiencies specifically in developing and emerging economies. In this respect, Occupational Injuries of Workers (OIW) is considered essential to demonstrate the risk and Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) setups given the constraints of the labor. Intuitively, the prime objective of this study is to make an assessment of the labor market considering the OIW through the indicators of industry division, employment status, occupational distribution, adopted treatment, gender and regionality. Methods: The assessment strategy of the study has been categorized into trend analysis and Index Value Calculation (IVC) segments employing the data from 2001 to 2018. Results: The pattern of the selected indicators of the OIW has been observed in the available data while the IVC estimations are considered through time and reference categories. The findings of both exercises revealed absolute and relative heterogeneities at both industry and occupational levels. Conclusion: The consistency for gender and regional distribution of both assessments points out the need for effective policy initiatives. The study suggests separate analyses of industry and occupations for a better understanding of the OHS setups and up-gradation in Pakistan.

Exposure Characteristics to Noise Among Tunnel Construction Workers (터널공사현장 근로자의 소음노출 특성 평가)

  • Kim, Kab Bae;Jang, Jae-Kil
    • Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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    • v.23 no.9
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    • pp.831-840
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    • 2013
  • The noise levels of workers in tunnel sites are likely to be high because tunneling work places are confined space. However, research on the noise exposure levels of tunneling workers have not been performed intensively due to restricted accessibility to tunnel construction sites. The aim of this study is to evaluate the noise exposure levels for workers engaged in tunneling work sites. Noise dosimeters were used for monitoring workers' noise exposure level in 5 tunneling work sites in accordance with the Notification of the Ministry of Labor. Among 5 tunneling work sites, 4 of them used NATM tunneling method and 1 work site used shield TBM tunneling method. The average noise exposure levels of NATM tunneling workers was 81.1 dB(A) and 15.4 % of the workers' noise level were exposed more than 90 dB(A) which is the exposure limit value. In Shield TBM tunneling method, 4.3 % of the workers were exposed more than 90 dB(A) of noise level, the average noise exposure levels of TBM tunneling workers was 84.1 dB(A).

Awareness of Asbestos and Action Plans for Its Exposure can Help Lives Exposed to Asbestos

  • Lee, Hu-Jang;Park, Eun-Kee;Wilson, Donald;Tutkun, Engin;Oak, Chulho
    • Safety and Health at Work
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    • v.4 no.2
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    • pp.84-86
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    • 2013
  • Despite the fact that asbestos is a known carcinogen to humans, it is still used in industrialized countries, especially Asian countries. The global incidence of asbestos-related diseases (ARDs) due to the past use of asbestos, continues to increase, although many countries have adopted a total ban on asbestos use. The implementation of effective strategies to eliminate ARDs is therefore an important challenge in Asia, where asbestos is still mined and consumed. Collaborative efforts and strategies at the local and international levels are vital, in the pursuit toward the elimination of ARDs in this region.

The Impact of Job Stress and Job Satisfaction on Workforce Productivity in an Iranian Petrochemical Industry

  • Hoboubi, Naser;Choobineh, Alireza;Ghanavati, Fatemeh Kamari;Keshavarzi, Sareh;Hosseini, Ali Akbar
    • Safety and Health at Work
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    • v.8 no.1
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    • pp.67-71
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    • 2017
  • Background: Job stress and job satisfaction are important factors affecting workforce productivity. This study was carried out to investigate the job stress, job satisfaction, and workforce productivity levels, to examine the effects of job stress and job satisfaction on workforce productivity, and to identify factors associated with productivity decrement among employees of an Iranian petrochemical industry. Methods: In this study, 125 randomly selected employees of an Iranian petrochemical company participated. The data were collected using the demographic questionnaire, Osipow occupational stress questionnaire to investigate the level of job stress, Job Descriptive Index to examine job satisfaction, and Hersey and Goldsmith questionnaire to investigate productivity in the study population. Results: The levels of employees' perceived job stress and job satisfaction were moderate-high and moderate, respectively. Also, their productivity was evaluated as moderate. Although the relationship between job stress and productivity indices was not statistically significant, the positive correlation between job satisfaction and productivity indices was statistically significant. The regression modeling demonstrated that productivity was significantly associated with shift schedule, the second and the third dimensions of job stress (role insufficiency and role ambiguity), and the second dimension of job satisfaction (supervision). Conclusion: Corrective measures are necessary to improve the shift work system. "Role insufficiency" and "role ambiguity" should be improved and supervisor support must be increased to reduce job stress and increase job satisfaction and productivity.

Risk Assessment on Nitrate and Nitrite in Vegetables Available in Korean Diet

  • Suh, Junghyuck;Paek, Ock Jin;Kang, YoungWoon;Ahn, Ji Eun;Jung, Ji Sun;An, Yeong Soon;Park, Sun-Hee;Lee, Sang-Jae;Lee, Kwang-Ho
    • Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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    • v.56 no.4
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    • pp.205-211
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    • 2013
  • Nitrate is a naturally occurring compound in plant and can be converted to nitrite in the nitrogen cycle and vice versa. Therefore, it is easy to find nitrate in plants including vegetables. Especially, it is known that high levels of nitrate found in leafy vegetables. Nitrate itself is relatively non-toxic but its metabolites and reaction products such as nitrite, nitric oxide and N-nitroso compounds, may produce adverse health effects such as methaemoglobinaemia and carcinogenesis. To execute the risk assessment of dietary nitrate and nitrite for the intake of vegetables, it is investigated that the levels of nitrate and nitrite in 23 vegetables (798 samples). The range of concentration were 0-6,719mg/kg for nitrate and 0-1,635mg/kg for nitrite, respectively. The Estimated daily intakes (EDI) were 0.85-1.38 mg/kg body weight/day for nitrate and 0.02-0.03 mg/kg body weight/day for nitrite by ages. We conclude that there are no health concerns for eating various vegetables since the EDI were below the Tolerable Daily Intake (3.7 mg/kg body weight/day for nitrate, 0.06 mg/kg body weight/day for nitrite) level established by WHO.

Safety of Workers in Indian Mines: Study, Analysis, and Prediction

  • Verma, Shikha;Chaudhari, Sharad
    • Safety and Health at Work
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    • v.8 no.3
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    • pp.267-275
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    • 2017
  • Background: The mining industry is known worldwide for its highly risky and hazardous working environment. Technological advancement in ore extraction techniques for proliferation of production levels has caused further concern for safety in this industry. Research so far in the area of safety has revealed that the majority of incidents in hazardous industry take place because of human error, the control of which would enhance safety levels in working sites to a considerable extent. Methods: The present work focuses upon the analysis of human factors such as unsafe acts, preconditions for unsafe acts, unsafe leadership, and organizational influences. A modified human factor analysis and classification system (HFACS) was adopted and an accident predictive fuzzy reasoning approach (FRA)-based system was developed to predict the likelihood of accidents for manganese mines in India, using analysis of factors such as age, experience of worker, shift of work, etc. Results: The outcome of the analysis indicated that skill-based errors are most critical and require immediate attention for mitigation. The FRA-based accident prediction system developed gives an outcome as an indicative risk score associated with the identified accident-prone situation, based upon which a suitable plan for mitigation can be developed. Conclusion: Unsafe acts of the worker are the most critical human factors identified to be controlled on priority basis. A significant association of factors (namely age, experience of the worker, and shift of work) with unsafe acts performed by the operator is identified based upon which the FRA-based accident prediction model is proposed.

Impact of Climate Change on Food Safety: A Mini-review (기후변화와 식품안전에 관한 소고)

  • Kim, Jong-Gyu;Kim, Joong-Soon
    • Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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    • v.42 no.6
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    • pp.465-477
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    • 2016
  • Objectives: This review examined the scientific evidence regarding the impact of climate change on food safety. Methods: The impact of climate change on food safety was assessed based on a survey of related publications reported in the past 20 years. The terms used for literature selection reflect three aspects: climate change; food; and food safety. Results: Climate change is expected to affect the key elements of food production - water and climate. These impact on food safety through many different pathways. Directly, food shortages according to the population grovoth result in a food security/food supply problem, These relationships are commonly understood. The indirect impacts include an increase in food-borne diseases and pathogens, increased mycotoxin production, and increased risk of pesticide residues in foods due to greater use of pesticides in response to warming and increased precipitation and the accompanying diseases in certain crops. Field studies and statistical and scenario analyses were performed to provide evidence. However, quantification of these relationships is still lacking. Conclusion: Adaptation measures at the local and community levels are essential since the pressures from weather and climate events may differ according to region and sector. It is recommended that we go beyond empirical observations of the association between climate change and food safety and develop more scientific explanations. We also need to explore alternative materials for bioenergy demands in order to improve sustainability.