• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.226-236
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• 2021

Objectives: Concerns have been raised about the possible health effects of radon on both workers and consumers with the spread of social attention to the impact of radon exposure. Thus, an entire raw material handling workshop was investigated, and standards for radon levels in the workplace were newly established at 600 Bq/m³. However, regulations on the management of workers exposed to radon are still insufficiently developed. Therefore, by comparative analysis of overseas and domestic radon-related regulations for workplaces, this study aims to suggest improvement plans of protection regulations under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) for the prevention of health disorders of radon-exposed workers. Methods: For overseas case studies, we consulted radon-related laws and reports officially published on the websites of the European Union (EU), the United States (U.S.) and the United Kingdom (UK) government agencies. Domestic law studies were conducted mainly on the Act on Protective Action Guidelines against Radiation in the Natural Environment and the OSH Act. Results: In Europe, the basic safety standards for protection against risks arising from radon (Council Directive 2013/59/EURATOM of 5 December 2013) was established by the EU. They recommend that the Member States manage radon level in workplaces based on this criterion. In the U.S., the standards for workplaces are controlled by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). Action on radon in the UK is specified in "Radon in the workplace" published by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Conclusions: The Act on Protective Action Guidelines against Radiation in the Natural Environment mainly refers to the management of workplaces that use or handle raw materials but does not have any provisions in terms of protecting naturally exposed workers. In the OSH Act, it is necessary to define whether radon is included in radiation for that reason that its current regulations have limitations in ensuring the safety workers who may be exposed to naturally occurring radon. The management standards are needed for workplaces that do not directly deal with radon but are likely to be exposed to radon. We propose that this could be specified in the regulations for the prevention of health damage caused by radiation, not in Article 125 of the OSH Act.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.310-321
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• 2019

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate types and characteristics of chemical substances used in LCD(Liquid crystal display) panel manufacturing process. Methods: The LCD panel manufacturing process is divided into the fabrication(fab) process and module process. The use of chemical substances by process was investigated at four fab processes and two module processes at two domestic TFT-LCD(Thin film transistor-Liquid crystal display) panel manufacturing sites. Results: LCD panels are manufactured through various unit processes such as sputtering, chemical vapor deposition(CVD), etching, and photolithography, and a range of chemicals are used in each process. Metal target materials including copper, aluminum, and indium tin oxide are used in the sputtering process, and gaseous materials such as phosphine, silane, and chlorine are used in CVD and dry etching processes. Inorganic acids such as hydrofluoric acid, nitric acid and sulfuric acid are used in wet etching process, and photoresist and developer are used in photolithography process. Chemical substances for the alignment of liquid crystal, such as polyimides, liquid crystals, and sealants are used in a liquid crystal process. Adhesives and hardeners for adhesion of driver IC and printed circuit board(PCB) to the LCD panel are used in the module process. Conclusions: LCD panels are produced through dozens of unit processes using various types of chemical substances in clean room facilities. Hazardous substances such as organic solvents, reactive gases, irritants, and toxic substances are used in the manufacturing processes, but periodic workplace monitoring applies only to certain chemical substances by law. Therefore, efforts should be made to minimize worker exposure to chemical substances used in LCD panel manufacturing process.

• Human Ecology Research
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• v.53 no.6
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• pp.655-665
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• 2015

This study classified respondents by food-lifestyle and investigated differences in diet-related attitudes and demographic variables among food-lifestyle groups. Diet-related attitudes consisted of variables such as interest in diet, trial number of diet, diet period, weight loss, diet motivation, verification of products approved by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, verification of manufacturer's reliability, examination of damage cases and side effects, and awareness of consumer protection law. This study administered a questionnaire survey to adults between the ages of 20 and 39 who lived in Daegu and Uijeongbu from November 17th to December 14th 2014. Data collected from 293 respondents were analyzed using descriptive statistics, factor analyses, cluster analysis, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and chi-square tests. Four clusters (passive eating habit group, active eating habit group, convenience oriented group, and taste and health oriented group) were developed according to four factors of food-lifestyle (health-conscious, popularity-seeking, taste-seeking, convenience-seeking). The results of the ANOVA and chi-square tests indicated significant differences in interest in diet, awareness of consumer protection law, verification of products approved by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, verification of manufacturer's reliability, examination of damage cases and side effects, gender, education levels and household monthly income levels among food-lifestyle groups.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.84-91
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• 2018

Despite the government 's efforts to reduce constructional disasters, it has been pointed out that the safety management cost of the Construction Technology Promotion Act does not reflect the actual site. Therefore, it is necessary to study the proper guideline of the safety management cost which can be used as the most fundamental measure to prevent construction accidents. Moreover for the securement of the reasonable safety management costs, it is important to calculate its appropriate rate. Thus, in this study, the appropriate rate of safety management cost was proposed by the construction cost & type based on the 111 execution plans of safety management cost, and the rate is analyzed to be 1/10 of the occupational safety and health management cost. The results of this study will be a guideline in improvement to the proper schedule rating system improvement and in implement of pilot projects.

• Proceedings of the Safety Management and Science Conference
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.149-159
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• 2003

In this paper, I analyzed the industrial system and agriculture system about safety between korea and australia. An agriculture which is one of the national security industry, has recognized the importance. International country have attention to the automatization of machine for the improvement of agriculture. However, because of modernization of agriculture, the rate of accurrence about agriculture accident has increased dramatically. Especially the rate of accurence of agricultural accident is higher than the other industrial accident in the developed country. Because of these reasons, developed country has efforted to the agriculture systemabout safety. Australia law for the safety system of agriculture is very well and the rate of accident in the self-management agriculture is included in the statistics of industrial but The rate of accident in self-management agriculture is very higher. Korea has many middle size factory to make new goods and factory accurre very many accident. Because Korea government research the theory and practical affairs for the industrial system about safety and health to protect industrial accident In future we have to try new method about Agriculture Safety of Korea.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.1-20
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• 2009

This paper examines some relations on national crisis management and bioethics. This study stars to discuss that chance and risk of biotechnology which is the 21st century's pioneering core technology. This study reviews the traditional method that a nation(law) copes with the new scientific technique. The study also examines some difficulties of social agreement on the problems of bioethics because of nature of the rational disagreement. Then this paper attempts to incorporate the crisis of biotechnology, especially bioethics, in the system of national crisis management. this paper reviews the contents of the domestic "Act on Bioethics and Safety" on the side of the protection and restoration of crisis management. And this paper proposes some changes to manage the crisis of bioethics better, as it were, some problems of IRB and schems for improvement of it.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.111-140
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• 2019

The Bioethics and Safety Act provides a set of rules to regulate biobanks and research activities using human biological material, but the law seems to be defective in several folds. The law requires that, prior to collection or use of human biological materials, researchers should obtain the informed consent of the donors, but the law does not obligate biobanks to do so. Even in cases where the law requires informed consent, the ordinance of the Ministry of Health and Welfare allows open (or blanket) consent. In addition, a new article in the Act, Article 42-2 which will take effect from October 24, 2019, allows medical institutions to provide biobanks with remaining biospecimens collected in the course of diagnosis and treatment, unless the donors express their intent to opt-out, without obtaining specific consent from them. Given the need to protect the autonomy of donors and the unique characteristics of biobanks and research activities that use human biological materials, this paper concludes that such open consent-based law may not be suitable to protect the autonomy of the donors and that the broad consent requirement may be a desirable policy option. The paper acknowledges that the international community has long questioned whether broad consent (as well as open consent) is an effective choice to regulate the use of human biological materials. The paper stresses that the baseline requirement in designing the law is that the secondary use of human biological materials should be based on informed consent of the donors; the core value of the law should be a governance structure that promotes transparency and protects donor participation.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.179-182
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• 2023

The Chemical Substances Control Act has been legislated to counter the risks posed by chemical substances to public health and the environment, but a number of small- and large-scaled incidents related to hazardous chemicals continue to occur every year. The Korean Ministry of Environment takes legal responsibility for prevention, preparedness, and response to nationwide chemical accidents under the Chemical Substances Control Act. The determination of chemical accidents that occur during hazardous chemical handling processes is based on the Article 2 (Definitions) of the law and the administrative criteria for judgement of chemical accidents. However, there are certain ambiguities in the scientific basis for determining chemical accidents under the current regulations. Whether or not a chemical accident has a direct influence on penalties and administrative measures for a workplace where an accident occurred, it is necessary to find reasonable criteria for determining chemical accident based on legal and scientific evidence.

• Proceedings of the Safety Management and Science Conference
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• 2011.11a
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• pp.717-725
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• 2011

This study carried out surveys for 197 nail shop practitioners and 195 customers 1) to study the real condition of their hygiene awareness and safety consciousness and 2) to grasp their awareness of the necessity of legislating a related bill so as to build an independent domain of business and to propose data on the national qualification system of nail care. As a result, it was found that the level of the nail care practitioners' experiences of safety education was very low, and that the customers attached importance to the necessity of nail salon practitioners' certificate and license and the nail treatment-related bill more than the nail care practitioners themselves. In conclusion, the preparation of a nail art-related bill is required at the state level for the management of the safety and hygiene of national health, and systematic and regular education related to hygiene should be carried out.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.158-163
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• 2024

Objectives: The present paper aimed to examine whether an aging workforce is associated with an increase in work-related fatal injuries and to explore the underlying reasons for this potential increase. Material and methods: Aged workers were defined as those who were at least 55 years old. Work-related fatalities were assessed in aged and young workers who were registered with the workers' compensation system in 2021 in the Republic of Korea. Total waged workers, based on raw data from the Local Area Labor Force Survey in 2021, were used as the denominator to estimate the work-related fatality rates. Results: Most work-related fatalities in the aged workers occurred among individuals working in the "construction sector" (58.9%), those with "elementary occupations (unskilled workers)" (46.1%), and those with the employment status of "daily worker" (60.8%). The estimated incidence (0.973/10,000) of work-related fatalities among aged workers was about four times higher than that (0.239/10,000) among younger workers. "Falling," "collision," "struck by an object," and "trip and slip" were more frequent types of work-related fatalities among aged workers relative to young workers. The category of "buildings, structures, and surfaces" was a more frequent cause of work-related fatalities among aged workers than among young workers. Conclusions: Aged workers had a higher incidence of work-related fatalities than young workers. Frequent engagement in precarious employment and jobs, coupled with the greater physical vulnerability of aged workers, were likely causes of their higher level of work-related fatal injuries.