• Title/Summary/Keyword: Safety protective equipment

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Key motivating factors affecting skilled workers' productivity in Construction projects

  • Enshassi, Adnan;Mahdi, Mahdi
    • International conference on construction engineering and project management
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    • 2015.10a
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    • pp.142-146
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    • 2015
  • Human resources development is considered a critical issue for improving productivity of workers in construction industry. The aim of this study is to identify and rank the key motivating factors that impact skilled workers productivity according to their relative importance. A total of 27 factors were identified through a literature review, which were categorized into 2 group financial and un-financial motivators. A questionnaire instrument was adopted in this study. The study revealed that the most significant group which affected skilled workers' productivity in construction projects was financial group with the recognition of the un-financial group importance. The results emphasized that the financial group has an edge over the un-financial group which reflect the priority of need for the respondents. The results indicated that the un-financial group represents a backbone in its importance after the financial group which reflects that un-financial factors can improve productivity. The findings showed that the provision of companies to safety conditions factor such as protective safety clothing and protective equipment was ranked very low by the respondents. This is due to the dominant culture of the workers as well as the lack of their awareness regarding their own safety and lack of companies' interest in safety and health for workers. Construction companies are advised to take the key motivating factors obtained from the results of this study into serious consideration in order to improve the satisfaction of their workers and improve their productivity.

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Biologically Hazardous Agents at Work and Efforts to Protect Workers' Health: A Review of Recent Reports

  • Rim, Kyung-Taek;Lim, Cheol-Hong
    • Safety and Health at Work
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    • v.5 no.2
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    • pp.43-52
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    • 2014
  • Because information on biological agents in the workplace is lacking, biological hazard analyses at the workplace to securely recognize the harmful factors with biological basis are desperately needed. This review concentrates on literatures published after 2010 that attempted to detect biological hazards to humans, especially workers, and the efforts to protect them against these factors. It is important to improve the current understanding of the health hazards caused by biological factors at the workplace. In addition, this review briefly describes these factors and provides some examples of their adverse health effects. It also reviews risk assessments, protection with personal protective equipment, prevention with training of workers, regulations, as well as vaccinations.

A study on anxiety about dental radiography among adults (성인의 치과 방사선 촬영에 대한 불안감에 관한 연구)

  • Lee, Kyeong-Hee;Kim, Eun-A;Baek, Ji-Hyeon;Heo, Su-Yeon;Jung, Eun-Seo
    • Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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    • v.17 no.5
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    • pp.721-733
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    • 2017
  • Objectives: This study was conducted to help reduce the anxiety about dental radiation exposures of people and to provide a way to instill proper awareness of dental radiation. Methods: To fulfill the research aim, this study conducted a survey to 330 subjects who are 20 years old or over living in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do during the month of December 2016. The collected data were analyzed using frequency analysis, t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson's correlation coefficient and multiple regression analysis among others. Results: As a result of examining the correlation between the anxiety of dental radiography and the correlations between the variables showed that the knowledge of radiation knowledge and the need for radiography (r=0.186, p<0.01), thinking about shooting (r=0.137, p<0.05), and the effectiveness of wearing protective equipment (r=0.120, p<0.01), showing statistically significant differences. As a result of examining the factors influencing anxiety of dental radiography among adults, high awareness of the need for dental radiography (p<0.01), the more the idea of dental anxiety in dental radiography is radiography showed higher (p<0.01). Conclusions: It seems proper that adequate dental radiography requires adequate explanation about it to patients, wearing of protective equipment, and appropriate dental radiation safety education.

AN APPROACH FOR ESTIMATING TOTAL COST OF OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY FOR BUILDING CONSTRUCTIONS

  • Gurkan Emre Gurcanli;Nesimi Teoman Korkutan;Ugur Mungen
    • International conference on construction engineering and project management
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    • 2011.02a
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    • pp.168-175
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    • 2011
  • Construction accidents are major problem in Turkish Construction industry and especially fatally rates are very high. Current legislative system on occupational safety in Turkey enforces employers to implement safety measures as well as safety management systems. However level of consciousness in the industry is unsatisfactory and safety are perceived as extra cost and unnecessary expenditure. Moreover, especially in small residential building constructions which have a big share in the industry and unfortunately safety measures to mitigate or abate construction risks do not exist. The study focuses on small residential building construction sites and in the scope of this study, thirty building projects are examined. For each building project, project cost including labour and material costs, service and consultancy costs for mechanical, electrical systems as well as architectural and structural services, costs for supervision and finally general expenditures for construction site facilities were calculated. On the other hand, occupational safety costs for personal protective equipment, collective protective measures, consultancy and training were determined. Work breakdown structures were established and for each work item firstly occupational risks were evaluated and furthermore according to risk scores safety measures to be implemented were defined and related costs were calculated. The study gave results for total safety cost on average, in terms of percentage of total project cost (3.73% of total project cost), safety cost per man-hour (0.40 USD) and safety cost in terms of unit construction area (11.60 USD per square meter). Since safety management is a part of whole project management process, study gives suggestions and techniques to calculate safety costs and implement safety measures as a part of project management service for professionals. Authors believe that suggested approach may easily developed by the usage of more data to establish a model for estimation not only for building construction sites but also for all construction projects.

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Development of Watt-Hour Meter Exchange Equipment without Outage (전력량계 무정전 교체장치 개발에 관한 연구)

  • Jung, Tae-Hoon;Cho, Sung-Min;Shin, Hee-Sang;Lee, Hee-Tae;Kim, Jae-Chul
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Illuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers
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    • v.23 no.8
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    • pp.99-103
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    • 2009
  • This paper presents equipment that can exchange watt-hour meters without outage for customers, It is simpler than other methods to avoid outage during exchange. Furthermore, it has protective function to ensure customer's facility from engineer mistake. Because of good point mentioned above, it can improve efficiency and safety. Adopting developed equipment can ensure continuous electric power supply to customers.

A Study on Performance of Protective Gloves to Isocyanate Toxicity (이소시안화물 독성에 대한 보호장갑의 성능 연구)

  • Lee, Su-Gil;Pisaniello, Dino;Lee, Nae-Woo
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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    • v.23 no.6
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    • pp.62-69
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    • 2008
  • As the concerns of dermal exposure of spray painters to isocyanates in the automobile industry, glove performance was examined like permeation rate and breakthrough time including fatigue test. Methylene chloride was used as the solvent for derivatization of the isocyanates with a 97.5% recovery. Ghost wipe pads were used to wipe the surface of the glove material after chemical penetration through the glove material placed under a disposable test cell. Several solvents were tested, such as thinner(xylene, toluene) and cleaning agent(acetone) by using a standard permeation test cell(AS/NZS standard 2161. part 10.3). Solvents accelerate chemical permeation through the gloves more quickly than pure HDI hardener products. The longest breakthrough times were from Nitrosolve gloves, not detected in 8 hours, compared with others like Latex, Neoprene, TNT and Dermo Plus. Therefore Nitrosolve gloves could be recommended as personal protective equipment in crash repair shops. In addition, revised exposure limit of korean regulation should be suggested for employee to minimize the risk of health symptoms.

Young Adult Street Vendors and Adverse Respiratory Health Outcomes in Bangkok, Thailand

  • Noomnual, Saisattha;Shendell, Derek G.
    • 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.

Respiratory Responses during Exercise in Self-contained Breathing Apparatus among Firefighters and Nonfirefighters

  • Hostler, David;Pendergast, David R.
    • Safety and Health at Work
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    • v.9 no.4
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    • pp.468-472
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    • 2018
  • Background: Firefighters are required to use self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA), which impairs ventilatory mechanics. We hypothesized that firefighters have elevated arterial $CO_2$ when using SCBA. Methods: Firefighters and controls performed a maximal exercise test on a cycle ergometer and two graded exercise tests (GXTs) at 25%, 50%, and 70% of their maximal aerobic power, once with a SCBA facemask and once with protective clothing and full SCBA. Results: Respiratory rate increased more in controls than firefighters. Heart rate increased as a function of oxygen consumption ($V_{O_2}$) more in controls than firefighters. End-tidal $CO_2$ ($ETCO_2$) during the GXTs was not affected by work rate in either group for either condition but was higher in firefighters at all work rates in both GXTs. SCBA increased $ETCO_2$ in controls but not firefighters. Conclusions: The present study showed that when compared to controls, firefighters' hypoventilate during a maximal test and GXT. The hypoventilation resulted in increased $ETCO_2$, and presumably increased arterial $CO_2$, during exertion. It is proposed that firefighters have altered $CO_2$ sensitivity due to voluntary hypoventilation during training and work. Confirmation of low $CO_2$ sensitivity and the consequence of this on performance and long-term health remain to be determined.

The Tendency of Medical Electrical Equipment - IEC 60601-2-54: Particular Requirements for the Basic Safety and Essential Performance of X-ray Equipment for Radiography and Radioscopy (촬영 및 투시용 X선 장치의 기본안전과 필수 성능에 관한 개별 기준규격의 동향)

  • Roh, Young Hoon;Kim, Jung Min
    • Journal of radiological science and technology
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    • v.38 no.4
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    • pp.331-336
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    • 2015
  • Medical electrical equipment - Part 1: General requirement for basic safety and essential performance of MFDS was revised as 3th edition and Medical electrical equipment Part 2-54: Particular requirements for the basic safety and essential performance of X-ray equipment will be expected to be announced as notification. Therefore this technical report was written to introduce provision of the particular requirements, replacement, addition, amendment. The purpose of this particular requirements is to secure requirements for basic safety and essential performance of X-ray equipment for radiography and radioscopy. X-ray high voltage generator, mechanical protective device, protection against radiation is included in this particular requirements. Medical electrical equipment - Part 1, Part 1-2, Part 1-3 is applied to this particular requirements. If the requirements is announced as notification, It is expected to widen understanding for basic safety and essential performance of X-ray equipment for radiography and radioscopy and play a part to internationalize of medical equipments.

In Search of a Performing Seal: Rethinking the Design of Tight-Fitting Respiratory Protective Equipment Facepieces for Users With Facial Hair

  • Meadwell, James;Paxman-Clarke, Lee;Terris, David;Ford, Peter
    • Safety and Health at Work
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    • v.10 no.3
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    • pp.275-304
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    • 2019
  • Background: Air-purifying, tight-fitting facepieces are examples of respiratory protective equipment and are worn to protect workers from potentially harmful particulate and vapors. Research shows that the presence of facial hair on users' face significantly reduces the efficacy of these devices. This article sets out to establish if an acceptable seal could be achieved between facial hair and the facepiece. The team also created and investigated a low-cost "pressure testing" method for assessing the efficacy of a seal to be used during the early design process for a facepiece designed to overcome the facial hair issue. Methods: Nine new designs for face mask seals were prototyped as flat samples. A researcher developed a test rig, and a test protocol was used to evaluate the efficacy of the new seal designs against facial hair. Six of the seal designs were also tested using a version of the conventional fit test. The results were compared with those of the researcher-developed test to look for a correlation between the two test methods. Results: None of the seals performed any better against facial hair than a typical, commercially available facepiece. The pressure testing method devised by the researchers performed well but was not as robust as the fit factor testing. Conclusion: The results show that sealing against facial hair is extremely problematic unless an excessive force is applied to the facepiece's seal area pushing it against the face. The means of pressure testing devised by the researchers could be seen as a low-cost technique to be used at the early stages of a the design process, before fit testing is viable.