• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.97-105
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• 2014

Background: Prolonged standing has been hypothesized as a vital contributor to discomfort and muscle fatigue in the workplace. The objective of this study was to develop a decision support system that could provide systematic analysis and solutions to minimize the discomfort and muscle fatigue associated with prolonged standing. Methods: The integration of object-oriented programming and a Model Oriented Simultaneous Engineering System were used to design the architecture of the decision support system. Results: Validation of the decision support system was carried out in two manufacturing companies. The validation process showed that the decision support system produced reliable results. Conclusion: The decision support system is a reliable advisory tool for providing analysis and solutions to problems related to the discomfort and muscle fatigue associated with prolonged standing. Further testing of the decision support system is suggested before it is used commercially.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.166-170
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• 2016

A brief emergency planning educational presentation was taught during work hours to a convenience sample of employees of various workplaces in Northern Missouri, USA. Participants were familiarized with details about how an emergency plan is prepared by management and implemented by management-employee crisis management teams - focusing on both employee and management roles. They then applied the presentation information to assess their own organization's emergency preparedness level. Participants possessed significantly (p < 0.05) higher perceptions of their organization's level of emergency preparedness than non-participants. It is recommended that an assessment of organizational preparedness level supplement emergency planning educational presentations in order to immediately apply the material covered and encourage employees to become more involved in their organization's emergency planning and response. Educational strategies that involve management-employee collaboration in activities tailored to each workplace's operations and risk level for emergencies should be implemented.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.166-171
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• 2019

Objective: This study explored personal protective equipment (PPE) availability and PPE utilization among interventionalists in the catheterization laboratory, which is a highly contextualized workplace. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study using mixed methods. Participants (108) completed a survey. A hyperlink was sent to the participants, or they were asked to complete a paper-based survey. Purposively selected participants (54) were selected for individual (30) or group (six) interviews. The interviews were conducted at conferences, or appointments were made to see the participants. Logistic regression analysis was performed. The qualitative data were analyzed thematically. Results: Lead glasses were consistently used 10.2% and never used 61.1% of the time. All forms of PPE were inconsistently used by 92.6% of participants. Women were 4.3 times more likely to report that PPE was not available. PPE compliance was related to fit and availability. Conclusions: PPE use was inconsistent and not always available. Improving the culture of radiation protection in catheterization laboratories is essential to improve PPE compliance with the aim of protecting patients and operators. This culture of radiation protection must include all those involved including the users of PPE and the administrators and managers who are responsible for supplying sufficient, appropriate, fitting PPE for all workers requiring such protection.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.416-424
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• 2018

Objective: The objective of this study was to estimate the numbers of employees occupationally exposed to noise according to their industry and size. Methods: A Delphi panel consisting of 15 occupational health experts estimated the exposure prevalence of noise in workplace. Data on Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance provided from Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute were combined to produce the exposure population. Results: In Korea, 16.0% of employees, 2,539,890 out of 15,838,926, was estimated to exposed to noise occupationally. The rate was 32.7% and 10.3% in manufacturing sector and non-manufacturing sector, respectively. The highest rate, 52.5%, was found in manufacturing industries of wood and of products of wood and cork(except furniture) and of other transport equipment. Sorted by their size of business, the rate was higher as the number of employee was larger in manufacturing sector. Conclusions: Compared to the same rate estimated in the US, 17.2%, the result of this study seems to be in a resonable range.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.479-485
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• 2018

The aim of this study is to validate an integrated air monitoring approach for assessing airborne formaldehyde (FA) in the workplace. An active sampling by silica gel impregnated with 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine, a passive solid phase microextraction technique using O-(2,3,4,5,6-pentafluorobenzyl)hydroxylamine as on-fiber derivatization reagent, an electrochemical direct-reading monitor, and an enzyme-based badge were evaluated and tested over a range of 0.020-5.12 ppm, using dynamically generated FA air concentrations. Simple linear regression analysis showed the four methods were suitable for evaluating airborne FA. Personal and area samplings in 12 anatomy pathology departments showed that the international occupational exposure limits in the GESTIS database were frequently exceeded. This monitoring approach would allow a fast, easy-to-use, and economical evaluation of both current work practices and eventual changes made to reduce FA vapor concentrations.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.209-216
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• 2021

Background: The article presents the results of studies performed in order to develop a new method of airborne potassium bromate(V) determination at workplaces. Methods: The method is based on a collection of the inhalable fraction of potassium bromate(V) using the IOM Sampler, then extraction of bromates with deionized water and chromatographic analysis of the obtained solution. The analysis was performed using ion chromatography with conductometric detection. The tests were performed on a Dionex IonPac®AS22 analytic column (250 × 4 mm, 6 ㎛) with AG22 precolumn (50 × 4 mm 11 ㎛). Results: The method provides for potassium bromate(V) determination within the concentration range of 0.043 ÷ 0.88 mg/m³ for an air sample of 0.72 m³ in volume, i.e., 0.1-2 times the exposure limit value as proposed in Poland. The method was validated in accordance with PN-EN 482. The obtained validation data are as follows: measuring range: 3.1-63.4 ㎍/mL, limit of detection (LOD) = 0.018 ㎍/mL and limit of quantification (LOQ) = 0.053 ㎍/mL. The developed method has been tested in the work environment, on laboratory employees having contact with potassium bromate(V). Conclusion: The analytical method allowed the determination of the inhalable fraction of airborne potassium bromate(V) at workplaces and can be used to assess occupational exposure.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.31-40
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• 2022

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to understand the impact on accident reduction by analyzing the policy effectiveness of an industrial accident prevention clean workplace support project targeting the construction industry. Methods: In this study, DID and PSM models were used to analyze workplaces receiving and not receiving financial support based on the status of industrial accidents in recent years and the status of the workplaces by year. Results: The research results show that meaningful effects continued to occur in terms of reducing accidents and increasing employment. Conclusions: In this study, we show the effectiveness of the clean workplace support project, one of the South Korean government's financial support projects in the field of occupational safety and health focusing on the construction industry. Financial support projects such as clean projects should be further expanded based on the results of this study.

• Proceedings of the Safety Management and Science Conference
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• 2002.05a
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• pp.15-21
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• 2002

In the future, all kinds condition of industrial safety is a primary need in all advanced countries in which workplace safety is an issue. Furthermore, the increasing complexity of production systems and the rapidity of technological innovation have consolidated the recognition of the strategic value of safety, alongside the traditional competitive factors such as quality, costs, delivery time and flexibility, In this paper, the some critical issues of changes and counter-plan in an adequate safety management were identified by above considerations as follows： needs of systematic identification and analysis of safety factors； requirements to define priorities and budgeting to support the decision-making process; and needs of audit activities and indicators which measure company performance in terms of safety improvements, and so on.

• Journal of information and communication convergence engineering
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.174-184
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• 2023

In this study, the structural relationship among risk factors, safety motivation, and safety behavior perceived by telecommunications workers was empirically verified. A survey was conducted on field workers at S telecommunications companies in Korea, and the following major results were obtained. First, among the risk factors perceived by telecommunications workers, personal, cultural, and institutional factors were found to have significant positive effects on workers' safety motivation. Second, workers' safety motivation had a significant positive effect on safety behavior. Third, among the risk factors of telecommunications companies, personal, cultural, and institutional factors did not significantly affect workers' safety behavior. Fourth, all risk-causing factors perceived by workers, such as personal, cultural, and institutional factors, indirectly affected safety behavior through safety motivation. This study presents the importance of perceiving risk factors in the workplace to prevent and alleviate industrial accidents by examining the effects of riskcausing factors perceived by carrier workers on safety motivation and behavior.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.13-22
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• 2024

On January 8, 2021, the Act on the Punishment of Severe Disasters passed the Legislation and Judiciary Committee and has been in effect in earnest since January 2022. However, safety accidents at construction sites are still continuing, and it is necessary to discuss ways to improve the safety awareness of construction workers. Therefore, in this study, data were collected through a survey of construction site workers, and the effect of the organizational climate of the workplace on the level of safety consciousness of workers was studied. As a result of the study, the factors of organizational structure, guaranteeing autonomy and consideration of supervisors among the organizational climate of the workplace had a positive effect on the improvement of workers' safety awareness. Based on this, this researcher suggested that workers should be delegated the authority to perform some tasks according to the situation and content of the work during the field work and that incentives should be compensated according to performance.