• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.421-423
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• 2021

Providing a "safe system of work" is the essence of the general duties that employers have to their employees under workplace health and safety regulations. Despite this, consistent and appropriate definition of what constitutes a safe system of work is almost non-existent. Available definitions tend to confuse a safe system of work with management practices intended to bring about a safe system, or conflate the broad system suggested in general duties clauses with procedures or work methods that are focused on particular hazards or tasks. This article develops a definition of safe systems of work which recognises the broad scope of the concept and includes psychological health and return to work processes. This definition can be used by a range of stakeholders to better communicate the scope of occupational health and safety duties and more consistently assess whether a safe system has been provided both before and after incidents occur.

• IE interfaces
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.114-126
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• 2012

This study describes a real-time location monitoring system developed for efficient operation of workplace in plant equipment maker. This monitoring system can be applied for indoor and outdoor working environment respectively. By using the real-time tracking system based on RTLS, it is possible to track worker's movement and location of working object under indoor working environment. For outdoor working environment, the real-time monitoring system based on IDGPS is applied for work safety and balanced workload. A case study is provided to evaluate the performance of the real-time monitoring system.

• Korean Journal of Computational Design and Engineering
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.79-90
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• 2012

In digital virtual manufacturing simulation, Digital Human widely used to optimal workplace design, enhancing worker safety in the workplace, and improving product quality. However, the case of ergonomics simulation solutions to support digital human modeling, Optimal DHM (Digital Human Model) data needed to develop and perform DHM will collect information related to the production process. So simulation developer has burden of collecting information. In this study, to overcome the limitations of existing solutions, we proposed the ADAGIO(Automated Digital humAn model development for General assembly usIng Ontology) framework. The ADAGIO framework was developed for DHM ontology to support optimal deployment of digital virtual environment and in order to ensure consistency of simulation components that are required for simulation modeling was made of a library.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.163-166
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• 2010

The effective dose of the Seoul subway staffs due to inhaled radon ($^{222}Rn$) in their workplace was investigated depended on radon concentration exposed at each workplace, and working hours and working types of the staffs. Annual average radon concentrations ranged from 16.5 to 93.0 $Bq{\cdot}m^{-3}$. The staffs commonly spend 2,304 hours in the underground spaces a year. With the radon concentrations and the working hours of the staffs, estimated annual effective doses ranged from 0.23 to 0.73 $mSv{\cdot}y^{-1}$.

• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.21 no.47
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• pp.243-251
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• 1998

These days material handling accidents and injuries are some of the most common in the workplace. 20-45% of all occupational injuries is taken place in the area of material handling industry. The control and management of material handling activities can have a significant impact on the workforce safety and productivity in the manufacturing industry. This paper is to suggest effective countermeasures for reducing and protecting occupational accidents in the area of material handling industry. To do so, firstly, we found out the relationship between occpational accidents and business. Secondly, we are to analyse overall occupational accidents caused by material handling tools. Thirdly, we found out important factors of occupational accidents and injuries in the area of material handling industry by analysing 10 cases in detail, which have been occured from 1994 to 1997 in the workplace.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.135-144
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• 1999

The purposes of this study were to survey types of pretreatment methods adopted by industrial hygiene laboratories in Korea for extracting heavy metals in welding fume samples and to compare performances of two pretreatment methods, the acid extraction and the microwave digestion, in extracting heavy metals contained in the real workplace samples from various welding jobs including arc, argon, and carbon dioxide. A total of 25 analytical chemists in the industrial hygiene laboratories participating the quality control program directed by the Korea Industrial Safety Corporation were interviewed by telephone. For the purpose of comparing performance of extracting heavy metals from real workplace samples, a total of 53 welders from 21 workplaces located in Anyang, Uiwang, and Kunpo areas were sampled from the period of March 22, 1999 to April 20, 1999. It was found that the most frequently adopted method for samples from the quality control program was the acid extraction method(40%) followed by the NIOSH 7300 method(36%). The NIOSH method, however, was the dominant method(36%) for samples from workplace followed by the acid extraction method(28%). In this study, two extraction methods, the acid extraction and the microwave digestion, were compared in terms of recovery rate, accuracy, and precision for both manganese and chromium. Both methods produced comparable results for the samples prepared for the quality control program. In contrast, concentrations of two heavy metals determined from real workplace samples pretreated with the microwave digestion method were statis tically significantly higher, manganese(166%) and chromium (200%), than those of utilizing the acid extraction method. These findings were consistent regardless of types of welding techniques used. The results of this study clearly show the importance of verifying the analytical performances of extraction methods for heavy metals not only for the samples from the quality control program but also from the real world samples collected from welding jobs.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.177-186
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• 2013

The use of nanoparticles (NPs) in industry is increasing, bringing with it a number of adverse health effects on workers. Like other chemical carcinogens, NPs can cause cancer via oxidative DNA damage. Of all the molecules vulnerable to oxidative modification by NPs, DNA has received the greatest attention, and biomarkers of exposure and effect are nearing validation. This review concentrates on studies published between 2000 and 2012 that attempted to detect oxidative DNA damage in humans, laboratory animals, and cell lines. It is important to review these studies to improve the current understanding of the oxidative DNA damage caused by NP exposure in the workplace. In addition to examining studies on oxidative damage, this review briefly describes NPs, giving some examples of their adverse effects, and reviews occupational exposure assessments and approaches to minimizing exposure (e.g., personal protective equipment and engineering controls such as fume hoods). Current recommendations to minimize exposure are largely based on common sense, analogy to ultrafine material toxicity, and general health and safety recommendations.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.35-41
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• 2016

Particulate filtering facepiece respirators (PFFR) is one of the most widely used items of personal protective equipments, and a tight fit of the respirators on the wearers is critical for the protection effectiveness. In order to effectively protect the workers through the respirators, it is important to find and evaluate the ways that can be readily applicable at the workplace to improve the fit of the respirators. This study was designed to evaluate effects of mask style (cup or foldable type) and donning training on fit factors (FF) of the respirators, since these are available at various workplace, especially at small business workplace. A total of 40 study subjects, comprised of 30~50s aged male and female workers in metalworking industries, were enrolled in this study. The FF were quantitatively measured before and after training related to the proper donning and use of cup or foldable-type respirators. The pass/fail criterion of FF was set at 100. After the donning training for the cup-type mask, subjects who passed the fit test were increased from 10 to 33. Moreover, the geometric mean (GM) of FF was increased by 340% in subjects who failed the test. In addition, the training effects for the cup-type mask were significant in female and 50s aged subjects. On the other hand, although the GM of FF for the foldable-type mask was also increased after the donning training, the GM of FF for the foldable-type mask and it's increase rate were smaller as compared to the cup-type mask. Furthermore, the differences of the increase rates of the GM of FF in sex and aged of the subjects were not significantly for the foldable-type mask. The multi-distribution of leak points for the foldable-type mask may be one of causes for the less effect of training on the fit of the foldable-type mask. These results imply that the raining on the donning and use of PFFR can enhance the protection effectiveness of cup or foldable-type mask, and that the training effects for the foldable-type mask is less significant than that for the cup-type mask. Therefore, It is recommended that the donning training and fit tests should be conducted before the use of the PFFR, and that efficient tranining programs for the foldable-type mask are required.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.43-49
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• 2023

Hydrofluoric acid is a less acidic substance than hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, and sulfuric acid, but it is one of the most dangerous substances for humans. In recent years, it has become an indispensable substance in industries such as chemical plants and the semiconductor industry, and although it is a threat to the human body, its use is increasing for various purposes, and the amount of use is constantly increasing due to the expansion and development of the industry. The dangers of hydrogen fluoride have been highlighted since the 2012 accident, which led to a more than fivefold increase in management standards for handling facilities. Hydrogen fluoride converts to hydrofluoric acid when exposed to the air, which can be fatal to humans. This study simulates the effects of a release of a toxic substance in the workplace, even though a protection layer has been provided to minimize the damage caused by the released toxic substance, and recommend ways to control the risk to workers in the event of a release in the workplace.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.156-161
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• 2017

Background: Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems are becoming more widespread in organizations. Consequently, their effectiveness has become a core topic for researchers. This paper evaluates the performance of the Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series 18001 specification in certified companies in Iran. Methods: The evaluation is based on a comparison of specific criteria and indictors related to occupational health and safety management practices in three certified and three noncertified companies. Results: Findings indicate that the performance of certified companies with respect to occupational health and safety management practices is significantly better than that of noncertified companies. Conclusion: Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series 18001-certified companies have a better level of occupational health and safety; this supports the argument that Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems play an important strategic role in health and safety in the workplace.