• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.376-384
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• 2014

Objective: The purpose of this study is to compare the health status of residents who were exposed to sources of extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields (ELF-EMFs) in the living environment and those who were not exposed to such a source of ELF-EMFs through a survey designed to appraise the residents' health levels. Method: Aimed at 251 residents exposed to a source of ELF-EMFs and 278 residents not exposed to a source, the survey was conducted to investigate the health status of the residents on the basis of questionnaire SF-36. Result: The health status scores of residents exposed to ELF-EMFs turned out to be lower than those of their counterparts. In terms of self-reported symptoms related to health and sleep quality, residents exposed to ELF-EMFs were found to have a higher complaint rate of self-reported symptoms such as dizziness, depression, and fatigue. Regarding sleep disorders, residents exposed to ELF-EMFs appeared to have a slightly higher complaint rate of sleep disorders compared to non-exposed residents. Conclusion: If a region is to be exposed to a source of ELF-EMFs, a more proactive policy for reducing such exposure is advised. In addition, it is necessary to better understand problems of residents by emplacing an ELF-EMFs risk information delivery system and building an efficient communication system for voluntary participation during the construction phase.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.267-272
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• 2019

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine effect of anxiety about climate change on life satisfaction and mediating effect of subjective health status between anxiety about climate change and life satisfaction among older persons. Methods: This study used data from Statistics Korea 2018 Social Survey and a total of 7,870 older persons aged 65 and over were selected for the analyses. Descriptive statistics was used to identify characteristics of study participants and correlation analysis was used to examine the associations among anxiety about climate change, subjective health status, and life satisfaction. Also, multiple regression analyses were performed to examine effect of anxiety about climate change on life satisfaction and mediating effect of subjective health status between anxiety about climate change and life satisfaction. Results: Study findings show that anxiety about climate change had significant effect on life satisfaction. A higher level of anxiety decreased the level of life satisfaction of the elderly. A higher level of anxiety about climate change also decreased the level of subjective health status. In addition, the effect of anxiety about climate change on life satisfaction was partially mediated by subjective health status. Conclusions: Findings of the study suggest that the needs of older population should be considered in designing policy and interventions on climate change.

• Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
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• v.35
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• pp.49.1-49.7
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• 2023

The Korean Working Conditions Survey (KWCS) is a state-approved statistical survey that has been conducted by the Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute (OSHRI) every 3 years since 2006 to monitor changes in the working conditions of Koreans. This cross-sectional national survey involves a sample of 50,000 employed people aged 15 or older. KWCS measures various working conditions through > 130 survey questions, including questions regarding working hours, labor intensity, work-life balance, degree of exposure to risk factors, and subjective health status. Professional survey interviewers visit households and conduct face to face interviews. KWCS provides data and statistics for occupational safety and health polices and research in Korea. Furthermore, OSHRI holds academic conferences every year, awards high-quality academic papers, and supports researchers using data. Microdata is publicly available through the OSHRI website (https://oshri.kosha.or.kr).

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.1-10
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• 1992

Since 1960's along with industrialization and urbanization, economic growth has been . achieved, however, at the same time, environmental condition has been seriously deteriorated. . Currently, volume of wastewater has been increasing at annual rate of 7% in sewage and 20% in industrial wastewater. However, the nation's sewage treatment serves only 33% of the municipal wastewater as of 1991. Major portion of air pollutants comes from combustion of oil and coal which comprise 81% of total energy use and emission gases from motor vehicles increasing at an accelerated rate. It is known that Korea generates the highest amount of waste per capta. Nevertheless, it is not sufficient to reduce the volume of waste by means of resources recovery and recycling. Recognizing the importance of global environmental problems such as ozone layer depletion, global warming and acid rain, international society has been making various efforts since the 1972 Stockholm conference. In particular, it is expected that the Rio conference which has adopted the Rio declaration and Agenda 21 will form a crucial turning point of the emerging new world order after the Cold War confrontation. To cope with such issues as domestic pollution and global environmental problems, the fundamental national policy aims at harmonizing "environmental protection and sustainable development". The Ministry of Environment has recently set up a mid-term comprehensive plan which includes annual targets for environmental protection. According to the government plan, gradual improvement of various environmental conditions and specific measures to achieve them is planned in time frame. Additional sewage treatment plants will be constructed in urban areas with the target to treat 65% of the nation's municipal sewage by 1996. Supply of clean fuels such as LNG will also be expanded starting from large cities as a cleaner substitute energy for coal and oil. In parallel with expansion of LNG, emphasis will be placed on installation of stack monitoring system. Due to the relatively limited land, government's basic policy for solid waste treatment is to develop large scale landfill facilities rather than small sized ones. Thirty three regional areas have been designated for the purpose of waste management. For each of these regions, big scale landfill site is going to be developed. To increase the rate of waste recycling the government is planning to reinforce separate collection system and to provide industries with economic incentives. As a part of meeting the changing situation on global environmental problems after UNCED, and accommodation regulatory measures stipulated in the global environmental conventions and protocols, national policy will try to alter industrial and economic structure so as to mitigate the increasing trends of energy consumption, by encouraging energy conservation and efficiency. In this regard, more attention will be given to the policy on the development of the cleaner technology. Ultimately, these policies and programs will contribute greatly to improving the current state of national public health.

• Journal of Science and Technology Studies
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.1-31
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• 2009

The need and rationale for public participation in science and technology is widely acknowledged in academic communities and policy circles. In addition to institutionalized forms of participation, some STS researchers have paid attention to spontaneous forms of public participation, particularly with regard to social movement. This paper aims to explore a new form of public participation, which had been relatively neglected in STS studies. For this purpose, in this paper we examine environmental health issues and cumulative trauma disorders (CTDs) debates as examples of doing "undone science" in Korea. Our focus will be specifically on how environmental organizations and trade unions have both succeeded in making those issues as research and policy agenda for both scientific community and policy makers. In a concluding section, a couple of suggestions for further research are proposed.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.368-373
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• 2019

Korea is undergoing a rapid environmental change in health and welfare. Therefore, the law mandates the establishment and implementation of plans in accordance with the changes. A total of 49 long-term plans related to health and welfare were specified by the National Law Information Center, the Korean representative legal information website managed by the Korea Ministry of Government Legislation. Of the 49 long-term plans, 10 plans (20.4%) were not yet fully constructed. Eight out of 10 non-constructive plans have been put into force for more than a year, but these plans still require further systematic planning and development. The complete construction of long-term plans is substantial to account for the changes in South Korean health and welfare. In addition, a systematic plan with solidarity and continuity between the mutual plans should be established in planning.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.71-83
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• 2014

Objectives: This study examined the trend of alcohol-related research, with a specific focus on adolescent problem drinking, to provide evidence for prevention and intervention for adolescent alcohol problems and alcohol policy in Korea. Methods: A total of 17 studies examining adolescent problem drinking were included for meta-analysis. Using CMA (Comprehensive Meta-Analysis) 2.0, the effect sizes of correlation coefficients of variables related to adolescent problem drinking were analyzed. Results: 176 variables were extracted under 4 higher categories and 20 sub-categories. Variables were extracted using the four higher categories, namely individual, family, environmental, and demographics, as the theoretical framework. Results showed that most studies on adolescent problem drinking focused mostly on individual factors followed by family factors. Variables including drinking motivation, drinking expectancy, and peer relations showed relatively higher effect size. Conclusions: Study findings suggest the importance of balance between individual and environmental factors in examining problem drinking among adolescents. In order to provide evidence for alcohol policy, more attention should be given to macro environment that are known to influence adolescent drinking.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.413-427
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• 2006

It is necessary to study and develop guidelines for providing comfort and health indoor air quality for office workers since air-tight envelope system of current office building may cause poor indoor air quality. The purpose of this study is to propose guideline for volatile organic compounds in office base on the field study, human health risk assessment and cost-benefit analysis. The field study was conducted to survey the concentrations of volatile organic compounds in indoor air of 69 offices from June to September, 2005 in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do. The rate of excess to guideline of volatile organic compounds in indoor air of new apartment on the Ministry of Environment in Korea(MOE) was surveyed 37.6% for benzene, 6.8% for toluene, and 1.5% for ethylbenzene. As the result of human health risk assessment, mean cancer risk did not exceed 10-6 which is guideline of US.EPA. Also, total hazard index did not exceed 1 which is guideline of US.EPA. Through the cost-benefit analysis of angle on the social-economics to verify the necessary to establish the standards of volatile organic compounds for improvement and development of indoor air quality in office, the present value of benefit was higher than the present value of cost. With the above considerations in mind, it is suggested that the field study for indoor air quality in offices should be expanded and human health risk assessment and cost-benefit analysis be performed th offer scientific data for decision-making of policy for improvement and management of indoor air quality in office.

• Particle and aerosol research
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.81-94
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• 2016

Managing hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) becomes an important issue with the amendment of the Clean Air Conservation Act in 2012. In this study, to develop an effective air quality management policy direction against the HAPs in Korea, (1) the HAPs control policies in the USA, United Kingdom, Japan, and the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SQAQMD) are reviewed, (2) the state of the art of the HAPs management in Korea are studied, and (3) policy directions are suggested. It was found that each country has its own policy priority and management directions. It was also found that the current HAPs management status is far behind to the countries compared in HAPs identification, emission inventory, monitoring, modeling, and risk management. Further policy directions are suggested.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.365-369
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• 2021

Background: Law enforcement communications (i.e., 911 dispatch and call takers) is a challenging and stressful occupation. The purpose of this study is to identify the main stressors associated with employment in law enforcement communications, and to identify and provide context to how these stressors affect workers' health and wellbeing. Methods: This research study included focus groups with 23 call takers and 911 dispatchers employed by a large, urban law enforcement agency in 2018. Thematic analyses were conducted to identify trends. Results: Four themes of stressors emerged (i.e., the high stakes nature of some 911 calls for service, understaffing, supervisor-related stress, and recruiting practice). Two health-related themes emerged as being occupation-related: weight gain and poor sleep patterns/insufficient sleep). Specifically, participants reported negative eating habits resulting in weight gain and obesity, lack of sleep and irregular sleep schedules, and development of hypertension and/or diabetes since beginning their jobs. Conclusion: Law enforcement communications professionals experience a number of the same stressors facing law enforcement officers in patrol. These stressors, combined with the sedentary nature of the job, could result in long-term, chronic health problems.