• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.433-445
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• 2015

Objectives: The major objectives of this study are to review the issues surrounding trade secret claims in the Chemicals Control Act and Amendment on Occupational Safety and Health Act(1917-227) and to propose a way of improving the reliability of chemical information in MSDSs, labels and National Chemical Survey results. Materials: To review the issues on trade secret claims, we made an analysis frame which was divided into three steps: Value and Problem Recognition; New Regulation Design; and Enforcement and Amendment. We then compared Korean issues with issues from the United States' Hazard Communication Standard and Emergency Planning & Community Right-to-Know Act, Canada's Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System and Hazardous Materials Information Review Act and the European Union's Regulation on Classification, Labelling and Packaging of substances and Mixtures. Results: The stage of right-to-know development in Korea has passed the Value and Problem Recognition phase, so efforts are needed to elaborately design new regulation. Conclusions: We recommend two ways to improve right-to-know in Korea. First, strict examination of the quality of documents for trade secret claims is very important. Second, trade secrets should be limited to less-hazardous substances.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.206-221
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• 2012

Hazardous chemicals can be released from artificial turf used in some school playgrounds. To distinguish between Health risk assessment (HRA) exposure scenarios for this study, the ratio of elementary, middle and high schools was considered before final selection. Considering exposure pathways (inhalational, oral and dermal), media and materials were examined, targeting hazardous chemicals released from artificial turf playground-related products. Upon evaluation, the quantity of infill chips was shown to exceed the domestic product content standard (90 mg/kg) at eight (16%) out of 50 schools. PAHs were shown to exceed standards (10 mg/kg) at two (4%) out of the 50 schools. The excess cancer risk (ECR) of carcinogens was shown to be $1{\times}10^{-6}$ in most users for the worst exposure scenario. In children with pica, who represented the most extreme exposure group, the ECR was expected to be as high as $1{\times}10^{-4}$, showing the low risk level of carcinogens. The hazard index (HI) for individual chemicals was shown to be low, at around 0.1 or less, except for children with pica, according to the mean exposure scenario of artificial turf playground exposure. However, the HI was shown to exceed 1.0 in children with pica. Therefore, no direct health risk was found in using artificial turf playgrounds and urethane flooring tracks for the mean exposure scenario, except in children with pica.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.150-164
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• 2000

This study was conducted at occupational health laboratories in Seoul and Gyunggi district area from December, 1999 to January, 2000. The main purpose of this study was to survey the actual condition of safety and health by questionnaire and checklist and to assess the performance of fume hoods and the airborne exposures to chemicals in the laboratories. The chemicals in the cabinet were not classified by hazardous properties and the compressed gases were not stored safely. The prevalences of laboratories having first aid kits, fire extinguishers, and safety showers were found to be 18%, 55%, and 9%, respectively. Most laboratory workers were not educated for safety and health. Also, there was no performance evaluation for hazards and risks. The fume hoods in laboratories had not been annually inspected by checklist and the face velocity had been checked more than one time in the previous year for only 18% of them. Five percent of fume hoods had the face velocity more than 4.0 m/sec and 17% had no capture performance. Detected organic solvents were methylenechloride, acetone, ethylbenzene, isopropanol, xylene, methylisobutylketone, trichloroethylene, and toluene. The concentrations of organic solvents were much less than the occupational exposure limits proposed by the Ministry of Labor in Korea. This study showed that the actual condition of safety and health was not appropriate for laboratory workers. It is recommended that laboratory workers should be educated for the treatment and storage of hazardous chemicals and compressed gases to improve the working environment of the occupational safety and health laboratories.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.91-102
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• 2014

Objectives: This study was performed in order to devise a procedure for supplementing the Special Management Materials in the Occupational Safety and Health Act and recommend candidate materials. The results are expected to be used as fundamental data for classification and criteria necessary to manage Special Management Materials in workplaces. Also, they are expected to be used as a basis for selecting target materials to nominate as additional Special Management Material. Methods: We investigated the selection standards for candidates and review ranges of data sources to nominate Special Management Materials. The substances classified as GHS(Globally Harmonized System of classification and labeling of chemicals) category 1A(known to have carcinogenic potential and reproductive toxicity for humans) or 1B(presumed to have carcinogenic potential and reproductive toxicity for humans) carcinogens and reproductive toxicants among the Controlled Hazardous Substances of the Regulation on Occupational Safety and Health Standards and substances with OELs(Occupational Exposure Limits) were inspected as the candidates for Special Management Materials. Conclusions: A seven-step procedure for selecting candidates to designate as Special Management Materials was suggested, including the setting of target chemicals for evaluation, classification of CMR(Carcinogens, Mutagens or Reproductive toxicants) by GHS classification and criteria, suggestion and selection of the candidates, and more. This study recommends 58 chemicals as qualified candidates to supplement the Special Management Materials.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.29-37
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• 2005

Recently, significant contamination problems by residual chemicals have occasionally been occurred from major rivers and drinking water in Korea. Therefore, the management for use of them and risk assessment should be more strictly performed. In this study, we have analyzed trihalomethanes in treated water samples taken from water plants located in the region of four major rivers (i.e. Han river, Geum river, Youngsan river and Nakdong river) in Korea for eight years (1997～2004). From the data, we could assess the excess cancer risk by calculating the chronic daily intakes (CDI) multiplied by individual oral slope factors, Q₁＊, for the cancer suspected matters such as trihalomethanes, moreover the hazard index which is calculated by dividing the CDI by the acceptable daily reference dose (R/sub f/D) was determined for the risk assessment. As a result, in the case of 95 percentile excess cancer risk, it was shown that the excess cancer risk for dichlorobromomethane in the Nakdong river region is highest among the tested samples as 8.73 x 10/sup -6/. The 95 percentile total hazard index (the sum of individual hazard indices considering R/sub f/D), in addition, was below 1.0 for all samples, and therefore it was assessed that water samples taken from treatment plants of four major rivers are not harmful.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.51-60
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• 2018

Objectives: Currently, there is only limited knowledge regarding the hazard of low-level exposure to CMR materials in workplaces. To overcome this limitation, a reference concentration for workers($RfC_w$) from among the risk assessment tools proposed by the US EPA is widely used to set a provisional workplace exposure level(PWEL) for CMR materials for which there are no established Korea Occupational Exposure Limits(KOELs) or subjective chemicals for work environment measurements as regulated by Korea Ministry of Employment and Labor(KMOEL). A simple European calculator of derived no effect level(SECO-DNEL) as proposed by REACH can also be used in place of $RfC_w$ to set the PWEL for chemicals. This study was performed to test the acceptability of using SECO-DNEL as an alternative to $RfC_w$ when setting a PWEL for low-level exposures. Methods: The $RfC_w$ and DNEL for the five CMR materials of dinitrogen oxide, catechol, 2-phenoxy ethanol, carbitol, and carbon black were calculated using the dose-response assessments of the US EPA for $RfC_w$ and REACH guidance for SECO-DNEL, respectively. They were compared using paired t-tests to determine the statistical differences between them. Results: For the five chemicals, the $RfC_w$ were 2.53 ppm, 0.10 ppm, 1.73 ppm, 1.66 ppm, and $0.05mg/m^3$, respectively, while the SECO-DNEL were 2.01 ppm, 0.11 ppm, 1.83 ppm, 1.77 ppm, $0.14mg/m^3$, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference between $RfC_w$ and SECO-DNEL. Conclusions: This study suggests that the SECO-DNEL could be applied in place of $RfC_w$ to set a PWEL for low-level exposure to chemicals, especially CMR materials. To further ensure the reliability of SECO-DNEL as an alternative tool, more chemicals should be applied for calculation and comparison with $RfC_w$.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.93-105
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• 2024

Purpose: This study aims to quantitatively determine the impact on nearby risidents by selecting the amount of chemicals emitted from the workplace among the substances subject to the chemical emission plan and predicting the concentration with the atmospheric diffusion program. Method: The selection of research materials considered half-life, toxicity, and the presence or absence of available monitoring station data. The areas discharged from the materials to be studied were selected as the areas to be studied, and four areas with floating populations were selected to evaluate health risks. Result: AERMOD was executed after conducting terrain and meteorological processing to obtain predicted concentrations. The health hazard assessment results indicated that only dichloromethane exceeded the threshold for children, while tetrachloroethylene and chloroform appeared at levels that cannot be ignored for both children and adults. Conclusion: Currently, in the domestic context, health hazard assessments are conducted based on the regulations outlined in the "Environmental Health Act" where if the hazard index exceeds a certain threshold, it is considered to pose a health risk. The anticipated expansion of the list of substances subject to the chemical discharge plan to 415 types by 2030 suggests the need for efficient management within workplaces. In instances where the hazard index surpasses the threshold in health hazard assessments, it is judged that effective chemical management can be achieved by prioritizing based on considerations of background concentration and predicted concentration through atmospheric dispersion modeling.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.19-32
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• 1995

The purpose of this study is to investigate the consumer safety problems appeared in the Korean mass media-the newspaper(the Kong-A Ilbo and the Chosun Ilbo) and the consumer magazines(the Sobija-Sidae and the Sobija) from 1991 to 1993. I use the content analysis of the articles related with consumer safety through the above mass media. The results are (1) the goods-services areas that are severe in the consumer safety problem are food, environment, medicine, electric appliances, services(restaurant, medical service), and etc. (2) the most important problem areas are Toxic ingredients(remaining agricultural chemicals and heavy metal), Food additionals, Sanitary problem, Hygiene products hazard, Safety accident, Environmental pollution, etc. (3) the goods-service area and the consumer safety problem are different according to the publication year and the mass media type.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.57-64
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• 2008

The Semiconductor industry in Korea has achieved a great contribution to the growth of its economy for the last 20 years with its product export ranked to #1 nowadays. However, the working environment in semiconductor industry is always exposed to a potential risk of critical safety issue for workers with many kinds of utilities used such as toxic chemicals, gases, high vacuum and high voltages of electricity. This study is focused on empirical research to find out the factors on safety climate and to examine the relationships of safety climate and safe work behaviour in the work site of Korea semiconductor industry. As a result of simulation, a strong positive relationships and safe work behaviour have been identified in this study. Its result and implications has been discussed and suggested further studies on its limitation from this study.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.180-185
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• 1998

The evaluation of thermal and pressure hazard of chemicals on the manufacturing, transporting and storaging is important in the chemical industry for safety. In this study, the thermal decomposition characteristics of intermediate of Saccharin were investigated by using Accelerating Rate Calorimeter(ARC) and Differential Scanning Calorimeter(DSC). Experimental results showed that decomposition temperatures in p-TSA were about 280~$318^{\circ}C$ by DSC and $201^{\circ}C$ by ARC. In case of o-TSA were about $336^{\circ}C$~$360.8^{\circ}C$ by DSC and $299^{\circ}C$ by ARC. The decomposition temperature acquired by ARC was about $70^{\circ}C$ lower than that by DSC. The exothermic runaway reaction in case of p-TSA occured in 598 minute and o-TSA in 5 minute. For the safety in the chemical industry, we should consider the ARC data as well as DSC data in the handling and design of process.