• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• v.6 no.4
• /
• pp.345-352
• /
• 2015

Background: Goal-oriented communication of risk of hazards is necessary in order to reduce risk of workers' exposure to chemicals. Adequate training of workers and enterprise priority setting are essential elements. Cleaning enterprises have many challenges and the existing paradigms influence the risk levels of these enterprises. Methods: Information on organization and enterprises' prioritization in training programs was gathered from cleaning enterprises. A measure of enterprises' conceptual level of importance of chemical health hazards and a model for working out the risk index (RI) indicating enterprises' conceptual risk level was established and used to categorize the enterprises. Results: In 72.3% of cases, training takes place concurrently with task performances and in 67.4% experienced workers conduct the trainings. There is disparity between employers' opinion on competence level of the workers and reality. Lower conceptual level of importance was observed for cleaning enterprises of different sizes compared with regional safety delegates and occupational hygienists. Risk index values show no difference in risk level between small and large enterprises. Conclusion: Training of cleaning workers lacks the prerequisite for suitability and effectiveness to counter risks of chemical health hazards. There is dereliction of duty by management in the sector resulting in a lack of competence among the cleaning workers. Instituting acceptable easily attainable safety competence level for cleaners will conduce to risk reduction, and enforcement of attainment of the competence level would be a positive step.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
• /
• v.15 no.4
• /
• pp.131-137
• /
• 2000

The release of hazardous waste materials into the environment poses serious risks in humans and ecosystems. The risk assessment of environmental pollutants including hazardous chemicals requires a comprehensive measurement of hazard and exposure of the chemicals that can be achieved by toxicity evaluation using a biological system such as biomarkers. In this report we have tried to develop a biomarker used to elucidate a molecular basis of, and to monitor abnormal behaviors caused by diazinon in Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes) as a model organism. First, an attempt was made to clone tyrosine hydroxylase gene from Japanese medaka that would be a candidate for a biomarker for neuronal modulations and behaviors. For monitoring experiments at behavioral and molecular biological levels, the fish were treated under different sublethal conditions of diazinon and their behavioral responses were observed . In this study we have successfully cloned a partial TH gene from the medaka fish through PCR screening of an ovary cDNA library. DNA sequencing analysis revealed that the amplified fragment was 327 bp encoding 109 amino acids. Comparing the DNA sequence of medaka TH with other species, TH gene revealed the DNA sequence was completely identical to that of rat TH. In the RT-PCR, 330 Up of mRNA was consistently amplified in all the treated samples including control There were no significant differences in the TH expression level regardless of treating concentrations (1∼5,000 ppb) and time (0∼48 hr) The reason appeared to be that RT-PCR was not performed using through a quantitative analysis normalized against an actin gene expression. Organ or tissue - specific detection of TH activity and mRNA as biomarkers will be a useful monitoring tool for neurobehavioral changes in fish influenced by toxic chemicals. Furthermore, quantitative analysis of locomotive patterns and its correlation with the neurochemical and molecular data would be highly useful in measuring toxicity and hazard ofvarious environmental pollutants.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
• /
• v.27 no.4
• /
• pp.349-355
• /
• 2012

In this study, we configured a system which ranks hazardous chemicals to determine their management priorities based on experts' opinions and the existing CRS (chemical ranking and scoring). Aggregate exposure of food, health functional food, oriental/herbal medicine and cosmetics have been taken into account to determine management priority. In this study, 25 hazardous chemicals were selected, such as cadmium, lead, mercury, and arsenic, etc. These 25 materials were ranked according to their 1) risk (exposure or hazard) indexes, 2) exposure source-based weight, and 3) public interests, which were also formed based on the existing priority ranking system. Cadmium was scored the highest (178.5) and bisphenol A the lowest (56.8). Ten materials -- cadmium, lead, mercury, arsenic, tar, acrylamide, benzopyrene, aluminium, benzene, and PAHs -- scored higher than 100. Eight materials -- aflatoxin, manganese, phthalate, chromium, nitrate/nitrite, ethylcarbamate, formaldehyde, and copper -- recorded scores in the range from 70 to 100. Also evaluated as potential risks were 7 materials; sulfur dioxide, ochratoxin, dioxins, PCBs, fumonisin, methyl mercury, and bisphenol A, and these materials were scored above 50. Then we compared risk index and correlation coefficient of total scores to confirm the validity of the total scores; we analyzed correlation coefficient of parameter and indicator. We discovered that the total score and weight, which has incorporated public interests, were high and statistically significant. In conclusion, the result of this study contributes to strengthening risk assessment and risk management of hazardous chemicals.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
• /
• v.46 no.1
• /
• pp.1-10
• /
• 2020

Objectives: This study intends to evaluate the ecological risk of lead (Pb), arsenic (As), and their compounds according to the 2010 action plan on inventory and management for national priority chemicals and provide calculations of risks to the environment. By doing so, we aim to inform risk management measures for the target chemicals. Methods: We conducted species sensitivity distribution (SSD) analysis using the collected ecotoxicity data and obtained predicted no effect concentrations (PNECs) for the in-water environment using a hazardous concentration of 5% (HC5) protective of most species (95%) in the environment. Based on the calculated PNECs for aquatic organisms, PNEC values for soil and sediment were calculated using the partition coefficient. We also calculated predicted exposure concentration (PEC) from nation-wide environmental monitoring data and then the hazard quotient (HQ) was calculated using PNEC for environmental media. Results: Ecological toxicity data was categorized into five groups and five species for Pb and four groups and four species for As. Based on the HC5 values from SSD analysis, the PNEC value for aquatic organisms was calculated as 0.40 ㎍/L for Pb and 0.13 ㎍/L for As. PNEC values for soil and sediment calculated using a partition coefficient were 77.36 and 350.50 mg/kg for Pb and 24.20 and 112.75 mg/kg for As. The analysis of national environmental monitoring data showed that PEC values in water were 0.284 ㎍/L for Pb and 0.024 ㎍/L for As, while those in soil and sediment were respectively 45.9 and 44 mg/kg for Pb, and 11.40 and 19.80 mg/kg for As. Conclusions: HQs of Pb and As were 0.70 and 0.18 in water, while those in soil and sediment were 0.59 and 0.13 for Pb and 0.47 and 0.18 for As. With HQs <1 of lead and arsenic in the environment, their ecological risk levels are found to be low.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Food Hygiene and Safety Conference
• /
• 1992.07a
• /
• pp.21-32
• /
• 1992

Pesticides are regarded as one of indispensable materials used in agriculture to protect pests and to keep the agriculture productions steadily. However, food contamination arisen from their application has brought about public concerns for safety suspicion to human health. A brief presentation is given in this paper on what has been conducted against pesticide residues to evaluate and ensure the safety of agro-products. The commonest countermeasures to keep safety would be the establishment of MRLs and safe-use guidelines of pesticides according to good agricultural practices. Korean MRLs have bun established on 38 chemicals with 56 commodities and in the case of safe-use guidelines 344 formulation items have been done by the government. On the other hand, no satisfactory information is still available to evalute the actual residue levels in domestic agro-products, but a cautious proposal could be suggested through the fragmentary monitoring data of pesticide residues, so that the current residue levels would be far from potent hazard enough to cause chronic impact on human. The most important thing is to have the farmers keep safe use guidelines at pesticide application for the production of safe agriculture commodities.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
• /
• v.47 no.2
• /
• pp.155-165
• /
• 2021

Objectives: Acute exposure to high concentrations of chemicals can occur when a chemical accident takes place. As such exposure can cause ongoing environmental pollution, such as in the soil and groundwater, there is a need for a tool that can assess health effects in the long term. The purpose of this study was assessing the health risks of residents living near a chemical accident site due to long-term exposure while considering the temporal concentration changes of the toxic chemicals leaked during the accident until their extinction in the environment using a multimedia environmental dynamics model. Methods: A health risk assessment was conducted on three cases of formaldehyde chemical accidents. In this study, health risk assessment was performed using a multimedia environmental dynamics model that considers the behavior of the atmosphere, soil, and water. In addition, the extinction period of formaldehyde in the environment was regarded as extinction in the environment when the concentration in the air and soil fell below the background concentration prior to the accident. The subjects of health risk assessment were classified into four groups according to age: 0-9 years old, 10-18 years old, 19-64 years old, and over 65 years old. Carcinogenic risk assessment by respiratory exposure and non-carcinogenic risk assessment by soil intake were conducted as well. Results: In the assessment of carcinogenic risk due to respiratory exposure, the excess carcinogenic risk did not exceed 1.0×10-6 in all three chemical accidents, so there was no health effect due to the formaldehyde chemical accident. As a result of the evaluation of non-carcinogenic risk due to soil intake, none of the three chemical accidents had a risk index of 1, so there was no health effect. For all three chemical accidents, the excess cancer risk and hazard index were the highest in the age group 0-9. Next, 10-18 years old, 65 years old or older, and 19-64 years old showed the highest risk. Conclusion: This study considers environmental changes after a chemical accident occurs and until the substance disappears from the environment. It also conducts a health risk assessment by reflecting the characteristics of the long-term persistence and concentration change over time. It is thought that it is of significance as a health risk assessment study reflecting the exposure characteristics of the accident substance for an actual chemical accident.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
• /
• v.36 no.4
• /
• pp.273-282
• /
• 2023

Probabilistic safety assessment (PSA) has been widely used to evaluate the seismic risk of nuclear power plants (NPPs). However, studies on seismic PSA for process plants, such as gas plants, oil refineries, and chemical plants, have been scarce. This is because the major disasters to which these process plants are vulnerable include explosions, fires, and release (or dispersion) of toxic chemicals. However, seismic PSA is essential for the plants located in regions with significant earthquake risks. Seismic PSA entails probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA), event tree analysis (ETA), fault tree analysis (FTA), and fragility analysis for the structures and essential equipment items. Among those analyses, ETA can depict the accident sequence for core damage, which is the worst disaster and top event concerning NPPs. However, there is no general top event with regard to process plants. Therefore, PSA cannot be directly applied to process plants. Moreover, there is a paucity of studies on developing fragility curves for various equipment. This paper introduces PSA for gas plants based on FTA, which is then transformed into Bayesian network, that is, a probabilistic graph model that can aid risk-informed decision-making. Finally, the proposed method is applied to a gas plant, and several decision-making cases are demonstrated.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• /
• v.24 no.4
• /
• pp.425-435
• /
• 2014

Objectives: This study was performed in order to establish reliable and relative selection criteria for hazardous substances requiring management(HSRM) in the Occupational Safety and Health Act in Korea. Methods: To determine the relative criteria and weight of evidence for HSRM, we analyzed the difference between the selection method of priority substances in studies by KOSHA(Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency) and the European Union Risk Ranking Method(EURAM). In addition, 597 hazardous substances with exposure limit valueswereanalyzed and the posted health hazards classification by MOEL(Ministry of Employee and Labor), MOE(Ministry of Environment), and EU CLP(Classification, Labelling and Packaging regulation) were compared based on GHS(Globally Harmonized System of classification and labelling of chemicals) criteria. The existing HSRM(167 substances) were evaluated for suitability by the proposed criteria in this study. Results: As a result of this study, the criteria and procedures for selecting HSRM in the Occupational Safety and Health Act were arranged utilizing GHS health hazard classification results, occupational disease cases and domestic use situations. Conclusions: The applicability of the proposed criteria was proved via the evaluation of existing HSRM(167 substances). Most HSRM (161 substances) were found to correspond to a significant health effect or substantial health effect. The question of whether to include the six substances that have been found to have general health effects as HSRM would be require further research.

• Proceedings of the Korean Environmental Health Society Conference
• /
• 2005.06a
• /
• pp.345-350
• /
• 2005

Acute toxicities of five pharmaceutical products were evaluated with aquatic microbes, invertebrates, and fish. The test pharmaceuticals, i.e., cimetidine, carbamazepine, diltiazem, acetaminophene, and metformin have been often detected in aquatic environment, but theire cological hazard on receptors of various trophic levels has seldom been evaluated. In the present study, we conducted acute toxicity assays with a marine bacterium, Vibrio fischeri, an invertebrate, Daphnia magna, and a fish, Japanese medake (Oryzias latipes). In general, D. magna, showed the most sensitive response to the test chemicals. Diltiazem exhibited the lowest EC50 value after 96 hr of exposure at 7.6 mg/L, followed by cimetidine >acetaminophen > metformin = carbamazepine in an order of decreasing susceptibility. With the fish, diltiazem and carbamazepine showed the 96 hr EC50 values at 14.1${\sim}$35.4 mg/L while acetaminophen, cimetidine, and metformin did not cause 50% mortality at 100 mg/L. Similar pattern was noted with the Microtox Assay, with which the median effective concentrations for acetaminophen, cimetidine, and metformin were found at the range between 301.8 and 755.4 mg/L. Carbamazepine and diltiazem exposure to the microbes resulted in EC50 values around 50 mg/L. Predicted no effect concentrations (PECs) of these pharmaceuticals derived from the EC5O values obtained from this study, and predicted environmental concentrations (PECs) obtained from available literatures were utilized to estimate ecological risks of the test compounds. No test pharmaceuticals resulted in risk quotients (PEC/PNEC) greater than 1, which suggests no serious potential ecological concerns. It should be noted however that further studies including the refinement of PEC derivation, identification and toxicity assessment of the metabolites and/or their interactions with other stressors may be warranted to better understand the environmental consequences of the residual pharmaceutical discharge to the waterway.

• Toxicological Research
• /
• v.17
• /
• pp.227-236
• /
• 2001

The IARC Monographs Programme on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans has reviewed, summarized and evaluated 869 environmental agents and exposures as oj June 2000. This large collection includes all relevant published epidemiological data on cancer in exposed humans and results of bioassays for carcinogenicity in experimental animals. Since 1986. cancer data have been systematically supplemented by summaries of other toxicological data that are relevant to assessments of carcinogenic hazard. These include summaries qf genetic and related effects of chemicals. which have been prepared as Genetic Activity Profiles (GAP) by the U.S. EPA in collaboration with IARC. As the Mono-graphs have proved increasingly valuable and influential worldwide. they have evolved into an encyclopedia on environmental carcinogenic risks to humans. However. the Monographs have historically been prepared only as printed books with limited distribution. and the Monographs Programme has needed to adjust to expectations oj wider availability. Since 1998 the evaluations and summaries have been globally accessible by Internet from IARC (http://www.iarc.fr) and the GAP profiles by Internet from EPA (http://www.epa.gov/gapdb/). with the two web sites linked. Improved EPN/ARC GAP database and software. GAP2000. now link GAP profiles directly to the appropriate IARC web pages for summaries of evaluations of a given compound and its overall IARC classification. During the year 2000. by means of optical character recognition (OCR) technology the entire series of IARC Monographs is being converted to an electronic version. The first edition is now available commercially in CD-ROM format and will soon become available on-line at .