• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.19 no.3
• /
• pp.520-529
• /
• 2019

This study is intended to provide basic data for health management of firefighters in the future by empirically looking into health hazard factors of firefighters in Busan City. It was revealed that firstly, the danger of harmful chemicals in a fire was perceived the most by firefighters, who extinguish a fire in person on the scene of a fire, and it was followed by the danger of falling while putting out a fire. This study is intended to provide basic data for health management of firefighters in the future by empirically looking into health hazard factors of firefighters in Busan City. It was revealed that firstly, the danger of harmful chemicals in a fire was perceived the most by firefighters, who extinguish a fire in person on the scene of a fire, and it was followed by the danger of falling while putting out a fire. Moreover, the danger of shift work was perceived the most by paramedics. This corresponds to the existing studies arguing that shift work is harmful to health. Next, the overload of patient transport was recognized as the second biggest hazard factor. This demonstrates they are worried about various second accidents that may happen due to a lot of patient transport works. In addition, the possibility of causing a traffic accident was perceived as a hazard factor too, since they must drive ambulance cars quickly to transport patients. Lastly, rescue workers regarded these hazard factors to be most dangerous. This is associated with their occupational characteristics, because rescue workers are the closest to diverse risks including a fire.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
• /
• v.19 no.3
• /
• pp.259-270
• /
• 2010

We conducted human risk assessment for exposure to inhalation of chemical substances emitted from the storage tanks of petroleum refineries. To assess human risk, this study calculated chemical emissions from the external floating roofs on storage tank at petroleum refineries, as well as concentrations thereof in the ambient air using the K-SCREEN model, and then determined risk in accordance with the Reference Concentration (RfC) values and Inhalation Unit Risk criteria developed by the US Environmental Protection Agency. The results indicated that non-carcinogenic chemicals have a hazard quotient of less than 1, meaning they have an insignificant effect on human health for residential areas near the storage tanks. Among the known carcinogens, the hazard risk for benzene slightly exceeded $10^{-6}$, indicating the need for corrective reduction measures. The methodology for health impact assessment devised herein provides findings useful in decision making for policy makers and the general public with respect to construction of industrial complexes. However, the methodology proposed herein does have limitations, including discrepancy in results induced by use of U.S. data (due to the lack of usable domestic data). More systematic studies from related researchers will be needed to address these issues and produce more reliable outcomes.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
• /
• v.42 no.10
• /
• pp.1701-1706
• /
• 2013

Domestic and overseas information with regard to harmful substances are analyzed. From the results, environmental-derived hazard chemicals, which show relatively low recognition, and hazard chemicals that occur unavoidably in food manufacturing process are selected as target harmful substances. Thus, educational leaflet contents were developed based on these substances. To find the effects of education with the above contents, this study surveyed 120 female college students living in Seoul. The purpose of the survey is to analyze the change in recognition, attitude and behavior on hazard chemicals in foods. The survey found that the recognition on harmful substance in foods increased; from 31.5~78.0% before education to 98.8% after education. It also indicates that vague anxiety in which the harmful substances may damage their health decreased by approx. 25.0%; from 77.8% before education to 52.8% after education. For the question of what they would do when government promotes to reduce harmful substances in foods, 12.3% of respondents said that they would actively follow the suggestions and 73.5% of them said that they would do their best before an education. However, 56.1% of them said that they would actively follow the suggestions after the education. It indicates that the ability to recognize harmful substances changed after the education. With regard to consumer behavior, when they knew about the harmful substances in foods, 49.6% of them said that they would select foods after investigating relevant information before the education, while 77.4% of them said that after the education; which is an increase of 27.8%. Further, 45.4% of them said that they would not purchase relevant foods before the education, while 20.9% of them said that after the education; which is a decrease of 24.5%. Therefore, it is considered that vague anxiety of consumers can be eliminated by providing persuasive information on harmful substances. To expand on the communication channel with consumers for food safety, contents development and educational promotion should be enhanced for providing food safety related information.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• /
• v.28 no.2
• /
• pp.175-189
• /
• 2018

Objectives: In this study, we analyze statistics on industrial accidents caused by chemical skin contact and provide skin toxicity hazard information on the related domestic system and circulation volumes. Methods and Results: We analyzed occupational fatalities and skin diseases caused by chemical leaks and contact from 2007 to 2016(10 years) and surveyed data on occupational skin diseases using the 2014 work environment survey data. The NIOSH Skin Notation Profiles for 57 chemical substances, which are provided to prevent occupational skin diseases, were searched and hazard information on skin contact with chemical substances was classified. In order to identify skin toxicity information among domestically distributed and legally regulated substances and to investigate skin-toxic substances, MSDS basic data on 19,740 chemical substances provided on the homepage of Korea Occupational Safety & Health Agency were searched. Acute toxicity(dermal) category 1-4 substances totaled 1,020, and the number of chemical substances classified as category 1 and 2 substances were 135 and 137, respectively. In the chemical substances prescribed by the Ministry of Employment and Labor, 173 substances were classified into acute toxicity(dermal) categories 1-4, 58 of which correspond to category 1 or 2. Conclusions: Within the present range of industrial accidents, the proportion of skin diseases due to contact with chemicals is not high. However, there is always a risk of occupational skin diseases due to increasing chemicals and due to the use of new chemicals. It is hoped that this information will be used by workplace safety and health officials and health and safety experts to prevent acute toxity(dermal) due to chemical skin contact.

• Toxicological Research
• /
• v.35 no.4
• /
• pp.295-301
• /
• 2019

In this review, we describe the absorption rates (Caco-2 cell permeability) and hepatic/plasma pharmacokinetics of 53 diverse chemicals estimated by modeling virtual oral administration in rats. To ensure that a broad range of chemical structures is present among the selected substances, the properties described by 196 chemical descriptors in a chemoinformatics tool were calculated for 50,000 randomly selected molecules in the original chemical space. To allow visualization, the resulting chemical space was projected onto a two-dimensional plane using generative topographic mapping. The calculated absorbance rates of the chemicals based on cell permeability studies were found to be inversely correlated to the no-observed-effect levels for hepatoxicity after oral administration, as obtained from the Hazard Evaluation Support System Integrated Platform in Japan (r = -0.88, p < 0.01, n = 27). The maximum plasma concentrations and the areas under the concentration-time curves (AUC) of a varied selection of chemicals were estimated using two different methods: simple one-compartment models (i.e., high-throughput toxicokinetic models) and simplified physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling consisting of chemical receptor (gut), metabolizing (liver), and central (main) compartments. The results obtained from the two methods were consistent. Although the maximum concentrations and AUC values of the 53 chemicals roughly correlated in the liver and plasma, inconsistencies were apparent between empirically measured concentrations and the PBPK-modeled levels. The lowest-observed-effect levels and the virtual hepatic AUC values obtained using PBPK models were inversely correlated (r = -0.78, p < 0.05, n = 7). The present simplified PBPK models could estimate the relationships between hepatic/plasma concentrations and oral doses of general chemicals using both forward and reverse dosimetry. These methods are therefore valuable for estimating hepatotoxicity.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
• /
• v.48 no.3
• /
• pp.183-194
• /
• 2022

Background: No study has examined the regulatory factors associated with fatal health problems due to the use of humidified disinfectants (HD) in South Korea. Objectives: This study aimed to identify and discuss the deficiencies and limitations found in the Toxic Chemical Control Acts (TCCA) that failed to prevent the health risk of chemicals in HD products. Methods: The South Korean TCCA was reviewed focusing on acts in operation from 1994 through the end of 2011, the period when HD was allowed in manufacturing and marketing. Results: The TCCA was the act intended to regulate the toxicity of chemicals in HD products. We found the TCCA to lack three key legal clauses which would have been essential to controlling the health risk of HD. First, there was the exemption of toxic and hazard testing for existing chemicals, including chloromethylisothiazolinone (CMIT), methylisothiazolinone (MIT), and benzalkonium chloride (BKC). Secondly, there were no articles requiring industry to provide animal inhalation test result for polymers such as polyhexamethylene guanidine (PHMG) and Oligo(2-)ethoxyethoxyethyl guanidine chloride (PGH). Finally, there was a lack of articles on examining the risk of products as well as on addressing changes in the usage of products. These articles were found to be generally provided in the US Toxic Substance Chemical Act (TSCA) and the EU Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals (REACH). Conclusions: In conclusion, the Ministry of Environment of South Korea had not updated key articles for regulating hazardous chemicals, causing large-scale health problems due to HD which had been fundamentally addressed in chemical-related acts in other countries.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
• /
• v.25 no.3
• /
• pp.147-155
• /
• 2009

Higher plants provide valuable genetic assay systems for screening and monitoring environmental pollutants. They are now recognized as excellent indicators of mutagenic effects of environmental chemicals and are applicable for the detection of environmental mutagens both indoor and outdoor. 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) is a herbicide commonly used in agriculture. The residues of 2,4-D are present in air, water, soil and edible plants. It constitutes a real hazard to the public health because it's wide spread use in agriculture. Genotoxic effects of 2,4-D on plant cells and potential of higher plants as a biomonitoring system for detecting chemical mutagens are evaluated. It is recommended that higher plant systems have been accepted by regulatory authorities as an alternative biomonitoring system for the detection of possible genetic damage resulting from pollution and the use of environmental chemicals.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Toxicology Conference
• /
• 2003.10b
• /
• pp.128-128
• /
• 2003

There are many synthetic chemicals, such as di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) and dibutyl phthalate (DBP), used in chemical reaction processes in industry. The establishment of toxicity and detection of synthetic chemicals that may pose a genetic hazard in our enviornment is subjects of great concern at present.(omitted)

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
• /
• v.27 no.4
• /
• pp.85-91
• /
• 2001

The regulation of Material safety data sheets(MSDS) was required for the chemicals in use in the workplace from July 1976. Under the provisions of the workplace hazardous materials information system, employers in Korea must be provided with accurate and comprehensive MSDS. To examine the reliability of MSDS for organic solvents, 63 organic solvents and MSDS were collected from the workplace of 39 companies located in Kyonggi province. Manufacture\`s MSDS were compared with the actual composition of the collected samples, and further examined the reliability by checking whether the chemicals analyzed were included in the MSDS correctly. 38 solvents were able to analyze their composition by gas chromatography-mass selective detector(GC-MSD). Among them, 28 solvents were incorrect in their composition and contents. In some case, health hazardous or carcinogenic chemicals which were not included in the MSDS were detected from samples. As a result of evaluating whether the MSDS correspond to the regulation required by Industrial Safety and Health Act (ISHA), the information in the MSDS including hazard classification, occupational exposure level, toxicity, regulatory information were incorrectly provided, and some MSDS did not disclose carcinogenic in their MSDS, and some MSDS were not written in the standard format. From this survey, continuous monitoring and promoting correct MSDS, and analyzing the components of the solvents were required to endure the reliability of MSDS for organic solvents.

• Fire Science and Engineering
• /
• v.21 no.3
• /
• pp.84-90
• /
• 2007

The UN recommends to the member of OECD to implement the GHS (Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals) that harmonized the flammable materials for classification, labelling, production, transport, storage, handling, usage and discard. There are no significant differences between UN and GHS because GHS is based on physico-chemical hazard and acute toxity of classification and labelling of UN regulation for the classification and transportation of flammable materials. In this paper it was analyzed that the classification, labelling and test method of flammable materials for GHS and the national law of safety management of flammable materials.