• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.100-109
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• 1993

This study was performed to evaluate the asbestos exposure levels and variations in textile, brake lining manufacturing and slate manufacturing industries. For this study, fifteen plants of brake lining manufacturing industry, 7 plants of textile industry, and 2 plants of slate manufacturing industry were selected and surveyed. Geometric means (GMs) of airborne asbestos concentrations in textile, brake lining manufacturing, and slate manufacturing industries were 1.42 f/cc(0.07-6.1O f/cc), 0.19 f/cc(<0.01-2.67 f/cc) and 0.08 f/cc(0.02-0.67 f/cc), respectively. In textile industry overall GMs of airborne asbestos concentrations in plants with less than 50 workers and in plants with more than 50 workers were 1.60 f/cc and 0.3 f/cc, respectively. Therefore, the size of plant showed some difference in the airborne asbestos concentrations. Three out of 7(42.9%) exceed the Korean standard, 2 f/cc, and every plant exceed the USA standard, 0.2 f/cc of the OSHA-Permissible Exposure Level(OSHA-PEL). Especially, one plant showed the highest average concentration of 2.87 f/cc. In brake lining manufacturing industry, the plants with less than 50 workers showed 0.22 f/cc. The plants with more than 50 workers showed 0.18 f/cc. All plants showed the exposure level below the Korean standard. Five of 15 (33.3%) were above the OSHA-PEL. One plant showed the highest average concentraton of 0.84 f/cc. In slate manufacturing industry, the average exposure level was 0.08 f/cc, and all of the plants were below the Korean standard and the OSHA-PEL.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.87-103
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• 1995

Since being granted permission for self-assessment of the work environment by the Department of Labor in 1992, POSCO's Industrial Hygiene Laboratory has participated in domestic and Foreign Quality Control Programs 8 times and has obtained remarkable results. It has made a lot of effort to be a proficient laboratory with the ability to observe and analyse environmental monitoring data. The summary of results is as follows: 1. POSCO's Industrial Hygiene Laboratory has received a "P(Proficient)" grade from the round 115 to round 119 of AIHA/NIOSH PAT Program for analysis of such metals as lead, cadmium, zinc, and chromium, and also has received a "P(Proficient)" grade from its round 119 of for organic solvent analysis, i,e,. Trichloroethylene(TCE), Carbon Tetr-achloride(CTC), 1,2-Dichloroethane(DCE), 1,1,1-Trichloroethane(MCM), Tetrachloroethylene (PCE), Chloroform(CFM), Benzene(BNZ), toluene(TOL), and O-xylene(OXY). 2. In the Quality Control Evaluation Program performed by the Industrial Health Research Institute,Korea Industrial Safety Corporation, POSCO has passed impressively in the3-metal analysis test for lead, cadmium, cupper, and in the 6 organic solvent analysis test for Benzene(BNZ), toluene(TOL), O-xylene(OXY), Trichloroethylene(TCE) and Methyl isobutyl keton(MIBK), n-Hexane with 2 standard deviations. These analytic techniques should be practically applied to various fields, and reliable results of environmental monitoring should be considered to improve the work environment and to keep workers from occupation related diseases.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.243-249
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• 2013

Objectives: This study assessed the status of domestic industrial hygiene laboratories using data from on-site investigation for revision of quality control systems in 2012-2013. Methods: The target laboratories were 60 industrial hygiene laboratories chosen by random selection and nationwide distribution which had participated in on-site investigations for revision of quality control systems from March 2012 to August 2013. The investigation was performed on-site following standard quality control procedures. The score between each group was compared using Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests, and the correlation between analytical career, sex, academic major of analyst and score of analytical performance was expressed as Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. Results: The assessment revealed that the items to be improved, in sequence, were effort at staff training (score 65.5), ability to calculate data (score 73.4), establishment of internal quality control guidelines (score 75.7), laboratory facilities (score 77.1), degree of understanding and skill at gas chromatography (score 77.1). Analysis performance showed a positive correlation with career of analyst (r=0.56, p<0.01). Conclusions: The practice of on-site investigation for quality control systems showed the current status of industrial hygiene laboratories in the first trial. There were many laboratories which needed improvement and development of analytical systems. This assessment can provide information for the systematic operation and improvement of facilities at each laboratory. Further practice of this investigation will lead to a proficiency testing and accreditation system for autonomous quality control as is the practice in many countries, rather than mandatory practice by legal regulation.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.103-116
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• 1994

This study was conducted to evaluate accuracy and precision of reference values used for quality control of the Korean industrial hygiene laboratory for three rounds. Factors affecting on accuracy and precision, including analytical procedures, were investigated. The results are summarized as follows. 1. Pooled relative standard deviation of reference values analyzed by reference laboratories was 2.01-5.91%, and that by both reference laboratories and participated laboratories was 3.18-6.63%. Better results were obtained when results of reference laboratories were employed. 2. Significant relationship was indicated between analytical precision and concentration of materials in samples. Variation increased by decreasing sample concentration. 3. Recoveries of lead and cadmium were about 98.6% and 99.8% respectively. There was a significant difference between lead values with and without recovery correction. 4. Organic solvent results corrected by desorption efficiency only and those corrected by Both internal standards and desorption efficiency were more accurate than those uncorrected. But, the latter was the best.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.194-203
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• 1993

Quality Control programs for industrial hygiene laboratory have successfully been operated since the 1st round was initiated in April 1992. Three rounds have been completed. Overall analytical performance of participants was improved through a subsquent round. The first round had a large variation among analytical results of all participants, 26.34%~504.22% of coefficient of variation. But the variation of analytical performance in the 2nd and 3rd rounds decreased to 40.42%~52.55% and 10.74%~20.98%, respectively. The difference of analytical performance among participants was decreased by operation of subsquent round. By distribution of Running Performance Index (RPI), over 50% of participants belongs to Category 3 in the first round. The average percentage of participants assigned to Category 3 in the 2nd and 3rd round was decreased to 37.2%. A definite analytical performance improvement of participants seems to be obtained. "A" and "B" group have more participants assigned to Category 3 than those of "C" group through the distribution of RPI by group divided to similar participant. By the distribution of RPI all participants, the percent of participant being over 200 RPI in the 1st round was 43%~52%, but decreased to 9%~29% and 9%~27%, in the 2nd and 3rd round, respectively. These results mentioned above indicate that the analytical performance of all participants have been improved by subsquent Quality Control Program although newcomers joined and a few participants droped out. But, there are some participants with poor analytical performance. Industrial Health Research Institute (IHRI) will offer service such as education, communication and visitation to them, and improve quality of their analytical performance in the future.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.313-321
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• 1996

Our laboratoy has been participated in Proficiency Analytical Testing (PAT) program which is operated by the Americal Industrial Hygiene Association in cooperation with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). The program is designed to assist a laboratory improve its analytical performance by providing samples on a quarterly basis, evaluating the results, and providing reports on how well the laboratory performed. Evaluation of the results reported here covers five rounds of the PAT program (round 121~round 125). The way a laboratory is evaluated by PAT program is as follows: 1) There is no overall proficiency rating given to a laboratory. 2) A proficiency rating is given for each type of analyze (i.e., metals, silica, asbestos, solvents) that a laboratory analyzed. 3) Proficiency is rated acceptable ("A") if Z score lies between -3 and +3, and unacceptable if Z score is either higher than +3 ("H") or lower than -3 ("Lo"). Z score = (reported data - reference value) / standard deviation 4) For a laboratory to be rated proficient it must either have had no outliers over the most recent two rounds or of the samples actually analyzed over the past year (past four rounds), 75 % or more of the analyze sample results must be acceptable. According to the above rating criteria of PAT program, performance of metals including cadmium, lead, chromium and zinc, and asbestos sample analyses were rated acceptable ("A"). For silica analyses, all samples except one out of four samples in round 122 was rated high("H") were acceptable showing 95 % of ing 95 % of acceptance rate (19/20) throughout the rounds. Analyses of organic solvents were done on 52 samples in 9 types including methanol(MOH), 1,1,1-trichloroethane(MCM), tetrachloroethylene(PCE), trichloroethylene(TCE), benzene(BNZ), o-xylene(OXY), toluene(TOL), chloroform(CFM), 1,2-dichloroethane(DCE). All samples analyzed were rated acceptable except 2 samples that were rated high; one out of each four MCM and TCE samples in round 121, and one that was low out of four o-xylene analyses in round 122 indicating 94 % of acceptance rate(49/52) throughout the rounds. According to the laboratory rating criteria, our laboratory is rated proficient so far for all types of contaminants.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.232-238
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• 2005

There are growing needs for improving the general performances of the domestic working environment evaluation organizations. For this purpose, introduction of laboratory accreditation program has been suggested. This study was conducted as a part of this effort. With a questionnaire developed in accordance with the ISO/IEC 17025, the current status of industrial hygiene (IH) laboratories in terms of manpower, management and technical aspects. The results of this study were as follows: 1. The average working staffs' number of the working environment evaluation organizations was $6.8{\pm}3.3$ persons. In addition, 49% of all organizations are run by less than 5 persons. This suggests that manpower of Korean IH laboratories is very limited. 2. IH laboratories surveyed in this study obtained 53% of the points by the international standard. And there is significant correlation between the number of staffing and total scores (P<0.05). 3. The period of work experience is one of the most important factors to determine the working capability. The average year of work experience of the laboratories' directors was $13.5{\pm}5.3$ years. Directors with more wok experiences obtained higher scores on the questions that ask to prove the appropriateness of the research methodology (p<0.05). 4. As for academic qualifications of laboratory directors, 14% had Ph.D., 31% with Master's, 29% with Bachelor's, and 4% had Associate degree. There was significant correlation between the total scores and the general managers' academic background (p<0.05). The 27% of laboratory directors have majored in either industrial hygiene or health, 8% majored in medicine, another 8% majored environmental studies, and 6% majored in chemistry. 5. Only 14% of all IH laboratories surveyed employ directors with Certified Industrial Hygienist licence, 41% have general managers with Certified Associate Industrial Hygienist (Level 1) licence, and 45% of all laboratories either employ directors without relevant qualification or did not respond. When the laboratory manger holds relevant qualification, laboratory health and safety management was better (p<0.05). 6. When compared to the general international standard in terms of the management, and 55% in terms of technological level.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.8-18
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• 2005

Adsorption capacity for the charcoal were tasted in this study to verify the performance of them for the use of the sampling media in industrial hygiene field. Two set of experiments were conducted. The first experiment was to test performance of the tested charcoal tube that were assembled in the laboratory with the use of the GR grade charcoal. The other tests were investigate the adsorption capacity of the charcoal tested in this study and charcoals embedded in the commercial charcoal tubes. Known air concentration samples for benzene, toluene, and o-xylene were prepared by the dynamic chamber. 1. At low air concentration levels (0.1${\times}$TLV), there was no significant differences between the tested charcoal tubes and the SKC charcoal tubes. This implies that there is no defect with the adsorption capacity of the charcoal. 2. At high concentration with 60 minutes sampling, the breakthrough were found only in the tested charcoal while no breakthrough were shown in the SKC charcoal. 3. From the breakthrough tests for the charcoal, the micropore volume(Wo) were calculated by the curve fitting with the use of Dubinin/Radushkevich(D/R) adsorption isotherm equation. The calculated values were 0.687cc/g for SKC, 0.504cc/g for Sensidyne, and 0.419cc/g for the tested charcoal(Aldrich). 4. Adsorption capacities were obtained from the isotherm curves shown adsorption capacities at several levels of the challenge concentration. All range of the air concentration concerned in industrial hygiene, the SKC charcoal showed approximately two times of adsorption capacity compared to the tested charcoal.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.3007-3007
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• 2012

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.98-108
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• 2000

Controlling the over-exposure of welding fumes is not an easy problem because neither general nor local exhaust ventilation systems could be successfully applied. A jet air supplying welding mask was development to reduce the exposure level of welding fumes. The jet airs tream pushes the welding fumes away from the breathing zone by using the frictional characteristic of jet. Laboratory experiments were conducted to optimize the efficiency of controlling welding fumes. Thereafter, its performance was tested in a laboratory and an industrial field. The efficiencies of reducing the welding fume exposure were about 90% and 80% in a laboratory and an industrial field, respectively. Additionally, it resulted in elimination of heat inside the mask and enhancement of clear visuality.