• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.347-357
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• 2023

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic turned biological hazards in the working environment into a global concern. This systematized review of published reviews aimed to provide a comprehensive overview of the specific jobs and categories of workers exposed to biological hazards with the related prevention. Methods: We extracted reviews published in English and French in PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science. Two authors, working independently, subsequently screened the potentially relevant titles and abstracts recovered (step 1) and then examined relevant full texts (step 2). Disagreements were resolved by consensus. We built tables summarizing populations of exposed workers, types of hazards, types of outcomes (types of health issues, means of prevention), and routes of transmission. Results: Of 1426 studies initially identified, 79 studies by authors from every continent were selected, mostly published after 2010 (n = 63, 79.7%). About half of the reviews dealt with infectious hazards alone (n = 38, 48.1%). The industrial sectors identified involved healthcare alone (n = 16), laboratories (n = 10), agriculture (including the animal, vegetable, and grain sectors, n = 32), waste (n = 10), in addition of 11 studies without specific sectors. The results also highlighted a range of hazards (infectious and noninfectious agents, endotoxins, bioaerosols, organic dust, and emerging agents). Conclusion: This systematized overview allowed to list the populations of workers exposed to biological hazards and underlined how prevention measures in the healthcare and laboratory sectors were usually well defined and controlled, although this was not the case in the agriculture and waste sectors. Further studies are necessary to quantify these risks and implement prevention measures that can be applied in every country.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.143-150
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• 2021

The recent spread of novel and highly variant pathogenic viruses, including the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), has increased the demand for diagnostic testing for rapid confirmation. This has resulted in investigating the functional capability of each space, and preparing facility guidelines to secure the safety of medical technologists. During viral evaluations, there is a requirement of negative pressure facilities along with thread separation, during pre-treatment of samples and before nucleic acid amplification. Space composition therefore needs to be planned by considering unidirectional air flow. This classification of safety management facilities is designated as biosafety level 2, and personal protective equipment is placed accordingly. In case of handling dangerous materials, they need to be carried out of the biosafety cabinet, and sterilizers are required for suitable disposal of infectious agents. A common feature of domestic laboratories is maintenance of the sample pre-treatment space at a negative pressure of -2.5 Pa or less, and arranging separate pre-treatment and reagent preparation spaces during the test process. We believe that the data generated in this study is meaningful, and offers an efficient direction and detailed flow for separation of the inspection process and space functions. Moreover, this study introduces construction of the laboratory by applying the safety management standards.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.543-549
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• 2022

Background: In physical activity or labor, the human body is in a state of high intensity stress, and all parts or physiological functions of the body respond positively to maintain or balance the need for movement. The human body has many physiological changes in the process of movement, and fatigue is the external manifestation of various complex changes inside the human body. Fatigue is also a physiological mechanism of self-protection after the body reaches a certain level of activity, which can prevent the occurrence of life-threatening excessive functional failure. The generation of fatigue is a very complex process, and its mechanism has not been concluded yet. Therefore, it is an important work to search and screen the effective components of natural plants that have anti-fatigue effect and to explore their mechanism. Methods: This was a 8-week, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial. A total of 110 subjects who passed physical examination were included according to the scheme design, and randomly divided into a test group which was given KRG and a placebo control group. The calculation is carried out according to the standard of sub-high-intensity exercise test. Results: There was no adverse effect on safety index of subjects after taking red ginseng capsule. After KRG treatment, subjective strength grade is significant lower than placebo treatment. Blood lactic acid content is significantly get lower after trial in KRG group, and significant lower than placebo group. Creatine phosphokinase(CK) content is significantly get lower after trial in KRG group, and significant lower than placebo group. Conclusion: According to the criterion in the test scheme, the result shows that KRG is helpful on relieving physical fatigue.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.217-225
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• 2019

Objectives: The aim of this study is to evaluate the quality management systems of domestic asbestos survey and monitoring service providers and the relationships with the number of licenses or designations and sales performances. Methods: Data on quality management systems were collected by assessors who were assigned by the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency(KOSHA) during a pilot evaluation program for designated asbestos survey and monitoring service providers in 2016 using evaluation criteria developed by KOSHA. Basic characteristics, evaluated scores, and sales performance were gathered and statistically analyzed. Results: The median and arithmetic mean of the total scores were 0.64 and 0.66. Evaluation fields that scored highly with the highest percentages were sales performance, installation and availability of equipment, compliance with the mandatory minimum number of airborne samples, laboratory independence, and results of proficiency analytical testing, in that order. Evaluation fields that received low marks with the highest percentages were the training of personnel, blank field samples, calibration of flow rates, preliminary check and visual inspection of the work area prior to the clearance test, and review and approval of final reports, in that order. Comparison of normalized scores between service providers registered for asbestos and other tasks and those designated for only asbestos showed significant differences in their evaluated scores. Sales performance did not show a positive correlation with evaluated scores. Conclusions: The quality management systems of domestic asbestos survey and monitoring service providers were poor. High scores were recorded mostly in evaluation fields related to regulatory requirements. Low scores were recorded mostly in evaluation fields related to documentation and recordkeeping. Considering the low influence of quality on sales performance, the government needs to evaluate the quality management of asbestos survey and monitoring service providers and provide the results to public in order to address their low levels of quality management.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.92-98
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• 2015

Recently, buildings tend to be large size, complex shape and functional. As the size of buildings is becoming massive, the need for structural health monitoring (SHM) technique is increasing. Various SHM techniques have been studied for buildings which have different dynamic characteristics and influenced by various external loads. "Abnormal behavior point" is a moment when the structure starts vibrating abnormally and this can be detected by comparing between before and after abnormal behavior point. In other words, anomalous behavior is a sign of damage on structures and estimating the abnormal behavior point can be directly related to the safety of structure. Abnormal behavior causes damage on structures and this leads to enormous economic damage as well as damage for humans. This study proposes an estimating technique to find abnormal behavior point using Hilber-Huang Transform which is a time-frequency signal analysis technique and the proposed algorithm has been examined through laboratory tests with a bridge model using a shaking table.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.501-508
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• 2014

Objectives: This study identified the general characteristics of asbestos inspection/analysis laboratories in Korea and confirmed the actual situations in terms of technical aspects from these characteristics. In addition, given the background of the current problem, it offers preliminary data for determining future plans for improvement. Methods: A questionnaire was developed and distributed to the asbestos inspection/analysis laboratories that used the ISO/IEC 17025 for asbestos sampling and testing by UKAS(United Kingdom Accreditation Service) and the Korea Laboratory Accreditation Scheme(KOLAS). A total of 202 institutions in Korea were selected for the study and 145(71.8%) questionnaires were returned. Results: The number of personnel of the surveyed institutions averaged $4.2{\pm}2$ and 79.3% operated with less than five persons. In terms of education, the capital and other densely populated areas showed a high level of education(p<0.05). The level of education and facilities were determined by the magnitude of the institution(p<0.05). Institutions managed by highly educated directors were well-stocked with education and facilities(p<0.05). Institutions which had directors with considerable experiences received high scores overall and in particular higher scores in terms of education and facilities(p<0.05). At the level of the bottom five percent, the factor of education was 40.4% while the factor of measurement 49%, the factor of analysis 59%, the factor of facilities 61%, and the factor of survey 81%, respectively. Conclusions: To improve the quality of the institutions, in the short term, the problems identified in this study can be used to revise the related regulations. In the long term, a grading system of survey institutions needs to be established through the introduction of an accreditation system. However, the ongoing support of a government agency is required, including holding seminars and open education, suggesting guidelines for operation of asbestos inspection/analysis labs, and other means.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.501-516
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• 2023

Dynamic irregularity and acceleration of bridges subjected to high-speed trains provide crucial information for comprehensive evaluation of the health state of under-track structures. This paper proposes a novel approach for real-time estimation of vertical track dynamic irregularity and bridge acceleration using deep generative adversarial network (GAN) and vibration data from in-service train. The vehicle-body and bogie acceleration responses are correlated with the two target variables by modeling train-bridge interaction (TBI) through least squares generative adversarial network (LSGAN). To realize supervised learning required in the present task, the conventional LSGAN is modified by implementing new loss function and linear activation function. The proposed approach can offer pointwise and accurate estimates of track dynamic irregularity and bridge acceleration, allowing frequent inspection of high-speed railway (HSR) bridges in an economical way. Thanks to its applicability in scenarios of high noise level and critical resonance condition, the proposed approach has a promising prospect in engineering applications.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.33-40
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• 2020

Various studies have been conducted on the structural health monitoring using optical fiber. Optical fibers can be used to measure multiple and distributed strain. Among the optical fiber sensors, FBG sensor has advantages of dynamic response measurement and high precision, but the number of measurement points is limited. Distributed fiber sensors, represented by distributed Brillouin sensors, usually have more than 1000 measurement points, but the low sampling rate makes dynamic measurements impossible. In this study, a hybrid nerve sensor system using only the advantages of the FBG sensor and the distributed Brillouin sensor has been proposed. Laboratory experiments were performed to verify the proposed system, and the accuracy and reproducibility were verified by comparing with commercial sensors. Applying the proposed system, dynamic response ambient measurements are used to evaluate the global state of the structure. When an abnormal condition is detected, the local condition of the structure is evaluated by static response measurement using the distributed measurement system. The proposed system can be used for efficient structural health monitoring.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.12 no.7
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• pp.887-893
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to compare the performance of X-ray generators installed in hospitals and universities and apply the quality control items of diagnostic X-ray generators to recognize the importance of periodic performance management. First, the reproducibility and linearity test results showed that the PAE of the reproducibility evaluation was high for the GX-650 devices that met the acceptance criteria in all the experimental conditions and lacked the periodic quality control. In the linearity evaluation, when the tube voltage was set to 100 kVp, It was measured to deviate from the error. In addition, it was found that the PAE in the low-accuracy evaluation results relative to an X-ray tube voltage and tube current of the device low occurrence frequency. The HVL experiment was included in all of the devices at the HVL by tube voltage. Therefore, it is necessary to recognize the importance of quality control of all devices rather than hospital and laboratory, and to manage the device performance by actively managing the device, and to establish a short - term quality control system like special medical devices.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.186-198
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• 2000

The quality of the management of sanitation in food service establishments (school lunch programs, hospital patient food services, and commercial catering food services) in Korea was reviewed and evaluated, and ten strategies fur future improvement were suggested. They were: (1) An increase of qualified manpower and improvement of the professional training of the staff; (2) Obtaining special facilities exclusively for food service; (3) Improvement of facilities especially the kitchens; (4) Improvement of policy fur procuring raw materials and being assured of their quality by designing some standards and specifications for the raw materials to be purchased; (5) Production and use accurate and reliable kitchen apparatus and instruments; (6) An increase of the laboratory apparatus and instruments for inspection and evaluation of the sanitary level of raw materials and food service environments; (7) Enforced improvement of personal hygiene of the staff; (8) Use of a variety of methods in sanitary education and training; (9) Actively inspect the quality of imported foods; (10) Strengthening the research and accumulation of background data regarding sanitation management. There is a long process from the production of food to eating. The cooking process is the ultimate end of preparation of food before eating. This process sometimes increases the occurrence of food-borne diseases if we mishandle the food, even we obtained safe food. The process can also remove health hazards and reduce the risk from the hazards if we handle the food well although we have unsafe foods. This means the cooking process is a major key to preventing food-borne diseases. The concepts of hazard analysis critical control point (HACCP) should be applied and practiced in food service establishments in Korea as soon as possible.