• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.1-8
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• 2015

In this study, we performed risk assessment of chloroprene by hazard evaluation and workplace investigation. The chemical is used to manufacture of shoes, tires, adhesives, and classified as IARC category 2B (possibly carcinogenic to humans) and target organ systemic toxicity. It is used about 1,300 tons per year in 27 sites. It was calculated the risk of carcinogenesis with chloroprene by Monte-carlo simulation that the averages are 2,199 and 26,404 in each case of working less than 15 minutes per day with local exhaust ventilation and over 4 hours per day without local exhaust ventilation. The risk of target organ systemic toxicity are 4.10 and 169.06 with high correlation with working time to be longer and with ventilation system. Therefore, it is recommended that the local exhaust ventilation and respirators to prevent occupational cancer and target organ systemic toxicity with chloroprene. Especially it is determined that there is a need to strengthen the workplace exposure limit (TWA 10 ppm) in Korea since it is managed with TWA less than 5 ppm ($18mg/m^3$) by the United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) as well as it has carcinogenicity, reproductive toxicity.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.171-187
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• 2023

Objectives: Aircraft cabin cleaning work is characterized by being performed within a limited time in a narrow and enclosed space. The objective of this study was to evaluate the exposure levels to dust, ultra fine dust(PM2.5) and black carbon(BC) among aircraft cabin cleaners. Methods: Active personal air sampling for respirable dust(n=73) and BC(n=47) was conducted during quick transit cleaning(cabin general and vacuum-specific) and seat cover replacement and total dust and PM2.5 were area-air-sampled as well. Also, size distribution of particle was identified with the cleaning workers targeted. Dusts were collected with PVC filters using gravimetric analysis. The concentration of PM2.5 and the particle size distribution were measured with real-time direct reading portable equipment using light scattering analysis. The concentration of BC was measured by aethalometer(filter-based real-time light absorption analysis instrument). Results: The geometric mean of respirable dust was the highest at vacuum cleaning as 74.4 ㎍/m³, following by replacing seat covers as 49.3 ㎍/m³ and cabin general cleaning as 47.8 ㎍/m³ . The arithmetic mean of PM2.5 was 4.83 ~ 9.89 ㎍/m³ inside the cabin, and 28.5~44.5 ㎍/m³ outside the cabin(from bus and outdoor waiting space). From size distribution, PM_2.5/PM₁₀ ratio was 0.54 at quick transit cleaning and 0.41 at replacing seat covers. The average concentration of BC was 2~7 ㎍/m³, showing a high correlation with the PM2.5 concentration. Conclusions: The hazards concentration levels of aircraft cabin cleaners were very similar to those of roadside outdoor workers. As the main source of pollution is estimated to be diesel vehicles operating at airports, and it is necessary to replace older vehicles, strengthen pollutant emission control regulations, and introduce electric vehicles. In addition, it is necessary to provide as part of airport-inftastructure a stable standby waiting space for aircraft cabin cleaners and introduce a systematic safety and health management system for all workers in the aviation industry.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.264-278
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• 1997

The average level of coke oven emissions in the work site was $0.04mg/m^3$, which was below the permissible exposure level($0.2mg/m^3$). The average level of 1-OH-pyrene in the urine of the wokers was $0.745{\mu}mol/mol$ creatinine which is far below the BEI($2.3{\mu}mol/mol$ creatinine). Correlation between airborne COE in working environment and urinary 1-OH-pyrene concentration was statistically significant. These results explain that exposure level by biological monitoring is much higher than that by environmental monitoring. The effect of hygienic measures for reducing internal exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons was studied in 25 coke-oven workers. Their 1-OH-pyrene levels increased by $0.77{\mu}mol/mol$ creatinine, while working with ordinary protective measures. The average levels of the same workers with extra hygienic measures increased by $0.34{\mu}mol/mol$ creatinine. The average increase of the urinary 1-OH-pyrene concentration over the 5-day work week was 56.3%($0.43{\mu}mol/mol$ creatinine) lower when extra hygienic measures were taken(p=0.0001).

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.227-239
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• 1993

The author selected 77 dust emissing processes from 71 types of industries which placed in Sasang Industrial Complex in Pusan. The level of total dust was measured as areal concentration and personal exposure concentration by low volume air sampler and personal air sampler, respectively. Collected samples were classified into 5 groups (chemicals and rubber product, metal product, sawmills and wood, foundries and others). Respirable particulate and total dust of areal and personal exposure were analyzed. The results were as follows; 1. All of the respirable dust concentration and total dust of areal and personal concentration were log-normally distributed. 2. Geometric mean of respirable particulate of personal exposure concentration measured $0.55mg/m^3$ in the first group, $0.86mg/m^3$ in the second group, $0.39mg/m^3$ in the third group, $0.81mg/m^3$ in the forth group and $0.52mg/m^3$ in the fifith group. The exceed rates over TLV (thehold limit values) of total dust were 31.3% in the first group, 31.3% in the second group, 70% in the third group, 80% in the forth group and 13.3% in the fifth group. 3. There were singnificant difference between areal and personal exposure concentration and personal exposure concentration was higher than that of area. 4. In the case of high ratio of respirable particulate to total dust, pneumoconiosis incidence was high even though the workshop was opened and emissing dust concentration was low. These findings suggest that it is desirable to measure respirable particulate in environmental assessment of dust emissing workshops.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.323-331
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• 2007

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are well known for strong carcinogen. However, the human exposure analysis of PAHs is quite difficult and unreliable because of hard for estimation of actual expose dose. Then urinary 1-hydroxypyrene (1-OHP) has been a biological marker of exposure to PAHs. The purpose of this study was to investigate total amount from exposure to PAHs soused by indoor occupational exposure, and residence at Seoul metropolitan area and Kyeonggi province in Korea. Thirty-five housewives were included in this study from April 2003 through February 2004. Dietary habit and general characteristics such as age, type of building, existence of passive smoking, period of residence, fuel type for heating and ventilation type were obtained by self administered questionnaire. Urine samples were collected at morning and freeze quickly. Urinary creatinine was measured for converting into 24 hr urine. Concentration of the indoor PAHs was examined by NIOSH method number 5506. Urinary 1-OHP and PAHs were analysed by HPLC. Correlation coefficient between urinary 1-OHP levels and pyrene concentration of indoor air was 0.66 and statistically significant(P<0.01). The difference of urinary 1-OHP level due to dietary habits were not significant. Urinary 1-OHP level of Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter were $0.21{\pm}0.12,\;0.10{\pm}0.17,\;0.16{\pm}0.12,\;0.17{\pm}0.14{\mu}g/g$ cr, respectively. The arithmetic means of urinary 1-OHP for four season tee $0.16{\pm}0.14 {\mu}g/g$ cr. There was a trend that urinary 1-OHP level of residents who dwelling in apartment were higher compared with detached home, Comparison of 1-OHP level between heating by kerosene and LPG, Much higher gas heating type than kerosene type (P<0.05). This result implies that the urinary 1-OHP can be applied as the PAHs exposure indices.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.35-42
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• 2016

Formamide is a colorless fluid with ammonia odor, and irritable when inhaled. It has $LD_{50}$ value of > 5,577 mg/kg in rats for acute oral toxicity and NOAEL of 113 mg/kg/day for target organ (liver) of whole body toxicity. It is also known as reproductive toxicant (1B) and TWA(Time Weighted Average) for it is 10 ppm. Workplace measurements of work places dealing with formamide showed the ppm of all 25 samples was very lower than WEL. However, the exposure concentration can change, depending on workplace condition such as the intensity of work, operating local ventilation system, and wearing protection equipment (Respirators). Therefore, considering it with the risk of whole body toxicity and reproductive toxicity, exposure quantity of each imaginary scenario was calculated at 5.16, 1.72, and $0.43mg/m^3$. The average value was calculated at 0.02-0.58, 0.02-0.66 at 90 percent of cumulative distribution, 0.02-0.69 at 95 percent of cumulative distribution. Therefore, it was generally evaluated to be safe because all values were below 1. However, caution is required to prevent health hazard because it has hepatotoxicity and reproductive toxicity and risk of a high level momentary exposure, depending on the condition of workplace.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.184-190
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• 2012

Objectives: This study aimed to characterize the nanoparticles produced by welding and grinding processes. Methods: The number concentrations of particles were mapped to determine the distribution of welding fumes in a workplace atmosphere using a hand-held condensation particle counter. An electrical low-pressure impactor was used for measuring the number concentration and particle size distribution. Results: High number concentrations were found around arc cutting and welding (grinding) processes. In the worker's breathing zone, the mean number concentration was 655,000 particles/cm3 and the count median diameter (CMD) was 84 nm with several multi peak distributions (~20, 70, 300 nm). However, at a distance of 3 m from the welding position, the number concentration decreased to 153,000 particles/cm3 with a 70 nm single peak size distribution. During a grinding process, peaks with high concentrations of nanoparticles were temporarily observed. The mean number concentration was 1,520,000 particles/cm3, and the CMD was 30 nm. Nanoparticles (<100 nm) made up 58% and 92% of the aerosols produced by welding and grinding processes, respectively.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.535-542
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• 2010

Objectives: Exposure assessment is a major challenge faced by studies that evaluate the association between pesticide exposure and adverse health outcomes. The objective of this study was to investigate the reliability of information that farmers self-report regarding their pesticide use. Methods: Twenty five items based upon existing questionnaires were designed to focus on pesticide exposure. In 2009, a selfadministrated survey was conducted on two occasions four weeks apart among 205 farmers residing in Gyeonggi and Gangwon provinces. For a reliability measure, we calculated the percentage agreement, the kappa statistics and the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) between the two reports according to the characteristics of the subjects. Results: Agreement for ever-never use of any pesticide was 96.4% (kappa 0.61). For both 'years used' and 'age at the first use' of overall pesticides, high agreement was obtained (ICC: 0.88 and, 0.78, respectively), whereas those of 'days used' and 'hours used' were relatively low (ICC: 0.42 and, 0.66, respectively). The kappa value for the use of personal protective equipment ranged from 0.46 to 0.59, and hygiene activities came out at 0.19 to 0.37. The agreement for individual pesticide use ranged widely and there was relatively low agreement due to the low response rates. The reliability scores did not significantly vary according to gender, age, the education level, the types of crop or the years of farming. Conclusions: Our results support that carefully designed, self-reported information on ever-never pesticide use among farmers is reliable. However, the reliability of data on individual pesticide exposure may be unstable due to low response rates and needs to be refined.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.49-54
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• 2011

In order to develop the methods for exposure assessment and find susceptibility markers for the workers who are exposed to low doses of toluene, xylene and other chemical in petroleum industries, we investigated the application of P-450 expression in human lymphocytes utilizing mouse monoclonal anti-rat CYP2B1/2, the levels of toluene and xylene in air and their metabolite levels in urine with the levels of expressed CYP2B1/2 proteins. The general characteristics such as age, smoking and drinking habit were no significant difference between the control and exposed workers, but the working durations and working hours were significantly different. Workers in exposed group were exposed to the mean of 2.1 ppm (range, 0.00-4.54) of toluene and 0.3 ppm (rang, 0.00-1.23) of xylene. The mean concentration of urinary hippuric acid was low and less than 1/5 of the biological exposure index recommended by the Ministry of Employment and Labor Korea. Methyl hippuric acid in urine was not detected in control and exposed workers. Also, there were no significant differences in the levels of the urinary metabolites between the control and exposed group. When chemiluminescence dot blottings were carried out utilizing mouse monoclonal antibody against CYP2B1/2, the strong density dots corresponding to a mouse monoclonal antibody was observed in the human lymphocytes from the exposed workers. These results suggested that the chemiluminescence dot blot assay for CYP of lymphocytes should be valuable for identifying CYP expression as biomarkers in the workers exposed to toluene and xylene.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.405-411
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• 2020

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to investigate whether airborne fibers were released to the outside air from the asbestos removal area in buildings, and to confirm the existence of asbestos fibers in samples using transmission electron microscopy(TEM). Methods: A total of 1,295 samples was collected from inside and outside 155 asbestos removal areas. To investigate the release of asbestos fibers from the removal area, samples were collected at three locations, such as an entrance to change room, an exit of negative pressure unit(NPU) and perimeter areas. Samples were also collected in the removal area prior to and after removal activity. All samples were analyzed by phase contrast microscopy(PCM) and one-tenth of the samples was analyzed using TEM to discriminate asbestos fibers. Results: During the asbestos removal activity, 27(4.1%) of 662 samples collected outside the removal area showed airborne fiber concentrations equal to or in excess of 0.01 f/cc, the permissible emission standard of the Korean Ministry of Environment. Further, 111 samples were analyzed using TEM. The distribution of asbestos fiber concentrations was log-normal. It was found that 51 of 111 samples(46%) contained asbestos fibers. Conclusions: There is a potential risk of asbestos exposure among neighbors and the public outside the asbestos removal areas. It is recommended that the asbestos removal work be conducted strictly following the specifications required by government and/or professional organizations.