• The Journal of Korean Society for School & Community Health Education
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.73-92
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• 2021

Objectives: The purposes of this study was to describe workers' perceived values and the affecting factors (pros and cons) of the experience education for occupational safety and health and to suggest the strategies and future directions to improve the experience educational quality. Methods: A total of 8 male workers taking the safety and health education of the 7 safety experience education centers involved in this study (5 centers managed by Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency (KOSHA), 2 centers of large commercial companies). This study used Photovoice, a qualitative method, as the study method. We conducted the photovoice-based in-depth interview with the SHOWeD questions and strategy and used the taxonomical analysis. Results: The study participants' perceived values of experience education were strengthening self-efficacy of the safety and health practices, providing practically useful information, and enjoying refreshing experiences different from daily jobs. Positive affecting factors of the experience education (pros) were providing the educational environments and opportunities of direct experiences, teaching practical safety and health contents for the participants, and the trainer's instruction competencies. Negative affecting factors of the experience education (cons) were learner's negative or standing postures during trainer's lecturing, insufficient exercise conditions and facilities for education, and difficult and theory-oriented lecture far from the practical jobs in reality. Conclusions: Major values of exercise education were direct experiences, useful contents and interesting opportunities from the education participants' perspectives. To improve the exercise education quality, overall educational environments such as convenience facilities as well as exercise facilities should be modified altogether. This study partially and conveniently used the photovoice method as the study limitation.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.207-213
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• 2023

Korea is facing a population cliff and a decline in the fertility rate, and the competition rate for recruiting officers in our military is rapidly decreasing every year. This situation is a serious problem in terms of national security and requires efforts to obtain excellent manpower. To this end, it is necessary to understand their occupational values through consideration of the MZ generation, which is the main recruitment target of the military, and to find diagnosis and solutions for each problem by closely analyzing the military's internal and external environment based on their understanding of soldiers as a job. Therefore, we diagnose the current situation in consideration of military specificity, examine the occupational values of the MZ generation, which is a resource for military officers recruitment. Since the subject of military officer acquisition is the MZ generation, efforts are needed to focus on occupational values of MZ generations.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.245-253
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• 2014

Purpose: School foodservice employees (SFEs) could be exposed to the risk of musculoskeletal disease and of job stress due to their job characteristics. This study was to evaluate the level of job stress and the prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal symptoms (WRMS) in Seoul city's SFEs, and to determine associations between job stress and WRMS. Methods: The study design was cross-sectional, and 975 SFEs were recruited. Self-administered questionnaire included the 'Korean occupational stress scale-short form' and the 'KOSHA GUIDE H-9-2012' instrument to evaluate the job stress and WRMS, respectively. SFEs' medians of job stress were compared to the reference values of published study in Korean workers. Results: The participants reported greater levels of job demand and physical environment than the general Korean population. WRMS were reported in 89.0% of participants at any body part, and 41.1% were presumed to need for medical intervention. High levels of job demand and of physical environment were significantly associated with WRMS. Conclusion: Subscales of job demand and physical environment were relatively high in SFEs and those were related to the occurrence of WRMS. To reduce the WRMS prevalence, a job stress management program focused on job demand and physical environment may be required.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.110-117
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• 2019

Background: This study aimed to estimate occupational doses and patient peak skin doses (PSDs) during interventional radiology procedures. Materials and Methods: We examined data from brain embolization (n = 30), hepatic chemoembolization (n = 50), and uterine embolization (n = 12). The PSDs were measured using radiochromic film around the patient's head (group 1) or abdominal/pelvic region (group 2). Acquisition technical data and kerma-area products (KAP) were also recorded. Occupational doses were measured using $Instadose^{TM}$ dosimeters near the left eye region (LER), chest, and left ankle. Results and Discussion: The third quartile (median) KAP values were $408.1(235.3)Gy{\cdot}cm^2$ for group 1 and $584.4(449.4)Gy{\cdot}cm^2$ for group 2. The average PSDs were greatest during vascular procedures, reaching 1,004.4 (786.4) mGy, and the highest PSD was 2,352.6 mGy (during hepatic chemoembolization). The third quartile (median) occupational doses were 0.35 (0.21) mSv at the LER, 0.25 (0.15) mSv at the chest, and 1.47 (0.64) mSv at the left ankle. Occupational doses at the LER were higher than at the chest, which highlights the importance of protective glasses and suspended shields. The occupational doses at the ankle region were also high, which highlights the importance of using a lead-lined curtain attached to the table. Conclusion: The results indicate that physicians can reach, for eye region, the weekly occupational dose limit after around 15 procedures, even when using proper protection. The average PSD values were below the threshold for tissue reactions, although the complexity of these procedures emphasises the importance of considering related risks.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.73-81
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• 2012

Object: The aim of this study is to suggest a list of priority chemicals for the Hazard & Risk Evaluation of Chemicals (HREC) controlled by the Industrial Safety and Health Act (ISHA). Method: Screening assessment was done for 642 chemicals whose exposure threshold limit values were set by the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL). Hazard data were collected from Korea Occupational Safety & Health Agency (KOSHA) and/or other toxicity database. Exposure data were obtained from KOSHA internal database. The hazard and exposure scores of chemicals were listed by order of priority in accordance with GHS classification and exposure index data. Result: From the result of screening risk assessment for 642 chemicals, we extracted a list of 13 priority chemicals for HREC performed by the ISHA. A priority list of 27 chemicals which have carcinogen, mutagen and/or reproductive toxicity but not controlled by the ISHA was suggested for additional evaluation as "chemicals for special management".

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.317-330
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• 2021

Objectives: By law, companies in Korea must periodically measure workers' exposure to harmful chemicals (the system is called the Work Environment Monitoring Program (WMP)[a]) and report the results to the government. The government also measures exposure to monitor the WMP's reliability (called Reliability Assessment (RA) for WMP[b]). The issue is that measured data from these two sources are so different that the objectivity of WMP needs to be confirmed by comparing the results using the European Centre for Ecotoxicology and Toxicology of Chemicals' Targeted Risk Assessment (ECETOC TRA). Methods: Step 1: Data collection from WMP reports submitted by companies (n=586) and RA for WMP written by the government (n=33). Step 2: Data Standardization by key information included. Step 3: Data conversion to input-variables required to run the ECETOC TRA model, and run the model with specific data (n=514) which meet the predetermined exposure scenario. Step 4: Statistical data analysis by process category (PROC) and ventilation type from each source ([A] and [B]). Step 5: Additional analysis of any unexpected results. Results: The process categories of the production and handling of Dichloromethane were classified into 12 PROCs, and ten of them were selected to run ECETOC TRA. Modeled values tended to be higher than measured values from both sources. For the measured values from WMP, RCR distribution by PROC was narrow (0.197-0.267, 95% CI) and did not have a relationship with ventilation type, which differs from the tendency of the modeling result. Meanwhile, the measured values from RA for WMP were relatively widely distributed (0.301-1.177, 95% CI) by PROC. In particular PROCs (13,19) were high enough to exceed 1. Also, they become low with better ventilation types and appear differently depending on the ventilation type, similar to the model result. Conclusions: This study revealed that ECETOC TRA might have the potential to serve as a screening tool for exposure assessment and to be used as assistive method for WMP to estimate exposure. Further empirical study is required to confirm its availability as a screening tool.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.364-370
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• 2017

Background: Labeled noise reduction (NR) data presented by manufacturers are considered one of the main challenging issues for occupational experts in employing hearing protection devices (HPDs). This study aimed to determine the actual NR data of typical HPDs using the objective fit testing method with a microphone in real ear (MIRE) method. Methods: Five available commercially earmuff protectors were investigated in 30 workers exposed to reference noise source according to the standard method, ISO 11904-1. Personal attenuation rating (PAR) of the earmuffs was measured based on the MIRE method using a noise dosimeter (SVANTEK, model SV102). Results: The results showed that means of PAR of the earmuffs are from 49% to 86% of the nominal NR rating. The PAR values of earmuffs when a typical eyewear was worn differed statistically (p < 0.05). It is revealed that a typical safety eyewear can reduce the mean of the PAR value by approximately 2.5 dB. The results also showed that measurements based on the MIRE method resulted in low variability. The variability in NR values between individuals, within individuals, and within earmuffs was not the statistically significant (p > 0.05). Conclusion: This study could provide local individual fit data. Ergonomic aspects of the earmuffs and different levels of users experience and awareness can be considered the main factors affecting individual fitting compared with the laboratory condition for acquiring the labeled NR data. Based on the obtained fit testing results, the field application of MIRE can be employed for complementary studies in real workstations while workers perform their regular work duties.

• Journal of Korea Entertainment Industry Association
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.299-309
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to investigate about student's experiences in occupational therapy through clinical fieldwork, such as the change in perception of occupational therapy, the stress that students experience, and the satisfaction of clinical fieldwork. We conducted a focus group interview with 10 participants to see what they experienced during the clinical fieldwork. The contents of the interview were recorded and conducted, and the meaning was analyzed according to the focus group interview procedure through repeated listening. Components were psychological experience, professional experience, environmental experience, changes of values, and behavioral changes. In psychological experience, he experienced anxiety and burden. Experiential experience was the connection of theory and clinical experience and realization of major knowledge. In the environmental experience, we experienced clinical guidance management system, and the change of values experienced change of perception of occupational therapy and change of perception of disabled person. Finally, behavioral changes have experienced an active response through clinical practice experience. Clinical fieldwork is a basic element that prepares students to become occupational therapists. It affects the role of occupational therapist and perception performance through various experiences in new environment. It is thought that the efforts of the institution are needed. The results of this study will help occupational therapists to direct clinical fieldwork in the right direction in clinical fieldwork.

• The Journal of Korean Society for School & Community Health Education
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.71-81
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• 2017

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate major satisfaction according to the values and self efficacy of students majoring in health science. Methods: Among the 170 respondents, 25.3% were male and 74.7% were females. The departments were 28.9% of physical therapy, 20.6% of laboratory science, 23.5% of occupational therapy, 14.1% of nursing, and dental hygiene 12.9%. Results: In the present study major satisfaction was significantly higher when the higher self efficacy and significantly lower when the higher value. Conclusions: These results indicate that it is necessary to provide contents and appropriate guidance that can enhance the values and self efficacy in order to improve major satisfaction of students majoring in health science.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.52-58
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• 2022

Background: Few studies have evaluated the exposure to phthalates via inhalation of floor dust in children's living areas. Objectives: This study evaluated the concentration and exposure level of phthalates emitted from indoor floor dust in children's living areas. Methods: This study utilized the results of a survey conducted by the Ministry of Environment in 2019. Indoor dust was collected from 150 households with children aged 3~7 and 67 daycare centers or local children's centers by using vacuum cleaners. It was analyzed by gas chromatography mass spectrometry. Six types of phthalates were analyzed: Bis (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), Dibutyl phthalate (DBP), Benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP), Di-N-octyl phthalate (DNOP), Diisononyl phthalate (DINP), Di -isodecyl phthalate (DIDP). Results: The medians of DEHP concentrations were 1,028 and 1,937 mg/kg in homes and daycare centers, respectively. The median and maximum values of daily intake were calculated by applying the median and 95th percentile values (the upper 5% of the total concentration) in dust measured in the homes. The DEHP median value was 1.6 ㎍/kg/bw/day, and a maximum A value of 7.8 ㎍/kg/bw/day was calculated. When the childcare center values were applied, the median daily intake of DEHP was 3.1 ㎍/kg/bw/day and the maximum value was 29.2 ㎍/kg/bw/day. As a result of calculating the daily intake by integrating the values of home and childcare facilities, the median and maximum values of daily intake were 1.9 and 10.9 ㎍/kg/bw/day, respectively. Conclusions: This study derives phthalate concentrations among the floor dust in homes and childcare facilities where children mainly spend time, and suggests their intake of phthalates through this. In particular, it was newly suggested that the phthalate concentrations in homes and childcare facilities are different, resulting in differences in intake.