• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.381-389
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• 2009

Confined spaces are inherently dangerous workplace and many fatal and nonfatal accidents have been reported. Even though these accidents occur in various kinds of confined spaces, there has rarely been reported on the health hazard agent, i.e., the types of gases and their concentration ranges. Therefore in this study, we evaluated several toxic and asphyxiating gas concentrations in various confined spaces. We surveyed 57 manholes, 3 sewage treatment plants, 2 yellow radish manufacturing companies and 7 barges to measure the concentrations of oxygen($O_2$), hydrogen sulfide($H_2S$), carbon monoxide(CO), ammonia($NH_3$). Lower Explosion Limits(LEL) and Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). Those four types of confined spaces occupies 56% of accidents during last 9 years in Korea. In 57 manholes, the concentration varied according to the types of manholes; rainfall and sewage, and by location; residential and industrial areas. Sewage manhole in industrial area was evaluated as the most hazardous than other types of manhole like rainfall manholes, residential sewage manholes. The highest $H_2S$ concentration and the lowest $O_2$ concentration at sewage manhole in industrial area were 300 ppm, 8.7% respectively. In 3 sewage treatment plants, $H_2S$ and $NH_3$ concentrations were reached up to the 500 ppm and 200 ppm respectively. Two yellow radish manufacturing companies showed the concentrations of 316 ppm, 505.2 ppm, 90 ppm and 15.7% for $H_2S$, CO, VOCs and $O_2$, respectively. Seven barges showed 15.9%~20.9% oxygen concentration. Gas species and concentration ranges varied by the types and location of confined spaces; CO, $H_2S$, $O_2$ could be hazardous in manhole, especially manhole connected to sewage plants. CO, $H_2S$, LEL, $O_2$, $NH_3$ should be controlled in sludge silo and sluge pumping confined spaces in sewage treatment plant. The activity of lifting out radish from the storage tank was evaluated more hazardous rather than the other activities in yellow radish manufacturing industry. The employers must conduct the survey to identify all possible confined spaces in their local workplace prior to performing the tasks. At the national level to reduce the accidents in the confined spaces, we suggest that systemic approach and active education program including possible hazards, standard operation procedures, ventilation plan, and personal protective equipment in confined spaces should be implemented.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.63-75
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• 2007

A survey on sanitary management at 98 food service institutions located in Jeollabuk-Do were conducted. Food service institutions included 13 hospitals, 38 schools, 40 enterprises, and 7 others. The sterilization in boiling water was used for disinfection of tableware, spoon and chopsticks, and dish towel. Cooking kit, refrigerator, chopping board, and knife were sterilized with disinfectant. Frequency of sanitary training program on employees was 56.1% for 1 time/month, 12.2% for 2-3 times/month, and 11.3% for 1 time/week. Preparing ratio of defrosting, warehouse and rest room, and washing and sterilization diary were 73.8, 60.5, and 54.5%, respectively. However, checking ratio of environments (9.5%), personal sanitation (10.8%), and sanitary training program diary(8.4%) were low. Major obstacle factors on the introduction of Hazard analysis critical control point (HACCP) system into food service institutions were lack of equipment and facilities (54.1%) and lack of understanding and data on HACCP system (17.3%). Therefore, in order to reduce the outbreak of food-borne diseases increasing frequency, we estimated that the introduction of sanitary management system and the conversion of dietician' perception on sanitary managements in food service institutions were needed.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.112-117
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• 2012

With the development of nanotechnology, nano-consumer products have been popularized. For the past 10 years, potential risk of nanomaterials to human and environment have been raised carefully. Especially, workers, who directly handle nanomaterials in laboratories and manfacturers, will lead to direct exposure of nanomaterials. Therefore, direct exposure assessment and field monitoring of nanomaterials are required to assess and manage the nanomaterial exposure to human and environment. In this work, two nano-manufacturing companies, which had plasma and sol-gel processes, were selected to analyze the main exposure source and process with in-situ SMPS (scanning mobility particle sizer) and ex-situ TEM (transmission electron microscopy). The results showed that the colloidal nanoparticle in liquid phase was easily evaporated and monitored by SMPS. Most serious thing is that the workers does not know about the potential risk of nanomaterials, and thus they are not taking proper protection activities, such as PPE (personal protective equipment). Therefore, exposure assessment for nanomaterial handling facilities should be additionally carried out, and nano-safety management protocols are also provided.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.232-237
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• 2015

The water supplied from dental unit water systems (DUWS) in dentistry may be heavily contaminated with bacteria and thus may be a potential source of infection for both practice staff and patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the level of heterotrophic bacteria and to confirm the presence of opportunistic pathogens from DUWS in student clinical simulation laboratory of college of dentistry. Water samples were collected from 36 ultrasonic scalers in student clinical simulation laboratory. The levels of heterotrophic bacteria in water samples were quantified by counting colony forming units (CFUs) on R2A agar media. In addition, opportunistic pathogens were detected by using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method. The mean CFUs were 16,095 CFU/ml for water samples and all of water samples exceeded current American Dental Association recommendations of 200 CFU/ml. Pseudomonas species and non-tuberculous Mycobacterium species were detected in the one sample and two samples, respectively, among the 36 water samples by the PCR with specific primers for these bacteria. Our study indicated that DUWS in student clinical simulation laboratory can cause potential infection in students and participants. This study suggested the dental unit water line management and wearing personal protective equipment in student clinical simulation laboratory will be needed to reduce bacterial contamination.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.548-553
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• 2014

In order to evaluate the performance of arrow that manufactures through production process, it is used that personal experiences such as hunters who have been using bow and arrow for a long time, technicians who produces leisure and sports equipment, and experts related with this industries. Also, the intensity of arrow's impact point which obtains from repeated shooting experiments is an important indicator for evaluating the performance of arrow. There are some ongoing researches for evaluating performance of arrow using intensity of the arrow's impact point and the arrow's flying image that obtained from high-speed camera. However, the research that deals with mutual relation between distribution of the arrow's impact point and characteristics of the arrow (length, weight, spine, overlap, straightness) is not enough. Therefore, this paper suggests both the system that could describes the distribution of the arrow's impact point into numerical representation and the correlation model between characteristics of arrow and impact points. The inputs of the model are characteristics of arrow (spine, straightness). And the output is MAD (mean absolute distance) of triangular shaped coordinates that could be obtained from 3 times repeated shooting by changing knock degree 120. The input-output data is collected for learning the correlation model, and ANN (artificial neural network) is used for implementing the model.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.87-99
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to investigate the perception of foodservice managers in childcare centers and kindergartens for identifying the vulnerable areas of safety management. The foodservice managers in 1,144 of nationwide childcare centers and kindergartens were surveyed from May to October 2007 to answer a total 72 questions in areas of general characteristics, actual practice of foodservice management and safety management perception. Meals were served in 97.7% of surveyed facilities and 91.0% among them were self-operated. The hiring rate (27.8%) of dietitians in childcare centers was significantly lower than the rate (82.0%) of kindergartens. The needs of dietitian employment between childcare centers and kindergartens differed as 44.9% and 87.5%, respectively. In knowledge on food-borne illnesses, they have the wrong information in the field of season for frequent outbreak, major pathogens and foods causing food-borne illnesses. The food-borne illnesses (36.2%) were indicated as the major problem in foodservice facilities and the degree of risk exposure was considered as safe (70.1%). More than 70% of both facilities answered as sanitary in the status of personal hygiene. Only 38.0% recognized the Facility and Equipment Standard in the Childcare Law and Early Childhood Education Law. In preparation of meals and management of cooking processes, kindergarten scored significantly high compared to childcare centers (p < 0.05 or p < 0.01) while the necessity of standards was not different in both facilities. Among managers surveyed, 28.8% had taken food safety education from professional institutions and more than 80% in both facilities indicated the need of professional educations. These results suggest that it is necessary for the systematic sanitary education of foodservice managers by developing the sanitary management standard as well as the amendment of laws related foodservice in childcare centers and kindergartens.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.8
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• pp.72-83
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• 2017

This study was conducted to investigate nursing students' safety-climate: perception and performance of standard precautions for healthcare-associated infection control. We also identified actors influencing performance of standard precautions. Data were collected from 246 junior and senior nursing students at nine colleges in D city from July to September, 2016. The mean score of performance was significantly lower than that of perception in all areas of standard precautions. The biggest difference between perception and performance was in the usage of personal protective equipment and safe injection practices. We also detected significant positive correlations among safety-climate, perception, and performance of standard precautions. In the regression analysis, performance of standard precautions was influenced by safety-climate and grade accounting for 10.7% of variance. To improve healthcare-associated infection control among nursing students, safer and more supportive practical environments need to be provided, and new training strategies such as simulation education need to be expanded.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.47-52
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• 2009

This study has been to examine the occupational exposure levels of Fluorouracil (5-FU) in a hospital and to investigate the most effective cleaning reagent for control. Fluorouracil is one of the cytotoxic drugs which are therapeutic agents used to treat cancer. The health practitioners working in the cytotoxic work room and oncology ward areas are exposed to adverse health risks like cytogenetic and DNA damage from cytotoxic drugs exposure by frequent skin contact from contaminated surfaces. Four kinds of cleaning reagents has been examined to degrade the 5-FU. It was found that 5-FU was only degraded soon after the reaction in 0.5%(w/v) NaClO solution. Therefore, 0.5%(w/v) NaClO solution has been chosen to decompose any residues on the contamination surfaces. A substantial level of contamination was found on the surfaces of cytotoxic work room and oncology ward areas. The contamination ranges of the surfaces in cytotoxic work room and oncology ward areas were from 2.0 to $13.8{\mu}g/m^2$ and 5.39 to $11.53{\mu}g/m^2$ respectively. Consequently, regulation of the occupational exposure limit, procedure of special cleaning, and the use of personal protective equipment are recommended during the manipulation and administration of the drugs to avoid skin contamination from cytotoxic drugs like 5-FU.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.530-535
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• 2021

Background: Despite the lack of official COVID-19 statistics, various workplaces and occupations have been at the center of COVID-19 outbreaks. We aimed to compare legal measures and governance established for managing COVID-19 infection risks at workplaces in nine Asia and Pacific countries and to recommend key administrative measures. Methods: We collected information on legal measures and governance from both general citizens and workers regarding infection risks such as COVID-19 from industrial hygiene professionals in nine countries (Indonesia, India, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Republic of the Philippines, Republic of Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand) using a structured questionnaire. Results: A governmental body overseeing public health and welfare was in charge of containing the spread and occurrence of infectious diseases under an infectious disease control and prevention act or another special act, although the name of the pertinent organizations and legislation vary among countries. Unlike in the case of other traditional hazards, there have been no specific articles or clauses describing the means of mitigating virus risk in the workplace that are legally required of employers, making it difficult to define the responsibilities of the employer. Each country maintains own legal systems regarding access to the duration, administration, and financing of paid sick leave. Many workers may not have access to paid sick leave even if it is legally guaranteed.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.409-417
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• 2019

Purpose: Since the implementation of the Chemical Substance Management Act, data on the number of occurrences by annual chemical accident in Korea and the contractor's contract data received from the competent authority were used. After the implementation of the contract reporting system, the contribution to the reduction of chemical accidents is summarized by statistical data. The characteristics of each region, month, type and those of similar industries and human life were compared and analyzed. Method: 4 years of chemical accident statistics from 2015 to 2018 and since 2003, we have used data from the Chemical Safety Clearing-House (CSC), which provides safety information on cases of chemical accidents. Results and Conclusion: The risk of accidents increases as a number of unskilled workers are put into the workplace during the period when the hazardous chemical handling process is temporarily suspended. Through the reporting for awarding a contract, the operators are strengthening the safety management of chemical accidents by educating unskilled workers and wearing personal protective equipment.