• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.22 no.3 s.81
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• pp.13-21
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• 2007

Personal and static sampling for formaldehyde, wood dust and noise monitoring, in accordance to the equipment running on the day, were carried out throughout wood panel manufacturing process. Even though the exposure level of formaldehyde and wood dust were below than exposure criteria, but the personal protective equipment(PPE) for those should be worn to everyone in the process because of its potential characteristics like carcinogenicity. Also a few local air extraction system above the cutting, grinding sections and organic blending room should be required. Most of the exposures of noise exposure were exceeded permitted exposure criteria, in case of Hopper operators, exposed to maximally 94dB(A) as LAeq 8hr, therefore active controls like PPE, monitoring, isolation etc. are necessary. The main sources of noise were caused on compressed air of the machinery, radio sound and operation noise like running machines, conveying, cutting, sawing, moving vehicles, storing and so on. For the comparison of control criteria in each country, the permitted exposure standards for above hazardous materials and noise in Korea, ACGIH and Australia were discussed. We have recognized that the Korean criteria should be discussed urgently to give the right information to employee and modified, if it is necessary.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.71-75
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• 2018

In this paper, we propose an optimized size for paramedic helmets as personal safety equipment for emergency medical technician. This identified priorities for advanced loT technologies that need to be attached to paramedic Helmets. Paramedic helmets with advanced technology have been developed others, but they have not been developed for Korea. The products of kinds do not exist in Korea. Based on the average size of Korean men's heads, this derived an optimized size for paramedic helmets. The optical width of this product would be 205 mm. The length would be 265 mm. The height would be 155 mm. The verified that this size meets the requirements of the authorizing certification institution. What paramedic most need in helmets is various kinds of functionality. The communication and information transmission features. In this study, many personal safety equipment for paramedics, including the extraction of an optimal size of strong emergency head-protection helmets to protect the head of the human body on helmets based on an design. We anticipate this result to be a basis for developing an even more sophisticated and functional paramedic helmet than those that currently exist.

• The Korean Journal of Emergency Medical Services
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.21-35
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• 2016

Purpose: This study aims to investigate awareness and performance of infection control during ambulance attendant training, and to provide basic data for infection control. Methods: The subjects were 235 paramedic students who completed ambulance attendant training. There were 51 questions. The infection control dimension was divided into hand washing, personal protective equipment use, and environmental management, for each sub-dimension, awareness and performance were measured by a 4-point scale. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS statistics ver. 22.0. Results: A total of 95.3%, of the subjects completed an orientation for ambulance attendant training and 71.7% received education on infection. In all three sub-dimensions, hand- washing (p<.001), personal protective equipment use (p<.001), and environmental management (p<.001), awareness scored higher than performance. The awareness of infection control showed a significantly positive correlation (r=.394) with performance. Conclusion: In order to improve performance of infection control, education to improve awareness should be provided, and paramedics with higher performance levels in hand washing, and use of gloves and masks wearing should be assigned as training advisors.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.103-109
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• 2011

Object: we investigated some factors which can affect workers' comprehension of chemical hazard information and their actions to protect themselves from the hazard. Method: Comprehension score of chemical hazard information and the rate of wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) was surveyed for the 109 workers from 15 factories who were exposed to N, N-dimethylformamide. Difference of the worker's comprehension score of hazard information was analyzed by education interval, work duration and the way of occupational safety and health management between self-managed or sub-contracted. Result: Mean comprehension score of N, N-dimethylformamide hazard, which was given as a short quiz composed of 10 "true" or "false" problems, was 65%. Mean percentage of wearing PPE was improved as the education program was done within a month but decreased after 6 months. Eighty seven % of workers got the chemical hazard information from the material safety data sheet placed at workplace. Conclusion: Education interval and comprehension score affected the rate of wearing PPE. The way of occupational safety and health management self-managed or sub-contracted did not affect the workers' comprehension score on hazard information nor the rate of wearing PPE.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.166-171
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• 2019

Objective: This study explored personal protective equipment (PPE) availability and PPE utilization among interventionalists in the catheterization laboratory, which is a highly contextualized workplace. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study using mixed methods. Participants (108) completed a survey. A hyperlink was sent to the participants, or they were asked to complete a paper-based survey. Purposively selected participants (54) were selected for individual (30) or group (six) interviews. The interviews were conducted at conferences, or appointments were made to see the participants. Logistic regression analysis was performed. The qualitative data were analyzed thematically. Results: Lead glasses were consistently used 10.2% and never used 61.1% of the time. All forms of PPE were inconsistently used by 92.6% of participants. Women were 4.3 times more likely to report that PPE was not available. PPE compliance was related to fit and availability. Conclusions: PPE use was inconsistent and not always available. Improving the culture of radiation protection in catheterization laboratories is essential to improve PPE compliance with the aim of protecting patients and operators. This culture of radiation protection must include all those involved including the users of PPE and the administrators and managers who are responsible for supplying sufficient, appropriate, fitting PPE for all workers requiring such protection.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2022.06a
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• pp.721-727
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• 2022

Construction safety remains an ongoing concern, and project managers have been increasingly forced to cope with myriad uncertainties related to human operations on construction sites and the lack of a skilled workforce in hazardous circumstances. Various construction fatality monitoring systems have been widely proposed as alternatives to overcome these difficulties and to improve safety management performance. In this study, we propose an intelligent, automatic control system that can proactively protect workers using both the analysis of big data of past safety accidents, as well as the real-time detection of worker non-compliance in using personal protective equipment (PPE) on a construction site. These data are obtained using computer vision technology and data analytics, which are integrated and reinforced by lessons learned from the analysis of big data of safety accidents that occurred in the last 10 years. The system offers data-informed recommendations for high-risk workers, and proactively eliminates the possibility of safety accidents. As an illustrative case, we selected a pilot project and applied the proposed system to workers in uncontrolled environments. Decreases in workers PPE non-compliance rates, improvements in variable compliance rates, reductions in severe fatalities through guidelines that are customized according to the worker, and accelerations in safety performance achievements are expected.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.315-325
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• 2013

The possibility of acute hepatotoxicity caused by dimethylformamide (DMF) requires regular monitoring of the workers who are using DMF to prevent the occupational disease. The authors performed ambient and biological monitoring of workers involved in synthetic leather manufacturing processes using DMF to assess the correlation between the markers of ambient and biological monitoring of DMF. The authors monitored 142 workers occupationally exposed to DMF from 19 workshops in the synthetic leather and ink manufacturing industries located in northern region of Gyeonggi-do. The subjects answered questionnaire on work procedure and use of personal protective equipment to be classified by exposure type. DMF in air samples collected using personal air samplers, diffusive and active sampler, was analysed using gas chromatograph-flame ionization detector (GC-FID) with DB-FFAP column (length 30 m, i.d. 0.25 mm, film thickness 0.25 ${\mu}m$). Urinary N-methylformamide (NMF) was analysed using gas chromatograph-mass selective detector (GC-MSD) at selected ion monitoring (SIM) mode with DB-624 column (length 60 m, i.d. 0.25 mm, film thickness 1.40 ${\mu}m$). Geometric mean (GM) and geometric standard deviation (GSD) of the ambient DMF was $6.85{\pm}3.43$ ppm, and GM and GSD of urinary NMF was $42.3{\pm}2.7$ mg/L. The ratio of subjects with DMF level over 10 ppm was 44%, and those with urinary NMF over 15 mg/L was 87%. NMF in urine adjusted by DMF in air was $4.61{\pm}2.57$ mg/L/ppm and $9.50{\pm}2.41$ mg/L/ppm, respectively, with or without respirator. There was seasonal differences of NMF in urine adjusted by DMF in air, $7.63{\pm}2.74$ mg/L/ppm in summer and $4.53{\pm}2.29$ mg/L/ppm in winter. The urinary NMF concentration which corresponds to 10 ppm of ambient DMF was 52.7 mg/L (r=0.650, n=128). Considering the difference of the route of exposure which resulted from the compliance of wearing personal protective equipment, the estimated contribution of respiratory and dermal exposure route for DMF was 48.5% vs. 51.5%.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.20 no.12
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• pp.139-147
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• 2019

This study examined the level of knowledge, perception, and attitude related to personal protective equipment (PPE) of acute respiratory infection, and their relationship on nursing students. The participants were 200 nursing students of the 3rd and 4th grade in hospital practice. Data were collected from September 1 to October 15, 2018. The knowledge, perception, and attitude related to PPE were measured by structured questionnaires. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA, independent t-test, and Pearson correlation. From the results, knowledge score related to PPE was 17.83 out of 20 points, and perception score related to PPE was 3.68 out of 5 points, and attitude score related to PPE was 4.14 out of 5 points. Therefore, knowledge and attitude level were higher than average. Perception level was moderate. And attitude related to PPE was positively correlated with knowledge and perception. These study findings can be used as basic data for developing an effective infection control educational program to enhance the correct knowledge, perception, and positive attitude related to use of PPE for nursing students. Also, it will be necessary to provide nursing students with the equipment and related resources to master the use of PPE.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.241-248
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• 2015

This study was aimed to investigate factors that affected the status of wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) for handling poultry carcasses with potential exposure to virulent avian infectious agents. A large outbreak of high pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) occurred in South Korea in 2014. Many public officers participated for euthanizing and handling livestock carcass. However, several safety issues with using PPE were revealed. Therefore, a questionnaire survey was conducted for 340 people who participated euthanasia and carcass disposal in the place where HPAI mainly occurred in 2014. It was found that 31.8% of the respondents had ever taken off their protective equipment during operations because of its inconvenience. The most inconvenient PPE was goggles (54.6%), followed by mask (20.2%), latex gloves (11.6%), shoe covers (5.9%) and protective clothing (5.3%). The main complaints about this individual PPE was unclear sight, damp emitted toward eye, sweating, tearing easily and sweating, respectively. Considering such problems of PPE, new possible directions for improvement of gloves and goggles were suggested. With newly developed rubber coating fabric gloves and conventionally using latex and fabric gloves, H3N2 influenza virus transmission experiment was conducted. Rubber coating fabric gloves showed similar efficiency for blocking virus transmission with latex laboratory gloves and were not easily torn by sharp claws of chicken. In addition, air flow control safety eyewear was suggested to minimize moisture formation. The air flow control system efficiently suppressed moisture formation inside the goggles. Therefore our study will provide more specific directions about new PPE development for safety protection of actual wearers.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.12-18
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• 2023

Objectives: Personal protective equipment (PPE) is an essential means for protecting workers against hazardous agents or risks that threaten their safety and health. Governmental organizations related to safety and health in the workplace regulate the PPE rules to protect workers and to minimize damage from hazardous agents. This study discussed current PPE rules overseen by the Korea Ministry of Environment and explores future perspectives on the matter. Methods: This study was based on a review of PPE regulations with which every stakeholder should comply in the workplace. Both South Korean regulations enforced by the Ministry of Employment and Labor and the Ministry of Environment and cases from other countries were reviewed. Results: Regulations related to the PPE required for handling chemical substances in the workplace are enforced by the Occupational Safety and Health Act, Enforcement Decree, Enforcement Rules, and Notification of Protective Equipment Certification under the Ministry of Employment and Labor. The Ministry of Environment also regulates the PPE standards for 97 substances requiring preparation for accidents and adjustment of work conditions, but a recent amendment (partially amended on September 30, 2022) loosened some unreasonable or excessive provisions. It requires workers simply to carry or otherwise keep PPE handy instead of wearing it for some tasks in which hazardous chemicals are not handled directly. Conclusions: It is important to regularly review provisions that need to be improved or supplemented to help all stakeholders. Considerations should be also made to build a reasonable regulatory system that can induce more mature safety management in each workplace.