• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.314-323
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• 2006

This study was conducted to identify ingredients of thinners and to confirm reliability of material safety data sheets (MSDS) of thinners for public and workers' health. The 41 thinner products were collected from paint shops located in Busan and Gyeongnam province. The 12 thinner products among them were identified using product MSDS. GC-MSD was used to analyze 41 kinds of thinners qualitatively and quantitatively. The 12 products MSDS were compared with thinner's component through qualitative analysis to confirm MSDS. Chemical ingredients, such as Benzene, Toluene, and Xylene etc., of thinners were analysed in quantity. The 41 thinner products contained 17 disclosed specific, trade name, or generically described chemical solvent ingredients. These 17 ingredients came under 6 classes: alcohols, aromatic hydrocarbons, esters, glycol ethers, ketones, and mixtures. These 17 ingredients were important in the view of industrial hygiene and had occupational exposure limit in the ambient, such as toluene, xylene, acetone, nonane, EGEE, heptane, cumene, MIBK, indene, tri-methyl benzene, etc, were found in 41 kinds of thinners. Aromatic hydrocarbons were the most identified ingredient in thinners. Especially, the benzene, which induces leukemia, was found in 4 kinds of thinners. The content rates of benzene in thinners were 0.25~1.18%. The benzene in enamel thinner, which were 0.39~0.72%, was highest from chemical classification. The contents of toluene, which was found from 27 kinds of thinners, were 5.35~64.16%, which were highest in sobu thinner as 58.80%. Xylene was found from 22 kinds of thinners and contents of xylene were 4.61~72.42%. Acrylic thinner's contents of xylene were 12.06~51.05%, which was most high. It was found that contents of benzene were increased and frequency of detection was decreased through comparison with other study. The MSDS possession rate of paint shops was low as 29.27%. So it did not provide information with public or workers. Mean of agreement rate between MSDS and components of thinners through qualitative analysis was 42.01% and it has wide range from 8.3% to 75%. There are many deficiencies in MSDS about component of thinners. In some case of sample, expecially, despite containing benzene, information was not written it on MSDS.

• Proceedings of the Korean Environmental Health Society Conference
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.251-253
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• 2005

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.153-160
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• 2007

Due to the high occurrence rate of musculoskeletal disorders(MSDs), many Korean companies adopted various assessment tools to evaluate workers' musculoskeletal stress. Using the results of this evaluation, tasks were selected for improvements. However, there are still many workers who complained of musculoskeletal stress of their tasks. Their tasks usually consist of repetitive activities and a short rest cycle. This prompts a concern of reliability of the evaluation tools and especially RULA. Thus in this study, OCRA(The Occupational Repetitive Action tool) was used to check whether RULA(Rapid Upper Limb Assessment) evaluates workers' musculoskeletal stress reasonably well since OCRA has been known to be a good evaluation tool for repetitive tasks and tasks with short recovery periods. The evaluation was conducted on 142 tasks. It was found that 65 tasks showed higher action levels by OCRA than by RULA. However, 13 tasks showed the reversed result and 64 tasks showed the same level regardless of the evaluation tool. It was concluded that either RULA or OCRA alone cannot evaluate all types of tasks very well. It is suggested that OCRA needs to be used with RULA together for the evaluations of musculoskeletal stress at workplaces where repetitive activities and short recovery periods exist.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.8-13
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• 2024

Objectives: To evaluate the levels of exposure to organic compounds during aircraft disinfection and seat cover replacement operations. Methods: According to the working schedule, organic compounds were collected using activated carbon tubes and then analyzed by GC/FID and GC/MSD. Results: In the disinfection task, the main substances listed in the material safety data sheet (MSDS) of the disinfectant were not detected. However, 1-bromopropane, which had been used in the previous task of replacing seat covers, was detected at a level of 2.37 ppm at the measurement time. During seat cover replacement, bonding workers were exposed to 2.48 ppm on an eight-hour time-weighted average, and seat cover replacement workers were exposed to 0.22 ppm. Conclusions: It is necessary to ensure the reliability of MSDS. A work environment management system is necessary when different companies alternate working in the same place.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.17-24
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• 2019

The combustion properties of the flammable substance used in industrial fields include lower/upper flash point, lower/upper explosion limit, autoignition temperature(AIT), fire point, and minimum oxygen concentration(MOC) etc.. The accurate assessment of these characteristics should be made for process and worker safety. In this study, tert-amylalcohol(TAA), which is widely used as a solvent for epoxy resins, oxidizers of olefins, fuel oils and biomass, was selected. The reason is that there are few researches on the reliability of combustion characteristics compared to other flammable materials. The flash point of the TAA was measured by Setaflash, Pensky-Martens, Tag, and Cleveland testers. And the AIT of the TAA was measured by ASTM 659E. The lower/upper explosion limits of the TAA was estimated using the measured lower/upper flash points by Setaflash tester. The flash point of the TAA by using Setaflash and Pensky-Martens closed-cup testers were experimented at 19 ℃ and 21 ℃, respectively. The flash points of the TAA by Tag and Cleveland open cup testers were experimented at 28 ℃ and 34 ℃, respectively. The AIT of the TAA was experimented at 437 ℃. The LEL and UEL calculated by using lower and upper flash point of Setaflash were calculated at 1.10 vol% and 11.95 vol%, respectively.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.25-30
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• 2017

Because of the vertical combustion characteristics of combustible substances, accurate substance safety information for their safe use, handling and transportation is essential. The flash point, fire point, explosion limits and autoignition temperature (AIT) are important safety parameters which need special attention in chemical plants and laboratories that handle dangerous materials. In this study, tert-butylbenzene which is widely used as an intermediate material in the chemical industry was selected. For the reliability of the flammable properties of tert-butylbenzene, this study was investigated the explosion limits of tert-butylbenzene in the reference data. The flash points, fire points and AITs by the ignition delay time for tert-butylbenzene were experimented. The lower flash points of tert-butylbenzene by using the Setaflash and Pensky-Martens closed-cup testers measured $39^{\circ}C$ and $44^{\circ}C$, respectively. The flash points of tert-butylbenzene by using the Tag and Cleveland open cup testers are measured $51^{\circ}C$ and $54^{\circ}C$. And the fire points of tert-butylbenzene by the Tag and Cleveland open cup testers were $54^{\circ}C$ and $58^{\circ}C$ respectively. The AIT of tert-butylbenzene measured by the ASTM 659E tester was measured as $450^{\circ}C$. The lower explosion limit of $39^{\circ}C$ which measured by the Setaflash flash point tester was calculated to be 0.68 vol%.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.433-445
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• 2015

Objectives: The major objectives of this study are to review the issues surrounding trade secret claims in the Chemicals Control Act and Amendment on Occupational Safety and Health Act(1917-227) and to propose a way of improving the reliability of chemical information in MSDSs, labels and National Chemical Survey results. Materials: To review the issues on trade secret claims, we made an analysis frame which was divided into three steps: Value and Problem Recognition; New Regulation Design; and Enforcement and Amendment. We then compared Korean issues with issues from the United States' Hazard Communication Standard and Emergency Planning & Community Right-to-Know Act, Canada's Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System and Hazardous Materials Information Review Act and the European Union's Regulation on Classification, Labelling and Packaging of substances and Mixtures. Results: The stage of right-to-know development in Korea has passed the Value and Problem Recognition phase, so efforts are needed to elaborately design new regulation. Conclusions: We recommend two ways to improve right-to-know in Korea. First, strict examination of the quality of documents for trade secret claims is very important. Second, trade secrets should be limited to less-hazardous substances.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.22-31
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• 2019

The flammable liquid conductivity is an important factor in determining the generation of electrostatic in fire and explosion hazardous areas, so it is necessary to study the physical properties of flammable liquids. In particular, the relevant liquid conductivity in the process of handling flammable liquids in relation to the risk assessment and risk control in fire and explosion hazard areas, such as chemical plants, is classified as a main evaluation item according to the IEC standard, and it is necessary to have flammable liquid conductivity measuring devices and related data are required depending on the handling conditions of the material, such as temperature and mixing ratio for preventing the fire and explosion related to electrostatic. In addition, IEC 60079-32-2 [Explosive Atmospheres-Part 32-2 (Electrostatic hazards-Tests)] refers to the measuring device standard and the conductivity of a single substance. It was concluded that there is no measurement data according to the handling conditions such as mixing ratio of flammable liquid and temperature together with the use and measurement examples. We have developed the measurement reliability by improving the structure, material and measurement method of measuring device by referring to the IEC standard. We have developed a measurement device that is developed and manufactured by itself. The test results of flammable liquid conductivity measurement and the data of the NFPA 77 (Recommended Practice on Static Electricity) Annex B Table B.2 Static Electric Characteristic of Liquids were compared and verified by conducting the conductivity measurement of the flammable liquid handled in the fire and explosion hazardous place by using Measuring / Data Acquisition / Processing / PC Communication. It will contribute to the prevention of static electricity related disaster by taking preliminary measures for fire and explosion prevention by providing technical guidance for static electricity risk assessment and risk control through flammable liquid conductivity measurement experiment. In addition, based on the experimental results, it is possible to create a big data base by constructing electrostatic physical characteristic data of flammable liquids by process and material. Also, it is analyzed that it will contribute to the foundation composition for adding the specific information of conductivity of flammable liquid to the physical and chemical characteristics of MSDS.