• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.273-279
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• 2019

Safety sign panel has been used in construction sites to assure the safety of the workers. Such safety panel can be categorized as 4 different signals, such as prohibition, warning, indication, and information. Each of the categorized item must follow lawful which is specifically designated for its own purposes, on its color and the shape. However, the color and shape of the safety sign panels that have been used in construction sites are not found to follow the suggested lawful requirement, and such differences are originated from safety merchandise production company or vendor, and construction company. In this study, samples of safety sign panels were obtained from various construction sites in Republic of Korea then the colors of such samples were measured, analyzed, and compared. According to the results, colors of the safety sign panels were out of the lawful requirement due to the aging and surface contamination of the safety sign panel. Frequent maintenance on the safety sign panel is therefore necessary. In addition, steel panels that were used in the construction sites were found to be unsuitable to meet the lawful requirements. In order to the color requirements on safety sign panel, it is recommended for Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency to provide standard reference sample for each material used to produce safety sign panel, to distribute them to the producer and construction sites, and to supervise overall system.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.65-74
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• 2019

The safety and health signs as an important communication tool can help employees recognize the harm and risk information and take proper actions easily and fast. This study investigated the management of safety and health signs in 75 workplaces and also conducted a survey for the level of subjective comprehension of safety and health signs with 150 employees in Korea. In total, 69 safety and health signs containing alternative signs by KS S ISO 7010 were used for the survey for the ease of comprehension. At the results, the frequency of education on the signs was relatively high, but it was difficult to systematically manage those in the small-sized workplaces. In addition, the results of the ease of comprehension survey showed that proportion of alternative signs was high in the upper rank, and also several alternative signs showed significantly high mean compared with safety and health signs. And the means of alternative signs tended to have higher at the categories of prohibition, instruction, and guidance. Although there are some methodological limitations, it is important that the recent management and the level of comprehension for safety and health signs were empirically identified.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.127-136
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• 2009

We have investigated the genotoxicity of 3 chemicals, aluminum oxide, calcium oxide, sodium tetraborate using mammalian erythrocyte with micronucleus induction. It was performed using 9 week male ICR mice. At 24 hours after treatment with 3 chemicals with oral route, mice were sacrificed and bone marrow cells were prepared for smear slides. As a result of counting the micronucleated polychromatic erythrocyte (MNPCE) of 2,000 polychromatic erythrocytes (PCE), all treatment groups did not show statistically significant increase than negative control group. And there was no clinical sign related with injection of the 3 chemicals. It was concluded that the 3 chemicals did not induce micronucleus in the bone marrow cells of ICR mice, and these results indicate that the 3 chemicals have no mutagenic potential under the condition in each studies.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.109-123
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• 2000

Inhaled halogen compound was examined through micronucleus tests and toxicity tests using SD (Sprague-Dawley) rats with repeated dosages for six hours a day, five days a week, during four weeks. In four-week repeated exposure, no specific sign caused by the $CF_3I$ compound was observed on the clinical symptoms, body weight variation, feed consumption, and urinalysis data in the testing groups with reference to the control group. In hematological and biochemical blood tests of the testing groups, the significant, but in their normal ranges, value dependencies of glucose, aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase and etc., on the halogen carbohydride concentration was observed. In histo-pathological tests, no specific lesion or concentration dependent change due to the $CF_3I$ compound dosage was observed in both sexes of the female and male in the tested animals. But, micronucleus tests on marrow cells extracted from the tested animals which were repeatedly exposed in the $CF_3I$ compound during four weeks, the frequencies of micronuclei were significantly increased dose-dependently compared to the control groups.

• International Journal of Safety
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.29-37
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• 2012

Since most construction workers comprehend information on work through sight, the importance of safety signs are increasing by the day. In Korea, due to the sharp economic progress and the higher standard of the workforce, since the end of 1980, each year the number of foreign workers entering the country who working simple technical jobs have increased this condition. This study researched safety signs, which are the final accident prevention measures at the workplace. Based on the study, comprehension of the standard safety signs of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) was lacking at a level of 2.5. Also, the perception level of the Industry Public Safety Law (38%) was very low. And, it was found that sex and experience or non-experience in safety training was not an issue in the level of understanding. However, when satisfying the standards of the Occupational Safety and Health Act and changing the safety signs, the level of understanding went up to 3.49 and the perception level was increased significantly to 70%. Thus, it is concluded that, since the foreign workers are mainly from non-English speaking countries and because the workers of Korea are not familiar with English, in order to provide proper safety information, there must first of all be simplistic and concise pictograms. This will provide needed information and must be coupled with simple English words that can give additional information to the worker and be effective in helping him understand and perceive the safety sign. Also, it has been determined that the existing forms of safety signs and their effectiveness in industry accident prevention must be reassessed.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.49-54
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• 2016

Background: Prolonged sitting leads to low back discomfort and lumbopelvic muscle fatigue. This study examined the characteristics of body perceived discomfort and trunk muscle fatigue during 1 hour of sitting in three postures in office workers. Methods: Thirty workers sat for 1 hour in one of three sitting postures (i.e., upright, slumped, and forward leaning postures). Body discomfort was assessed using the Body Perceived Discomfort scale at the beginning and after 1 hour of sitting. Electromyographic (EMG) signals were recorded from superficial lumbar multifidus, iliocostalis lumborum pars thoracis, internal oblique (IO)/transversus abdominis (TrA), and rectus abdominis muscles during 1 hour of sitting. The median frequency (MDF) of the EMG power spectrum was calculated. Results: Regardless of the sitting posture, the Body Perceived Discomfort scores in the neck, shoulder, upper back, low back, and buttock significantly increased after 1 hour of sitting compared with baseline values ($t_{(9)}=-11.97$ to -2.69, p < 0.05). The MDF value of the EMG signal of rectus abdominis, iliocostalis lumborum pars thoracis, and multifidus muscles was unchanged over time in all three sitting postures. Only the right and left IO/TrA in the slumped sitting posture was significantly associated with decreased MDF over time (p = 0.019 to 0.041). Conclusion: Prolonged sitting led to increased body discomfort in the neck, shoulder, upper back, low back, and buttock. No sign of trunk muscle fatigue was detected over 1 hour of sitting in the upright and forward leaning postures. Prolonged slumped sitting may relate to IO/TrA muscle fatigue, which may compromise the stability of the spine, making it susceptible to injury.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.178-186
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• 2014

Background: This study was conducted to assess health risks in regard to exposure by children to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in children's products. Methods: Ten VOCs were measured by head-space gas chromatography in children's products, including toys, oil pastels, sign pens, furniture, ball pools, and playmats. We estimated the average daily dose (ADD) via inhalation during the use of these children's products and calculated hazard quotient (HQ) by dividing ADD by reference dose of VOCs. Results: Among the measured VOCs, five compounds were identified in children's products: benzene, ethylbenzene, styrene, toluene, and xylene. The detection rates of VOCs in toys, ball pools, furniture, playmats, sign pens, and oil pastels were 85%, 100%, 100%, 30%, 100%, and 60%, respectively. The maximum levels of VOCs were 0.18 mg benzene/kg in toys, 5.92 mg toluene/kg in playmats, 10.37 mg ethylbenzene/kg in ball pools, 24.85 mg xylene/kg in toys, and 118.29 mg styrene/kg in ball pools. From exposure levels of VOCs in the children's products HQs were calculated within a range of $5.71{\times}10^{-10}$ to $4.77{\times}10^{-4}$. The HQ of xylene was the highest for children aged 0-6 playing on the playmats. However, the HQ via inhalation exposure to VOCs in individual products did not exceed 1.00. Conclusion: Based on the results, it was concluded that the use of these children's products do not pose health risks to children.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.244-250
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• 2016

Background: Domestic violence (DV) is associated with serious consequences for victims, children, and families, and even national economies. An emerging literature demonstrates that DV also has a negative impact on workers and workplaces. Less is known about the extent to which people are aware of coworkers' experiences of DV. Methods: Using data from a pan-Canadian sample of 8,429 men and women, we examine: (1) awareness of coworker DV victimization and perpetration; (2) the warning signs of DV victimization and perpetration recognized by workers; (3) whether DV victims are more likely than nonvictims to recognize DV and its warning signs in the workplace; and (4) the impacts of DV that workers perceive on victims'/perpetrators' ability to work. Results: Nearly 40% of participants believed they had recognized a DV victim and/or perpetrator in the workplace and many reported recognizing more than one warning sign. DV victims were significantly more likely to report recognizing victims and perpetrators in the workplace, and recognized more DV warning signs. Among participants who believed they knew a coworker who had experienced DV, 49.5% thought the DV had affected their coworker's ability to work. For those who knew a coworker perpetrating DV, 37.9% thought their coworker's ability to work was affected by the abusive behavior. Conclusion: Our findings have implications for a coordinated workplace response to DV. Further research is urgently needed to examine how best to address DV in the workplace and improve outcomes for victims, perpetrators, and their coworkers.

• International Journal of Contents
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.1-6
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• 2008

Pre schools with state of the art facilities that would provide not just academic excellence but also ensure the safety and provide efficient healthcare to their pupils relative to Atopic Dermatitis with Asthma is the main objective of this research One of the most promising applications of sensor networks is for human healthcare monitoring. Due to recent technological advances in sensor, low power microelectronics and miniaturization, and wireless networking enable the design and proliferation of this wireless sensor networks capable of autonomously monitoring and controlling environments. Thus, this research presents the utilization of such microelectronic sensor and plots the hardware and software architecture of a wireless sensor network system with real-time pupil monitoring that integrates vital sign sensors, location sensor and allergen sensor. This proposed architecture for wearable sensors can be used as active tags which can track pupil's location within the school's premises, identify possible atopic dermatitis with asthma allergens, it would monitor and generate a health status report of the pupil.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.214-219
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• 2018

The present study was carried out to investigate the acute oral toxicity of Chamaecyparis obtusa (C. obtusa) essential oil in ICR male and female mice. Acute oral treatment with C. obtusa essential oil did not reveal any sign of toxicity or mortality in treated mice. Mouse body weights were not affected after single oral administration of C. obtusa essential oil during the 14-day observation period. In the hematological and blood biochemical analysis, all parameters of the treated group with 2,000 mg/kg body weight of the essential oil were not significantly different those of the control group. Therefore, the lethal dose 50 of the essential oil was estimated to be greater than 2,000 mg/kg body weight in mice, which indicated that the essential oil is non-toxic. In conclusion, this study suggests that C. obtusa essential oil orally safe ICR mice.