Occupational Exposure of Semiconductor Workers to ELF Magnetic Fields

반도체 제조 근로자의 극저주파 자기장 노출 평가

Objectives: To compare the exposure level of extremely low frequency (ELF) magnetic fields among semiconductor workers, shipyard welders and office workers. Methods: To measure the ELF magnetic field concentration, EMDEX LITE (Enertech, USA) were used and monitored for eight hours continuously. Five companies handling the electric and magnetic field (EMF) source were investigated, which the exposure groups were classified into three groups: semiconductor workers, welders, and office workers. Welder group was chosen as a high exposed group and office group as a low exposed group. Results: The arithmetic mean (${\pm}SD$) and geometric mean (GSD) of personal exposure level of semiconductor workers were 0.73 (${\pm}1.33$) ${\mu}T$, 0.43 (2.88) ${\mu}T$, respectively. The ceiling value ranged between 0.18 and 123.2 ${\mu}T$. Welders were exposed high with the arithmetic mean value of 3.46 (${\pm}\;13.46$) ${\mu}T$ and geometric mean value of 0.45 (4.70) ${\mu}T$, respectively, and ceiling value range of 75.5~129.6 ${\mu}T$. The exposure levels of office workers were low compared to other exposed groups; the arithmetic mean 0.05 (${\pm}0.13$) ${\mu}T$, geometric mean 0.03 (2.38) ${\mu}T$ and ceiling value range 0.37~3.35 ${\mu}T$. This study revealed statistically significant differences of the mean ELF magnetic field exposure doses among three groups (p < 0.01). Conclusions: The average ELF magnetic field exposure doses of semiconductor workers were much higher than those of office workers in control group, but were lower than those of welders in high exposure group.