• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.634-642
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• 2007

Purpose: To investigate subjective symptoms of musculoskeletal disorders in women workers Method: From February to April, 2006, 292 women workers working in 16 companies were surveyed using KOSHA CODE (H-30-2003). Result: Of the workers, 84.0% had at least one musculoskeletal disorder. The mean score of the severity of musculoskeletal disorder symptoms was 7.41 out of 25. As for the prevalence rate by body part, shoulder was the most common and severe body part of musculoskeletal disorders, and significant differences were shown in neck, shoulder, and lower limb according to the type of working. The severity of married workers was significantly higher than that of unmarried ones. Significant difference was shown in the severity of disorders by the type of working and in body parts according to the type of working. Conclusion: The self-reported symptoms of musculoskeletal disorders were very frequent in women workers, but the severity of the symptoms was relatively low, suggesting the early symptoms of disorders. Specifically, given the highly frequent self-reported symptoms in the shoulder part found in married women workers, intensive prevention is recommended. Furthermore, an ergonomic aspect should be concerned to consider physical characteristics of women workers.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.126-134
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• 2001

Statistical approaches for analysis of data from the limited number of samples in ship building industry(SBI) collected by an industrial hygienist for checking compliance to an occupational standard were considered. Sampling for compliance usually has been guided by judgment selection, rather than true randomness, resulting in the creation of compliance samples which approximate a censored sample from the upper tail of the exposure distribution. Similar exposure groups(SEGs) including welding and painting process were established to assess representative values in each groups after reviewing the whole production line in SBI. For the convenient statistical approaches, the code has assigned to each SEGs. The descriptive statistics and probability plotting were used to yield the representative values in each SEGs. In the first step, SEGs of 558 were established from 5 ship building companies. The 38 SEGs showed the uncertainty are divided into each 5 companies and assessed the representative values again. The 44 SEGs in each companies was not showed the normal and lognormal distribution was analyzed each data. And also, recommendation was suggested to resolve the uncertainty in each groups.

• Journal of Korean Ophthalmic Optics Society
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2013

Purpose: This study is conducted to evaluate the job stressors for opticians in Ulsan city. Methods: We investigated job stress of 180 opticians working in Ulsan. The results of this study from The Korean standard job stressors assessment tool developed by Korea occupational safety and health agency (KOSHA) was compared with Korean reference value. The questionnaire on the social, demographic characteristics of opticians was also used to find the factors affecting to job stressors by using multiple linear regression analysis. Results: Among the eight fields of stressors, the interpersonal conflict (the median value; 33.4, the measurements; men; 38.8, women; 41.5) and company culture (the median; 41.7, the measurements; men; 47.4, women; 49.3) were higher than the median value of the Korean workers. By multiple linear regression analysis, the significant factors to the interpersonal conflict were the duty, working hours, unmarried, average salary. In terms of the company culture, last school, rest day of month, job career, average salary and working hours were significantly associated to the score of company culture. Conclusions: Based on the results, important factor in the formation of a positive organizational culture through to improve treatment of opticians investigation and mutual horizontal communication systems in the workplace for the manage on interpersonal conflict and company culture.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.33-41
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• 2022

As the number of automobile registrations increases yearly, parking spaces that are located in downtown areas are increasing, and mechanical parking facilities are also increasing. Therefore, there is a high risk of accidents when installing and repairing a mechanical parking facility. In the preceding six years (from 2012 to 2018), the statistics that pertain to accidental disasters indicated that a total of 137 disaster victims were generated by the construction sector, 33 accidents occurred, and 10 people died. However, only the safety management items pertaining to accidents that occur during maintenance work and the use of the installed mechanical parking facilities are being studied; furthermore, there is no ongoing research with respect to the risk management that is conducted at the construction site. In 2017, the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency (KOSHA) announced the "Guidelines for Safe Installation and Maintenance of Mechanical Parking Equipment"; however, it is a safety guideline that is limited to the installation of basic protective equipment and to facility installation. There is no model for mechanical parking facilities that is indicated in the "Risk Assessment Model by Construction Industry Type", which is issued by the Safety and Health Corporation and is widely utilized for risk assessment in the construction industry; moreover, elevator installation work CODE N0: 22 is the only major example of a disaster. In this study, "risk assessment through a focus group interview" was performed, and data was derived from the "risk assessment of Article 41 (2) of the Industrial Safety and Health Act", which reflects the characteristics of the construction industry based on AHP analysis. The results of this study can be utilized for the risk assessment that is conducted during the construction stage of mechanical parking facilities.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.13-25
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• 2009

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between job stress and work-related musculo-skeletal symptoms among nurses working in general hospitals. Method: A descriptive correlational research design was utilized. The participants were 438 nurses currently working in 4 general hospitals. Data were collected from Jan 2007 to Feb 2007, with Korean Occupational Stress Scale(KOSS)-basic form, KOSHA code H-30 and a questionnaire for general characteristics. Descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, multiple logistic regression analyses were utilized. Result: Most participants(90.4%) complained of work-related musculo-skeletal symptoms. However, symptomatic nurses satisfying NIOSH screening criteria(symptomatic nurses) were 66.9%(293 persons). The most complained body part was back(39.5%). shoulder(37.7%), leg and foot(36.5%), wrist and hand(21.7%), neck(18.7%), and arm(9.8%). The mean of total score of occupational stress was 51.11. In multiple logistic regression analyses, age, working posture and total score of occupational stress showed significant associations with back symptoms. Exercise and total score of occupational stress were significantly related with shoulder symptoms. Hours of daily house keeping and working posture were related with leg and foot symptoms. Marital status and working posture were related with wrist and hand symptoms. Working posture only showed significant relations with neck symptom. Marital status, hours of daily house keeping, shift work, working posture, and total score of occupational stress were related with the symptoms in the arm. In conclusion, job stress of nurses might be related with work-related musculo-skeletal symptoms.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.168-178
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• 2017

In order to prevent major and chemical accidents, some of the plants which would like to install and operate hazard chemicals handling facilities must submit Off-site Consequence Analysis due to recent arisen leak accidents since 2015. A lot of chemical industrials choose gas detectors as mitigation equipment to early detect gas vapor. The way of placement of gas detectors has two methods; Code-based Design(CBD) and Performance-based Design. The CBD has principles for gas detectors to be installed with consideration for the place that is expected to accumulate gas, and the leak locations according to legal standards and technical guidelines, and has a possibility to be unable to detect by these rules to locate gas detectors by vapor density information. The PBD has two methods; a Geographic Method and Scenario based Method. The Scenario-based Method has been suggested to make up for the Geographic Coverage Method. This Scenario-based Method draw the best optimum placement of gas detectors by considering leak locations, leak speed information, leak directions and etc. However, the domestic placement guidelines just refers to the CBD. Therefore, this study is to compare existing placement location of gas detectors by the domestic CBD with placement locations, coverages and the number of gas detectors in accordance with the Scenario-based Method. Also this study has measures for early detecting interest of Vapor Cloud and suitable placement of gas detectors to prevent chemical accidents. The Phast software was selected to simulate vapor cloud dispersion to predict the consequence. There are two cases; an accident hole size of leak(8 mm) from API which is the highst accident hole size less than 24.5 mm, and a normal leak hole size from KOSHA Guide (1.8 mm). Detect3D was also selected to locate gas detectors efficiently and compare CBD results and PBD results. Currently, domestic methods of gas detectors do not consider any risk, but just depend on domestic code methods which lead to placement of gas detectors not to make personnels recognize tolerable or intolerable risks. The results of the Scenario-based Method, however, analyze the leak estimated range by simulating leak dispersion, and then it is able to tell tolerable risks. Thus it is considered that individuals will be able to place gas detectors reasonably by making objectives and roles flexibly according to situations in a specific plant.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.52-58
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• 2012

Recently, waste gas incineration is increasing due to strong environmental regulatory system in Korea. These incinerating facilities are usually connected with the top of the storage tank through pipeline and incinerate off gas with the flame. Therefore, the flame originated from these facilities is likely to move back into pipeline and might cause an explosion of the storage tank. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to suggest the preventive measures and the way to improve the safety of these incineration systems through the cause analysis of a major industrial accident occurred in a acrylic acid manufacturing process in Korea. As a result of the study, the preventive measures are suggested as follows. (1) Air or inert gas inflow facilities should be well designed to dilute flammable gases into air or inert gas sufficiently before the blower is restarted in order to prevent the explosion (2) It is needed for the detonation-type flame arresters to be installed on the top of the storage tanks. (3) In case of using the deflagration-type flame arresters, it is necessary to install a rupture disk before the arresters, or blow off the flame outside tanks by connecting the tank top and the incinerator with hood-type pipe. (4) TDR should be installed to be restarted automatically after the momentary power failure.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.213-232
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• 2009

This document was prepared to review and summarize the analytical methods for airborne and bulk asbestos. Basic principles, shortcomings and advantages for asbestos analytical instruments using phase contrast microscopy(PCM), polarized light microscopy(PLM), X-ray diffractometer (XRD), transmission electron microscopy(TEM), scanning electron microscopy(SEM) were reviewed. Both PCM and PLM are principal instrument for airborne and bulk asbestos analysis, respectively. If needed, analytical electron microscopy is employed to confirm asbestos identification. PCM is used originally for workplace airborne asbestos fiber and its application has been expanded to measure airborne fiber. Shortcoming of PCM is that it cannot differentiate true asbestos from non asbestos fiber form and its low resolution limit ($0.2{\sim}0.25{\mu}m$). The measurement of airborne asbestos fiber can be performed by EPA's Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA) method, World Health Organization (WHO) method, International Standard Organization (ISO) 10312 method, Japan's Environmental Asbestos Monitoring method, and Standard method of Indoor Air Quality of Korea. The measurement of airborne asbestos fiber in workplace can be performed by National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) 7400 method, NIOSH 7402 method, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) ID-160 method, UK's Health and Safety Executive(HSE) Methods for the determination of hazardous substances (MDHS) 39/4 method and Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency (KOSHA) CODE-A-1-2004 method of Korea. To analyze the bulk asbestos, stereo microscope (SM) and PLM is required by EPA -600/R-93/116 method. Most bulk asbestos can be identified by SM and PLM but one limitation of PLM is that it can not see very thin fiber (i.e., < $0.25{\mu}m$). Bulk asbestos analytical methods, including EPA-600/M4-82-020, EPA-600/R-93/116, OSHA ID-191, Laboratory approval program of New York were reviewed. Also, analytical methods for asbestos in soil, dust, water were briefly discussed. Analytical electron microscope, a transmission electron microscope equipped with selected area electron diffraction (SAED) and energy dispersive X-ray analyser(EDXA), has been known to be better to identify asbestiform than scanning electron microscope(SEM). Though there is no standard SEM procedures, SEM is known to be more suitable to analyze long, thin fiber and more cost-effective. Field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) imaging protocol was developed to identify asbestos fiber. Although many asbestos analytical methods are available, there is no method that can be applied to all type of samples. In order to detect asbestos with confidence, all advantages and disadvantages of each instrument and method for given sample should be considered.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.239-247
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• 2008

In order to study the occurrence of symptoms of musculoskeletal disorders of radio-technologists employed at metropolitan general hospitals and the factors that influence such occurrence, standardized questionnaire by NIOSH that was modified and supplemented to be suitable for conditions in Korea was used. Answers collected from 143 radio-technologists in two weeks from June 13, 2007 were analyzed and the results are as follows. Factor that influence symptoms of musculoskeletal disorders by area were analyzed through multiple logistic regression analysis and the results found that in the neck area, risk increased as the burdening work category 2(Korea ministry of labor)(OR=3.94) and burdening work category 9(Korea ministry of labor)(OR=4.72) increased. In the shoulder region, risk increased as burdening work category 2(Korea ministry of labor)(OR=5.36), burdening work category 7(Korea ministry of labor)(OR=3.90), and burdening work category 9 (Korea ministry of labor)(OR=5.76) increased. In the arm/hand/wrist regions, risk increased as burdening work category 2 (Korea ministry of labor) (OR=6.91), and burdening work category 9 (Korea ministry of labor)(OR=3.76) increased. In the lower back region, risk increased as burdening work category 2 (Korea ministry of labor) (OR=3.06), and burdening work category 8 (Korea ministry of labor)(OR=8.14) increased. In the leg/knees/foot regions, risk increased as burdening work category 2 (Korea ministry of labor) (OR=3.63), and burdening work category 9 (Korea ministry of labor)(OR=2.96) increased. Conclusively, in factors that influence musculoskeletal disorder symptoms in radio-technologists, influence of subjective health conditions, total work experience, experience in current division, and burdening work category 2, 7, 8, and 9 (Korea ministry of labor) were most significant. Therefore, for preventive management, in addition to ergonomic and educational intervention for correcting improper posture during work, efforts for break time adjustment and stress reduction is needed, and encouragement and support for regular exercise is needed.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.264-273
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• 2012

This cross-sectional study was investigated musculoskeletal discomfort symptoms and related factors on some middle high school teachers. Self-questionnaire of KOSHA CODE H-30-2003 was done with 250 teachers from 1st to 15th October, 2010, the data from 231 teachers (68 male, 163 female) was statistically analyzed to search the factors related to musculoskeletal discomfort symptoms. According to NIOSH rate of musculoskeletal discomfort symptoms by body parts was 36.8%. Musculoskeletal discomfort symptoms related to age, school types, subjective health status, housekeeping time, VDT work time and regular rest. After adjusting for related variables, odds ratio (OR) of musculoskeletal discomfort symptoms was correlation significantly to subjective health status unhealthy (OR 11.75, 95% Confidence Interval, CI, 3.56-378.78). In addition, ORs (95% CI) of age (40-49) and housekeeping time (${\geq}3$) were 4.63 (1.82-26.18) and 4.33 (1.97-19.34). Analysis of the factors influencing the musculoskeletal discomfort symptoms vary in different parts of the body. The most discomfort symptoms by parts was neck (26.0%) and shoulder (30.0%). In the neck region was related to subjective health status and regular rest. In the shoulder and waist region was subjective health status and sex. Age was wrist/finger, leg/foot was related to subjective health status, sex and VDT work time. Age, school types, subjective health status, housekeeping time, VDT work time and regular rest related to musculoskeletal discomfort symptoms and the most discomfort symptoms by parts was neck and shoulder.