• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.342-352
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• 2020

Objectives: The characteristics of research workers are different from those working in the manufacturing industry. Furthermore, the reagents used change according to the research due to the characteristics of the laboratory, and the amounts used vary. In addition, since the working time changes almost every day, it is difficult to adjust the time according to exposure standards. There are also difficulties in setting standards as in the manufacturing industry since laboratory environments and the types of experiments performed are all different. For these reasons, the measurement of the working environment of research workers is not realistically carried out within the legal framework, there is a concern that the accuracy of measurement results may be degraded, and there are difficulties in securing data. The exposure evaluation based on an eight-hour time-weighted average used for measuring the working environment to be studied in this study may not be appropriate, but it was judged and consequently applied as the most suitable method among the recognized test methods. Methods: The investigation of the use of chemical substances in the research laboratory, which is the subject of this study, was conducted in the order of carrying out work environment measurement, sample analysis, and result analysis. In the case of the use of chemical substances, after organizing the substances to be measured in the working environment, the research workers were asked to write down the status, frequency, and period of use. Work environment measurement and sample analysis were conducted by a recognized test method, and the results were compared with the exposure standards (TWA: time weighted average value) for chemical substances and physical factors. Results: For the substances subject to work environment measurement, the department of chemical engineering was the most exposed, followed by the department of chemistry. This can lead to exposure to a variety of chemicals in departmental laboratories that primarily deal with chemicals, including acetone, hydrogen peroxide, nitric acid, sodium hydroxide, and normal hexane. Hydrogen chloride was measured higher than the average level of domestic work environment measurements. This can suggest that researchers in research activities should also be managed within the work environment measurement system. As a result of a comparison between the professional science and technology service industry and the education service industry, which are the most similar business types to university research laboratories among the domestic work environment measurements provided by the Korea Safety and Health Agency, acetone, dichloromethane, hydrogen peroxide, sodium hydroxide, nitric acid, normal hexane, and hydrogen chloride are items that appear higher than the average level. This can also be expressed as a basis for supporting management within the work environment measurement system. Conclusions: In the case of research activity workers' work environment measurement and management, specific details can be presented as follows. When changing projects and research, work environment measurement is carried out, and work environment measurement targets and methods are determined by the measurement and analysis method determined by the Ministry of Employment and Labor. The measurement results and exposure standards apply exposure standards for chemical substances and physical factors by the Ministry of Employment and Labor. Implementation costs include safety management expenses and submission of improvement plans when exposure standards are exceeded. The results of this study were presented only for the measurement of the working environment among the minimum health management measures for research workers, but it is necessary to prepare a system to improve the level of safety and health.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.1-22
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• 2017

'The worstest environment disaster', 'World's first biocide massacre', 'Home-based Sewol ferry disaster' are all phrases attached to the recent humidifier disinfectant disaster. In the spring of 2011, four of 8 pregnant women including 1 adult man passed away at a university hospital in Seoul due to breathing failure. Epidemiologic investigation conducted by the Korean CDC soon revealed the inhalation of humidifier disinfectant, which had been widely used in Korea during the winter, to be responsible for the disease. As well as lung fibrosis hardening of the lungs, other diseases including asthma, rhinitis, skin disease, liver disease, fetal disease or cancers have been researched for their relation with exposure to the products. By February 9, 2017, 5,342 cases had registered for health problems and 1,131 of them were already dead (20.8% mortality rate). Based on studies by government agencies and a telephone survey of the general population by Seoul National University and civic groups, around 20% of the general public of Korea has used these products. Since the market release of the first product by SK Chemical in 1994, over 7.1 million items from around 20 brands were sold up to 2011. Most of the products were manufactured by well-known large conglomerates such as SK, Lotte, Samsung, Shinsegye, LG, and GS, as well as some European companies including UK-based Reckitt Benckiser and TESCO, the German firm Henkel, the Danish firm KeTox, and an Irish company. Even though this disaster was unveiled in 2011 by the Korean government, the issue of the victims was neglected for over five years. In 2016, an unexpected but intensive investigation by prosecutors found that Reckitt Benckiser manipulated and concealed animal tests for its own brand and brought several university experts and company employees to court. The matter was an intense social issue in Korea from May to June with a surge in media coverage. The prosecutor's investigation and a nationwide boycott campaign organized by victims and environmental groups against Reckitt Benckiser, whose product had been used by more than 70% of victims, led to the producer's official apology and a compensation scheme. A legislative investigation organized after the April 2016 national election revealed the producers' faults and the government's responsibility, but failed to meet expectations. A special law for the victims passed the National Assembly in January 2017 and a punitive system together with a massive environmental epidemiology investigation are expected to be the only solutions for this tragedy. Sciences of medicine, toxicology and environmental health have provided decisive evidence so far, but for the remaining problems the perspectives of social sciences such as sociology and jurisprudence are highly necessary, similar to with the Minamata disease and Wonjin Rayon events. It may not be easy to follow this issue using unfamiliar terminology from medical and chemical science and the long, complicated history of the event. For these reasons the author has attempted to write this article in a question and answer format to render it easier to follow. The 17 questions are: Q1 What is humidifier disinfectant? Q2 What kind of health problems are caused by humidifier disinfectant? Q3 How many victims are there? Q4 What is the analysis of the 1,112 cases of death? Q5 What is the problem with the government's diagnostic criteria and the solution? Q6 Who made what brands? Q7 Has there been a recall? What is still on sale? Q8 Was safety not checked by any producers? Q9 What are the government's responsibilities? Q10 Is it true that these products were sold only in Korea? Q11 Why and how was it unveiled only in 2011 after 17 years of sales? Q12 What delayed the resolution of the victim issue? Q13 What is the background of the prosecutor's investigation in early 2016? Q14 Is it possible to report new victim cases without evidence of product purchase? Q15 What is happening with the victim issue? Q16 How does it compare with the cases of Minamata disease and Wonjin Rayon? Q17 Are there prevention measures and lessons?

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.28 no.1 s.49
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• pp.103-121
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• 1995

An investigation on psychophysiological health and social well-being of shift workers been carried out on workers of a automobile manufacturing plant in Ulsan, for 1 month from April, 1993. This cross-sectional survey compared shift workers(n=544) with day workers(n=115). Each subject completed a questionnaire about his personal habit, background, shift schedule, sleep and eating patterns, subjective digestive symptom and psychological well-being and distress using the General Well-Being Schedule(GWB) by self administrated questionnaire that was developed for the U.S. Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (HANES I). Chi-square analysis was used for discontinuous data and the t-test was used for continous data to determine whether differences noted between the two groups. In terms of sleep quality, a greater percentage of shift workers frequently had trouble getting back to sleep once awakend(p<0.01), and a greater percentage of shift workers awakend tired or sleepy frequently more often than day workers(p<0.05). In rating the quality of their sleep, more shift workers rated their sleep fair to poor than day workers, and greater percentage of shift workers felt tired or sleepy at work two or more times per week(p<0.01) and a much higher percentage of shift workers felt tired or sleepy after work every days(p<0.01). In terms of sleep patterns, a much higher percentage of day workers reported uninterrupted sleep per 24hours than shift workers. The shift workers reported different eating patterns from day workers but there were no statistically significant and rate of their appetite. Thirteen percent of day workers reported the best appetite but only 6.6% of shift workers had the best appetite. The gastric complaints is more frequent in shift workers than day workers(p<0.01). Among subscores in General Well-Being Schedule, anxiety, depression, positive well-being and vitality subscale of shift workers were lower than those of day workers(p<0.05) and general health and self control subscale of shift workers were lower than .those of day workers but there were no statistical significant difference. Based on these study result, it could be concluded that the shift work has significant effects on some psychophysiological conditions of the workers.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.109-114
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• 2015

Clostridium perfringens (C. perfringens) and Mycobacterium fortuitum (M. fortuitum) are associated with considerable diseases in animals and human. In this study, the disinfection efficacy of a commercial disinfectant composed to povidone-iodine (PVI) was evaluated against C. perfringens and M. fortuitum. A bactericidal efficacy test by broth dilution method was used to determine the lowest effective dilution of the disinfectant following exposure to C. perfringens and M. fortuitum for 30 min at $4^{\circ}C$. The disinfectant and test bacteria were diluted with hard water (HW) or organic matter suspension (OM) according to treatment condition. On HW condition, the bactericidal activity of the disinfectant against C. perfringens and M. fortuitum was 50 and 80 fold dilutions, respectively. On OM condition, the bactericidal activity of the disinfectant against both C. perfringens and M. fortuitum was 15 fold dilutions. As the disinfectant composed to PVI possesses bactericidal efficacy against C. perfringens and M. fortuitum, the disinfectant solution can be used to control the spread of bacterial diseases.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.86-93
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• 2020

This study aims to maintain the safety of an outdoor storage tank through the fundamental case analysis of explosion and fire accidents in the storage tank. We consider an accident caused by the explosion of fire inside the tank, as a result of the gradual spreading of the residual fire generated by wind lamps flying off a workplace in the storage tank yard. To determine the cause of the accident, atmospheric diffusion conditions were derived through CCTV image analysis, and the wind direction was analyzed using computational fluid dynamics. Additionally, the amount of oil vapor inside the tank when the floating roof was at the lowest position, and the behavior of the vapor inside the tank when the floating roof was at the highest position were investigated. If the cause of the explosion in the storage tank is identified and the level of the storage tank is maintained below the internal floating roof, dangerous liquid fills the storage tank, and the vapor in the space may stagnate on the internal floating roof. We intend to improve the operation procedure such that the level of the storage tank is not under the Pontoon support, as well as provide measures to prevent flames from entering the storage tank by installing a flame arrester in the open vent of the tank.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.468-473
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• 2014

This study is unrefined ZnO, $TiO_2$ nanoparticles is expose M4 medium to search nanoparticle aggregation and Daphnia magna was any effect by immobilization and mortality. ZnO and $TiO_2$ nanoparticle powder-size is respectively 20 nm and 40 nm. but, M4 medium has about respectively as 1333 nm and 1628 nm, 40 to 70 times were agglomerated. Immobilization of ZnO and $TiO_2$ nanoparticles was influenced both time and concentration the higher to swimming of D.magna. Especially, The immobilization of D.magna in nano-ZnO is greater than that influence in nano-$TiO_2$. Mortality of ZnO nanoparticle is higher rate at long time and high concentration. $TiO_2$ nanoparticle observed mortality at 10ppm concentration after 72h. Consequently, when Nanoparticles is introduced into ocean. Particle size become grow. Additionally, aggregation be caused affect aquatic ecosystems.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.382-392
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• 2018

Objective: Allergic diseases such as asthma due to fungal exposure in houses have increased, and proper management is urgent. Mold can grow in the air, floor, walls, and other areas according to environmental conditions, and there are many limitations to the conventional methodology for examining fungal exposure. For this reason, the degree of fungal contamination is being evaluated by ERMI (Environmental Relative Moldiness Index), a quantitative analysis method proposed by the EPA. In this study, we compared ERMI values between water-damaged dwellings and non-damaged ones to evaluate the effectiveness of Korean ERMI values. We also explored the association of ERMI values with the level of airborne mold and characteristics of dwellings. Methods: Floor dust was collected after installing a Dustream collector on the suction port of a vacuum cleaner. The collected samples were filtered to remove only 5 mg of dust, and DNA was extracted using the FastDNA SPIN KIT protocol. Results: The ERMI values were found to be 19.6 (-6.9-58.8) for flooded houses, 7.5 (-29.2-48.3) for leaks/condensation, and 0.8 (-29.2-37.9) for non-damaged dwellings. The airborne concentration of mold for flooded, leakage or condensed, and non-damaged houses were $684CFU/m^3$, $566CFU/m^3$, and $378CFU/m^3$, respectively. The correlation between ERMI values and the levels of airborne mold was low (R = 0.038), but a weakly significant association of the ERMI values with the concentration of particulate matter ($PM_{10}$) was observed as well(R=0.231,P<0.05). Conclusions: Our findings show that the reference value using ERMI can be used to distinguish water-damaged and non-damaged dwellings. It is believed that ERMI values could be a promising tool for assessing long-term fungal exposure in dwellings.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2005

Although the Fourier Transform Infra-Red spectrophotometric Direct on Filter(FTIR-DOF) method is a useful analytical technique for quantifying quartz content in respirable dust samples, a number of analytical problems must be taken into consideration such as, to name only a few, inhomogeneous deposition of particles, level of environmental humidity, uneven surface of the filter, and interfering minerals in the sample. This study was designed to select the most suitable wavelength and proper filter material for the method, and to investigate effects of humidity and inhomogeneous deposition of particles on the filter. Samples of respirable dust, created in a dust chamber containing standard material of quartz, were collected using a cyclone equipped with a 25mm filter as a collection medium. The results were as follows; 1. Among seven (7) commercially available filters tested for the FTIR-DOF method, the DM 800 filter showed the best analytical performance having the lowest background absorbance bands and no overlapping peaks at 799, 779, and $695cm^{-1}$. 2. The variations of absorbance due to humidity ranged from 1.0% to 3.3% for $799cm^{-1}$, 1.0% to 3.3% for $779cm^{-1}$, and 8.9%~20.9% for $695cm^{-1}$ peaks, respectively. The $699cm^{-1}$ peak was proved to be most vulnerble to environmental humidity for quantitative analysis of quartz. 3. As for effects of inhomogeneous deposition of samples, the highest variation of absorbance of 10.9% ($13.5{\mu}g$) was observed when using the 695cm-1. The variations of absorbance from the other two peaks, 799 and $779cm^{-1}$, ranged from 1.2 to 3.2%, and 1.4 to 4.1%, respectively. Therefore, the $799cm^{-1}$ peak was considered to be most reliable for quantitative analysis of quartz. The results of this study suggest that, for quantitative analysis of quartz in the respirable dust samples, use of the $799cm^{-1}$ peak can minimize the influence of environmental humidity and inhomogeneous deposition of particles on the filter. The FTIR-DOF method, if adopted for routine analysis of quartz in the respirable dust samples, could save sample preparation time and efforts substantially and also could increase analytical throughputs. Since use of the $799cm^{-1}$ peak is prone to be affected by interferences in the sample, further research on minimizing the effects is needed.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.469-484
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• 2017

Radiological Technologists deals with the life of a person which means professional competency is essential for the job. Nevertheless, there have been no studies in Korea that identified the job competence of radiologists. In order to define the core job competencies of Korean radiologists and to present the factor models, 147 questionnaires on job competency of radiology were analyzed using 'PASW Statistics Version 18.0' and 'AMOS Version 18.0'. The valid model consisted of five core job competencies ('Patient management', 'Health and safety', 'Operation of equipment', 'Procedures and management') and 17 sub - competencies. As a result of the factor analysis, the RMSEA value was 0.1 and the CFI, and TLI values were close to 0.9 in the measurement model of the five core job competencies. The validity analysis showed that the mean variance extraction was 0.5 or more and the conceptual reliability value was 0.7 or more, And there was a high correlation between subordinate competencies included in each subordinate competencies. The results of this study are expected to provide specific information necessary for the training and management of human resources centered on competence by clearly showing the job competence required for radiologists in Korea's health environment.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.103-109
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• 2020

Objectives: Using as a sleep evaluation tool the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), this paper studied the effects of earthing on the amount and quality of sleep by examining a patient population of people who used and did not use earthing mats and a group of general healthy people. Methods: From September to November 2019, 30 patients who voluntarily used an earthing mat, 40 patients who did not use an earthing mat, and 40 healthy people who did not use an earthing mat were selected. A questionnaire applying the PSQI (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index) after being translated into Korean was distributed starting November 29, 2019 to 110 subjects. Out of them, 101 subjects who completed the questionnaire were examined. All statistics used SPSS 25.0. Results: The first overall score showed that all three groups had problems sleeping, with five points or more, but the general population had better sleep quality than the patient group. It also showed that the using matgroup had better quality of sleep than the ones that did not use the earthing mat In addition, the analysis of the third group through the variance analysis showed significance at >0.05 for the general population and the patient group. Based on this, a multi-comparison analysis of the third group showed significantly less than 0.05 in patients who do not use an earthing mat compared to the public. First of all, there are no statistically significant differences between the three groups in subjective sleep quality, sleep latency, and sleep time, but an analysis of multiple comparison analysis with the general population group showed that the quality of sleep was worse compared to those that used the mat. In addition, sleep efficiency, sleep disorder, sleeping pills, and daytime dysfunction were found to be less than >0.05 in the three groups. Conclusions: These results suggest that if you ground your body to Earth during sleep, the secretion of cortisol will decrease night levels, sync more with the natural 24-hour circulation rhythm profile, and that when you sleep, sleep is better and pain and stress are associated with the study. While the preceding study cannot confirm that contact with the ground affects the quality of sleep, it suggests that it is relevant as shown in this paper.