• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
• /
• v.27 no.2
• /
• pp.131-138
• /
• 2018

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the differences in requirement and activity related to workers' health promotion according to business type and enterprise size. Methods: This study is a secondary analysis of data extracted from a survey on the Enterprise Health Promotion Index. For the present analysis, 7,784 companies were selected. Results: Requirements for lifestyle management and activities to prevent musculoskeletal disorders were the highest. The requirement and activity of musculoskeletal disorders and cerebrovascular disease were high in the manufacturing industry. Meanwhile, in the non-manufacturing industry, the requirement and activity of job stress management were high. Small-sized companies had a high requirement to prevent musculoskeletal disorders and cerebrovascular disease. Conclusion: Government support should be strengthened in workers' lifestyle management. Additionally, workers' health promotion in small-sized companies needs to focus on preventing musculoskeletal disorders and cerebrovascular disease.

• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• v.6 no.2
• /
• pp.146-150
• /
• 2015

Occupational health and safety (OHS) is a broad field of professional practice, which involves specialists from different disciplines including but not limited to engineers, occupational health physicians, physical and biological scientists, economists, and statisticians. The preventive systems required to ensure workers are protected from injuries and illnesses dwell heavily on engineers; however, the extent to which the engineer can go regarding planning and implementing preventive measures is dependent on specific legal requirements, leadership commitment from the company, organization, and nation. The objective of this paper is to identify the areas of opportunities for improvements in OHS management in Ghana with regard to the nation's legal requirements, commitment of the Ghana government, and Ghanaian leadership as well as appropriate structuring of Ghanaian institutions responsible for monitoring and managing OHS in Ghana. This paper identified Ghana's fragmented legal requirements concerning OHS, which are under different jurisdictions with unclear responsibilities and accountabilities. The paper also highlights the training needs of Ghanaian academic institutions regarding OHS. Among other recommendations made including structuring of Ghanaian institutions to manage OHS in line with the ILO-OSH 2001, this paper aligns the recommendations with the articles and elements of International Labour Organization convention number 155 and OHSAS 18001 elements.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• /
• v.24 no.4
• /
• pp.587-612
• /
• 2014

Objectives: There is requirement to select candidate materials for chronic inhalation/carcinogenicity testing, so we would like to set the priority of candidate materials. Methods and Results: We recommend the priorities for candidate materials based on the chemicals stipulated in the Occupational Safety and Health Act(OSHAct) and the Toxic Chemicals Control Act(TCCA) in Korea. Conclusions: We presented candidate chemicals consisting of solids(powders), gases and liquids(Such as organic solvents) with priorities.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
• /
• v.1 no.2
• /
• pp.105-117
• /
• 2013

Purpose : This study was to investigate the awareness on occupational therapy by the people involved in rehabilitation of persons with disabilities Methods : The survey on the awareness of occupational therapy was conducted on 9 organizations and 111 employees associated with rehabilitation, of which the collected data was calculated in percentage using the results Result : 89.2% answered with "I know the subject of occupational therapy," 66.6% with "I know the meaning of it," 81.1% with "I know the purpose of it," being awared that it has been conducted in medical institutions and other places. However those answers might need more precise information for each occasion. In addition, for the distinction between occupational therapy and other kinds(physical therapy, speech therapy, art therapy, play therapy, music therapy), 40.5% answered with "yes in some degree," but 19% with "no." Regarding the eligibility requirement for occupational therapist, 55% answered with "qualified with a licence." Conclusion : Active promotion will be required more focusing on the subject of occupational therapy, the meaning of occupation, the purpose and working places of occupational therapy, the difference from other therapies, and the qualification of occupational therapist.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• /
• v.25 no.3
• /
• pp.254-284
• /
• 2015

Objectives: There is a requirement to select target materials for mutagenicity(Genotoxicity) testing, so we determined to set the test priorities of them by searching the related database. Methods and Results: We searched a number of databases to find information on mutagenicity tests with chemicals under the Occupational Safety and Health Act(OSH Act), such as KOSHANET, National Toxicology Program(NTP), European Chemicals Agency(ECHA), US National Library of Medicine(NLM), and Genetic Toxicology Data Bank(GENE-TOX), as well as ChemIDplus webpage, and presented the information. Also we anticipated their hazards with ACToR sites to confirm the 58 mutagenicity(Genotoxicity) tests we will perform. Conclusions: We presented target materials for mutagenicity testing with specific GLP tests consisting of reverse mutation(Ames), chromosomal aberration and micronucleus test.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• /
• v.24 no.4
• /
• pp.578-586
• /
• 2014

Objectives: There is a requirement to establish the standard operating procedures(SOPs) for chronic inhalation/carcinogenicity testing, so we would like to set them appropriately. Methods and Results: We established SOPs according to guidelines from international organizations such as OECD, the US EPA, and relevant institutions in advanced countries. We also benchmarked other contract research organizations(CROs) in Korea. Conclusions: We created appropriate SOPs for chronic inhalation/carcinogenicity testing.

• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• v.10 no.3
• /
• pp.389-392
• /
• 2019

When conducting an exposure assessment, the primary goal of the industrial hygienist is to fully characterize the worker's exposure during a work shift to compare it with an occupational exposure limit. This applies regardless of the duration of the work activity as an activity that is relatively short in duration can still present exposure in excess of the occupational exposure limit even when normalized over an 8-hr shift. This goal, however, is often impeded by the specification of a minimum sample volume in the published sampling method, which may prevent the sample from being collected or submitted for analysis. Removing the specification of minimum sample volume (or adjusting it from a requirement to a recommendation), in contrast, allows for a broader assessment of jobs that consist of short-duration and high-exposure activities and also eliminates the unnecessary practice of running sampling pumps in clean air to collect a specified, minimum volume.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
• /
• v.45 no.2
• /
• pp.88-94
• /
• 2020

Background: The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) has recently published report series on the occupational intakes of radionuclides (OIR) for internal dosimetry of radiation workers. In this study, the optimized monitoring program including the monitoring interval and the minimum detectable activity (MDA) of major radionuclides was suggested to perform the routine individual monitoring of internal exposure based on the ICRP OIR. Materials and Methods: The derived recording levels and the critical monitoring quantities were reviewed from international standards or guidelines by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and the European Radiation Dosimetry Group (EURADOS). The OIR data viewer provided by ICRP was used to evaluate the monitoring intervals and the MDA, which are derived from the reference bioassay functions and the dose coefficients. Results and Discussion: The optimal monitoring intervals were determined taking account of two requirement conditions on the potential intake underestimation and the MDA values. The MDA requirement values of the selected radionuclides were calculated based on the committed effective dose from 0.1 mSv to 5 mSv. The optimized routine individual monitoring program was suggested including the optimal monitoring intervals and the MDA requirements. The optimal MDA values were evaluated based on the committed effective dose of 0.1 mSv. However, the MDA can be adjusted considering the practical operation of the routine individual monitoring program in the nuclear facilities. Conclusion: The monitoring intervals and the MDA as crucial factors for the routine monitoring were described to suggest the optimized routine individual monitoring program of the occupational intakes. Further study on the alpha/beta-emitting radionuclides as well as short lived gamma-emitting nuclides will be necessary in the future.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.1-9
• /
• 2017

Purpose: This study was conducted to evaluate the validity of the 'Enterprise Health Promotion Index', a tool for assessing health promotion activities of worksite developed by the Ministry of Employment and Labor and the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency. Methods: This is designed a methodological study that evaluates the validity of the Enterprise Health Promotion Index. For this study, a questionnaire survey was conducted for the workplace health professional and safety professional, and a total of 297 data were extracted as final data. We developed the informal health promotion needs and activity measurement tools. The correlation coefficient between the score of the enterprise health promotion index and the score of the informal health promotion tool was analyzed for the criterion validity evaluation. Results: The criterion validity of the Enterprise Health Promotion Index and activity index were supported by finding moderate (r=.597) and high (r=.783) correlation coefficient. However, the requirement index has low levels of criterion validity (r=.364). Conclusion: Based on these results, we suggest to improve the utility of the corporate health promotion index by developing user manual, active public relations, and providing briefing sessions.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
• /
• v.9 no.4
• /
• pp.17-28
• /
• 2007

This study tried to identify the job stress characteristics of female bank workers and the relationship between their stress and symptoms associated with musculoskeletal disorders(MSDs). The total number of 587 female bank tellers have been participated in this study. Specifically, questionnaire surveys regarding job stress and MSDs symptoms were conducted. On the basis of the results from the survey using Korean version of job stress questionnaire with 24 questions, stress scores associated with job requirement and job flexibility were relatively high. The job stress levels regarding job demand, organizational system, occupational climate at the work place were relatively high for the full time workers while the job stress levels regarding insufficient job control, job stability, interpersonal conflict, lack of reward were relatively high for the part time worker. The workers with longer total work years had relatively high job stress associated with interpersonal conflict, and organizational system while the workers with longer work years at the current job had relatively high job stress associated with occupational climate. Also, the workers with longer working hours a day had relatively high job stress associated with job demand, interpersonal conflict, organizational system, and occupational climate. According to the relationship identified in this study, symptoms at the neck, shoulder, hand, low back. leg were associated with the stress levels in terms of job flexibility, interpersonal conflict, job requirement, job stability. In conclusion, female bank workers are exposed to job stress due to their specific job characteristics and there has been certain relationships between their job stress and MSDs symptoms.