• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.47-52
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• 2009

This study has been to examine the occupational exposure levels of Fluorouracil (5-FU) in a hospital and to investigate the most effective cleaning reagent for control. Fluorouracil is one of the cytotoxic drugs which are therapeutic agents used to treat cancer. The health practitioners working in the cytotoxic work room and oncology ward areas are exposed to adverse health risks like cytogenetic and DNA damage from cytotoxic drugs exposure by frequent skin contact from contaminated surfaces. Four kinds of cleaning reagents has been examined to degrade the 5-FU. It was found that 5-FU was only degraded soon after the reaction in 0.5%(w/v) NaClO solution. Therefore, 0.5%(w/v) NaClO solution has been chosen to decompose any residues on the contamination surfaces. A substantial level of contamination was found on the surfaces of cytotoxic work room and oncology ward areas. The contamination ranges of the surfaces in cytotoxic work room and oncology ward areas were from 2.0 to $13.8{\mu}g/m^2$ and 5.39 to $11.53{\mu}g/m^2$ respectively. Consequently, regulation of the occupational exposure limit, procedure of special cleaning, and the use of personal protective equipment are recommended during the manipulation and administration of the drugs to avoid skin contamination from cytotoxic drugs like 5-FU.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2022

Background: In Japan, new regulations that revise the dose limit for the lens of the eye (hereafter the lens), operational quantities, and measurement positions for the lens dose were enforced in April 2021. Based on the international safety standards, national guidelines, the results of the Radiation Safety Research Promotion Fund of the Nuclear Regulation Authority, and other studies, the Working Group of Radiation Protection Standardization Committee, the Japan Health Physics Society (JHPS) developed a guideline for radiation dose monitoring for the lens. Materials and Methods: The Working Group of the JHPS discussed the criteria of non-uniform exposure and the management criteria set not to exceed the dose limit for the lens. Results and Discussion: In July 2020, the JHPS guideline was published. The guideline consists of three parts: main text, explanations, and 26 examples. In the questions, the corresponding answers were prepared, and specific examples were provided to enable similar cases to be addressed. Conclusion: With the development of the guideline on radiation dose monitoring of the lens, radiation managers and workers will be able to smoothly comply with revised regulations and optimize radiation protection.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.2118-2123
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• 2010

Korean individual occupational exposure control is focused on the retrospective service to the over-exposed person by the reading of personal dosimeter. Since the radiophamaceuticals using in the nuclear medicine department are uncontained radiation sources, the potential exposure at working environment is very high. Moreover, a patient remains radioactive for hours or even days after the administration of a radiopharmaceutical for diagnosis or treatment. Thus, the proper working environmental exposure control must be established and executed to protect not only the affiliated employees, but also guardians accompanying patients and temporarily visiting public from the exposure by the patients. Japanese radiation protection law regulates working environmental radiation exposure by regularly measuring and filing the environmental dose for years. This study was aimed at measuring working environmental radiation dose in the nuclear medicine department of an university hospital located in Daejeon, Korea. We measured the accumulation radiation dose in air at 8 locations in the nuclear medicine department by using the same method as in Japan with glass dosimeters. The highest dose rate, 0.23 mSv per month, was measured at the waiting room, and the second one is at reception desk. Even though the doses were lower than the Korean constraint dose rate (0.3 mSv/week) at the boundary of the radiation controlled area, it was over the dose limit of public (1 mSv/y) and environment (0.25 mSv/y). Conclusionally, it was found that the new or additional procedure was necessary to less the exposure dose to the receptionist and guardians by the environmental radiation dose in the nuclear medicine department.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.446-464
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• 2015

Objectives: This study was conducted to evaluate the task-specific hazards of chemicals used by nail technicians in Daegu Metropolitan City. Materials: A total of 30 nail shops located in Daegu City were surveyed to investigate the major tasks and practices performed by nail technicians and the ingredients listed in nail care products used in shops. We also collected instructions for use and material safety data sheets(MSDSs) of nail care products and compared CAS Nos. of ingredients with the lists of chemicals regulated by the Industrial Safety and Health Act(ISHA) and Chemical Substances Control Act(CSCA). Results: A total of 125 chemical ingredients were found in 468 nail care products used at the 30 nail shops. The most frequently found ingredients were ethyl acetate(72%), followed by n-butyl acetate(71.8%), isopropanol(56%), benzophenone(51.1%), nitrocellulose(46.4%) and ethanol(45.3%). Comparing six tasks, the task of manicuring used the most products at 222 products containing 91 ingredients. Among the 125 ingredients, there are 31 chemicals with occupational exposure limits(OEL) designated by the Ministry of Employment and Labor(MoEL), eight categorized as carcinogens, one mutagen and two reproductive toxic chemicals. In terms of carcinogens, formaldehyde was identified as the only confirmed human carcinogen(1A). We found that there was one chemical with a permissible limit, one special management substance, 18 workplace monitoring substances and ten special health diagnosis substances regulated by ISHA. For CSCA, nine poisonous substances, six substances requiring preparation for accidents and one restricted substance were identified. Conclusions: Based on these findings, formaldehyde was identified as one of the chemicals that should most strictly be controlled for the protection of the health of nail technicians and customers. At the same time, it is necessary to distribute materials with detailed hazardous information of nail care products for nail shop technicians.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.184-192
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• 1995

This study was performed to evaluate methods for determination of airbone mercury in industrial environments. Three methods, such as Hopcalite method, passive monitoring method and Jerome method were evaluated at two (2) fluorescent lamp manufacturing Plants in Korea during a period from May 24 to May 31, 1994 and the result are as follows: 1. The average were concentrations of airbone mercury were $26{\mu}g/m^3$ by Hopcalite method, $25{\mu}g/m^3$ by passive monitoring method, and $38{\mu}g/m^3$ by the Jerome method, respectively, which were below the permissible exposure limit of $50{\mu}g/m^3$ established by both the Korean Ministry of Labor and ACGIH. However, 12 out of 49 cases(24.4%) in plant A and 2 out of 31 cases(6.5%) in plant B were in excess of the standard. 2. The relationship between the results by Hopcalite method and the passive monitoring method was significant(r=0.892). 3. The variation among three results by eath of three methods were different by process. The highest variation was determined at quality control process("process b") which invoved in large variation of concentrations. 4. When short term high concentrations were produced, the Hopcalite method was more efficient then the passive method.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.71-80
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• 1994

This study was conducted to evaluate worker exposure to welding fume in automobile body shop and to evaluate metal components by type of welding. The results are summarized as follows: 1. Average concentrations of total welding fume without and with ventilation were $5.2mg/m^3$ and $2.49mg/m^3$, respectively. Thus, the average reduction rate of total fume by ventilation was 52.1 %. 2. The highest fume concentration was indicated at shielded arc welding, followed by $CO_2$ gas welding, argon arc welding, and spot welding in order of decreasing concentration. 3. Average respirable fume concentrations without and with ventilation were $2.97mg/m^3$ and $1.64mg/m^3$, respectively. 4. Further analysis of welding fume indicated that total fume consisted of $Fe_2O_3$, ZnO, Mn, Pb, and CuO, in order of decreasing amount. Combined effect of metals was below the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH)Threshold Limit Values (TLVs).

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.427-433
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• 2010

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields (EMF) on signal pathway in plasma membrane of cultured cells (RAW 264.7 cells and RBL 2H3 cells), by measuring the activity of phospholipase $A_2$ ($PLA_2$), phospholipase C (PLC) and phospholipase D (PLD). The cells were exposed to the EMF (60 Hz, 0.1 or 1 mT) for 4 or 16 h. The basal and $0.5\;{\mu}M$ melittin-induced arachidonic acid release was not affected by EMF in both cells. In cell-free $PLA_2$ assay, we failed to observe tbe change of $cPLA_2$ and $sPLA_2$ activity. Also both PLC and PLD activities did not show any change in the two cell lines exposed to EMF. This study suggests that the exposure condition of EMF (60 Hz, 0.1 or 1 mT) which is 2.4 fold higher than the limit of occupational exposure does not induce phospholipases-associated signal pathway in RAW 264.7 cells and RBL 2H3 cells.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.25-33
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• 1987

This study was carried out to evaluate student exposures to dust in classroom of middle schools. A total of four schools, such as two in an urban and two in a rural area, were selected for this study. In this study, airborne dust concentrations were measured during a period from July 8 to July 18, 1986. Additional measurements of dust concentrations were conducted from November 4 to 7, 1986 to compare the results by seasonal variation. The results of this study were as follows. 1. Respirable dust concentrations were measured by both filtration method (C mg/m$^3$) and Digital Aerosol Monitor (cpm) to calculate anexchange factor K. K- value was 0.159 as follows. $K=\frac{c}{cpm} = \frac{2.71}{17.09} = 0.159$ 2. In summer when windows were opened, the concentrations of airborne respirable dusts measured by filter sampling method were 0.54-1.37 mg/m$^3$ in the morning and 0.79-1.75 mg/m$^3$ in the afternoon. Thus, higher levels were indicated in the afternoon. Meanwhile, the concentrations of airborne respirable dusts measured in winter were approximately twice as high as those in summer. 3. The highest dust concentrations were determined in School D which is a coeducational school with classroom of concrete floor. Walking roads in School D were not paved and students did not wear indoor-shoes. Dust levels in School D were approximately twice as high as levels in School B. All of the measured dust levels in four schools exceeded Korean Standard for outdoor air, 0.3 mg/m$^3$ for 24 hours. Results by Digital Aerosol Monitor indicated that there was no significant difference in dust levels among grades. The concentration of airborne dusts in the classroom was 1.5-3.0 times higher than that in the hall way. The concentration of airborne dusts during recess was 1.3-1.6 times higher than that during class. In winter, the dust concentrations during clean-up exceeded the permissible exposure limit, 10 mg/m$^3$ (as total dusts), for occupational exposures. 4. The concentrations of total dusts measured in winter were 1.5-2.4 times higher than those of respirable dusts measured simultaneously.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.402-413
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• 2022

Objectives: In this study, the scale of exceeding the extreme heat exposure standard at the construction site was estimated using the nationally approved statistical data and wet bulb globe temperature modeling method. By comparing and analyzing the modeling results with the existing work environment monitoring results, the risk of heat exposure at outdoor construction sites was considered. Methods: Using the coordinates of second level administrative districts and meteorological observatories as the key, the automated synoptic observing system data and building permit data for 2021 were matched. The wet-bulb temperature was obtained using Stull's formula, and the globe temperature was obtained using the Tg_KMA2006 model. WBGT was calculated using these. Excess rates were obtained compared to exposure limits for heavy work-continuous work and moderate work-25% rest. It was compared with the results of the work environment monitoring in 2020. Results: As a result, 1,827,536 cases were estimated for 11,052 workplaces in one year. This is much higher than the 5,116 cases of 3818 workplaces of the existing work environment monitoring results. It is confirmed that the exposure limit was exceeded in 10.6~24.0% of the entire period and 70.2~84.1% of the peak period of the heat wave. It is very high compared to 0.9% of the existing work environment monitoring result. Conclusions: It is necessary to improve the system of monitoring and statistics related to extreme heat. Additional considerations are needed regarding WBGT estimation methods, meteorological data, and evaluation time. Various follow-up risk assessment studies for other industries and time series need to be continued.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.193-201
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• 2006

This study was performed to investigate employee exposures to waste anesthetic gases, such as enflurane and sevoflurane in operating rooms of general surgical, children's and dental clinics of a large hospital located in Seoul and to analyze factors affecting the concentrations of waste anesthetic gases. The results of the study are summarized below. 1. Based on results of personal and area samples for airborne enflurane, all of the employees investigated in this study were exposed to airborne enflurane concentrations below the ACGIH-threshold limit value (TLV) of 75 ppm. 2. However, based on results of personal samples for sevoflurane, employees of two (2) out of eleven (11) operating rooms were exposed to sevoflurane concentrations in excess of the NIOSH recommended exposure limit (REL) of 2 ppm. A similar trend was found in the area samples. 3. To investigate the source of sevoflurane emissions, airborne sevoflurane concentrations were measured on an anesthesia machine, a drug cabinet and a desk. It was indicated that the geometric means were 0.93 ppm, 0.83 ppm and 0.72 ppm, respectively. 4. Factors affecting waste anesthetic gas concentrations were the age of anesthesia machine, the volume of operating room and the extent of ventilation (p<0.05). 5. It is recommended that the use of anesthesia equipments be properly controlled, the operating room be well ventilated, and the airborne concentrations of anesthetic gases be continuously monitored.