• Safety and Health at Work
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• 제10권3호
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• pp.341-346
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• 2019

Background: Although the concept of workload is important to nursing practice, only a few nursing researchers have focused on the issue of workload within the nursing context. Knowledge of how the dynamics of workload affects the job stress of nurses working in a specific unit or department in a hospital setting, and the influence of coworker support on this relationship, still remains limited. This study, therefore examined the effect of workload on job stress of Ghanaian outpatient department nurses and the moderating effect of coworker support on this relationship. Methods: A cross-sectional survey design was used, and questionnaire was used to collect data from a sample of 216 outpatient department nurses from four major hospitals in Ghana. The data collected measured workload, job stress, and coworker support using National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Task Load Index, job stress scale, and coworker support scale, respectively. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, correlation, and hierarchical regression. Results: High levels of workload were associated with high levels of job stress of the nurses. Also, higher levels of workload were related to higher levels of job stress for nurses who received high levels of coworker support, but this was not the case for those who received low levels of coworker support (reserve buffering effect). Conclusion: The finding reiterates the adverse effect of workloads on employees' health, and the reverse buffering effect implies that supporting a colleague at work should be conveyed in a positive manner devoid of negative appraisal.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• 제14권3호
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• pp.325-331
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• 2023

Background: Heat stress is a harmful physical hazard in many occupational settings. However, consequences of occupational heat exposure among workers in a sugarcane factory in Ethiopia are not well characterized. This study aimed to assess the level of occupational heat exposure-related symptoms and contributing factors. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, five workstations were selected for temperature measurement. Heat stress levels were measured using a wet-bulb globe temperature index meter. A stratified random sampling technique was used to select 1,524 participants. Heat-related symptoms were assessed using validated questionnaires. Results: The level of occupational heat exposure was 72.4% (95% CI: 70.2%-74.8%), while 71.6% (95% CI: 69.3%-74.9%) of participants experienced at least one symptom related to heat stress. The most common heat-related symptoms were swelling of hands and feet (78%), severe thirst (77.8%) and dry mouth (77.4%). The identified risk factors were a lack of reflective shields (AOR: 2.20, 95% CI: 1.53, 3.17), not-enclosed extreme heat sources (AOR: 1.76, 95% CI: 1.23, 2.51), a lack of access to shade (AOR: 9.62, 95% CI: 6.20, 14.92), and inappropriate protective clothing provision (AOR: 1.58, 95% CI: 1.27, 2.71). Conclusions: The burden of occupational heat exposure and heat-induced symptoms was high. Lack of reflective shields, the absence of enclosed extreme heat sources, a lack of access to shade, and inappropriate protective clothing provision were considerable attributes of heat stress. Therefore, the use of mechanical solutions to stop heat emissions at their sources and the key factors identified were areas for future intervention.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• 제11권2호
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• pp.178-186
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• 2020

Background: Cognitive impairment is a public health burden. Our objective was to investigate associations between work hours and cognitive function. Methods: Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) participants (n = 2,497; 50.7% men; age range 44-84 years) reported hours per week worked in all jobs in Exams 1 (2000-2002), 2 (2002-2004), 3 (2004-2005), and 5 (2010-2011). Cognitive function was assessed (Exam 5) using the Cognitive Abilities Screening Instrument (version 2), a measure of global cognitive functioning; the Digit Symbol Coding, a measure of processing speed; and the Digit Span test, a measure of attention and working memory. We used a prospective approach and linear regression to assess associations for every 10 hours of work. Results: Among all participants, associations of hours worked with cognitive function of any type were not statistically significant. In occupation-stratified analyses (interaction p = 0.051), longer work hours were associated with poorer global cognitive function among Sales/Office and blue-collar workers, after adjustment for age, sex, physical activity, body mass index, race/ethnicity, educational level, annual income, history of heart attack, diabetes, apolipoprotein E-epsilon 4 allele (ApoE4) status, birth-place, number of years in the United States, language spoken at MESA Exam 1, and work hours at Exam 5 (β = -0.55, 95% CI = -0.99, -0.09) and (β = -0.80, -1.51, -0.09), respectively. In occupation-stratified analyses (interaction p = 0.040), we also observed an inverse association with processing speed among blue-collar workers (adjusted β = -0.80, -1.52, -0.07). Sex, race/ethnicity, and ApoE4 did not significantly modify associations between work hours and cognitive function. Conclusion: Weak inverse associations were observed between work hours and cognitive function among Sales/Office and blue-collar workers.

• 해양환경안전학회지
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• 제21권4호
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• pp.437-448
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• 2015

본 연구에서는 조선소에서 작업자의 안전 확보를 위하여 스마트디바이스를 기반으로 동작, 체온, 외부온도, 맥박, 호흡, 청각적 기능을 탑재하였고, 이로부터 획득되는 정보들을 취합하여 서버 컴퓨터로 보내기 위한 클라이언트/서버 프로그램을 개발하였다. 또한, 작업자의 안전 상태를 진단할 수 있는 종합안전지수의 개념을 제시하였고 실제 선박에 탑승하여 센서모듈 및 스마트디바이스 테스트를 수행을 통해 획득된 데이터들에 대한 상관관계분석 및 다중 회귀분석을 통해 결과데이터와 센서 값 사이에 유의미한 상관관계를 가지고 있음을 확인하였다.

• International Journal of Safety
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• 제9권1호
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• pp.35-42
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• 2010

We measured the concentrations of air pollutants at several residential sites, roadside sites and industrial sites in Iwate Prefecture, Japan. And the concentration distributions of air pollutants were estimated by atmospheric dispersion model using air emissions data. Based on those results, we calculated environmental risk of air pollutants emitted in Iwate Prefecture. As a result, it was found that the surround of factories with high emissions and highly toxic chemicals and the roadsides were high risk area, benzo(a)pyrene, formaldehyde and ozone exceeded the $10^{-5}$ risk level. Moreover, we tried to use "Loss of life expectancy: LLE" for an index to explain those risk to general public intelligibly. The total LLE of the carcinogenic chemicals was about 8.6 hours. Moreover, LLE of ozone was about 9.2 hours. Ozone has a big influence compared with the carcinogenic chemicals.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• 제16권4호
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• pp.517-526
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• 2022

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The increased consumers' interests in health and food safety have increased the demand for organic foods. Many studies have been performed on consumers' purchase intentions for organic foods and their influencing factors, and various studies have shown that the prices of organic foods and the consumers' willingness to pay are important influencing factors. This study examined the payment value of organic foods and agrifood consumer competency index according to the food-related lifestyles in South Korean consumers. SUBJECTS/METHODS: A cross-sectional analysis was performed using the 2019 Consumer Behavior Survey for Food. A total of 6,176 participants aged 19 to 74 years (male: 2,783, female: 3,393) were included in the analysis. RESULTS: Three factors were extracted by factor analysis (rational consumption-seeking type, convenience-seeking type, and health, and safety-seeking type) to explain the consumers' food-related lifestyles. The results of cluster analysis suggested that consumers were classified into 3 food-related lifestyles as the 'exploratory consumers' (n = 2,485), 'safety-seeking consumers' (n = 1,544), and 'passive consumers' (n = 2,147). Exploratory consumers showed a significantly higher willingness to pay for imported organic foods (P < 0.05). Safety-seeking consumers had a significantly higher willingness to pay for domestic organic foods (P < 0.05). For the agrifood consumer competency index, exploratory consumers had the highest score, followed in order by safety-seeking consumers and passive consumers. CONCLUSIONS: These results provide basic data in understanding consumption tendency for organic foods and agrifoods based on food-related lifestyles of South Korean consumers.

• 대한안전경영과학회지
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• 제23권4호
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• pp.67-72
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• 2021

To ensure the safety and functionality of a railroad bridge, maintaining the integrity of the bridge via continuous structural health monitoring is important. However, most structural integrity monitoring methods proposed to date are based on modal responses which require the extracting process and have limited availability. In this paper, the applicability of the existing damage identification method based on free-vibration reponses to time-domain deflection shapes due to moving train load is investigated. Since the proposed method directly utilizes the time-domain responses of the structure due to the moving vehicles, the extracting process for modal responses can be avoided, and the applicability of structural health evaluation can be enhanced. The feasibility of the presented method is verified via a numerical example of a simple plate girder bridge.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• 제7권1호
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• pp.63-71
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• 2016

Background: Construction painters have not been studied well in terms of their hazards exposure. The objective of this study was to evaluate the exposure levels of total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs) for painters in the construction industry. Methods: Activity-specific personal air samplings were carried out in three waterproofing activities [polyurethane (PU), asphalt, and cement mortar] and three painting activities (epoxy, oil based, and water based) by using organic-vapor-monitor passive-sampling devices. Gas chromatograph with flame ionization detector could be used for identifying and quantifying individual organic chemicals. The levels of TVOCs, by summing up 15 targeted substances, were expressed in exposure-index (EI) values. Results: As arithmetic means in the order of concentration levels, the EIs of TVOCs in waterproofing works were 10.77, 2.42, 1.78, 1.68, 0.47, 0.07, and none detected (ND) for indoor PU-primer task, outdoor PU-primer task, outdoor PU-resin task, indoor PU-resin task, asphalt-primer task, asphalt-adhesive task, and cement-mortar task, respectively. The highest EI for painting works was 5.61 for indoor epoxyprimer task, followed by indoor epoxy-resin task (2.03), outdoor oil-based-spray-paint task (1.65), outdoor water-based-paint task (0.66), and indoor oil-based-paint task (0.15). Assuming that the operations were carried out continuously for 8 hours without breaks and by using the arithmetic means of EIs for each of the 12 tasks in this study, 58.3% (7 out of 12) exceeded the exposure limit of 100% (EI > 1.0), while 8.3% (1 out of 12) was in 50e100% of exposure limit (0.5 > EI > 1.0), and 4 tasks out of 12 were located in less than 50% of the limit range (EI < 0.5). Conclusion: From this study, we recognized that construction painters are exposed to various solvents, including carcinogens and reproductive toxins, and the levels of TVOC concentration in many of the painting tasks exceeded the exposure limits. Construction workers need to be protected from chemical agents during their painting works by using personal protective devices and/or work practice measures. Additional studies should focus on the exposure assessment of other hazards for construction workers, in order to identify high-risk tasks and to improve hazardous work environments.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• 제6권4호
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• pp.305-311
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• 2015

Background: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship nursing personal and workplace system factors (work disability) and work ability index scores in Ontario, Canada. Methods: A total of 111 registered nurses were randomly selected from the total number of registered nurses on staff in the labor, delivery, recovery, and postpartum areas of four northeastern Ontario hospitals. Using a stratified random design approach, 51 participants were randomly selected in four northeastern Ontario cities. Results: A total of 51 (45.9% response rate) online questionnaires were returned and another 60 (54.1% response rate) were completed using the paper format. The obstetric workforce in northeastern Ontario was predominately female (94.6%) with a mean age of 41.9 (standard deviation = 10.2). In the personal systems model, three variables: marital status (p = 0.025), respondent ethnicity (p = 0.026), and mean number of patients per shift (p = 0.049) were significantly contributed to the variance in work ability scores. In the workplace system model, job and career satisfaction (p = 0.026) had a positive influence on work ability scores, while work absenteeism (p = 0.023) demonstrated an inverse relationship with work ability scores. In the combined model, all the predictors were significantly related to work ability scores. Conclusion: Work ability is closely related to job and career satisfaction, and perceived control at work among obstetric nursing. In order to improve work ability, nurses need to work in environments that support them and allow them to be engaged in the decision-making processes.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제17권sup3호
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• pp.205-211
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• 2016

Excessive exposure to chemicals in the workplace can cause poisoning and various diseases. Thus, for the protection of labor, it is necessary to examine the exposure of people to chemicals and risks from these materials. The purpose of this study is to evaluate semi-quantitative health risks of exposure to harmful chemical agents in the context of carcinogenesis in a latex glove manufacturing industry. In this cross-sectional study, semi-quantitative risk assessment methods provided by the Department of Occupational Health of Singapore were used and index of LD50, carcinogenesis (ACGIH and IARC) and corrosion capacity were applied to calculate the hazard rate and the biggest index was placed as the basis of risk. To calculate the exposure rate, two exposure index methods and the actual level of exposure were employed. After identifying risks, group H (high) and E (very high) classified as high-risk were considered. Of the total of 271 only 39 (15%) were at a high risk level and 3% were very high (E). These risks only was relevant to 7 materials with only sulfuric acid placed in group E and 6 other materials in group H, including nitric acid (48.3%), chromic acid (6.9%), hydrochloric acid (10.3%), ammonia (3.4%), potassium hydroxide (20.7%) and chlorine (10.3%). Overall, the average hazard rate level was estimated to be 4 and average exposure rate to be 3.5. Health risks identified in this study showed that the manufacturing industry for latex gloves has a high level of risk because of carcinogens, acids and strong alkalisand dangerous drugs. Also according to the average level of risk impact, it is better that the safety design strategy for latex gloves production industry be placed on the agenda.