• International Journal of Safety
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.27-31
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• 2004

Some of the petroleum products contain benzene which is well known as a confirmed human carcinogen. For example, gasoline products contain benzene ranging up to several percents by weight. High exposures to the benzene and other organic solvents would be likely to occur during intermittent tasks and or processes rather than continuous jobs such as sampling, repair, inspection, and loading/unloading jobs. The work time for these jobs is various. However, most of work time is very short and the representative time interval is 15 minutes. Thus, it is preferable to do exposure assessment for 15 minute time weighted average which is known as a short time exposure level(STEL) by ACGIH rather than for 8-hours TWA. It is particularly significant to the exposure monitoring for benzene since it has been known that the exposure rate plays an important role to provoke the leukemia. Due to the large variations, a number of processes/tasks, the traditional sampling technique for organic solvents with the use of the charcoal and sampling pumps is not appropriate. Limited number of samples can be obtained due to the shortage of sampling pumps. Passive samplers can eliminate these limitations. However, low sampling rates resulted in collection of small amount of the target analysts in the passive samplers. This is originated the nature of passive samplers. Field applications were made with use of passive samplers to compare with the charcoal tube methods for 15 minutes. Gasoline loading processes to the tank lorry trucks at the loading stations in the petroleum products storage area. Good agreements between the results of passive samplers and those of the charcoal tubes were achieved. However, it was found that special cautions were necessary during the analysis at very low concentration levels.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.147-155
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• 2010

This study was conducted to investigate the benzene exposure levels in coal chemical and petrochemical refining industries during BTX turnaround (TA) processes where benzene was being produced. Three companies producing benzene were selected, one coal chemical and two petrochemical industries. TA processes were classified into three stages: shut down, maintenance, and start up. Data was analyzed by classifying the refining method into 2 groups (Petrochemistry, Coal chemistry) for 823 workers. Comparing the data from petrochemical industries with data from a coal chemical refining industry, while benzene concentration levels of long-term samples during TA were not statistically different (p> 0.05), those levels of short-term samples were significantly different (p< 0.001). About 4.79 % of data in petrochemical industries exceed the occupational exposure limits (OELs) of benzene, 1 ppm. In a coal refining methods, about 15.7% exceeded the benzene OELs. The benzene concentrations in maintenance and start up stage of TA for petrochemical refineries were higher than those in a coal chemical refinery (p <0.01). These findings suggest that the coal chemical refining site requires more stringent work practice controls compare to petrochemical refining sites during TA processes. Personal protective equipments including organic respirators should be used by TA workers to protect them from benzene overexposure.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.182-194
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• 2009

This study was conducted to evaluate health status and to propose health protection measures of irregular plant construction workers in Yoesu National Industrial Complex (YNIC). The status of safety and health management was examined in five areas including safety and health education, work environment monitoring, health examination, health management record, and personal protective equipment (PPE) for plant construction workers. The safety training rate for plant construction workers was reached high at 91%, The training was mostly consisted of safety accident related things, but training on hazardous materials was found to be insufficient. Workplace monitoring results showed that the compliance rate for work environment for irregular construction workers was 54% and workplace monitoring during turnaround (TA) period with high risk of exposure to hazardous agents has not been implemented. While 61.4% of irregular workers received the general health examination but only 36.8% received the special health examination. The special health examination was found to be conducted only upon welders from 2-3 years ago. The issue of health management record upon irregular construction workers was not being implemented. In case of PPE, basic safety protective equipments such as safety shoes, safety belt, safety helmet were being supplied well while the supply rate of respirator for organic vapor was relatively low at 40%. Based on this study, two suggestions to maximize the utilization of the current safety and health program were made while boosting its effectiveness in protecting workers' health. First, the role of owners (petrochemical plant) related to safety and health should be strengthened. Second, in consideration of the characteristics of construction workers who usually engage in short term employment and frequent movement, community based health management organization is suggested that can overcome such structural problem and carry out the implementation of health examination and sustained health management.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Navigation
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.57-68
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• 1993

The economy of Korea has grown up significantly in its scale. It has, therefore, become imperative to develop countermeasures to prevent work related injuries and occupational illnesses resultining from haza-rdous working conditions and handling harmful substances. A lot of cargo handling accident in port have occurred due to the characteristics of poor working environment, diversity of working place and method, fluctuation of the amount of cargo and handling of heavy, long, harmful and dangerous cargo, etc. According to '91 industrial accident analysis carried out by the ministry of labour, the number of the stevedores injured by cargo handling accident in port were 1, 432 persons (the death accident : 22 per-sons), the amount of industrial accident compensation in port was 6.7 billion won (the amount of economic loss : 33.6 billion won), and the injury occurance rate of the stevedoring industry was higher than that of the whole industry. This paper, therefore, aims to the actual status of the stevedoring industry and to extract the main cau-ses of the accidents related to cargo handling in port through factor analysis using the data of the accide-nts in the whole habour from 1990 to 1992, and to suggest the countermeasures to prevent such accident. The main causes of the accident and countermeasures are found to be as follows through the factor analy-sis : Factor1, factor2, and factor3 related to a defect of human being and management, a defect of state and environment, and an insufficiency of education and law are extracted. The short-term countermeasures to prevent these accidents are 1) to consolidate the safety and health organization in the working spot, 2) to secure a safe condition in working spot before dock work, 3) to strengthen a dock worker's safety educa-tion. The long-term countermeasures are 1) to promote a decasualisation of dock workers, 2) to modernize the cargo working methods through constructing exclusive pier and introducing exclusive cargo handling equipment, 3) to establish a exclusive dock accident prevention organization and the dock workers law. Factor 4, factor5, factor6, and factor7 related to an unfitness, a deficiency of technical knowledge, a nonfu-lfilment of safety measures, and a bad arrangement are extracted. The countermeasures to prevent these accidents are 1) to perform a complete safety inspection of cargo handling equipments and tools and to carry out the dock work according to a working plan, 2) to publish and supply technical safety books, safety instruction book, safety check list, etc., 3) to strengthen the safety patrol at the working spot in habour and to activate a safety fund, 4) to maintain always a clean workshop with the safety consciousness in which the good arragement of the working spot is considered to be the beginning of safety.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.30 no.5D
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• pp.485-496
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• 2010

An increase in number of vehicles owned by individuals worsens the conditions of parking in residential areas. So to speak, the pedestrians' safety is seriously threatened by illegally parked vehicles on the residential area roads. As a result, the number of vehicle-to-pedestrian accidents has been increasing annually. Also, illegal parking on arterial roads is increasingly becoming common, especially by cooommercial trucks. However, no solution has been found to reduce or eliminate accidents caused by vehicles illegally parked on readside. The result of this study provides the solutions to enhance the safety of residential area roads and arterial roads, from viewpoints of both long-term and short-term, by collecting data about the status of illegal parking and addressing critical problems.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.250-257
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• 2017

Background: Tasks involved in traditional charcoal production expose workers to various levels of charcoal dust and wood smoke. This study aimed to identify specific tasks influencing lung function and respiratory symptoms. Methods: Interviews, direct observation, and task/symptom checklists were used to collect data from 50 charcoal-production workers on 3 nonwork days followed by 11 workdays. The peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) was measured four times per day. Results: The PEFR was reduced and the prevalence of respiratory symptoms increased over the first 6-7 workdays. The PEFR increased until evening on nonwork days but not on workdays. Loading the kiln and collecting charcoal from within the kiln markedly reduced the PEFR and increased the odds of respiratory symptoms. Conclusion: Tasks involving entry into the kiln were strongly associated with a short-term drop in the PEFR and the occurrence of respiratory symptoms, suggesting a need for the use of protective equipment and/or the operation of an effective kiln ventilation system.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.68-73
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• 2000

These experiments were performed to investigate the safety of two herbs-Houttuynia cordata Thunberg and Lycium chinese Miller-irradiated with gamma-rays in respect of genotoxicity. Water extracts from the 10 kGy gamma-irradiated herbs were examined in two short -term in vitro tests ; (1) Salmonella typhimurium reversion assay (Ames test) in strain TA 98 and Ta100 and (2) Micronuclues test on clutured Chinese hamster ovary(CHO) cells. No mutagenicity was detected in the two assays with or without metabolic activation . From these results , the safety of the herbs irradiated with gamma-rays at practical doses could be revealed in further tests of genotoxicity in vivo, chronic and reproductive toxicity.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.77-85
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• 2020

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of simulation evacuation training improvement activity through wheelchair skill training. Methods: The study included 40 patients with early stroke who were randomly allocated to a wheelchair skill training group (Experimental group, n=20) and a general exercise group (Control group, n=20). Both groups performed the exercise 3 times a week for 3 weeks. Outcomes were assessed using Wheelchair Skills Test Skills Performance (WSTSP), Wheelchair Skills Test Skills Safety (WSTSS) and Wheelchair Propulsion Velocity (WPV). Results: After 3 weeks of training, both groups showed significantly improved WSTSP, WSTSS and WPV (p<.01 in both groups). However, the WSTSP, WSTSS and WPV in the experimental group were very significantly better than in the control group (p<.01). Conclusion: These findings indicate that wheelchair skill training may be effective at improving wheelchair skill ability and wheelchair propulsion velocity in stroke patients who cannot walk independently. Therefore, short-term wheelchair skill training could be useful for patient safety in simulated evacuation situations.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.32-39
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• 2022

Background: Industrial accidents can determine the overall level and quality of the work environment in industries and companies that contribute to national economic development. Korea has transformed the country from an international aid recipient to a donor country, but it has ranked first among the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development member countries in the number of fatal industrial accidents. Little has been known about the policy effects in terms of the workers' insurance for their industrial accidents and rehabilitation. This study raises two research questions about the influence of workers' personal characteristics and vocational rehabilitation services on their return to workplaces. Methods: The study implements weighted logistic regression analysis using propensity score matching. This research utilizes the relevant dataset (3,924 persons) of Korea's industrial accident and insurance. Results: The findings show that the level of workers' awareness of health recovery and their counseling for rehabilitation by physicians had positive effects on their return to work. Environmental factors such as workers' job stability at the time of industrial accidents and the temporal effects of industrial accidents (e.g., the level of disability, their age) had negative impacts on their return to work. Conclusions: These findings have policy implications that the concentration of rehabilitation services for patients who have been mildly affected by industrial accidents would be effective in the short and medium term. The findings also highlight the necessity of ongoing policies about workers' vocational recovery with concrete evidence about policy impacts.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.417-426
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• 2021

Objectives: The purpose of the Act is to comprehensively consider the legislative notice of the Enforcement Decree of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act for each important issue in terms of system, content, and execution. Methods: We examine the legislative notice of the Enforcement Decree of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act in-depth from the perspective of the effectiveness of disaster prevention, consistency of the legal system, and harmony with legal principles. Results: The proposed Enforcement Decree of the Act on the Punishment of Serious Accidents hardly resolves the uncertainties of the law, and there are many aspects that are unclear in the enforcement ordinance itself and that do not comply with constitutional principles. As a result, it is judged that it is difficult to for it to serve as an accident prevention standard due to its low predictability and that it will be difficult to achieve effectiveness in accident prevention. Conclusions: Ultimately, the law itself should be extensively reorganized in order to ensure universal and sufficient effectiveness, including the abolition of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act. In the short term, even the Enforcement Decree of the Act should be reorganized and supplemented in accordance with the law and safety principles.