• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.103-109
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• 2007

Representative human models (RHMs), a group of digital human models which represent the people of the target population within a designated percentage (e.g., 95%), are used for ergonomic design and evaluation in virtual environments. The present study evaluated the grid approach, a RHM generation method, in terms of accommodation percentage. RHMs generated from the grid approach dramatically decreased the accommodation percentage of the target population as the number of anthropometric dimensions under consideration increased. For example, the accommodation percentages by RHMs generated by the grid approach were 95% for 3 key dimensions (selected among 10 anthropometric dimensions), 45% for 5 dimensions, and 10% for 10 dimensions. A standardized multiple regression analysis found that this decreasing accommodation percentage was caused by low correlations between key dimensions and other dimensions. The accommodation evaluation process used in the present study is applicable to evaluation of other RHM generation methods.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.353-361
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• 2005

Purpose: This study was aimed at (a) describing professional nursing practice environments embedded in nursing care units and (b) examining its relationships to nurses' task motivation. Method: Using the Nursing Work Index Revised (NWI-R) and the Work Preference Inventory (WPI), a descriptive study was conducted with a sample of 320 registered nurses on 26 nursing care units in one University hospital in Korea. Result: Mean scores were 12.9 on a 5-20 score range of an autonomous environment scale, 7.3 on a 3-12 score range of a collaborative environment, and 15.8 on a 7-28 score range of control over nursing practice. Nurses' age, educational level, job position, working period at the hospital and employment status were significantly related to the degree of a professional practice environment. The extent to which a professional practice environment accounted for task motivation was $19.5\%$. Conclusion: There is a certain degree of professionalism in the workplace environment that nurses perceived within the nursing care units. When nurses care for patients, the degree of task motivation depends on the work environment supporting the professional nursing practice.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.85-95
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• 2018

Purpose: This qualitative study aimed to explore the experience of incivility among nursing students. Methods: Sixteen nursing students who had experienced incivility during their clinical placement were invited for one-on-one interviews until the point of theoretical saturation. The grounded theory approach of Corbin and Strauss was adopted to analyze transcribed interview contents. Results: Incivility occurred in the context of a hierarchical organizational culture, due to nursing students' position as outsiders, non-systematic clinical education, and poor nursing work environment. The experience of incivility was identified as "being mistreated as a marginal person," and nursing students responded to this phenomenon in the following three steps: reality shock, passive action, and submissive acceptance. This process caused students to lose self-esteem and undergo role conflict. Furthermore, nursing students' experience of incivility could eventually lead to workplace bullying in nurses. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that nursing students' experience of incivility can be a process that threatens their identity. It is necessary to develop educational programs and provide appropriate counseling services so that nursing students can actively cope with the incivility. In addition, institutional plans are needed to ensure safe and supportive clinical learning environments.

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.64-69
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• 2003

Recently, Indoor air quality(IAQ) in workplace, residential environments and office has been concern of people, scientists and related the public. The oxygen in air was very important and essential element in every aspect of life. This study was performed on a questionnaire survey of 400 people about their awareness of indoor air quality, oxygen generators and measured of oxygen concentration in indoor environment. The results obtained were as follows; As respondents are having their 90% of daytime indoors a day, and 80% of them can feel indoor air pollutions degrees directly by particle matters. The control of most important problems of IAQ was the poor ventilation. We know that 22% of the respondents was recognized the oxgen generator. And for the installation of indoor pollution control equipment, 20% of all respondents installed oxygen generators because almost respondents was not satified the trust of ability purified indoor air pollutants. In the experimental results, it was found that the oxygen concentration of sampling sites were in the range of 20~23.5%. Therefore, it was recommended that the government related IAQ was suggested the guideline and control of oxygen generators. Finally, it appeared that the oxygen generators using indoor environment can be applied to new technology for cleaning of indoor air.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.455-458
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• 2010

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was signed into law on March 23, 2010 and will fundamentally alter health care in the United States for years to come. The US is currently one of the only industrialized countries without universal health insurance. The new law expands existing public insurance for the poor. It also provides financial credits to low income individuals and some small businesses to purchase health insurance. By government estimates, the law will bring insurance to 30 million people. The law also provides for a significant new investment in prevention and wellness. It appropriates an unprecedented $15 billion in a prevention and public health fund, to be disbursed over 10 years, as well as creates a national prevention council to oversee the government's prevention efforts. This paper discusses 3 major prevention provisions in the legislation: 1) the waiving of cost-sharing for clinical preventive services, 2) new funding for community preventive services, and 3) new funding for workplace wellness programs. The paper examines the scientific evidence behind these provisions as well as provides examples of some model programs. Taken together, these provisions represent a significant advancement for prevention in the US health care system, including a shift towards healthier environments. However, in this turbulent economic and political environment, there is a real threat that much of the law, including the prevention provisions, will not receive adequate funding.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.372-377
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• 2020

Infection risks of handling specimens associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) by public health laboratory services teams were assessed to scrutinize the potential hazards arising from the work procedures. Through risk assessments of all work sequences, laboratory equipment, and workplace environments, no aerosol-generating procedures could be identified except the procedures (mixing and transfer steps) inside biological safety cabinets. Appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) such as surgical masks, protective gowns, face shields/safety goggles, and disposable gloves, together with pertinent safety training, was provided for laboratory work. Proper disinfection and good hand hygiene practices could minimize the probability of SARS-CoV-2 infection at work. All residual risk levels of the potential hazards identified were within the acceptable level. Contamination by gloved hands was considered as a major exposure route for SARS-CoV-2 when compared with eye protection equipment. Competence in proper donning and doffing of PPE accompanied by hand washing techniques was of utmost importance for infection control.

• International journal of advanced smart convergence
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.246-252
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• 2020

Facial recognition is a biometric technology that is used in various fields such as user authentication and identification of human characteristics. Face recognition applications are practically used in various fields, but very few applications have been developed to improve the factory work environment. We implemented applications that uses face recognition to identify a specific employee in a factory .work environment and provide customized information for each employee. Factory workers need documents describing the work in order to do their assigned work. Factory managers can use our application to register documents needed for each worker, and workers can view the documents assigned to them. Each worker is identified using face recognition, and by tracking the worker's face during work, it is possible to know that the worker is in the workplace. In addition, as a mobile app for workers is provided, workers can view the contents using a tablet, and we have defined a simple communication protocol to exchange information between our applications. We demonstrated the applications in a factory work environment and found several improvements were required for practical use. We expect these results can be used to improve factory work environments.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.121-125
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• 2007

The objective of this study is to develop short-term prevention measures for minimizing possible human error in nuclear power facilities. To accomplish this objective, a group of subject matter experts (SMEs) were formed, which is consisting of those from regulatory bodies, academia, industries and research institutes. Prevention measures were established for urgent execution in nuclear power facilities on a short-term basis. This study suggests short-term measures for reducing human error on three different areas; (1) strengthening worker management, (2) enhancing workplace environments and working methods, and (3) improving the technologies regulating human factors. Under the leadership of the Ministry of Science and Technology, these short-term measures will be pursued and implemented systematically by utility and regulatory agencies. The details of prevention measures are presented and discussed.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.476-481
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• 2019

Background: Mystery shopping is a method in which a company monitors quality of service and employee conduct and compliance with regulations using an evaluator posing as a customer. It is a typical tool of customer-centered bureaucratic control insofar as it provides overall and standardized evaluation of intangible elements of customer service as well as physical elements of service environments. The purpose of this study is to examine how mystery shopping is related to the health status of service workers in South Korea. Methods: Data from semistructured interviews with 15 workers were collected from January to April 2019 to obtain information on service worker experiences with mystery shopping. Data were analyzed using the constant comparison method. Results: Mystery shopping limits worker autonomy and stiffens the workplace environment by standardizing and monitoring labor processes for service workers. In addition, mystery shopping heightens work stress through increased labor intensity. Five mechanisms by which mystery shopping affects service worker health are identified and comprise (1) multifaceted and multilayered surveillance, (2) evaluator subjectivity and irrational requirements, (3) standardized rules combined with high pressure to achieve sales, (4) self-esteem degradation because of evaluator results, and (5) musculoskeletal disorders because of strict adherence to labor processes based on evaluator results. Conclusion: Mystery shopping as an evaluation method should be reconsidered not only in terms of health problems but also in terms of organizational efficiency and issues of human rights.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.166-173
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• 2015

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate cobalt concentrations in airborne inhalable, total and respirable dust from manufacturing industries using cobalt. Methods: To compare cobalt concentrations, three types of dust samplers(a 37mm closed cassette sampler, Institute of Occupational Medicine(IOM) sampler, and Aluminum cyclone sampler) were used. The analysis of cobalt concentrations was conducted using AAs based on the NIOSH 7300 method. Results: The geometric mean of cobalt concentration in total dust was $1.47{\mu}g/m^3$, and the rate of excess of the Korean Occupational Exposure Limit(KOEL) was 10.0%. The geometric mean concentrations of cobalt in super alloy manufacturing industries were higher than those in plating industries, and molding operations showed higher exposure levels to cobalt than did other operations. Conclusions: The rate of cobalt concentration in inhalable dust from super alloy manufacturing industries exceeding the Workplace Exposure Limit(WEL) as recommended by the Health & Safety Executive(HSE) was 7.1%, which means proper work environmental management is required through wet work environments. Given that molding operations had higher cobalt concentrations, it is necessary to apply measures such as local exhaust for reducing airborne dust in cobalt manufacture industries.