• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.9-16
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• 2011

The majority of people diagnosed with diabetes mellitus are in the working age group in developing countries. The interrelationship of diabetes and work, that is, diabetes affecting work and work affecting diabetes, becomes an important issue for these people. Therapeutic options for the diabetic worker have been developed, and currently include various insulins, insulin sensitizers and secretagogues, incretin mimetics and enhancers, and alpha glucosidase inhibitors. Hypoglycemia and hypoglycaemic unawareness are important and unwanted treatment side effects. The risk they pose with respect to cognitive impairment can have safety implications. The understanding of the therapeutic options in the management of diabetic workers, blood glucose awareness training, and self-monitoring blood glucose will help to mitigate this risk. Employment decisions must also take into account the extent to which the jobs performed by the worker are safety sensitive. A risk assessment matrix, based on the extent to which a job is considered safety sensitive and based on the severity of the hypoglycaemia, may assist in determining one's fitness to work. Support at the workplace, such as a provision of healthy food options and arrangements for affected workers will be helpful for such workers. Arrangements include permission to carry and consume emergency sugar, flexible meal times, selfmonitoring blood glucose when required, storage/disposal facilities for medicine such as insulin and needles, time off for medical appointments, and structured self-help programs.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.143-152
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• 2005

To investigate the exposure effect of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), we analyzed the relationship between urinary 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) concentration and PAHs exposure. The study population contained 44 workers in steel-pipe coating and paint manufacture industries. We measured airborne total PAHs as an external dose, urinary 1-hydroxypyrene (1-OHP) as an internal dose of PAHs exposure, and urinary 8-OHdG as an effective dose of oxidative DNA damage. There was significant correlation between the urinary concentration of l-OHP and the environmental concentration of PAHs, pyrene, urinary cotinine, AST, and GGT. The mean of urinary 8-OHdG was $17.07\pm1.706{\mu}g/g$ creatinine in workers exposed to airborne PAHs. There was significant correlation between the urinary concentration of 8-0HdG and the airborne concentration of PAHs. From the results of stepwise multiple regression analysis about 8-OHdG, significant independents was total PAHs. In this study, there were significant correlation between the urinary concentration of 8-OHdG and the airborne concentration of PAHs. The urinary 1-OHP was effective index as a biomarker of airborne PAHs in workplace. But it was influenced by non-occupational PAHs source, smoking and biomarkers of liver function test.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.76-81
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• 2020

Recently, fire and explosion accidents caused by sparks scattered during welding and melting work in the work place where flammables are present. The causes of such fire accidents are mostly non-compliance with basic safety rules such as the removal of hazardous goods and the prevention of sparks scattering. It is strongly recommended to revise Industrial Safety and Health Act. This study analyzes the fire and explosion accidents in the work of firearms, such as welding and melting work, and analyzes the causes from a system perspective, and proposes an improvement plan for the system such as expanding the number of fire monitors, pre-approval of fire risk work, and intensifying fire prevention safety education.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.415-422
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• 2010

Recently as the reports on toxicity of some nanomaterials and the nanoproducts containing these nanomaterials are rapidly increasing, the safety management issues about nanomaterials and nanoproducts are emerging hot. Especially safety in the workplace and that of consumers and the protection of environment, in other words safeties throughout the life-cycle of nanomaterials and products become core issues. Despite the importance of such a safety management, however, it is very difficult to construct the hard regulatory framework for safety, owing to uncertainties and potentialities of nano-risk. In this paper I will look around the ethical principles and guidelines for safety management which are preferentially required before going into the discussion on the construction of hard-regulation such as law and something like that. Under the circumstance that hard-regulations for safety management are not implementable, these principles and guidelines are expected to play a leading part in building the responsible risk-governance framework for nanomaterials and nanoproducts, and finally to become a cornerstone of the hard risk-governance framework.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.3-20
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• 2019

This review aimed to identify risk factors for occupational accidents and illnesses among young workers in the Nordic countries and to attain knowledge on specific vulnerable groups within the young working force that may need special attention. We conducted a systematic review from 1994 to 2014 using five online databases. Of the 12,528 retrieved articles, 54 met the review criteria and were quality assessed, in which data were extracted focusing on identifying occupational safety, health risk factors, and vulnerable groups among the young workers. The review shows that mechanical factors such as heavy lifting, psychosocial factors such as low control over work pace, and organizational factors such as safety climate are all associated with increased injury risk for young Nordic workers. Results show that exposures to chemical substances were associated with skin reactions, e.g., hand eczema. Heavy lifting and awkward postures were risk factors for low back pain, and high job demands were risk factors for mental health outcomes. The review identified young unskilled workers including school drop-out workers as particularly vulnerable groups when it comes to occupational accidents. In addition, apprentices and young skilled workers were found to be vulnerable to work-related illnesses. It is essential to avoid stereotyping young Nordic workers into one group using only age as a factor, as young workers are a heterogeneous group and their vulnerabilities to occupational safety and health risks are contextual. Politicians, researchers, and practitioners should account for this complexity in the education, training and organization of work, and workplace health and safety culture.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.394-400
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• 2022

Background: Impacts of exposure are generally monitored and recorded after injuries or illness occur. Yet, absence of conventional after-the-effect impacts (i.e., lagging indicators), tend to focus on physical health and injuries, and fail to inform if workers are not exposed to safety and health hazards. In contrast to lagging indicators, leading indicators are proactive, preventive, and predictive indexes that offer insights how effective safety and health. The present study is to validate an extended Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP) that consists of six leading indicators. Methods: Questionnaires were distributed to 13 organizations (response rate = 93.1%, 1,439 responses) in Taiwan. Cronbach α, multiple linear regression and canonical correlation were used to test the reliability of the extended Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP) which consists of six leading indicators (safe climate, transformational leadership, organizational justice, organizational support, hazard prevention and control, and training). Criteria-related validation strategy was applied to examine relationships of six leading indicators with six criteria (perceived health, burnout, depression, job satisfaction, job performance, and life satisfaction). Results: The results showed that the Cronbach's α of six leading indicators ranged from 0.87 to 0.92. The canonical correlation analysis indicated a positive correlation between the six leading indicators and criteria (1st canonical function: correlation = 0.647, square correlation = 0.419, p < 0.001). Conclusions: The present study validates the extended VPP framework that focuses on promoting safety and physical and mental health. Results further provides applications of the extended VPP framework to promote workers' safety and health.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.87-101
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• 2007

Objectives: This study identified the labor union associates' perception and participation status on SHEW and analyzed these two Constructs correlations with Safety and health education at work(SHEW) in manufacture and construction industries. Methods: Self-administered survey was successfully finished by 103 labor union associates (91 employed in 78 manufacturing companies and 12 employed in 12 constructing companies over 12 areas). Two questionnaires, survey direction slip, the official letter to ask survey participation from Korea Ministry of Labor, and a posted envelop to return were delivered to each workplace labor union office in conveniently selected companies. Most participants' companies were at least medium to large in manufacturing industry and most associates were men and married. A survey questionnaire examined demographic characteristics, SHEW status (participation status included), and perceptions of SHEW. Results: Overall, manufacturing companies had better infrastructures for SHEW, employer support for SHEW, and current educators' competencies than constructing companies. These infrastructures for SHEW were closely correlated with company labor union participation on SHEW and the correlation coefficients were greater than any other expectations or needs variables for SHEW. Conclusions: The primary strategies for better participation and support from labor union need to be developed in supporting for organizational infrastructures related to SHEW and strengthening safety and health education training programs for supervisors or educators at work.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.213-232
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• 2009

This document was prepared to review and summarize the analytical methods for airborne and bulk asbestos. Basic principles, shortcomings and advantages for asbestos analytical instruments using phase contrast microscopy(PCM), polarized light microscopy(PLM), X-ray diffractometer (XRD), transmission electron microscopy(TEM), scanning electron microscopy(SEM) were reviewed. Both PCM and PLM are principal instrument for airborne and bulk asbestos analysis, respectively. If needed, analytical electron microscopy is employed to confirm asbestos identification. PCM is used originally for workplace airborne asbestos fiber and its application has been expanded to measure airborne fiber. Shortcoming of PCM is that it cannot differentiate true asbestos from non asbestos fiber form and its low resolution limit ($0.2{\sim}0.25{\mu}m$). The measurement of airborne asbestos fiber can be performed by EPA's Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA) method, World Health Organization (WHO) method, International Standard Organization (ISO) 10312 method, Japan's Environmental Asbestos Monitoring method, and Standard method of Indoor Air Quality of Korea. The measurement of airborne asbestos fiber in workplace can be performed by National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) 7400 method, NIOSH 7402 method, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) ID-160 method, UK's Health and Safety Executive(HSE) Methods for the determination of hazardous substances (MDHS) 39/4 method and Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency (KOSHA) CODE-A-1-2004 method of Korea. To analyze the bulk asbestos, stereo microscope (SM) and PLM is required by EPA -600/R-93/116 method. Most bulk asbestos can be identified by SM and PLM but one limitation of PLM is that it can not see very thin fiber (i.e., < $0.25{\mu}m$). Bulk asbestos analytical methods, including EPA-600/M4-82-020, EPA-600/R-93/116, OSHA ID-191, Laboratory approval program of New York were reviewed. Also, analytical methods for asbestos in soil, dust, water were briefly discussed. Analytical electron microscope, a transmission electron microscope equipped with selected area electron diffraction (SAED) and energy dispersive X-ray analyser(EDXA), has been known to be better to identify asbestiform than scanning electron microscope(SEM). Though there is no standard SEM procedures, SEM is known to be more suitable to analyze long, thin fiber and more cost-effective. Field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) imaging protocol was developed to identify asbestos fiber. Although many asbestos analytical methods are available, there is no method that can be applied to all type of samples. In order to detect asbestos with confidence, all advantages and disadvantages of each instrument and method for given sample should be considered.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.488-496
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• 2020

This study was based on nitrate chemical accidents at home and abroad. Toxic gases due to adverse reactions are generated in the workplace, laboratory, hospital, container damage, and chemical misinjection. Through a case review of possible situations and safety, this study analyzed various cases of accidents, accident status, accident type, cause of the accident, location of the accidents, etc. from 2014 to 2018. The plans for improvement in education and nitrate accidents were reviewed. As a result, 36 nitrate chemical accidents were investigated, including 16 careless worker accidents, eight transportation accidents, and 12 facilities shortages. Nitrate chemical accidents are occurring continuously. Based on this, the range of toxic effects using CARIS was calculated at the worst-case scenario, and the effective response range was measured through the damage impact range. For this purpose, the impact range was predicted based on the strengthening of safety education, emergency action plan and correlation, and the quantified data was identified. In addition, the reliability of the scope of impact was reviewed based on the correlation formula that could facilitate the evacuation of residents, and it was applied to actual accident scenarios of the workplace to present the effects of the accident response and preventive measures.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.43-49
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• 2012

In recent years, various international organizations have raised awareness regarding psychosocial risks and work-related stress. European stakeholders have also taken action on these issues by producing important documents, such as position papers and government regulations, which are reviewed in this article. In particular, 4 European models that have been developed for the assessment and management of work-related stress are considered here. Although important advances have been made in the understanding of work-related stress, there are still gaps in the translation of this knowledge into effective practice at the enterprise level. There are additional problems regarding the methodology in the evaluation of work-related stress. The European models described in this article are based on holistic, global and participatory approaches, where the active role of and involvement of workers are always emphasized. The limitations of these models are in the lack of clarity on preventive intervention and, for two of them, the lack of instrument standardization for risk evaluation. The comparison among the European models to approach work-related stress, although with limitations and socio-cultural differences, offers the possibility for the development of a social dialogue that is important in defining the correct and practical methodology for work stress evaluation and prevention.