• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.85-91
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• 2001

The regulation of Material safety data sheets(MSDS) was required for the chemicals in use in the workplace from July 1976. Under the provisions of the workplace hazardous materials information system, employers in Korea must be provided with accurate and comprehensive MSDS. To examine the reliability of MSDS for organic solvents, 63 organic solvents and MSDS were collected from the workplace of 39 companies located in Kyonggi province. Manufacture\`s MSDS were compared with the actual composition of the collected samples, and further examined the reliability by checking whether the chemicals analyzed were included in the MSDS correctly. 38 solvents were able to analyze their composition by gas chromatography-mass selective detector(GC-MSD). Among them, 28 solvents were incorrect in their composition and contents. In some case, health hazardous or carcinogenic chemicals which were not included in the MSDS were detected from samples. As a result of evaluating whether the MSDS correspond to the regulation required by Industrial Safety and Health Act (ISHA), the information in the MSDS including hazard classification, occupational exposure level, toxicity, regulatory information were incorrectly provided, and some MSDS did not disclose carcinogenic in their MSDS, and some MSDS were not written in the standard format. From this survey, continuous monitoring and promoting correct MSDS, and analyzing the components of the solvents were required to endure the reliability of MSDS for organic solvents.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.184-191
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• 2021

Background: Hearing protection devices (HPDs) are often used in the workplace to prevent hearing damage caused by noise. However, a factor that can lead to hearing loss in the workplace is improper HPD fitting, and the previous literature has shown that instructing workers on how to properly insert their HPDs can make a significant difference in the degree of attenuation. Methods: Two studies were completed on a total of 33 Hydro One workers. A FitCheck Solo field attenuation estimation system was used to measure the personal attenuation rating (PAR) before and after providing one-on-one fitting instructions. In addition, external ear canal diameters were measured, and a questionnaire with items related to frequency of use, confidence, and discomfort was administered. Results: Training led to an improvement in HPD attenuation, particularly for participants with poorer PARs before training. The questionnaire results indicated that much HPD discomfort is caused by heat, humidity, and communication difficulties. External ear canal asymmetry did not appear to significantly influence the measured PAR. Conclusion: In accordance with the previous literature, our studies suggest that one-on-one instruction is an effective training method for HPD use. Addressing discomfort issues from heat, humidity, and communication issues could help to improve the use of HPDs in the workplace. Further research into the effects of canal asymmetry on the PAR is needed.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.339-346
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• 2018

Background: Workplace bulling is a pervasive phenomenon with negative consequences for the health of victims and the productivity of organizations. The aim of this study was to measure the prevalence and forms of workplace bullying among employees working at the public health-care sector of Cyprus using the Greek version of Leymann Inventory of Psychological Terror (LIPT) instrument. Methods: A translation process was followed from the French to the Greek version of LIPT questionnaire. Test-retest reliability expressed by Pearson's correlation coefficient was 0.98 indicating excellent reproducibility. Internal consistency reliability assessed by Cronbach ${\alpha}$ coefficient was 0.87 suggesting high reliability. LIPT instrument was distributed among 403 employees working at the primary health-care setting and at the largest public hospital of Cyprus with response rate of 73.4%. Results: Women comprised the majority of participants (71.4%). Mean age was 43.3 years. Prevalence of workplace bulling according to Leymann's definition was 5.9%. Most common forms of bullying were "Being continuously interrupted" (17.2%) and "continuously being given new work assignments" (13.5%). Women were significantly more often exposed to at least one mobbing behavior than men within the previous year (49% vs. 35.7%, p = 0.038), whereas nurses were significantly exposed to at least one mobbing behavior as compared to physicians (53.3% vs. 31.4%, p = 0.004). Conclusion: This was the first study that examined the prevalence of workplace bullying in the public health-care sector by elaborating the Greek version of LIPT instrument. Results showed that workplace bullying is a common and complex phenomenon among health-care organizations.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.275-283
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• 2020

Background: In the absence of a vaccine or treatment, the most pragmatic strategies against an infectious disease pandemic are extensive early detection testing and social distancing. This study aimed to summarize public and workplace responses to Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19) and show how the Korean system has operated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: Daily briefings from the Korean Center for Disease Control and the Central Disaster Management Headquarters were assembled from January 20 to May 15, 2020. Results: By May 15, 2020, 11,018 COVID-19 cases were identified, of which 15.7% occurred in workplaces such as health-care facilities, call centers, sports clubs, coin karaoke, and nightlife destinations. When the first confirmed case was diagnosed, the Korean Center for Disease Control and Central Disaster Management Headquarters responded quickly, emphasizing early detection with numerous tests and a social distancing policy. This slowed the spread of infection without intensive containment, shut down, or mitigation interventions. After entering the public health blue alert level, a business continuity plan was distributed. After entering the orange level, the Ministry of Employment and Labor developed workplace guidelines for COVID-19 consisting of social distancing, flexible working schedules, early identification of workers with suspected infections, and disinfection of workplaces. Owing to the intensive workplace social distancing policy, workplaces remained safe with only small sporadic group infections. Conclusion: The workplace social distancing policy with timely implementation of specific guidelines was a key to preventing a large outbreak of COVID-19 in Korean workplaces. However, sporadic incidents of COVID-19 are still ongoing, and risk assessment in vulnerable workplaces should be continued.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.125-130
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• 2017

The government operates autonomous safety management activities in the regulated safety management in order to prevent industrial accidents. On the other side, companies are promoting safety management in the workplace, such as improving the safety level of the safety system, but the major reason for the accidents is safety ignorance in the event of big accidents. This study aims to improve the safety culture level by analyzing the difference in safety culture among six workplace sites in the manufacture of food products and drawing the improvement point. The main result is as follows. In order to enhance the safety level of the safety system, it is necessary to minimize the number of systems to be implemented, and to strengthen the small safety management activities that workers participate directly in the workforce, and the incentive policy for the promotion of the safety management activities should be coordinated by each group. Due to the high proportion of female workers, the proportion of female workers should be encouraged to actively participate in the safety of women, thereby improving safety culture levels and improving safety awareness through customized safety education. By learning work procedures through theory and practice, the level of safety culture should be increased. Employees voluntary safety participation activities should increase the level of mutual safety culture. Depending on spontaneous safety participation activities, one should promote safety culture enhancement activities by enhancing the safety level of the safety culture and enhance safety culture through safety awareness, and promote safety culture and procedures for improving safety culture.

• Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.299-317
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• 2010

The study was conducted in two phase. In phase I, workplace safety accidents were investigated that happened from 2004 to 2008 in 52 medium-sized contract managed foodservice companies located in Seoul. In phase II, a survey was conducted to examine the cuisine employees' awareness of workplace safety. The survey was administered to the same foodservice management companies from April 12 to April 20, 2009. The final response rate was 84% (N=336), and the data were analyzed using SPSS Windows (ver. 12.0). The analysis showed that more accidents occurred in the age groups of 51~60 and 41~50 and among women. Forty-four percents of the accidents were reported by the employees who had been engaged in foodservice for 1~4 years. The majority of the safety accidents occurred in May~June of the year and the injuries were related to the 'hands and arms'. Approximately 38.5% of the injuries happened during 'movement and transportation'. More than half of the accidents were not managed as 'industrial accidents'. By type of injuries, 28.6% of the accidents were 'fractures'. In terms of the companies' actions, 44% of the accidents were dealt by companies' paying medical bills. The results of this study could be useful to develop evaluation indicators for safety education programs, decrease cuisine employees' safety accidents, protect assets, and prevent various worker and industrial accidents to create a pleasant work environment.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.21-29
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• 2019

Background: Promoting healthy lifestyles at work should complement workplace safety programs. This study systematically investigates current states of occupational health and safety (OHS) policy as well as practice in the European Union (EU). Methods: OHS policies of EU member states were categorized as either prevention or health promotion provisions using a manifest content analysis. Policy rankings were then created for each prevention and promotion. Rankings compared eight indicators from the European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks-2 data on prevention and promotion practices for each member state using Chi-square and probit regression analyses. Results: Overall, 73.1% of EU establishments take preventive measures against direct physical harm, and about 35.4% take measures to prevent psychosocial risks. Merely 29.5% have measures to promote health. Weak and inconsistent links between OHS policy and practice indicators were identified. Conclusion: National OHS policies evidently concentrate on prevention while compliance with health and safety practices is relatively low. Psychosocial risks are often addressed in national policy but not implemented by institutions. Current risk assessment methods are outdated and often lack psychosocial indicators. Health promotion at work is rare in policy and practice, and its interpretation remains preventive. Member states need to adopt policies that actively improve health and well-being at the workplace.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.133-135
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• 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in movement restrictions being instituted globally and the cessation of work at many workplaces. However, during this period, essential services such as healthcare, law enforcement, and critical production and supply chain operations have been required to continue to function. In Singapore, measures were put in place to protect the workers from infection at the workplace, as well as to preserve the operational capability of the essential service in a COVID-19 pandemic environment. This paper critically analyses the measures that were implemented and discusses the extension to broader general industry.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.61-70
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• 2020

Background: This study aims to assess whether the TSI PortaCount (Model 8020) is a measuring instrument comparable with the flame photometer. This would provide an indication for the suitability of the PortaCount for determining the workplace protection factor for particulate filtering facepiece respirators. Methods: The PortaCount (with and without the N95-Companion^TM) was compared with a stationary flame photometer from Moores (Wallisdown) Ltd (Type 1100), which is a measuring instrument used in the procedure for determining the total inward leakage of the particulate filtering facepiece respirator in the European Standard. Penetration levels of sodium chloride aerosol through sample respirators of two brands (A and B) were determined by the two measuring systems under laboratory conditions. For each brand, thirty-six measurements were conducted. The samples were split into groups according to their protection level, conditioning before testing, and aerosol concentration. The relationship between the gauged data from two measuring systems was determined. In addition, the particle size distribution inside the respirator and outside the respirator was documented. Linear regression analysis was used to calculate the association between the PortaCount (with and without the N95-Companion^TM) and the flame photometer. Results: A linear relationship was found between the raw data scaled with the PortaCount (without N95-Companion^TM) and the data detected by the flame photometer (R² = 0.9704) under all test conditions. The distribution of particle size was found to be the same inside and outside the respirator in almost all cases. Conclusion: Based on the obtained data, the PortaCount may be applicable for the determination of workplace protection factor.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.79-86
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• 2020

Failure data that has systematically managed for a long time has high reliability to an estimated volume. But since much cost and effort are needed to secure reliability data, data from overseas country is used in quantitative risk analysis in many workplaces. Reliability of the data that can be collected in workplaces can be dropped because of insufficient sample or lack of observation time. Therefore, estimated data is difficult to use as it is and environment and characteristic of the workplace cannot be reflected by using data from overseas country. So this study used Bayesian method that can be used reflecting both reliability data from overseas country and workplace failure data that has less samples. As a setting toward difficult situation that securing sufficient failure data cannot be achieved, we composed workplace failure data equivalent to mass observation time 20%(t=17000), 40%(t=24000), 60%(t=31000), 80%(t=38000) and IEEE data by using Bayesian method.