• Title/Summary/Keyword: occupational hazard

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Applications, Shortcomings, and New Advances of Job Safety Analysis (JSA): Findings from a Systematic Review

  • Fakhradin Ghasemi;Amin Doosti-Irani;Hamed Aghaei
    • Safety and Health at Work
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    • v.14 no.2
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    • pp.153-162
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    • 2023
  • Background: Job safety analysis (JSA) is a popular technique for hazard identification and risk assessment in workplaces that has been applied across a wide range of industries. This systematic review was conducted to answer four main questions regarding JSA: (1) which sectors and areas have used JSA? (2) What has been the aim of employing JSA? (3) What are the shortcomings of JSA? (4) What are the new advances in the field of JSA? Methods: Three main international databases were searched: SCOPUS, Web of Science, and PubMed. After screening and eligibility assessment, 49 articles were included. Results: Construction industries have used JSA the most, followed by process industries and healthcare settings. Hazard identification is the main aim of JSA, but it has been used for other purposes as well. Being time-consuming, the lack of an initial list of hazards, the lack of a universal risk assessment method, ignoring hazards from the surrounding activities, ambiguities regarding the team implementing JSA, and ignorance of the hierarchy of controls were the main shortcomings of JSA based on previous studies. Conclusion: In recent years, there have been interesting advances in JSA making attempts to solve shortcomings of the technique. A seven-step JSA was recommended to cover most shortcomings reported by studies.

Adverse Outcome Pathways for Prediction of Chemical Toxicity at Work: Their Applications and Prospects (작업장 화학물질 독성예측을 위한 독성발현경로의 응용과 전망)

  • Rim, Kyung-Taek;Choi, Heung-Koo;Lee, In-Seop
    • Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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    • v.29 no.2
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    • pp.141-158
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    • 2019
  • Objectives: An adverse outcome pathway is a biological pathway that disturbs homeostasis and causes toxicity. It is a conceptual framework for organizing existing biological knowledge and consists of the molecular initiating event, key event, and adverse output. The AOP concept provides intuitive risk identification that can be helpful in evaluating the carcinogenicity of chemicals and in the prevention of cancer through the assessment of chemical carcinogenicity predictions. Methods: We reviewed various papers and books related to the application of AOPs for the prevention of occupational cancer. We mainly used the internet to search for the necessary research data and information, such as via Google scholar(http://scholar.google.com), ScienceDirect(www.sciencedirect.com), Scopus(www.scopus. com), NDSL(http: //www.ndsl.kr/index.do) and PubMed(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed). The key terms searched were "adverse outcome pathway," "toxicology," "risk assessment," "human exposure," "worker," "nanoparticle," "applications," and "occupational safety and health," among others. Results: Since it focused on the current state of AOP for the prediction of toxicity from chemical exposure at work and prospects for industrial health in the context of the AOP concept, respiratory and nanomaterial hazard assessments. AOP provides an intuitive understanding of the toxicity of chemicals as a conceptual means, and it works toward accurately predicting chemical toxicity. The AOP technique has emerged as a future-oriented alternative to the existing paradigm of chemical hazard and risk assessment. AOP can be applied to the assessment of chemical carcinogenicity along with efforts to understand the effects of chronic toxic chemicals in workplaces. Based on these predictive tools, it could be possible to bring about a breakthrough in the prevention of occupational and environmental cancer. Conclusions: The AOP tool has emerged as a future-oriented alternative to the existing paradigm of chemical hazard and risk assessment and has been widely used in the field of chemical risk assessment and the evaluation of carcinogenicity at work. It will be a useful tool for prediction, and it is possible that it can help bring about a breakthrough in the prevention of occupational and environmental cancer.

Interaction effect of Chemical Mixtures (혼합물에서 화학물질간의 상호작용 효과)

  • Leem Jong Han;Shin Joo-Youn;Kim Yong-Kyu
    • Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
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    • v.3 no.1
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    • pp.11-16
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    • 2005
  • Chemical mixtures of components, each of which are present at less than guidance concentrations, may be hazardous due to additivity, interactions, or both. Toxicological interactions may increase the health hazard above what would be expected from an assessment of each component singly, or all components additively. So chemical mixture are a particular issue in public health. There are several approach to assess whether there are additivity or interaction in assessing toxicological effects, such as, components-based approach, physiologically-based pharmacokinetic /pharmacodynamic(PBPK/PD) models, hazard index method, and weight-of evidence method. If we consider interaction or additivity effects in assessing the health effects of chemcial mixtures, we can get more accurate information about toxicological effects and dose-response relationship in chemical mixtures.

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Characteristics of Flames Propagating Through Combustible Particles Concentration in a Vertical Duct (수직 배관 내의 농도변화에 따른 분진폭발 특성)

  • Han, Ou-Sup;Han, In-Soo;Choi, Yi-Rac;Lee, Jung-Suk;Lee, Su-Hee
    • Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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    • v.49 no.1
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    • pp.41-46
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    • 2011
  • We investigated experimentally the properties of dust explosion through lycopodium particle clouds in a duct to provide the fundamental knowledge. Propagating dust flames in the vertical duct of 120 cm height and 12 cm square cross-section were observed by digital video camera and flame front is visualized using by PIV(Particle Image Velocimetry) system. As the result, when the same average dust concentration existed in the vertical duct, downward flame propagation was faster than the upward flame propagation, its rate increased with dust concentration in 300g/$m^3$. Post flames were caused by the ignition of unburned particles which flowed into the rear region of flame from passage between flame and duct wall, and they generated regardless of duct condition. Also, it was found that appearance frequency of post flames during dust flame propagations increased with the increase of dust concentration.

Characteristics of Thermal Hazard in Methylthioisocyanate Synthesis Reaction Process (Methylthioisocyanate 합성반응 공정의 열적위험 특성)

  • Han, In-Soo;Lee, Keun-Won;Lee, Joo-Yeob
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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    • v.27 no.5
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    • pp.77-87
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    • 2012
  • Compared to a batch reactor, where all reactants are initially charged to the reactor, the semi-batch reactor presents serious advantages. The feed of at least one of the reactants provides an additional way of controlling the reaction course, which represents a safety factor and increases the constancy of the product quality. The aim of this study was to investigate the characteristics of thermal hazard such as a feed time, catalysis concentration and solvent concentration in methylthioisocyanate(MTI) synthesis reaction process. The experiments were carried out by the Multimax reactor system and Accelerating rate calorimeter(ARC). The MTI synthesis reaction process has many reaction factors and complicated reaction mechanism of multiphase reaction. Through this study, we can use as a tool for assessment of thermal hazard of other reaction processes by applying experiment method provided.

Hazard Levels of Cooking Fumes in Republic of Korea Schools

  • Lee, Iu-Jin;Lee, Sang-Gil;Choi, Bo-Hwa;Seo, Hoe-Kyeong;Choi, Ji-Hyung
    • Safety and Health at Work
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    • v.13 no.2
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    • pp.227-234
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    • 2022
  • Background and Purpose: In 2021, lung cancer in school food workers was first recognized as an occupational cancer. The classification of the carcinogenicity of cooking fumes by International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) was based on Chinese epidemiological data. This study aimed to determine the hazard levels of school cooking fumes in Korea. Materials and Methods: Based on public school cafeterias in one area, 25 locations were selected for the survey according to the number per school type, ventilation states, and environmental pre-assessments of cafeterias. Two inside cooking areas using a heat source and one outside cooking area were selected as control measurement points. Measurements of CO, CO2, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs), including benzene, formaldehyde, and particulate matter (PM10, PM2.5, PM1, respectively), were taken. The concentrations and patterns of each substance in the kitchens were compared with the outdoor air quality. Result: Known carcinogens, such as the concentrations of PAHs, formaldehyde, TVOC (benzene), and particulate matter in school cooking fumes, were all detected at similar or slightly higher levels than those found outside. Additionally, substances were detected at relatively low concentrations compared to the Chinese cooking fumes reported in the literature. However, the short-term exposure to high concentrations of CO (or composite exposure with CO2) and PM2.5 in this study were shown. Conclusion: The school cooking fumes in South Korea was a relatively less harmful than Chinese cooking fumes, however short-term, high exposure of toxic substances can cause a critical health effect.

A Qualitative Study for Foreign Workers Exposed hazard Chemical Materials in Korean Industry (유해화학물질 취급 외국인 근로자의 적응과정)

  • Kim, Hyun Li;Kim, Jeong Hee;Song, Yeon Ee;Yi, Ggodme;Jung, Hye Sun;Hyun, Hye JIn;Kim, Hee Girl
    • Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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    • v.15 no.2
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    • pp.94-103
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    • 2006
  • Purpose: This study was to understand foreign workers' experiences exposed hazard chemical materials in korean industry. Method: The research subjects were 92 foreign workers worked in seoul, namyangju, ansan, suwon, pocheon, incheon, jincheon, and daejeon. It was that grounded theory method as qualitative approach was applied with in-depth interview, recording and dictation, and collected data was analysed line-by-line by research teams. The analysis process of in depth interview data was three phase. Results: The first phase was that find out meaningful data and confronted data for meaningful data was 53 meaningful items. The second phase was coding process of meaningful data, total coding items were 9, difficulty of new environment, existence of health hazard factors originated in work, performance of basic health management, management of hazard materials in work-site, self care of hazard materials in work-site, discrimination of disaster-compensation originated in work, perception of work stress, motivation of leaving position, satisfaction for present life. The third phase was 5 adaptation process, copying phase for new environment, management phase for health hazard factors, health change phase, life change phase, illegal stay phase. Conclusion: In summary, as a results it was concluded that foreign workers was experienced new environment and then has various problems in working site. But these evidences were not different from korean workers basically, undoubtedly reality of a korean small and medium enterprise. And foreign workers with long time stay have had many health problems probably, but they have want to long stay and so reach an unexpected result, illegal long stay. Therefore, we should make efforts for adequate foreign workers' health management at work-site and overall life in governmental and industrial nursing level.

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Health Risk of Potato Farmers Exposed to Overuse of Chemical Pesticides in Iran

  • Sookhtanlou, Mojtaba;Allahyari, Mohammad Sadegh;Surujlal, Jhalukpreya
    • Safety and Health at Work
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    • v.13 no.1
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    • pp.23-31
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    • 2022
  • Background: Potato is the main crop of Ardabil Plain (accounting for one-fifth of potato production in Iran). Its health hazard risk to farmers is rising due to the increasing rate of pesticide use. The present study analyzes potato farmers' health hazard risk in the use of chemical pesticides. Methods: The rate of pesticide use by farmers (n = 370) was first compared with the recommended dosage (on pesticide label). Then, a composite index was employed to estimate the health hazard risk of farmers during pesticide use, and the variables accounting for pesticide overuse and nonoveruse were analyzed. Safety behavior was examined in four steps, namely of pesticide purchase and storage, preparation, application, and postapplication. Results: It was found that 74.6 percent of potato farmers used pesticides in higher concentrations than the recommended dosage. The higher average rate of pesticide use versus recommendation (label instruction) was related to Chlorpyrifos and Trifluralin, and the highest average health hazard risk among farmers was related to the use of Chlorpyrifos and Metribuzin. Farmers with a higher risk of health hazard displayed much lower safety behavior than the other farmers at all steps of pesticide use. Conclusion: The most important variables discriminating the health hazard risk of farmers' overuse included health behavior identity, attitude, knowledge and awareness, and cues to action. Therefore, using social media, holding local exhibitions, and engaging local leaders and skilled farmers in the region to improve farmers' attitudes and health behavior identity toward the dangers of chemical pesticides can play a significant role in motivating farmers' display of overuse preventive behaviors.

A Study on Activation of Occupational Safety and Health Agency for Reducing Industrial Accidents (산재저감을 위한 안전보건관리 대행기관의 활성화에 관한 연구)

  • Kim, Yun-Seon
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Hazard Mitigation
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    • v.9 no.4
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    • pp.67-70
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    • 2009
  • First of all, this paper investigated scrupulously Occupational Safety and Healthy Agencies which take care of nucleus roles as accident protection organ of industrial circles in our country. Catching hold of elaborately lots of problems that each Agency holds, we tried to action to correct that faulty custom and invalidism. On the other hand, we exhort and encourage more available measures helping practically to protect industrial accident of work place receiving vicarious execution. Furthermore, both in name and reality, we try to be reborn as a mission institution of accidental prevention of medium and small work place. Therefore, the purpose of the present paper is to suggest substantial counterproposal for activation of Occupational Safety and Healthy Agency.