• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.287-298
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• 2013

Objectives: Workers who use chemicals are exposed to safety accidents and occupational diseases. Employers are required to provide workers with Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs) in order to prevent accidents and diseases related to chemicals. Thus, it is very important to offer reliable MSDSs. In this paper, we assessed the reliability of MSDSs for chemicals including formaldehyde. Methods: To evaluate MSDS reliability, we collected 14 MSDSs and bulk samples from the chemical industry. MSDS reliability was evaluated by the completeness of details. In order to evaluate the adequacy of the formaldehyde contents in a mixture, bulk samples were collected and analyzed by HPLC. The result of Globally Harmonized System (GHS) classification was confirmed by identifying physical chemical properties, toxicology information and ecological information. Results: The result of the evaluation of 14 MSDSs showed 76.29% average reliability on each item, especially 53.9% average appropriate rate on hazard risk classification. No chemicals failed to match between the content (%) in MSDSs and the result of analysis. Conclusions: To elevate MSDSs reliability, the certified education of MSDS drafters and reorganization of the MSDS circulation system is required.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.308-314
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• 2022

Background: Occupational cancer is a global health issue. The Korean CARcinogen EXposure (K-CAREX), a database of CARcinogen EXposure, was developed for the Korean labor force to estimate the number of workers exposed to carcinogens by industry. The present study aimed to estimate the intensity of exposure to carcinogens by industry, in order to supply complementary information about CARcinogen EXposure intensity to the K-CAREX. Methods: We used nationwide workplace monitoring data from 2014 to 2016 and selected target carcinogens based on the K-CAREX list. We computed the 95th percentile levels of measurements for each industry by carcinogens. Based on the 95th percentile level relative to the occupational exposure limit, we classified the CARcinogen EXposure intensity into five exposure ratings (1-5) for each industry. Results: The exposure ratings were estimated for 21 carcinogenic agents in each of the 228 minor industry groups. For example, 3,058 samples were measured for benzene in the manufacturing industry of basic chemicals. This industry was assigned a benzene exposure rating of 3. Conclusions: We evaluated the CARcinogen EXposure ratings across industries in Korean workers. The results will provide information on the exposure intensity to carcinogens for integration into the K-CAREX. Furthermore, it will aid in prioritizing control efforts and identifying industries of concern.

• The Journal of Society for e-Business Studies
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.201-215
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• 2015

Recently advanced security threats have increasingly occurred, and the necessity and importance of Information Security has been growing with the advent of the era of convergence beyond information-oriented age. Most domestic studies in the field of occupational classification of Information Security have only focused on technology-oriented occupations. Relatively little research has been carried out on the occupational classification in the view of convergence environment. Therefore, in this paper we gave a definition of Information Security occupations, classified them and draw required capabilities by occupations in order to design the occupational classification system of Information Security and the required capabilities for future convergence environment by analyzing the previous studies. We also reclassified the occupational classification and required capabilities by occupations, and verified the validity of them based on National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education's the occupational classification system of Information Security considering the future convertgence environment. It is expected that the results of this study will be employed as base data for manpower demand and supply and improvement of working conditions in the future convergence environments. In the future study we will build standardized instruction methods which provide occupational capabilities by using the required capabilities by occupations.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2021

Objective: The purpose of this study was to contribute to the prevention of occupational diseases through the development of an automatic analysis program for evaluating workers' exposure to hazardous chemical substances. Methods: The authors selected chemical substances that caused occupational disease in Korea and chemical substances that are frequently used in industrial sites as target substances for a GC-MS automatic analysis program. The target substances are organic compounds which can be measured by a passive sampler. The automatic analysis program was studied using various raw data obtained from GC-MS analysis for the target substances. Results: A total of 48 organic compounds that can be measured with a passive sampler were selected as target substances for the GC-MS automatic analysis program. The selected compounds included substances that caused occupational disease, substances related to C1 and D1 in special health examinations, and substances for which work environment measurements have been frequently conducted. The GC-MS automatic analysis program was developed by combining information mainly on retention time and mass spectrum. The GC-MS automatic analysis program is designed to analyze unknown samples by comparing the mass spectrum and retention time of the samples to those of reference materials. To evaluate the stability of the program, samples at about the 30-50% level of OELs were prepared and analyzed with the GC-MS automatic analysis program, resulting in stable results for all 48 organic compounds. Conclusion: An automatic analysis program for a total of 48 organic compounds was developed using a GC-MS system that can analyze organic compounds. Unknown samples that contain the 48 organic compounds can be automatically analyzed by the developed program. It is anticipated that it can contribute to the prevention of occupational diseases through an GC-MS automatic analysis program that can quickly provide workers with information on exposure to chemical substances.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.20 no.1 s.69
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• pp.13-17
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• 2005

This paper presents an information system of noise and vibration caused by people as a major source of the environmental problem in residential areas with which people are dissatisfied. Therefore, it is important to monitor the influence of noise and vibration in residential areas. Generally, Geographical Information Systems (GIS) play an important role in noise and vibration mapping. The purpose of this paper is to investigate noise and vibration effects in an urban area and develop a new information network in GIS. Noise and vibration measurements were carried out at a road randomly chosen near INJE University. The obtained values are graphically represented with GIS. Therefore, it is possible to predict noise and vibration in GIS when establishing effective urban plans.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.257-262
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• 2014

Risk information may be one of the most important factor for worker's safe behavior because that safe behavior can be oriented by attitude based on risk information. Traditionally KAP(knowledge, attitude and practice) model was useful frame for the change of human behavior. Knowledge is formed by information through experience and education. Worker's health may be prevented by his or her own active safe behavior based on risk information. This paper is to investigate the effect of labor union on the provirion of risk information by labor union. Data for analysis is the third Korean Working Conditions Survey done by Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute in 2011. The sample size is 50,032 economic active person surveyed by household interview survey with structure questionnaire by trained interviewer. The difference of risk information provision among employees was tested by mean difference test. The level of risk information of employees of companies with labor union is higher than that with non labour union. This paper has some implication for the promotion of safe behavior of employees through risk information provision mediated by labor union. Some limitation of this study may be considered because of using the cross sectional survey data.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.79-87
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• 2015

Purpose: This study was conducted to provide occupational performance evaluated by stroke patients themselves as an intervention according to the periods of its outbreak and examine the effects of it on their activities of daily living and life quality by using the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM). Method: The subjects of this research were divided into nine persons for the experimental group receiving the client-centered occupational therapy intervention and another nine for the control group getting the conventional occupational therapy intervention. And the intervention was performed for 30 minutes, three times a week, for total eight weeks. The level of activities of daily living was evaluated by the Functional Independence Measure (FIM), and life quality was tested by using SS-QOL. Results: First, about the difference of change in the FIM points of the two groups, there was statistically significant difference in Mauchly's sphericity verification (p<.05). Second, about the difference of change in the SS-QOL points of the two groups, there was statistically significant difference in Mauchly's sphericity verification (p<.05). Third, regarding the coefficient of difference in the change of FIM and SS-QOL points according to the two groups, there existed statistically significant correlation in all the evaluations of before, in the middle of, and after the FIM points and also before, in the middle of, and after the SS-QOL points (p<.05). Conclusion: With the findings of this research, we can see that the client-centered occupational therapy training group shows more improved activities of daily living and life quality than the conventional occupational therapy training group. Therefore, it is expected that the client-centered occupational therapy training will be applied usefully to clinical situations as an intervention to improve stroke patients' activities of daily living as well as life quality.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.384-392
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• 2013

Objective: This study inspected incident cases, legal control levels, and GHS(Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals) classification results of strong acids such as hydrogen fluoride, hydrogen chloride, nitric acid, and sulfuric acid, which have been responsible for many recent chemical accidents. As a result, it is deemed necessary for legal control levels of these strong acids to be revised and GHS classification be managed nation-wide. Methods: This study inspected incident cases and legal control levels for strong acids such as hydrogen fluoride, hydrogen chloride, nitric acid, and sulfuric acid. The study analyzed and compared chemical information status and GHS classification results. Results: There were 76 domestic incidents involving strongly acidic hazardous materials over the five years between 2007 and 2011. They include 37 leakage incidents(46.7%) within a workplace, 30 leakage incidents(39.5%) during transportation, and nine leakage incidents(13.8%) following an explosion. The strongly acidic materials in question are defined and controlled as toxic chemicals according to the classes of Substances Requiring Preparation for Accidents, Managed Hazardous Substance, Hazardous Chemical(corrosive) as set forth under the Enforcement Decree of the Toxic Chemicals Control Act and Rules on Occupational Safety and Health Standards of Occupational Safety and Health Act. Among them, nitric acid is solely controlled as a class 6 hazardous material, oxidizing liquid, under the Hazardous Chemicals Control Act. The classification results of the EU ECHA(European Chemicals Agency) CLP(Commission Regulation(EC) No. 790/2009 of 10 August 2009, for the purposes of its adaptation to technical and scientific progress, Regulation(EC) No 1272/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on classification, labeling and packaging of substances and mixtures) and NIER (National Institute of Environmental Research) are almost identical for the three chemicals, with the exception of sulfuric acid. Much of the classification information of NITE (National Institute of Technology and Evaluation) and KOSHA(Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency, KOSHA) is the same. NIER provides 12(41.4%) out of 29 classifications, as does KOSHA.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.112-116
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• 2022

Background/Aims: The Gachon Regional Occupational Cohort Study (GROCS) is a large-scale longitudinal study of occupational safety and health data (covering Work Environment Monitoring, Workers' Health Surveillance, and Occupational Health Service) conducted by the Gachon University Gil Medical Center (GUGMC) in Incheon, Republic of Korea. We conducted GROCS to identify the health effects of workers' occupational risks, behavior, socioeconomic status, and life style. Methods: The GROCS includes data from Work Environment Monitoring, Workers' Health Surveillance, and Occupational Health Service. The baseline year for all data collection was 2018. Work Environment Monitoring was conducted in 240 companies located in Incheon. General Health Examination and Special Health Examination were performed on 32,725 and 9,504 workers, respectively. Occupational Health Services were provided to 16,883 workers in 171 companies. These data have been collected and operated at an external data management institution and were provided as a retrospective cohort after removing personal identification information. Results: In 2018, the total number of companies was 2,854, among which which 488 special Health Examination, 171 Work Environment Monitoring, and 240 Occupational Health Service. The proportion of companies undergoing Special Health Examination was 17.1%, the proportion of companies undergoing Work Environment Monitoring was 8.4%, and the proportion of Companies undergoing Occupational Health Service was 6.0%. Conclusion: GROCS expects researchers to utilize its useful and reliable resource for occupational health and surveillance with for academic or political purposes to lead to improved workers' health and working environment.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.128-138
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• 2011

Objectives: It has been pointed out that there are problems in handling and managing chemicals due to trade secrets of Material Safety Data Sheet(MSDS). To date, some company intentionally leave out of several parts and use an inaccurate expression in MSDS. In particular, with the result of the inspection of the government and labour community, it is required that the 2nd section in MSDS included the composition and information on ingredients has to be provided with comprehensive expression to secure more reliability. Methods: Therefore, this study is aimed: 1) to recognize the current status of trade secrets of MSDS in workplaces with both domestic manufacturers of chemical products and multinational corporations; 2) to make contributions to prevention of the industrial accidents by providing the accurate information of MSDS; 3) to improve the risk communication system related with chemicals; 4) to impress workers on the importance of right of known for MSDS. With the result we analyzed the status of trade secrets in MSDS in 73 companies, such as petrochemistry production, paint production, metal processing oil production, detergent production, and international company related with chemicals, we have found that 38,150 (45.5%) have the trade secrets parts in the total number of 83,832 in MSDS. Also, based on the 288 MSDS gathered by the Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute (OSHRI) from 2005 to 2009, 41.7% of the MSDS are classified into the trade secrets. Conclusions: Therefore, to procure an assurance system of MSDS, we suggest that a MSDS picking up and checking system be legislated in the Occupational Safety and Health Act to protect workers from the unidentified chemical hazards due to the secret trade of MSDS.