• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.27 no.1 s.45
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• pp.145-158
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• 1994

This study was performed to investigate the knowledge and attitude of workers in small scale industries on health management, and to provide the basic data for more effective service by the group occupational health service system. The knowledge and attitude of 247 workers and 46 health personnel in the industries scattered around Incheon were investigated from December 1992 to February 1993. The results were summerized as follows ; 1. There were significant differences between the workers and the health personnel by age, sex, marriage status, job-position and education level. 2. The recognition level of the workers to contract work related disease was significantly higher than that of health personnel, and recognition level of the workers on environmental hazards and on the utility of measuring hazards were lower than that of health personnel. 3. The recognition level on the content of the group occupational health service system was significantly different between workers and health personnel, 72.6% of the responses from the workers answered that they did not know what the group occupational healthe service system was, but 82.2% of the responses from the health personnel answered that they knew well what it was. And 79.0% of all respondents thought it was necessary for worker's health. 4. Seventy three percent of the respondents from the workers indicated that they had never taken health education. However, 93.0% of all respondents answered positively for the need of health education to promote their health. 5. Current health service system was judged to be insufficient for the demand of workers for better health. Most of the respondents prefered a formal but flexible health service system and they wanted the periodic health examination to be followed up. It was revealed that despite of poor knowledge, the demand of workers for health service was higher than the current supply. Therefore, this study suggests that educating both health personnel and workers to obtain correct knowledge on the hazards to work enviroment and health management is needed for effective occupational health service.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.59-77
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• 1996

A survey was conducted to study perception and attitudes of examinees of health screening center towards items, cost and procedures of health examination and degree of satisfaction with health examination, from March 2 to May 31, 1995. The study population was 468 examinees received health examination at Health Screening & Diagnosis Center of Yeungnam University Hospital. A questionnaire method was used to collect data. The followings are summaries of findings : Examinees were predominantly male(77.4%); had college education(68.6%), and held white-collar workers(57.8%). Statistical significance of association between frequency of periodic health examination and other variables were tested by chi-square test. Examinees who have higher degree of concern regarding health and those who practice more exercise for health maintenance received health examination more frequently. The majority expressed that health examination is very beneficial and effective in terms of prevention and early detection of diseases. Also the majority revealed that they are satisfied with health examination. The majority expressed that procedures and time spent for health examination are adequate; interval of health examination is one year; and additional examination items are cerebral examination, neurological examination and gastrofibercope. The majority revealed that they want more information about chronic degenerative diseases and health maintenance and promotion. In conclusion, the study revealed that examinees seemed to have more positive perceptions and attitudes towards health examination.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.30-39
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• 1999

Objectives. This study was carried out to evaluate hearing impairment judgement and to investigate the differences in various diagnostic criteria for noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) among workers who required for close observation (C). Methods. Out of 731,029 workers who had taken the specific periodic health examination in 1994, we used the audiometric data on 37,999 workers (C) eliminating the employees who had previous otologic problems. Many investigators have being using different criteria for the evaluation of hearing impairment. In this study, we used the criteria of early (1989-1994), current, compensation for NIHL in Korea, 2-, 3-, 4-divided classification and hearing loss at 4,000 Hz and compared the evaluation results. Results. The prevalences of C and workers who had occupational disease $(D_1)$ diagnosed for NIHL were 11.1 % and 0.44 %. There were significant difference in the prevalences of C and $D_1$, depending on different province of Korea. Pure tone averages (PTAs) were not appropriately applied in their evaluation 97% of workers whom we studied on were below the level of mild hearing loss judged by ISO standard. However, there were wide variations in the prevalence rate of mild hearing loss by diagnostic criteria. Thus, there were different judgements in determining the degree of NIHL depending on which diagnostic criteria were utilized. PTAs were found 20.54 (Rt) and 20.74 (Lt) when the method of 3-divided classification was applied for audiometric data. The degree of hearing impairment of the left ear was more severe than that of right ear. The prevalence of normal hearing threshold below 20 dB was 75.4% and the range of difference in both ear was below 10 dB. Right sided hearing threshold levels were 21.08 dB (500 Hz), 18.44 dB (1,000 Hz), 22.09 (2,000 Hz) and 52.36 dB (4,000 Hz). There was typical high frequency loss (C5-dip at 4,000 Hz) above 30 - 40 dB in normal hearing level. The increasing trend in hearing threshold level was gradually decreased by the increase of PTAs. The difference between PTAs and threshold at 4,000 Hz was about 10 dB. Conclusions. We could found that PTAs in the previous examination were not appropriately evaluated. This study revealed that they did not use unique criteria for managing the workers of NIHL. For the prevention of NIHL, it was found that the quality control on diagnosis and comprehensive management program were required, especially for those of hearing loss (C).

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.29 no.3 s.54
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• pp.617-637
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• 1996

Occupational dermatosis is one of the most prevalent occupational disorders. However, the extent of the occupational dermatoses including incidences and prevalencies of each disease entity, and etiologic materials are not yet welt stated in Korea. Authors reviewed the literatures on the statistic data and reports on the occupational dermatoses, and surveyed on the occupational dermatoses in two factories, and surveyed the physicians responsible to the occupational dermatoses with formed questionnaire. The results are as follows; 1. Among medical journals published since 1964, there were 31 articles on the occupational dermatoses. Of 31 articles, 18 were case reports and all others were review articles. Of 18 case reports, 9 were epidemiologic survey. The Workers' Periodic Health Examinations revealed that prevalence of the occupational dermatoses was highest(4.36 per 10,000 workers) in 1974, but number of the cases reported were decreased sharply since 1978 with some tendency to increase since 1981. There were 2,240 reported cases of occupational dermatoses between 1966 and 1992, which is 1.90% of all the reported occupational diseases. Skin infection and injuries due to chemicals were most frequent and there were 6 cases of skin cancer. 2. In an epidemiological survey on the dermatoses among 995 workers in a metal product manufacturing factory and 225 workers in a coal chemical factory, there were 794 with dermatomycosis, 296 workers with acne, 130 workers with scar, 123 workers with deformity of toe nails. Scars, photosensitivity dermatitis, deformity of finger and toe nails, and acne were more prevalent in the metal product manufacturing factory(p<0.05). In the metal prouct manufacturing factory, workers treating organic solvents and oils had more dermatoses than those without treating the materials(p<0.05). On the skin patch performed on 16 workers in the metal product manufacturing factory, there were 8 cases of irritation dermatitis and 5 cases of contact dermatitis. Prevalence of contact dermatitis in the metal product manufacturing factory was 1.3%. 3. On the questionnaire survey, 34 dermatologists, 29 doctors of preventive medicine, and 22 family physician replied. The proportion of occupational etiology among all dermatoses assumed by the physicians were below 9%, and the most important occupational dermatosis in Korea was contact dermatitis. Main etiologic materials related to the occupational dermatosis were organic solvent, acid and alkali, and metals. The reason for the scarcity of report of occupational dermatoses were difficulty in diagnosis and physician's ignorance of the occupational etiology. They replied that to prevent the occupational dermatoses in the workplace, the use of protective devices was most important, and development of diagnostic criteria on the occupational dermatoses is urgent. Above results shows us that there is many workers with occupational dermatoses, but they are mostly unreported. Measures to prevent and manage the occupational dermatoses are not satisfactory at present. Hence, authors suggest measures for the precise diagnosis, report and prevention of the occupational dermatoses. a. Dermatologist, preventive physician, and industrial hygienist should work as a team to examine the high risk group and establish the preventive measures. b. Disease entities, diagnostic criteria of occupational dermatoses should be listed, criteria for the compensation and job fitting at recruitment should be established, and manual for the proper treatment and effective prevention of each occupational dermatosis should be developed. c. Patch test antigens against each occupational category should be developed and it should be available to any physicians responsible. d. To facilitate the diagnosis of occupational dermatoses by the doctors responsible for the Workersr Periodic Health Examination, development of standardized questionnaire, education on the techniques of the patch test, and cooperation with the dermatologist in diagnosis of occupational dermatoses is essential.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.418-426
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• 2021

This study investigates the perception of radiation safety management in radiation generator manufacturing workers and medical institutions. The basic data obtained is further applied to improve active coping ability and safety levels. The knowledge and attitude practice score of radiation was found to be related to gender, age, marital status, occupation, position, current work period, total work period, radiation related work period, the manual available, defense facility maintenance, number of defense equipment, radiation safety education, special health examination, and recognition of radiation terms. In particular, the knowledge score of radiologists was highest among the radiation-related occupations (<0.05). Radiation safety management requires active defense endeavors to prevent radiation exposure, by both workers of radiation manufacturers and medical institutions. Moreover, institutional devices such as compliance with guidelines, periodic education, facility reinforcement, manual preparation, and special health checkups are required for efficient radiation safety management.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.28 no.1 s.49
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• pp.1-12
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• 1995

Diatomaceous earth, quarried from the remains of aquatic plants deposited millions of years ago, continues to be a very important raw material with many industrial uses. In its natural state, diatomaceous earth is an amorphous silica with no crystalline pattern. For many uses, however, it is calcinated and calcination converts a portion of the amorphous silica to a crystalline form, cristobalite which is far more fibrogenic. In a factory which produces calcinated diatomaceous earth, seven workers were proved as pneumoconiosis on 1991 and 1992. Authors reviewed medical chart and current status of them. Authors also examined thirty one subjects from the factory with questionnaire, physical examination, spirometry and chest radiography on August 13th 1993. The radiographs were independently interpreted by two radiologists and their findings were classified by International Classification of Radiography of Pneumoconiosis(ILO, 1980). Total and respirable dust of diatomaceous earth were measured on October 1993. The results were as follows; 1. Of 31 workers, 6 (19.4%) were diagnosed as diatomaceous earth pneumoconiosis. There was an increasing tendency in prevalence of pneumoconiosis as the duration of dust exposure gets longer. 2. There were no significant differences in age, smoking rate, alcohol drinking rate, and pulmonary function test results between cases and non-cases. 3. The means of total dust exposures at flour manufacturing, fire brick grinding and packaging, ceramic raws packaging processes exceeded Korean and ACGIH standards, $10mg/m^3$. Above results suggest that engineering controls, periodic environmental and medical surveillance are important for preventing pneumoconiosis in the diatomite factory.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.343-350
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• 2023

Background: Digital panoramic dental X-ray equipment (PDX) is frequently used by patients and dental workers for diagnosis and examination in dental institutions; however, infection control has not been properly implemented. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to systematically review the potential risk of cross-infection in the dental environment by investigating the contamination level of general aerobic bacteria and Staphylococcus aureus, which are important in hospital infections, in PDX areas that people mainly contact. Methods: This survey was conducted from March to May 2023 and covered one general hospital, three dental hospitals, and nine dental clinics equipped with PDX. Bacteria samples were collected from the left-handle, right-handle, forehead support, and head side support as the patient's contact areas, as well as the X-ray exposure switch and left-click mouse button as the dental hygienist's contact areas of the PDX. The collected bacteria were spread on Petrifilm, and colonies formed after 48 hours of culture were counted. Results: General aerobic bacteria and S. aureus were detected in all areas investigated. Significant differences in bacterial counts between different regions of the PDX were observed in both groups (p<0.001). The detection rates of general aerobic bacteria (p<0.001) and S. aureus (p<0.001) were significantly higher in the contact areas of patients than those of dental hygienists. A positive correlation was observed between the forehead and the temple region in terms of general aerobic bacteria and S. aureus detection (r=1) (p<0.01). Conclusion: Taken together, the presence of many bacteria, including S. aureus, detected in PDX indicates that PDX has a potential cross-infection risk. Our results therefore highlight the need for the development of appropriate disinfection protocols for reusable medical devices such as PDX and periodic infection prevention training for hospital-related workers, including dental hygienists.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.117-126
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• 1994

Some of the important and vital roles performed by the Health Care Center of Pohang Iron & Steel Co., Ltd.(POSCO) are the periodic monitoring of the work sites as well as regular medical check-ups for each workers to ensure both pleasant and safe working conditions and to protect employees' health. Pohang Steel Works, which has 42 plants, 26 facilities and 12,000 employees, has an annual crude steel production capacity of 9,670,000 using 24,500,000 ton of raw materials. We have measured lots of areal and personal working environment according to Occupational Safety and Health Law semiannually. All data collected on industrial hygiene is stored and managed by personal computer. The developed of a computerized industrial hygiene control system linked to the company's main computer system will provide efficient evaluation of the working environment as well as critical informations on employees' health. Development of this system had begun in May, 1992 and was completed in March, 1994. The computerized industrial hygiene control system can; 1. store industrial hygiene data, providing key pertinent to the diagnosis of occupational related illnesses, and if necessary, the basis for improving the working environment, 2. decide type and time of medical examination of each work for exposure to specific agents, and supply proper protection periodically, 3. prevent occupational related illnesses through evaluation of environmental and biological monitoring, and performance of epidemiological surveillance, 4. facilitate proper job placement through linking of industrial hygiene control and personnel information systems, 5. monitor job processes. levels of chemical agents used, and new agents introduced, 6. and increase productivity by saving time resulting from the implementation of the computerized sysyte,

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.211-217
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• 2009

The purpose of this study is to investigate into company workers' general characteristics and their awareness or oral health examinations. Answer sheets for questionnaire for 267 industrial workers at Changwon city, Korea, were collected and analyzed using SPSS 12.0. Among workers who haven't visited a dental clinic for last one year, 75.6% of them didn't have dental caries. 74.0% of workers who haven't received dental scaling didn't have dental caries. 84.4% of workers who thought of themselves as having good oral health had good oral health and none of them had dental caries. 9.1% of people who had dental caries of 4 or more had bad breath. 73.4% of workers didn't need to treat dental caries, while scaling in 57.7% of them was required. To reform and improve of the system, incremental dental health care system for industrial workers is needed. Oral health education is needed to increase the motivation of industrial workers to control their basic disease.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.91-107
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• 2002

In order to evaluate the factors related to therapeutic compliance of hypertensive patients in small and medium scale industry, the questionnaire survey and the blood pressure measurement were performed on 138 hypertensive patients who were reported to have C or $D_2$ result of hypertension at the workers' periodic health examination from March to November 2001. The contents of questionnaire included the informations of factors related to therapeutic compliance of hypertensive patients such as, age, sex, marital status, income, education levels, scale, occupation, work duration, smoking and drinking habits, exercise, family history, stress and A type personality, employer's concern, organizational culture, health status, awareness, knowledge and attitude toward the needs of hypertension treatment, and experience of health education. The results of the study were as follows: 1. The proportion of those who were compliant to the treatment of hypertension was 41.3% of subjects. Among small scale industry less than 50 employees, the rate of therapeutic compliance group was 27.5% and therapeutic noncompliance group was 72.5%. Among medium scale industry more than 50 employees, the rate of therapeutic compliance group was 60.3% and therapeutic noncompliance group was 39.7%. 2. Among therapeutic noncompliance group, 95.1% of patients were aware of the fact that workers have hypertension, and 77.8% of patients got 6-10 marks of hypertension related knowledge. For health education, 27.2% were experienced and 34.6% said no intention to participate. And for hypertension treatment, 9.9% said no need to get the treatment and 44.4% said have no idea whether get treatment or not. 3. The significant factors related to therapeutic compliance of hypertensive patients in small scale industry were work duration, A type personality(anger), health status, attitude toward the needs of hypertension treatment, and experience of health education. 4. The significant factors related to therapeutic compliance of hypertensive patients in medium scale industry were age, occupation, subjective symptom, attitude toward the needs of hypertension treatment, and experience of health education. In consideration of above findings, it was suggested that in order to improve the therapeutic compliance in small and medium scale industry hypertensives, it be necessary to change attitude, perception, knowledge and treatment of hypertension by various methods such as effective health education and individually consulting programs by occupational health professional.