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Objectives Recently, overwork‐related disorders have become a major public health concern in Korea. This study investigated the current trends of working hours, causes of death in the working population, and compensation rates. Methods We reviewed the current trends of working hours, cause of death statistics in the working population, industrial accident compensation insurance (IACI) statistics, issues of compensation and prevention of work‐related cerebro‐cardio vascular diseases (CCVDs), mental disorders, and suicide. Results Although weekly working hours and the proportion of long working days have decreased, workers in small companies with fewer than five employees and those in the service sector continue to work long hours. The age standardized mortality due to CCVD and suicide was highest among those with managerial roles. In total, 589 CCVD cases and 104 mental disorder or suicide cases were compensated as occupational diseases in 2017. Between 2016 and 2017, 61% of 59 compensated suicides were related to overwork, specifically: long working hours, increased responsibility, or increased workload. The Korean government has introduced various policies to reduce working hours and to increase compensation approval rate for overwork‐related CCVDs. Stakeholders have called for the introduction of independent laws to prevent overwork‐related disorders, change organizational culture, and address the blind spots of the IACI Act and Labor Standard Act. Conclusions Prevention and compensation policies have improved working conditions in Korea, but there remains much to be done. This review significantly contributes to the understanding of the overall policies and research to prevent overwork‐related disorders in Korea.

The ultimate goal of the quality control program for special periodic health examination agencies is to diagnose the health condition of a worker correctly, based on accurate examination and analysis skills, leading to protect the worker’s health. The quality control program on three areas, chemical analysis for biological monitoring since 1995, and pneumoconiosis, audiometric testing since 1996, has contributed to improve the reliability of occupational health screenings by improving the issues including standardization of testing methods, tools, diagnostic opinions, and reliability of analysis for biological monitoring. It has contributed to improving the reliability of occupational health monitoring by rectifying the following issues associated with previous monitoring: absence of standardized testing methods, testing tools that are not upgraded, mismatching diagnostic opinions, and unreliable results of biological specimen analysis. Nevertheless, there are issues in need of further improvement such as lack of expertise or the use of inappropriate method for health examination, and passive and unwilling participation in the quality control. We suggested solutions to these problems for each area of quality control program. Above all, it is essential to provide active support for health examiners to develop their expertise, while encouraging all the health screening agencies, employers, and workers to develop the desire to improve the system and to maintain the relevance. Keywords: Audiometric test, Biological monitoring, Pneumoconiosis, Quality control program

This study assessed the associations between blood levels of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and humoral and cellmediated immune response. The subjects included 53 male workers who had worked at industrial waste incinerators for more than one year. The experimental groups were divided into indoor, field, and incinerator workers according to working process. Data on their lifestyles and occupational characteristics were collected using a survey, and blood levels of PCDDs, PCDFs, and PCBs were analyzed to determine their associations with T-lymphocyte subpopulations and immunoglobulin levels. The results showed that total blood dioxins PCB levels were higher in field and incinerator workers (20.46±22.21 and 21.97±18.05 pg toxic equivalence [TEQ]/g fat, respectively) than in indoor workers (7.69± 2.05 pg TEQ/g fat). CD3+, CD4+, CD8+, and CD4+ CD45RO+ cells among T-lymphocyte subpopulations and IgE and IgM levels among immunoglobulins were slightly higher in field and incinerator workers than those in indoor workers, with no statistical significance (p

We determined the toxicity of mixtures of ethyl acetate (EA), isopropyl alcohol (IPA), methyl ethyl ketone (MEK), toluene (TOL) and xylene (XYL) with half-maximal effective concentration (EC50) values obtained using human hepatocytes cells. According to these data, quantitative property-activity relationships (QPAR) models were successfully proposed to predict the toxicity of mixtures by multiple linear regressions (MLR). The leave-one-out cross validation method was used to find the best subsets of descriptors in the learning methods. Significant differences in physico-chemical properties such as boiling point (BP), specific gravity (SG), Reid vapor pressure (rVP) and flash point (FP) were observed between the single substances and the mixtures. The EC50 of the mixture of EA and IPA was significantly lower than that of contained TOL and XYL. The mixture toxicity was related to the mixing ratio of MEK, TOL and XYL (MLR equation EC50 = 3.3081 − 2.5018 × TOL − 3.2595 × XYL − 12.6596 × MEK × XYL), as well as to BP, SG, VP and FP (MLR equation EC50 = 1.3424 + 6.2250 × FP − 7.1198 × SG × FP − 0.03013 × rVP × FP). These results suggest that QPAR-based models could accurately predict the toxicity of polar and nonpolar mixtures used in rotogravure printing industries.

The purpose of the present study is to investigate the correlations between food intake behavior and job stress level and neuropeptide hormone concentrations. Job strain and food intake behavior were first identified using a self-reported questionnaire, concentrations of neuropeptide hormones (adiponectin, brain derived neurotrophic factor [BDNF], leptin, and ghrelin) were determined, and the correlations were analyzed. In the results, job strain showed significant correlations with adiponectin (odds ratio [OR], 1.220; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.001~1.498; p < 0.05) and BDNF (OR, 0.793; 95% CI, 0.646~0.974; p < 0.05), and ghrelin exhibited a significant correlation with food intake score (OR, 0.911; 95% CI, 0.842~0.985, p < 0.05). These results suggest that job stress affects food intake regulation by altering the physiological concentrations of neuropeptide hormones as well as emotional status.

This study determinated the polychlorinated dibenzo- ρ -dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDDs andDFs) in fly ash and bottom ash of industrial waste incinerators. Experimental results showed that averagePCDDs and DFs concentrations in fly ash were 4.5063 and 13.004 ng-TEQ/g, and in bottom ash were 0.2367and 0.0993 ng-TEQ/g, respectively. Predominant congener in TEQ of PCDDs/DFs from fly ash were1,2,3,4,6,7,8-HpCDD, OCDD, 2,3,4,6,7,8-HxCDF, 2,3,4,7,8-PeCDF and in bottom ash were 1,2,3,7,8-PeCDDand 2,3,4,7,8-PeCDF. 요약: 산업폐기물 소각장의 비산재와 바닥재에서 PCDDs와 DFs를 측정한 결과, 비산재에서 PCDDs와DFs의 농도는 각각 4.5063과 13.004 ng-TEQ/g이었고 바닥재에서는 0.2367과 0.0993 ng-TEQ/g의 함유량을 보였다. 비산재 속에는 1,2,3,4,6,7,8- HpCDD, OCDD, 2,3,4,6,7,8-HxCDF, 2,3,4,7,8-PeCDF 동종체가 다량 함유되었고 바닥재에는 1,2,3,7,8-PeCDD와 2,3,4,7,8-PeCDF가 많았다. Key words: industrial waste incinerator, fly ash, bottom ash, PCDDs/DFs 1. 서 론 환경부의 「2012년도 전국 폐기물 발생 및 처리현황」보고서에 1의하면 2012년도 1일 폐기물 총 발생량은 382,009 톤으로 지난 연도와 비교하여 지속적인 증가를 보이는 것으로 보고되었다. 총 폐기물 중생활폐기물과 건설 폐기물의 발생은 전년도와 비교하여 차이를 보이지 않았으나 산업폐기물은 2012년도에 145,390 톤/일로 2011년도 대비(137,961 톤/일)5.4% 증가된 것으로 보고되었다. 폐기물 처리 방법에있어서도 과거에는 매립에 의한 처리가 대부분이었던 것이 2010년대 들어오면서는 재활용과 소각에 의

In this study, we analyzed the toxicity of mixtures of dimethylformamide (DMF) and methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) or DMF and toluene (TOL) and predicted their toxicity using quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSAR). A QSAR model for single substances and mixtures was analyzed using multiple linear regression (MLR) by taking into account the statistical parameters between the observed and predicted EC50. After preprocessing, the best subsets of descriptors in the learning methods were determined using a 5-fold cross-validation method. Significant differences in physico-chemical properties such as boiling point (BP), specific gravity (SG), Reid vapor pressure (rVP), flash point (FP), low explosion limit (LEL), and octanol/ water partition coefficient (Pow) were observed between the single substances and the mixtures. The EC50 of the mixture of DMF and TOL was significantly lower than that of DMF. The mixture toxicity was directly related to the mixing ratio of TOL and MEK (MLR EC50 equation = 1.76997 � 1.12249 × TOL + 1.21045 × MEK), as well as to SG, VP, and LEL (MLR equation EC50 = 15.44388 � 19.84549 × SG + 0.05091 × VP + 1.85846 × LEL). These results show that QSAR-based models can be used to quantitatively predict the toxicity of mixtures used in manufacturing industries.