Occupational safety and health

Working Environment Measurement (WEM) field workshop for ‘Industrial Hygiene’

Objectives

  1. The practical Industrial Hygiene (IH) training workshop (WS), targeting governmental officers from Ministry of Health and Sport, Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population was carried out successfully training 29 participants on IH.
  2. The WS, supported by ILO-Korea OSH project and including KOSHA expert trainers, met the demand of the Government for capacity building in this area as a start in the development of an industrial hygiene system.
  3. The interactive practical training method format supported by trainers and the evaluation/recommendation for workplaces from attendants met the expectation of the trainers.

Outputs

  1. The theoretical re-cap sessions for work environment measurement and industrial ventilation courses were conducted before the on-site workplace visits to help attendees understand. Site visits and monitoring took place in two workplaces (United Paint Group, lead related manufacturing company and Maple, textile company).
  2. A total of 29 attendees were divided in 4 groups for efficiency enhancement and they completed the training course by using the device directly, comparing the results and presenting recommendations to improve the work environment. (18 attendees from Ministry of Health and Sport, 10 attendees from Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population, 1 attendee from the factory).
  3. The 4 types of industrial hazard (dust, heat, noise and lead) were selected as target materials for practical device usage at the IH WS.
  4. WEM devices used at the IH WS were: High volume personal air samplers (with calibrator), Noise dosimeters (with calibrator), WBGT heat stress meters and Hotwire anemometer.
        - Several expendable items (whole set of 37 mm cassettes and PVC, MCE filters with tubing) were utilized as well.
  1. Participants learned how to select workers with the highest exposure to hazardous substances, how to select the homogeneous exposure groups (HEG) and the way calculate the measurement result.∙
  2. Participants identified the measurement results and suggested suitable recommendations to improve workplaces’ working environment such as below;
        - WBGT heat stress results to determine worker’s minimal rest time;
        - Capture velocity of air flow to check appropriateness of local exhaust system;
        - Calculation of dust concentration using weight difference between pre- and post- dust sampling
        - Noise dosimeter results to comply with international exposure standards, etc.