Seunghon Ham

Seunghon Ham
Gachon University | kyungwon · Department of Occupational Medicine, College of Medicine

Hons.BSc, MPH, PhD

About

86
Publications
25,136
Reads
How we measure 'reads'
A 'read' is counted each time someone views a publication summary (such as the title, abstract, and list of authors), clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the full-text. Learn more
855
Citations
Additional affiliations
October 2017 - September 2023
Gachon University
Position
  • Professor (Associate)
June 2017 - September 2017
Seoul National University
Position
  • Professor (Associate)
January 2016 - May 2017
Seoul National University
Position
  • Senior Researcher
Education
March 2010 - August 2015
Seoul National University
Field of study
  • Occupational Hygiene and Environmental Health
March 2008 - February 2010
Seoul National University
Field of study
  • Occupational Hygiene
March 2004 - February 2008
Northumbria University
Field of study
  • Manufacturing System and Design Engineering

Publications

Publications (86)
Article
This study aimed to evaluate particle emission characteristics and to evaluate several control methods used to reduce particle emissions during three-dimensional (3D) printing. Experiments for particle characterization were conducted to measure particle number concentrations, emission rates, morphology, and chemical compositions under manufacturer-...
Article
Introduction With the increasing importance of protecting workers from exposure to hazardous chemicals, there is a growing demand for integrating ICT technologies, especially IoT, into workplace environment monitoring systems. In this study, we present the development and implementation of an IoT-based smart sensor device specifically designed to d...
Article
Introduction Prior studies have explored psychological strain caused by work-related communication devices used beyond regular working hours. However, research on their direct physical impacts is limited. This study aimed to assess and compare the effects of long working hours and off-hours use of work-related communication devices on computer visi...
Article
Introduction Since the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies and the Korean government have promoted flexible work hours. However, there is a lack of adequate research on this topic. This study explores the effects of flexible work arrangements on sleep disorders. Methods We analyzed the data from the 6th Korea Working Conditions Survey involving 31,3...
Article
Full-text available
The firefighting protective suits (FPSs) of firefighters at fire scenes affect their health and safety. However, the association between firefighters’ health awareness of occupational exposure risks and the FPS use, washing and management remains unclear. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the association between firefighters’ health awareness...
Article
Full-text available
Background As social distancing persists and interest in work-life balance grows, more companies are adopting flexible work policies. While there have been studies on sleep disorders associated with different types of work, such as shift work, research exploring the relationship between flexible work schedules and sleep disorders is still limited,...
Article
Full-text available
Objectives: The present study aims to identify and compare the associations between long working hours and use of work-related communication devices outside regular working hours on anxiety symptoms, thereby providing insight into redefining working hours. Methods: Based on the cross-sectional data from the 6th Korean Working Conditions Survey (KWC...
Article
Full-text available
(1) Background: When a fire breaks out, combustibles are burned and toxic substances such as carbon monoxide (CO), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), benzene, and hydrogen cyanide are produced. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the air quality inside self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) by comparing it to that in the environment wh...
Article
Full-text available
Background Lone workers are generally defined as individuals who work alone without supervision, including self-employed people. While lone workers are considered a vulnerable group in some countries, there is a lack of research on their health status in domestic studies. Globally, the number of lone workers has been increasing, and this trend has...
Article
Full-text available
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the educational effectiveness of a training course for electric vehicle accident response personnel. This study design is a cross-sectional study with a pre- and post-education survey. A total of 60 responses were analyzed before and after the training of 30 firefighters enrolled in the First Electric Vehicl...
Article
Full-text available
IntroductionDuring the Vietnam War, several unknown chemicals, such as Agent Orange, were used in Vietnam by the military. Therefore, there have been continuous health concerns among the Vietnamese population and veterans exposed to these hazardous chemicals. This study aimed to investigate the risk of all cancers and also organ-specific cancers am...
Article
Full-text available
이 연구는 소방관들이 사용하는 공기호흡기와 공기호흡기 충전실의 관리체계와 환경을 개선하기 위한 정책실행의 우선순위를 평가, 제언하는 것이 목적이다. 전문가 패널 21명에 대해 3회에 걸친 인터뷰와 2회 델파이 조사를 진행하였다. 선행연구 결과와 전문가 인터뷰를 통해 공기호흡기와 충전실의 관리체계와 환경개선안을 1차로 도출하였다. 개선안은 자원, 공기호흡기와 충전실 관리시스템, 공기호흡기 관련업무, 공기충전실 관련업무, 법과 제도를 포함한 5개 분야로 분류하여 제시하였고 정책의 중요도와 실행가능성을 동시에 고려하여 분석함으로써 정책실행의 우선순위를 도출하였다. 델파이조사 분석결과 1순위는 구조대원을 대상으로 수난구조를 할...
Article
Full-text available
Background Although working hours have decreased in Korea, they are still high compared to that of other countries. In Korea, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases (CCVDs) related to overwork in Korea continually occur, and the social burden from overwork is estimated to be high. This study investigated the amendment of regulations affecting...
Article
Full-text available
(1) Background: It is well known that various toxic substances, including carcinogens, are generated at the fire scenes, so it is very important for firefighters to wear comprehensive personal protective equipment. The extent of the type and amount of harmful substances contained in the washing water of fire protection suits (FPS) exposed to fire s...
Article
Full-text available
Firefighters are repeatedly exposed to various pollutants that occur at fire scenes. There are three levels of exposure: primary exposure to pollutants, secondary exposure to pollutants on personal protective equipment (PPE), and tertiary exposure to contaminated fire stations and fire engines due to pollutants on PPE. Therefore, it is important fo...
Article
Full-text available
Objectives: This study evaluates and recommends the priority of policy implementation to improve the fire protection clothing management system used by firefighters and the reduction of cross-contamination from contaminated clothing at the scene of a fire. Methods: It consisted of 7 experts and conducted three interviews and two modified Delphi sur...
Article
Full-text available
Background: As self-employed workers are vulnerable to health problems, this study aimed to analyze mental health problems and sleep disturbances among self-employed workers compared with paid workers in Korea. Methods: A total of 34,750 workers (23,938 paid workers and 10,812 self-employed workers) were analyzed from the fifth Korean Working Co...
Article
Full-text available
During the Vietnam War, many troops and citizen were exposed to large amounts of Agent Orange (AO), and the hazardous effects of AO are continuously being researched and reported. The Korean Vietnam War Veterans’ Health Study Cohort (KOVECO) is a retrospective cohort to demonstrate the health status of the Korean Vietnam War veterans and their seco...
Article
Full-text available
Field-washing decontamination of equipment is an effective way for firefighters to reduce their risk of secondary contamination. No study has yet clarified the factors influencing effective field decontamination of equipment such as self-contained breathing apparatuses (SCBAs). This study sought to examine factors that influence the SCBA washing an...
Article
Full-text available
Exposure to occupational and environmental noise is closely linked to various auditory system diseases. Few studies have focused on the effect of noise exposure on the extra auditory system, especially the urinary system. We analyzed 17,154 participants aged 40–79 years from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 2013 an...
Article
Full-text available
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 conduct...
Preprint
Full-text available
Exposure to occupational and environmental noise is closely linked to various diseases of auditory system. Few studies have focused on noise exposure effect on extra auditory system especially, urinary system. This study analyzed 17,202 participants aged 40–79 years from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 2013 and 20...
Article
Full-text available
Background: Sunlight exposure is a major risk factor for eye disorders. Most outdoor workers cannot avoid sunlight exposure. This study aimed to analyze the relationship between outdoor sunlight exposure and eye disorders in an economically active population. Methods: This study analyzed the 2008-2012 Korea National Health and Nutritional Examin...
Article
Full-text available
Background The present study investigated the association between two domains of physical activity (occupational physical activity [OPA] and leisure-time physical activity [LTPA]) and sleep duration. Methods We investigated 3,421 paid workers from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2014–2015. Sleep duration was categorized...
Article
Full-text available
Objectives Several studies on the health effects of heat exposure on workers have been reported; however, only few studies have summarized the overall and systematic health effects of heat exposure on workers. This study aims to review the scientific reports on the health status of workers exposed to high temperatures in the workplace. Methods We...
Article
Full-text available
This study aimed to investigate the association between work organization and the trajectories of insomnia patterns among night shift workers in a hospital. The health examination data of hospital workers, recorded from January 2014 to December 2018, were collected; 6765 records of 2615 night shift workers were included. Insomnia was defined as a s...
Article
Full-text available
Background The association between breakfast skipping and abnormal metabolic outcomes remains controversial. A comprehensive study with various stratified data is required. Objective The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between abnormal metabolic outcomes and breakfast skipping by sex, age, and work status stratification. Met...
Preprint
Full-text available
Background The association between breakfast skipping and abnormal metabolic outcome remains controversial. Large study with stratified data is needed. Objective The aim of the current study was to investigate the relationship between abnormal metabolic outcomes and breakfast skipping with sex, age, and work status stratification. Methods We used...
Preprint
Full-text available
Background: The association between breakfast skipping and abnormal metabolic outcomes remains controversial. A comprehensive study with various stratified data is required. Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between abnormal metabolic outcomes and breakfast skipping by sex, age, and work status stratification. Met...
Preprint
Full-text available
Background: The association between breakfast skipping and abnormal metabolic outcomes remains controversial. A comprehensive study with various stratified data is required. Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between abnormal metabolic outcomes and breakfast skipping by sex, age, and work status stratification. Met...
Article
Objective: This study investigated the working conditions and mental health status linked to occupational injury among Korean outdoor workers. Methods: Socioeconomic and occupational characteristics were collected using self-reported questionnaires from 26,468 paid workers selected using the 5th Korean Working Conditions Survey. The relationship...
Article
Full-text available
The outbreak of COVID-19 is now a pandemic. The Korean government has declared the highest infectious-disease alert as a 'red' and the World Health Organization (WHO) has announced the highest level (Phase 6). Control of COVID-19 is an unprecedented worldwide public health problem that governments and individuals must overcome. Recently, infection...
Article
Full-text available
This study compared the association between working hours and self-rated health (SRH) according to sex, socioeconomic status, and working conditions. In all, 25,144 participants were selected from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES), conducted from 2010 to 2018. The risks of poor SRH, according to working hours, wer...
Article
Full-text available
Background Cadmium exposure may induce chronic intoxication with renal damage. Silver soldering may be a source of cadmium exposure. Methods We analyzed working environment measurement data and periodic health screening data from a small silver soldering company with ten workers. Concentrations of cadmium in air from working environment measuremen...
Article
Full-text available
Physicochemical properties between colloidal engineered nanomaterials (ENM) and aerosols released from consumer spray products were characterized. A dynamic light scattering (DLS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and inductively coupled plasma‐mass spectrometer (ICP‐MS) were used to evaluate the suspended ENMs in the products. Direct‐reading...
Article
Full-text available
Background: The number of workers in non-standard employment (NSE) is increasing due to industrial change and technological development. Dependent self-employment (DSE), a type of NSE, was created decades ago. Despite the problems associated with this new type of employment, few studies have been conducted on the effects by DSE on health, especial...
Article
Full-text available
Background: Mental health problems are a growing issue among customer-facing workers. This study aimed to investigate the workers' symptoms of anxiety, depression, and sleep disturbance caused by customer complaints and the suppression of one's emotions at work. Methods: This study used the data from the fifth Korean Working Conditions Survey 20...
Article
Full-text available
Exposure to extreme temperature is a critical occupational risk factor. This study aimed to investigate the association between exposure to extreme temperatures and injury at the workplace using data from 92,238 workers (46,175 male and 46,063 female) from the 2014 and 2017 Korean Working Condition Survey. Exposure to extremely high or low temperat...
Article
Polyhexamethyleneguanidine (PHMG) is widely used as a disinfectant to prevent microbial contamination in ultrasonic humidifiers in Korea; however, sales have been prohibited by the government after an outbreak of severe lung injury among humidifier disinfectant users. This study was therefore conducted to determine the characteristics of PHMG parti...
Article
Full-text available
This study aimed to compare sample pretreatment procedures for the identification and quantification of asbestos. The performance of visual estimation and point counting procedures for evaluating asbestos-containing waste was investigated, and the effect of analytical experience was studied. The efficacy of pretreatments for the identification and...
Article
Full-text available
Firefighters are known to be exposed to a variety of hazardous materials and combustion products during operational and training activities, as well as in fire stations. However, exposure to diesel exhaust emissions, classified as carcinogenic to humans by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), is also present in the fire station e...
Article
The Internet of Things (IoT) is an important keyword in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. IoT is expected to have a massive impact for human being, but these are still early days. IoT enables these objects to collect and exchange data through the wireless network, such as devices, vehicles, buildings, and other items that include electronic devices...
Article
Full-text available
Objectives: The study aimed to investigate the characteristics of health masks and to suggest the proper selection and use of protecting the respiratory system from particulate matters. Methods: The National Standard of masks promulgated by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) and the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) were reviewed. Th...
Article
Full-text available
Background: The semiconductor industry is known to use a number of chemicals, but little is known about the exact chemicals used due to the ingredients being kept as a trade secret. Objectives: The objective of this study was to analyze chemical use using a safety data sheet (SDS) and chemical inventory provided by a major semiconductor company, wh...
Article
It is generally recognized that most nosocomial infections are spread by exposure to expelled particles at close range (usually within 1 m) or through contact. Although the Korea Centers for Disease Control established a 2-m cut-off for transmittance from patients during the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak in Korea in 2015, questio...
Article
Full-text available
We evaluated the spatial-temporal dispersion of airborne nanomaterials during the use of spray consumer products and estimated the level of consumer inhalation exposure. A total of eight spray products including five propellant and three pump types were selected to evaluate the dispersion of airborne nanoparticles across time and space in a cleanro...
Article
Full-text available
Workers in the semiconductor fabrication process may be exposed to higher levels of hazardous materials, such as arsenic, during preventive maintenance (PM) tasks than during the regular operation of the fabrication process. This study investigates the exposure to arsenic and other metals during PM tasks in the ion implantation process. Airborne ar...
Article
Background The use of engineered nanomaterials in consumer products is becoming pervasive and a potential exposure source affecting human health. This study aimed to evaluate the exposure concentration based on the real-time monitoring during application of spray consumer products on the wall according to the spray type (propellant vs. trigger). M...
Article
Introduction Various chemicals are used as dispersion solvents in engineered nanomaterials (ENMs)-containing spray consumer products. During use, ENMs are emitted with the solvents into the air. The solvents evaporated during use could cause an interference when the ENMs are monitored. The purpose of this study was to compare the removal efficienci...
Article
Airborne endotoxin and (1-3)-β-D-glucan can cause adverse health problems and lead to potentially occupational exposure to the animal handler in the animal laboratories. The purposes of the study were to assess temporal changes of biological agents concentrations in a laboratory mouse room (LMR) and in a laboratory rabbit room (LRR) and to determin...
Article
Background As the number of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs)-containing product is increasing on the markets, it has become a potential exposure source to consumers. Sprays containing ENMs is a crucial category of consumer products due to direct inhalation in terms of health effects. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the spatial-temporal dis...
Article
Background The increasing number of products containing engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) has become a potential source for consumer exposure. Some manufacturers have not claimed that ENMs were used in products or others have claimed that their products used a nanotechnology without verifiable statements. This study aimed to identify the ENMs in cons...
Article
Introduction Exposed to carbon nanotubes (CNT) may cause potential adverse health effect. Worker may expose to CNT during the manufacturing processes. But there is limited number of studies about CNT exposure at workplaces. The purpose of this study was to conduct exposure assessment of CNT at the CNT manufacturers in lab-scale and large-scale. Me...
Article
Background A fused deposition modelling (FDM) 3 D printer is known to emit ultrafine particles during operation in a previous study. Even though various filler materials are used in the FDM 3 D printer, only a few materials have been studied. This study aimed to compare particle emission rates during 3 D printing with several filler materials. Met...
Article
Full-text available
Background Relationships among portable scanning mobility particle sizer (P-SMPS), condensation particle counter (CPC), and surface area monitor (SAM), which are different metric measurement devices, were investigated, and two widely used research grade (RG)-SMPSs were compared to harmonize the measurement protocols. Methods Pearson correlation an...
Article
Real-time monitoring is necessary for nanoparticle exposure assessment to characterize the exposure profile, but the data produced are autocorrelated. This study was conducted to compare three statistical methods used to analyze data, which constitute autocorrelated time series, and to investigate the effect of averaging time on the reduction of th...
Article
Real-time monitoring is necessary for nanoparticle exposure assessment to characterize the exposure profile, but the data produced are autocorrelated. This study was conducted to compare three statistical methods used to analyze data, which constitute autocorrelated time series, and to investigate the effect of averaging time on the reduction of th...
Article
Real-time monitoring is necessary for nanoparticle exposure assessment to characterize the exposure profile, but the data produced are autocorrelated. This study was conducted to compare three statistical methods used to analyze data, which constitute autocorrelated time series, and to investigate the effect of averaging time on the reduction of th...
Article
This study evaluated the emissions characteristics of hazardous material during fused deposition modeling type 3D printing. Particulate and gaseous materials were measured before, during, and after 3D printing in an exposure chamber. One ABS and two PLA (PLA1 and PLA2) cartridges were tested three times. For online monitoring, a scanning mobility p...
Article
Full-text available
Objectives: This study aims to compare the physicochemical characteristics, toxicological data with Occupational Exposure Limits (OELs) of chemicals under the Occupational Safety and Health Act(OSHA) regulated by the Ministry of Employment and Labor of Korea. Methods: Information on chemicals which have OELs on physicochemical characteristics and t...
Article
Full-text available
Objectives: The aims of this study were to investigate the classification system of chemical substances in the Occupational Safety and Health Act(OSHA) and Chemical Substances Control Act(CSCA) and to compare several health indices (i.e., Time Weighted Average (TWA), Lethal Dose (LD_{50}), and Lethal Concentration (LC_{50}) of chemical substances b...
Article
Full-text available
Objectives: The exponential growth of chemicals, an area of high concern in developed countries like the US (i.e., the Gore Initiative) and in the EU (i.e., REACH), as well as recent chemical accidents in Korea, have provoked nationwide concerns and resultant legal enforcement. This study aims to compare the laws of the Ministry of Environment (the...
Article
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are potentially harmful air pollutants that are commonly encountered in urban environments. Various chemicals known to produce VOCs are used in laboratory fume hoods; however little research has been done to show the effect of such chemicals and associated VOCs on the local air quality. This study aims to assess th...
Article
Objectives: The objectives of this study were to measure passengers' exposure to ultrafine particles (UFP) and to determine effects of fuel, operating condition and position of seat. Method: UFP exposures in front and back seats of the Elephant vehicle in Seoul Grand Park were simultaneously measured by a condensation particle counter (P-Trak model...