Spatio-temporal patterns of the minimum rest time for outdoor workers exposed to summer heat stress in South Korea.

In this study, the spatio-temporal characteristics of the minimum rest time for the safety of South Korean outdoor workers during hot summer months (June to August) are examined based on the hourly wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) across 27 weather stations in South Korea. The WBGT thresholds in the work-rest recommendation of the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency (KOSHA 2017) for the quantification of the minimum rest time are evaluated through a comparison of the given thresholds with the occurrences of occupational heat-related illness patients due to outdoor work during hot summer months in South Korea. The long-term (2009-2018) average of the hourly WBGT values during summer months shows that outdoor workers with a moderate workload are exposed to heat stress during approximately 30% of the entire daytime working hours (06:00-18:00).

Changing human-sensible temperature in Korea under a warmer monsoon climate over the last 100 years.

This study explores changes in means and extreme events of human-sensible temperature (HST), which is quantified by selective combination of Universal Apparent Temperature, Heat Index, and a new Wind Chill Index, in Korea for the last 100 years (1919-2018) and illustrates the synoptic patterns of the East Asian monsoon system (EAMS) for extreme HST events. The time series analyses show that HST has increased much faster than near-surface air temperature (AT) in winter due to decrease in wind chill as well as to increase in AT. On the other hand, HST in summer, which is higher than AT on average because of high humidity in monsoon climate, has increased at a slow rate compared with those in other seasons.

[The impact of high apparent temperature on the increase of Summertime Disease-related mortality in Seoul: 1991-2000].

Objectives: The aim of this paper was to examine the relationship between the summertime (June to August) heat index, which quantifies the bioclimatic apparent temperature in sultry weather, and the daily disease-related mortality in Seoul for the period from 1991 to 2000.

Methods: The daily maximum (or minimum) summertime heat indices, which show synergetic apparent temperatures, were calculated from the six hourly temperatures and real time humidity data for Seoul from 1991 to 2000. The disease-related daily mortality was extracted with respect to types of disease, age and sex, etc.