"How to Prevent Toxicity Death from Phenol Solutions?" ... Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency Distributes TMAH Acute Poisoning Prevention Booklets and Video Guides

KOSHA (Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency).

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters, Trainee Reporter Hwang Du-yeol] #. In January 2021, a major accident occurred at a manufacturing company where 6 people were injured or killed due to poisoning from a chemical solution. The cause was residual TMAH solution inside the pipes. During pipe dismantling work under pressure, the solution was discharged, resulting in 2 worker deaths and 4 serious injuries.

The Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency (KOSHA) created promotional materials to prevent such acute poisoning accidents.

On the 29th, KOSHA's Future Specialized Technology Institute announced the distribution of a guidebook and video to prevent acute poisoning accidents caused by tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) during maintenance work in the electronics industry.

TMAH is a substance mainly used as a developer solution in the photolithography process in semiconductor and display manufacturing within the electronics industry.

Even at a very low concentration of 2.38%, TMAH is an acutely toxic substance that is easily absorbed through the skin upon contact, causing respiratory distress, cardiac arrest, and can lead to death.

The booklet titled ‘TMAH Handling Guidebook’ was produced reflecting field surveys of major electronics companies and the opinions of safety and health managers and workers.

The booklet is organized into four themes: ▲ Acute poisoning by TMAH ▲ Preventive measures according to TMAH characteristics ▲ Preventive measures according to the characteristics of the electronics industry ▲ Maintenance and repair manual for TMAH facilities.

The guidebook clarifies the roles of primary and subcontractors during maintenance work to establish clear accident prevention measures for each work entity.

The institute stated, “The ‘TMAH Handling Guide,’ produced as a video of about 5 minutes, was created so that anyone can easily understand the harmful risks of TMAH.”

The materials will be distributed to about 200 sites, including electronics industries that mainly use TMAH, TMAH manufacturers and distributors, and workplaces handling small quantities such as wholesale distributors.

The institute has posted the materials on the agency’s website for anyone to download and use.

Lee Moon-do, head of the Future Specialized Technology Institute, said, “We hope that these systematically organized materials for preventing acute poisoning accidents will be utilized in many industrial sites and contribute to accident prevention.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.