As S. Korea is becoming an “aged society”, workers in the country would be exposed to higher risk of workplace injuries due to their reducing work abilities as they are getting old. To identify the relationship between the work ability and the incident rate of workplace injuries, the work ability index (WAI) scores were surveyed from 409 workers occupied in different manufacturing industries reside on north GyoengBuk area. The workplace injury statistics in the year of 2010 for the corresponding industries were analyzed and summarized with the WAI scores by age groups, years of service, and sizes of business. The results showed the WAI scores of the workers occupied in the higher risk of workplace injury was lower than that of the workers of the lower risk. It means the lower the WAI score, the higher the chance of being injured during the task. It is concluded that appropriate correlation exists between the WAI scores of workers and the incident rate of workplace injury. It is recommended to administrate individual work abilities of aged workers in order to keep low rate of workplace injuries in upcoming aged and highly aged society.

The concentration of heavy metal were studied for the estimation of quality in herbal medicines which is Bupleuri Radix, Paeoniae Radix, Dioscoreae Rhizoma and Astragali Radix in products of north Gyeongbuk area. Also, we collected soils from several area in Gyeongbuk, and determined heavy metal concentration of soils by ICP. We compared with herbal medicines in products of Gyeongbuk and their soils. The average levels of heavy metal of herbal medicines in Gyeongbuk area are as follows : Mercury is 0.037㎎/㎏, Chromium is 0.093㎎/㎏, Nickel is 0.108㎎/㎏, Copper is 0.475㎎/㎏, Zinc is 3.14㎎/㎏, Manganese is 1.52㎎/㎏, Iron is 7.83㎎/㎏, and Cadmium, Lead and Arsenic is not detected. It was very lower in concentrations than those of average Korea area. For the heavy metals contents of Gyeongbuk area, in Gong Jung Ri, represented the higher level, it may be due to a near the road. The Cd contents in soil was not a wide difference. For the As and Pb contents in soil, Song Sa Ri (Bupleuri Radix) represented the higher level(0.68㎎/㎏, 1523㎎/kg). Correlation coefficients of heavy metal contents in cultured herbal medicines and their soils did not give reproducible results. But the degree of correlation between a few heavy metal contents of Dioscoreae Rhizoma and their soil showed the good transfer from the soil.

The concentration of heavy metal were studied for the estimation of quality in herbal medicines which is Bupleuri Radix, Paeoniae Radix, Dioscoreae Rhizoma and Astragali Radix in products of north Gyeongbuk area. And we collected soils from several area in Gyeongbuk, and determined heavy metal concentration of soils by ICP. We compared with herbal medicines in products of Gyeongbuk and their soils. For the heavy metals contents of Gyeongbuk area, in Gong Jung Ri, represented the higher level, it may be due to a near the road. The Cd contents in soil was not a wide difference. For the As and Pb contents in soil, Song Sa Ri (Bupleuri Radix) represented the higher level (0.68㎎/㎏, 1523㎎/kg). Heavy metal contents in cultured herbal medicines and their soils did not give reproducible results. But the degree of correlation between a few heavy metal contents of Dioscoreae Rhizoma and their soil showed the good transfer from the soil.

We compared with heavy metal concentration of herbal medicines in products of Gyeongbuk and the other area of Korea. The concentration of heavy metal were studied for the estimation of quality in herbal medicines which is Bupleuri Radix, Paeoniae Radix, Dioscoreae Rhizoma and Astragali Radix in products of north Gyeongbuk area. The average levels of heavy metal of herbal medicines in Gyeongbuk area are as follows：Mercury is 0.037㎎/㎏, Chromium is 0.093㎎/㎏, Nickel is 0.108㎎/㎏, Copper is 0.475㎎/㎏, Zinc is 3.14㎎/㎏, Manganese is 1.52㎎/㎏, Iron is 7.83㎎/㎏, and Cadmium, Lead and Arsenic is not detected. It was very lower in concentrations than those of average Korea area. Therefore, Gyeongbuk area appear to be more proper to cultivated land than other area. Minerals such as Ca and K were extracted more than Na and P in herbal medicines products of Gyeongbuk respectively. Minerals and heavy metal concentrations distributed in herbal medicines were analyzed. Little or no relationship was observed between minerals and heavy metals.