Abstract
Unlike in general manufacturing process, safety management in laboratory-based research area is complicated because the latter generally involves trying untested methods or handling unusual substances in small amounts. Laboratory accidents in South Korea have recently shown an increasing trend. Unfortunately, statistics on such accidents are not officially published by any domestic public agencies. In this study, multivariate analysis was performed on the relationships between variables to develop effective strategies for preventing laboratory accidents. A Cross-Tabulation Analysis of accident-related factors in 179 accident cases revealed that the laboratory type, accident type, and unsafe-act type are all statistically significant, whereas the unsafe condition and management factors differ with the statistical criteria. Furthermore, the results of a Multiple-Correspondence Analysis showed that accidents can be divided largely into three groups having different accident causes and injury types; this confirms the necessity of different strategies to prevent accidents of each type. The findings also reveal differences between the distribution of accident types mentioned in the accident case collection books and actual reported cases. This suggests that an official statistical system administered by a public institution would be necessary for effective prevention of laboratory accidents.