• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.155-165
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• 2021

Objectives: Acute exposure to high concentrations of chemicals can occur when a chemical accident takes place. As such exposure can cause ongoing environmental pollution, such as in the soil and groundwater, there is a need for a tool that can assess health effects in the long term. The purpose of this study was assessing the health risks of residents living near a chemical accident site due to long-term exposure while considering the temporal concentration changes of the toxic chemicals leaked during the accident until their extinction in the environment using a multimedia environmental dynamics model. Methods: A health risk assessment was conducted on three cases of formaldehyde chemical accidents. In this study, health risk assessment was performed using a multimedia environmental dynamics model that considers the behavior of the atmosphere, soil, and water. In addition, the extinction period of formaldehyde in the environment was regarded as extinction in the environment when the concentration in the air and soil fell below the background concentration prior to the accident. The subjects of health risk assessment were classified into four groups according to age: 0-9 years old, 10-18 years old, 19-64 years old, and over 65 years old. Carcinogenic risk assessment by respiratory exposure and non-carcinogenic risk assessment by soil intake were conducted as well. Results: In the assessment of carcinogenic risk due to respiratory exposure, the excess carcinogenic risk did not exceed 1.0×10-6 in all three chemical accidents, so there was no health effect due to the formaldehyde chemical accident. As a result of the evaluation of non-carcinogenic risk due to soil intake, none of the three chemical accidents had a risk index of 1, so there was no health effect. For all three chemical accidents, the excess cancer risk and hazard index were the highest in the age group 0-9. Next, 10-18 years old, 65 years old or older, and 19-64 years old showed the highest risk. Conclusion: This study considers environmental changes after a chemical accident occurs and until the substance disappears from the environment. It also conducts a health risk assessment by reflecting the characteristics of the long-term persistence and concentration change over time. It is thought that it is of significance as a health risk assessment study reflecting the exposure characteristics of the accident substance for an actual chemical accident.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.25-33
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• 2023

This study analyzed the factors affecting the effectiveness of the Chemical Hazard Risk Management (CHARM). A survey was conducted on 104 learners who participated in the Risk Assessment training course at Occupational Safety and Health Training Institute. Through a self-administered questionnaire, the effect of personal characteristics, corporate characteristics, and safety and health level of the company on the effectiveness of chemical risk assessment was investigated. As a result of statistical analysis, the safety and health level of the company had a positive (+) effect on the effectiveness of Chemical Hazard Risk Management(CHARM), but personal characteristics and corporate characteristics had no relation to it. This study can be used as basic data for further research related to chemical risk assessment in workplaces.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.58 no.3
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• pp.438-449
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• 2020

This study is to improve the method of calculating the risk of liability that arise from release and dispersion of chemicals outside the plant in process industries such as chemical and petrochemical plants. To achieve this goal, the correlation factors with the risk of chemical release accident is derived by simulating release and dispersion of substances (14 types) designated by Ministry of Environment as preparation for accident, analyzing the cases of chemical release and effects of plant life damage. The method of calculating chemical liability risk was modified and supplemented based on the results obtained from the study. The correlation coefficient between the probit value of 14 chemical types and the liability risk by EURAM (European Union Risk Ranking Method) was -0.526, while the correlation coefficient with the modified chemical release accident risk was 0.319. Thus, the value from modified method shows that they appear to be correlated. According to modified calculating methodology, the correlation between ERPG-2 value and liability risk of 97 chemical types was -0.494 which is 19 times higher than existing liability risk correlation as absolute value. And the correlation coefficient of corrosion risk was 0.91. The standardized regression coefficients (β) value of correlation factors that affected the increase and decrease of risk were derived in order of Corrosion Index(0.713), ERPG-2 (0.400) and NFPA Health Index (0.0680) by values. It is expected that these findings this study result will also enable the calculation of reasonable chemical release liability risk for existing and new chemical, and will help use them as quantitative liability risk management indicators for chemical plant site.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.609-615
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• 2021

Chemical accidents can happen anywhere in the world. To prevent chemical accidents, Korea introduced the Chemicals Control Act. However, Small and medium-sized businesses do not meet these regulations. Accordingly, the Ministry of Environment is providing a chemical safety management support project for Small and medium-sized businesses. However, there are many small and medium-sized businesses, and businesses that need support need priority. In this study, the risk of the plants was classified into hig h, medium, and low risk based on four methods. As a result, out of 90 plants subject to the study, high risk was 30% and medium risk was 70%. The industries with the high risk were chemical products manufacturing and paint manufacturing. The plating and printing industries showed relatively medium risk. This risk classification has the advantage that it can obtain intuitive and quick results. These studies can be used as basic data for chemical safety management of local governments and Ministry of Environment.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.845-853
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• 2023

The Ministry of Employment and Labor announced a roadmap for reducing serious accidents to create a "safe and healthy workplace, happy Korea" and ordered a risk assessment for all work processes in all workplaces on November 30, 2022. Accordingly, even workplaces that handle new chemicals must conduct risk assessment when introducing new chemicals, but the risk assessment techniques currently proposed by the government focus on preventing conventional accidents such as falls, getting caught, and bumping. Currently, there is a Chemical Hazard Risk Management (CHARM) technique that is most commonly used for chemical risk assessment, but in small and medium-sized businesses that lack professional manpower related to chemical substances, there are many technical terms in the technique and it is difficult to interpret, so its utilization is very low. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to present a method that can make risk assessment easier and simpler before handling new chemicals so that it can be used well in small and medium-sized businesses that lack professional manpower related to chemical substances. Through actual cases, the method of using CHARM was confirmed step by step, and based on this, risk reduction establishment and execution methods were derived. Based on the results of this study, it is expected that it will be used as the best tool for preventing accidents such as acute poisoning when handling chemicals in small and medium-sized workplaces that lack professional manpower related to chemical substances and make every effort to protect workers' health.

• Proceedings of the Korea Society of Environmental Toocicology Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.95-96
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• 2004

• Journal of Korean Society of societal Security
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.53-62
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• 2008

Recently, the potential risks of tank lorry transportation from the petrochemical plant have been increasing, so the research was performed to build up the evaluation criterion of the transportation safety, as well as aggressive risk+assessment of a variety of chemical materials. This research was applied to the Maximum Credible Accident Analysis technique and modeled on the risk management of chemical transportation using the following four steps for risk evaluation, firstly the comparison of representative fype and standard of hand ling chemical materials transported by tank vehicles secondly, specific classification of potential hazards thirdly, grasp and recognition of virtual accident scenario at last, the risk evaluation of virtual accident scenario(qualitative/quantitative - chemical release modeling).

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.46-52
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• 2017

During the transportation of chemicals, quantitative risk assessment for chemical leakage accidents caused by traffic accidents was carried out and the appropriateness of chemical transportation route was evaluated. The quantitative risk assessment method applied to the chemical leakage accidents that may occur in the chemical handling equipments installed in the workplace was presented and applied to the chemical transportation. By analyzing the number of traffic accidents in transportation vehicles, the probability of chemical leakage accidents during chemical transportation was predicted and applied to the quantitative risk assessment of chlorine gas leakage accidents that may occur when transporting liquified chlorine bombe using vehicles. As a result, the most appropriate route of transporting the liquefied chlorine bombe was suggested on the basis of risk.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.39-44
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• 2013

There have been large explosions at some chemical plants recently. Accidents in chemical plants have been caused mainly by servicing for maintenance. There is a need to find a key target for effective injury prevention in maintenance. In this paper, facilities were selected as a key target and the risk priority numbers of the facilities were calculated in order to prioritize preventative measures. The research method was based on the followings; the list of the facilities is found through injury analysis. Then, the risk of each facility was calculated by the frequency of accidents and the working day loss through injuries. In addition, the risk of the facilities was calculated again by the frequency and the severity based on knowledge and experience of experts. As a result, the facilities in chemical plant maintenance are ranked in order of high to low risk priority number; reactor, dryer, tank lorry, etc. In the future, special measures and attention should be directed according to the risk priority number during the maintenance of chemical plants.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.239-251
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• 2020

The Off-site Risk Assessment (ORA) for preventing chemical accidents estimates the chemical accident risk at chemical plants. The method of estimating the risk is made by multiplying the number of residents within the effect area of the chemical accident and the frequency of accidents at a chemical plant. At present, the ORA does not quantitatively consider environmental receptors when the damage types within the scope of the accident are environmental receptors. In order to solve this problem, this study proposes a method of estimating the risk considering resident and environmental receptors. Through these studies, it was confirmed that the ORA impact for the prevention of chemical accidents requires risk analysis considering environmental receptors in the medium and long term.