• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.17-24
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• 2016

Many fatal and non-fatal injuries occurred as a result of unexpected falls from horse scaffolds during structural or finishing works such as painting, plastering, or plumbing. Therefore, this study is to improve safety standards for horse scaffolds used mostly in the interior finishing works. But hazard elements for the horse scaffolds has not been specifically identified. This study has analyzed the accidents of horse scaffolds to prevent construction accidents and the characteristics of a serious accidents related the horse scaffolds. It was suggested a safety management plan and a group of accidents characteristics. The results of this study are expected to be utilized as basic data for prviding a reference related to the horse scaffolds and to be unified the regulations associated with the horse scaffolds.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.136-143
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• 2009

The injuries as a result of fall accidents is the one of the most common kind of injuries in Korea, especially fall from height is the top most common kind for fatal injuries. Futhermore, the number of fall injuries in manufacturing industry has been steadily increasing from 2000 to 2007. In 2007 the number of fall fatal injuries increased 10.6 % in comparison with the number in 2006. These numbers are 6~17 times higher than those for foreign countries such as the U.K and the USA. So, it is needed to make a study to reduce these numbers for manufacturing industry. To get the goals, we did research as followings. First, this study analyzed statistics by industry, by fall height, by common agent and so on to gain an insight into real aspect of fall injuries. It showed that ladder is the commonly cited agent for manufacturing industry, and 3 risky activities ; the ladder work, the load/unload work, and the maintenance work. Secondly, this study made a survey of manufacturing workers for their understandings of the most 3 risky activities. It showed that 'tendency to work easily' and 'difficulty of applying measures due to inherent working conditions' are main reasons for workers not to implement the preventive measures against the fall accidents. Thirdly, this study tested the slip characteristics of ladder base and lungs. The tests were done based on ANSI standard and KS. In addition to the standard condition, this study performed slip tests in wet and sandy conditions and compared the results with the those of standard condition. It showed that friction coefficient is standard condition > wet condition > sandy condition, and the friction coefficient of ladder for sandy condition is measured to be reduced by 63.9% compared with that for standard condition. Finally, this study developed safety work models for using of portable ladders in consideration of the safety standards of foreign countries such as the U.K, the USA, and the Australia.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.288-293
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• 2021

In South Korea, most patients who visit trauma centers with abdominal injuries have blunt trauma, and penetrating injuries are relatively rare. In extremely rare cases, some patients are admitted with a long object penetrating their abdomen, and these injuries are referred to as abdominal impalement injuries. Most cases of impalement injuries lead to fatal bleeding, and patients often die at the scene of the accident. However, patients who survive until reaching the hospital can have a good prognosis with optimal treatment. A 68-year-old female patient was admitted to the trauma center with a 4-cm-thick tree branch impaling her abdomen. The patient was transported by a medical helicopter and had stable vital signs at admission. The branch sticking out of the abdomen was quite long; thus, we carefully cut the branch with an electric saw to perform computed tomography (CT). CT revealed no signs of major blood vessel injury, but intestinal perforation was observed. During laparotomy, the tree branch was removed after confirming that there were no vascular injuries, and enterostomy was performed because of extensive intestinal injury. After treating other injuries, the patient was discharged without any complications except colostomy. Abdominal impalement injuries are treated using various approaches depending on the injury mechanism and injured region. However, the most important consideration is that the impaled object should not be removed during transportation and resuscitation. Instead, it should only be removed after checking for injuries to blood vessels during laparotomy in an environment where injury control is possible.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.497-499
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• 2010

Cutaneous injuries stung by jellyfish are not uncommon in human exposed to marine environments. Most of the cases occur to scuba divers, fishermen, and travelers swimming at the beach. The symptoms vary from mild dermatosis to fatal systemic reaction. Some group of jellyfish like Atlantic Portuguese man-of-war (Physalia physalis) provokes acute severe skin injuries with systemic symptoms of nausea, bradycardia, and rarely anaphylaxis. But it is unusual case that allergic dermatitis caused by Scyphistoma which is polyp stage of jellyfish (Aurelia aurita) happened to zoo keepers working at indoor dolphin pool. This case report is about dermatosis with symptoms such as painful, irritant, itching, and erupted skin lesions on the neck and face of zoo keepers working at dolphinarium in Seoul zoo, Korea.

• Journal of Korean Society of Transportation
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.119-129
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• 2014

This study aims to evaluate the accident reduction effects of 'Section Speed Enforcement System' (SSES) operation in freeways. In pursuing the above, this study collects the accident data for 5 years (2 years before operation and 3 years after operation) at all 9 sections where SSESs are operated, and evaluates annually the effects before and after operation using the comparison group method (C.G. Method). The measures of effectiveness are total accidents (TAs), fatal and serious accidents (FSAs), total injuries (TIs) and fatal and serious injuries (FSIs). The main results are as follows. First, TAs and TIs are reduced to 41.7 and 17.1%, respectively. Second, FSAs and FSIs are reduced to 41.7 and 32.2%, respectively. Therefore, SSES has more effectiveness at fatal and serious accident. Third, the accident reduction effect has been increasing, and particularly the effect of 'after three years' is evaluated to be notable.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.183-187
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• 2006

An increase has been see in fall injuries at construction sites and in penetrating injuries by iron bars or pipes associated with the fall. In particular, a thoraco-abdominal penetrating injury had the worse prognosis, and multiple organ injury occurred because of blunt trauma associated with fall. Iron bars were the most common penetrating materials, and pipe penetrating injuries were uncommon. However, because the diameter of the pipes were large than those of the bars, penetrating injuries associated with pipes were more often fatal. A secondary thoraco-abdominal injury worsened the prognosis. We reported a case of a 33-year-old man with a thoraco-abdominal trauma secondary to a penetrating injury with a scaffolding pipe following a fall.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.121-128
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• 2023

Construction industry is considered as one of the most high-risk industries for work-related injuries and fatalities, accounting for more than half of fatalities in Korea. Advanced countries have recognized the critical role of designers in preventing construction accidents and have established regulations on design for safety. In line with this, the Korean government have also implemented regulations that require owners and designers to review the safety of design outcomes. However, it has been observed that designers face challenges in identifying hazards and integrating design solutions at the design stage mainly due to their shortage of required knowledge and skills. This study aimed to examine design solutions that can be applied to prevent fall accidents in the construction industry, and to establish a relationship between these solutions and fatal fall accidents occurred over the past three years in Korea. This study also analyzed the relationships of four variables (construction type, cost, work type, and fall location) with design solutions. The results indicated that all four variables have significant relationships with design solutions, with fall location showing the strongest relationship. The design solutions and their relationships with fatal fall accidents identified in this study can be utilized in identifying hazard and integrating design solutions to ensure design for safety.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.28 no.12
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• pp.1160-1166
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• 1995

From 1980 through 1993, sixty one patients having traumatic flail chest were analysised retrospectively at the Department of Thoracic and Cardivascular Surgery, Chonbuk National University Hospital. There were 47 men and 14 women, mean age, 49.3 years, age range 4 to 82 years. The most common mode of trauma was automobile accident, common combined other organ injuries were skeletal injury [ 36 patients and neurologic injury [ 20 patients . In the mode of treatment, ventilator therapy was done in 34 cases and operative stabilization was done in 18 cases [ Kirschner or steel wire: 9 cases, Judet`s strut: 9 cases . Sixteen patients died [26 % . The main factors associated with fatal outcome were shock [ p < 0.002 , head injury [ p < 0.005 , and more than 50 years of age [ p < 0.05 . In fatal cases, 14 patients died during in ventilator therapy [ 14/34, 41 % and 2 patients died following operative stabilization of chest wall [ 2/18, 11 % .The overall cause of death was septicemia, ARDS, ARF, hypovolemic shock and hypoxic brain damage.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.48-51
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• 2011

Powered by compressed air, a nail gun is an essential alternative tool to a hammer on any construction site. This useful machine launches nails at high speed, automatically embedding them in a piece of wood in only a fraction of a second. In spite of its convenience, life-threatening and fatal nail gun injuries can occur when a nail gun is misused, such as in a suicide attempt, or when the operator has insufficient training because combustion nail guns are capable of firing projectiles at velocities higher than 150 m per second. Although injuries by nail guns are rarely reported, there have been reports of nail gun injuries to the head and the trachea in Korea. In the emergency room, the authors experienced a patient injured by an accidental shooting of a nail gun while working in construction. In that accident, a nail penetrated the patient's cervical vertebra through the left cheek. This report is aimed at studying medical treatment for patients with penetrating injuries caused by nail guns.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.274-281
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• 2004

Objectives : This study was performed to investigate the injury rates and risk factors for preschool children in Daegu city and Kyungpook province. Method : A questionnaire survey about medically attended injuries during the preschool period was performed in nine primary schools located in Daegu city, Pohang city and Goryung County. The overall injury rate was estimated using person-year. The causes and patterns of the injuries, and their risk factors were examined. Result : A total of 469 medically attended injuries were reported in 330 of the 959 study subjects during the preschool period. The overall annual injury rate was 7.5 per 100 children. The injury rate increased sharply during the period from infant (2.4) to 1 year of age (7.5), and the peak injury rate (9.2) was reported for 5 year olds. The most common causes of injuries were falling (36.0%), followed by being struck by an object (23.7%), and traffic accidents (14.1%). Among the traffic accidents, 72.8% occurred while playing on the road, riding a bicycle or roller-skating. A proportional hazard model showed that males (hazard ratio=1.49, p<0.001 compared with female) and the mother's higher education level (hazard ratio of college or higher= 1.51, p=0.013; high school=1.32, p=0.085 compared with those of middle school or lower) were significant risk factors of childhood injury. Conclusion : The results of this study suggested that efforts for children's safety should be made, especially from the toddler stage, and in male children. To develop a more specific childhood injury prevention program, a surveillance system for injuries should be established. Further study of the relationship between mother's occupation and injury rates is also needed.