• Journal of the Korean Society for Aviation and Aeronautics
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.126-136
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• 2013

Aircraft accidents these days, following the mega sizing trend of the aircraft, result in enormous losses of human lives apart from those of property, which cannot be replaced by any means. As most recently, in April 20, 2012, a Boeing 737 passenger plane departed Karachi on an augural flight to Islamabad, Pakistan, crashed close to an express highway on final approach, all 121 passengers and 6 crew members were killed. As such a large number of fatalities have been recorded in aircraft accidents while accident investigation results show that more than 95% of aircraft accidents are now survivable. There are three basic stages in surviving the aircraft accident: surviving the crash impact, the evacuation process and the hostile post evacuation environmental elements. These stages require the cabin crew's expeditious and appropriate actions on the basis of systematic and thorough cabin safety training in order to increase occupants' survivability, along with the passengers' preparedness. In this aspect, this paper examines the issues acting as the impediments to the passenger survival in inflight emergency situations, that are the deficiencies with cabin crew safety training, related performances and the shortcomings in passengers' knowledge on inflight safety information, leading to their inappropriate responses to emergency situations. These issues are analyzed and the root causes are identified, suggesting the resolving countermeasures.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.68-74
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• 2007

It has been recognized that safety management is activated during the construction phase to prevent accidents and fatalities of workers. However, It is revealed that about 15% of fatal death accidents is caused by the lack of management of planning and design phases. There is a crucial need of assessing safety risk during building design phase. This paper is aimed to develop a safety risk assessment checklist that can be used during building design phase, utilizing the concept of Design for Safety. In doing so, a broad literature survey on safety management of building Process, various safety risk assessment toolboxes being utilized in the HSE and the BAA of UK. The proposed checklist contains the followings: 1) classification structure for safety design on space, element, and trade work 2) hazard risk factor, probability and degree of intensity of accident occurrence, and 3) safety assessment criteria. It is expected that the checklist would be an effective tool of preventing and minimizing fatal accidents of building construction projects.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.160-165
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• 2013

Background: Occupational accidents are unplanned events that cause damage. The socio-economic impacts and human costs of accidents are tremendous around the world. Many fatalities happen every year in workplaces such as electricity distribution companies. Some electrical injuries are electrocution, electric shock, and burns. This study was conducted in an electricity distribution company (with rotational 12-hour shift work) in Iran during an 8-year period to survey descriptive factors of injuries. Methods: Variables collected included accident time, age of injured worker, employment type, work experience, injury cause, educational background, and other information about accidents. Results: Results indicated that most of the accidents occurred in summer, and 51.3% were during shift work. Worker negligence (malpractice) was the cause of 75% of deaths. Type of employment had a significant relationship with type of injuries (p < 0.05). Most injuries were electrical burns. Conclusion: High rate of accidents in summer may be due to the warm weather or insufficient professional skills in seasonal workers. Shift workers are at risk of sleep complaints leading to a high rate of work injuries. Acquiring knowledge about safety was related to job experiences. Temporary workers have no chance to work all year like permanent workers, therefore impressive experiences may be less in them. Because the lack of protective equipment and negligence are main causes of accidents, periodical inspections in workshops are necessary.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.89-95
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• 2013

Purpose: Glyphosate is widely used and its toxic exposures are not rare. Occasionally, glyphosate intoxication can lead to death. The aim of this study is to analyze clinical findings and fatality in glyphosate intoxication. Methods: Clinical data on acute glyphosate intoxication were prospectively collected at 28 hospitals nationwide between August 2005 and July 2006. The patients' clinical symptoms and characteristics of fatalities were investigated and statistical analysis was performed. Results: Among 105 patients who were finally included, gastrointestinal symptoms(59%) were the most common. A significant difference in the amount ingested was observed between patients with higher systolic blood pressure and those with systolic blood pressure less than or equal to 80 mmHg (p<0.001). The more the patients ingested, the more aggravated their mental status became (p=0.004). Seven patients(6.7%) died, and all of them had ingested greater than or equal to 200 ml. Patients who died had ingested greater amounts than the survivors (p<0.001), and their mental status was worse (p<0.001), and systolic blood pressure was lower (p<0.001). According to the result of logistic regression analysis, relative risk was 24.1-fold higher in the 'poor' mental status group compared with 'good'. Conclusion: Patients who ingested large amounts of glyphosate showed poor mental status and lower blood pressure. Statistical difference in amount ingested, mental status, and systolic blood pressure was observed between survivors and patients who died. Ingested amounts and mental status were the most important factor of the prognosis of glyphosate intoxication.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2018

Purpose: Extremely hazardous pesticides are classified as World Health Organization (WHO) hazard class Ia. However, data describing the clinical course of WHO class Ia OP (organophosphate) poisonings in humans are very scarce. Here, we compare the clinical features of patients who ingested hazard class Ia OPs. Methods: This retrospective observational case study included 75 patients with a history of ingesting ethyl p-nitrophenol thio-benzene phosphonate (EPN), phosphamidon, or terbufos. The patients were divided according to the chemical formulation of the ingested OP. Data regarding mortality and the development of complications were collected and compared among groups. Results: There were no differences in the baseline characteristics and severity scores at presentation between the three groups. No fatalities were observed in the terbufos group. The fatality rates in the EPN and phosphamidon groups were 11.8% and 28.6%, respectively. Patients poisoned with EPN developed respiratory failure later than those poisoned with phosphamidon and also tended to require longer mechanical ventilatory support than phosphamidon patients. The main cause of death was pneumonia in the EPN group and hypotensive shock in the phosphamidon group. Death occurred later in the EPN group than in the phosphamidon group. Conclusion: Even though all three drugs are classified as WHO class Ia OPs (extremely hazardous pesticides), their clinical courses and the related causes of death in humans varied. Their treatment protocols and predicted outcomes should therefore also be different based on the chemical formulation of the OP.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.477-484
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• 2014

Caldera is a large depression commonly formed by collapse of the ground following explosive eruption of a large body of stored magma. On earth, calderas and caldera complexes range in size from kilometers to tens of kilometers. Historical eruptions associated with caldera collapse have led to huge fatalities in Indonesia as well as left global impacts. This study presents case study on calderas in Indonesia which resembles to Mount Baekdu located at the border of China and North Korea; in the perspectives of similar characteristics, principal hazard, recent symptom of volcanic activity and the threat if eruption occurs in the near future. Calculation by using weighted evaluation matrix for Mount Krakatau, Mount Tambora, Mount Ijen, Tengger Caldera, Mount Rinjani and Ranau Caldera were taken for the selection of a site for future case study.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.57 no.4
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• pp.289-292
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• 2013

A total of 2,080 forensic autopsies in Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi province were performed by the National Forensic Service (NFS) in 2010. After analysing blood samples collected at autopsies by GC-MS and LC-MS/MS, the types and prevalence of drugs and poisons in blood were investigated using our laboratory information management system. Among 2,080 cases, 1,061 cases (51%) were positive for drugs and poisons. Surprisingly, antidepressants were identified in 137 cases which comprised 13% of the positive cases. Twelve different kinds of antidepressants were determined: Amitriptyline, fluoxetine, nortriptyline, trazodone, imipramine, mirtazapine, citalopram, venlafaxin, clomipramine, paroxetine, sertraline and bupropion. Amitriptyline was the most frequently detected antidepressant and was identified in 39 cases. Moreover, amitriptyline, fluoxetine, and nortriptyline were included in the list of the 20 most commonly encountered drugs or poisons in the analysis of blood collected at autopsies from 2007 to 2009, indicating the prevalence of their use. In this study, the 137 antidepressant-related deaths were classified by the mode of death to predict the prevalence of these drugs. As a result, those deaths were divided into four groups based on the cause and mode of death: 56 cases of suicide with fatal concentrations of antidepressant drugs in blood, 6 homicidal cases directly or indirectly related to antidepressants, 59 natural deaths with antidepressants detected in blood and 16 deaths caused by fire or other accidents with antidepressants detected in blood. Because incidents involving antidepressants have been increasing, especially in suicides or homicides, it is necessary for the health authorities and law enforcement administrations to cooperate and share the statistical data for curbing the abuse of antidepressants. This report is expected to provide the reference data related with antidepressants for the investigation of the deaths.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Navigation and Port Research Conference
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• 2006.10a
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• pp.166-175
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• 2006

Since many years ago and in spite of the existence of national regulations and international conventions ratified by the countries that are conformed the Central American Region (CAR), the seagoing maritime sector of this Region, has developed its activity without any type of safety measures. Therefore, a large number of people are known to die, disappear and suffer from serious injuries each year. These maritime casualties devastate the families affected by these events, and severely impact the local social and economic well-being. While all these accidents occurred in this Region, non government or any other official records are available recording these casualties Due to the lack of any historical written reports about maritime casualties occurred in this Region, the compilation of this type of accidents information and data was carried out directly by the researchers in the field. Also, all the information about the CAR Maritime Organization Components was too compiled by the authors from the respective National Maritimes Authorities. From the compiled information was elaborated the CAR maritime casualties data base and from the analysis of the above data base were determined the main causes of the maritime accidents occurred in the CAR. The lack of safety measures onboard and the ignorance of the presence and influence of atmospheric phenomena were among main factors that had been caused the maritime casualties in this Region. By other hand, from the analysis of the CAR maritime organization components, the existence of one level of organization very similar among them was determinate. The objective of this research was to analyze the role of the CAR maritime organization in the prevention of the occurrence of maritime casualties. The results of this study provides general understanding of the causes of this type of accidents in the CAR and basis for support in improving safety navigation system and measures so that the number of fatalities and maritime accidents may be reduced in the future.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.319-325
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• 2015

While the conventional personal protective equipments (PPEs) covers a variety of devices and garments such as respirators, turnout gear, gloves, blankets and gas masks, several electronic devices such as personal alert safety system (PASS) and heads-up displays in the facepiece have become a part of firefighters personal protective equipments through past several years. Furthermore, more advanced electronic sensors including location traking sensor, thermal imaging caerma, toxic gas detectors, and even physiological monitoring sensors are being integrated into ensemble elements for better protection of firefighters from fire sites. Despite any electronic equipment placed on the firefighter must withstand environmental extremes and continue to properly function under any thermal conditions that firefighters routinely face, there are no specific criteria for these electronics to define functionability of these devices under given thermal conditions. Although manufacturers provide the specifications and performance guidelines for their products, their operation guidelines hardly match the real thermal conditions. Present study overviews firefighter's fatalities and thermal conditions that firefighters and their equipments face. Lastly, thermal packaging methods that we have developed and tested are introduced.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.42-52
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• 2018

Background: Maintenance operations on-board ships are highly demanding. Maintenance operations are intensive activities requiring high man-machine interactions in challenging and evolving conditions. The evolving conditions are weather conditions, workplace temperature, ship motion, noise and vibration, and workload and stress. For example, extreme weather condition affects seafarers' performance, increasing the chances of error, and, consequently, can cause injuries or fatalities to personnel. An effective human error probability model is required to better manage maintenance on-board ships. The developed model would assist in developing and maintaining effective risk management protocols. Thus, the objective of this study is to develop a human error probability model considering various internal and external factors affecting seafarers' performance. Methods: The human error probability model is developed using probability theory applied to Bayesian network. The model is tested using the data received through the developed questionnaire survey of >200 experienced seafarers with >5 years of experience. The model developed in this study is used to find out the reliability of human performance on particular maintenance activities. Results: The developed methodology is tested on the maintenance of marine engine's cooling water pump for engine department and anchor windlass for deck department. In the considered case studies, human error probabilities are estimated in various scenarios and the results are compared between the scenarios and the different seafarer categories. The results of the case studies for both departments are also compared. Conclusion: The developed model is effective in assessing human error probabilities. These probabilities would get dynamically updated as and when new information is available on changes in either internal (i.e., training, experience, and fatigue) or external (i.e., environmental and operational conditions such as weather conditions, workplace temperature, ship motion, noise and vibration, and workload and stress) factors.