• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.86-93
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• 2020

This study aims to maintain the safety of an outdoor storage tank through the fundamental case analysis of explosion and fire accidents in the storage tank. We consider an accident caused by the explosion of fire inside the tank, as a result of the gradual spreading of the residual fire generated by wind lamps flying off a workplace in the storage tank yard. To determine the cause of the accident, atmospheric diffusion conditions were derived through CCTV image analysis, and the wind direction was analyzed using computational fluid dynamics. Additionally, the amount of oil vapor inside the tank when the floating roof was at the lowest position, and the behavior of the vapor inside the tank when the floating roof was at the highest position were investigated. If the cause of the explosion in the storage tank is identified and the level of the storage tank is maintained below the internal floating roof, dangerous liquid fills the storage tank, and the vapor in the space may stagnate on the internal floating roof. We intend to improve the operation procedure such that the level of the storage tank is not under the Pontoon support, as well as provide measures to prevent flames from entering the storage tank by installing a flame arrester in the open vent of the tank.

• Journal of Korean Society of Disaster and Security
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.17-24
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• 2014

Recently, many accidents occur frequently because sprinklers aren't installed or don't work right when there are outbreak of fire in houses and aggregate buildings. Therefore, they can result in damage for humans and loss of property. Sprinklers are the most appropriate which can extinguish buildings' fire in the initial stages. Through lack of legal system, in domestic cases, sprinklers cannot operate their inherent performance. Domestic standard simply classifies installation objects according to types of business and forms of buildings, also divides into uses and floors of buildings. Especially it only regulates that sprinklers must be installed every floors in particular fire buildings that have more than eleven floors. While it doesn't need to install sprinklers below ten floors, so we are threatened the safety. In this study, we derived causes and implications by analyzing concepts of sprinklers facilities, installation standards in domestic and foreign legal system, and recent cases that expanded damages in fire accidents because of weak point of installation and control standards. In domestic cases, as a result, government has to provide an institutional strategy and law that regulate duty to install sprinklers to all aggregate buildings regardless of floors in terms of new buildings. Also, if someone who has existing buildings wanted to install them, government would guarantee subsidy to encourage installation. In addition, government supervises fire-fighting activities when there are fire by compensating standards about regular inspection by a qualified technician, operation and maintenance of sprinklers as well as reinforcement of administrative criteria.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.94-102
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• 2019

As the importance of first responses for fire accidents has grown in the safety management of nuclear power plants, a systematic approach to measure firefighters' psychological states and competence is needed. The current study investigated the construct of the risk perception of the firefighters working near nuclear power plant sites, and then developed and validated a new scale to measure firefighters' risk perception regarding nuclear power plant accidents. The scale items were developed on the basis of literature review and interviews with the firefighters working near nuclear power plant sites. In order to validate the new scale, we recruited 180 firefighters from five fire stations in the vicinity of the nuclear power plants in Jeonnam Province, Gyeongbuk Province, and Busan. The results of exploratory factor analyses revealed that the scale consisted of five factors: "manual" reflecting a lack of response guidelines and manuals for fire incidents and radioactive material release; "fear" reflecting a fear of fire incidents in the nuclear power plants and their catastrophic consequences; "resource" reflecting a lack of protective equipment and manpower for responding to fire incidents in the nuclear power plants; "trust" reflecting trust and cooperation with the counterpart institutions for firefighting in the nuclear power plants; and "knowledge" reflecting the knowledge of radioactivity and firefighting in the nuclear power plants. Further analyses provided statistical evidence supporting for the 15-item scale's internal consistency and construct validity. Finally, We discussed the implication and limitations of the current research.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.190-203
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• 2019

Since the amendment of the Accidental Fire Liability Act in 2009, interested parties in accidental fire liability contracts have settled issues associated with the estimation of each other's liability amounts through lawsuits. As fire accidents are complex in nature, it is difficult to distinguish between direct and additional damages caused by extended combustion while calculating liability amounts for accidental fires. Additionally, there is an increasing need for establishing and using a framework that includes validity and reliability. To establish such a framework for estimating the liability amounts in case of an accidental fire, this study suggests a novel categorization of fires to be applied to the framework. This will be organized by the subjects of the liability of accidental fires, and quantified and probabilistic processed qualitative items through the methods applied to quantification (AMEA/FTA) based on the fire statistics data published by the government and the previous researchers' research application data and results.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.74-81
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• 2017

This study analyzed the regulatory actions of disposal gas lighters as well as the situations, causes, and preventive measures of fires, and accidents caused by disposal gas lighters. Since child-resistant lighters became mandatory, the percentage of fires caused by playing with fire has decreased in Korea as it did in America and Japan. Fires caused by disposal gas lighters can occur by afterburning, unintentional lighting, large flames, or explosion or bursting as well as by arson and playing with fire. This study suggests the preventive measures of fires caused by disposal gas lighters as follows: Taking a step not to be used as child's tool for playing with fire, the warning of fire cases caused by afterburning, warning of the dangers of leaving disposal gas lighters on the car dashboard or high temperature places, improving the protective synthetic resin cover of the stop part of a vehicle seat rail, and providing information on precautions for keeping in drawers or disposition methods.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.22-28
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• 2017

According to the National Fire Data System (NFDS), more than 5,000 vehicle fires have occurred every year for the last 10 years. Vehicle fires are primarily caused by mechanical (breaking system and engine), electrical (wiring and battery), and chemical (oil and fuel gas leakage) problems. The electrical factor has increased with the installation of driver convenience equipment. For example, today, the black box is widely used to provide video data recording of motor vehicle accidents. The black box consists of a front camera, rear camera, and wires. The black box wires are directly connected to the junction box or fuse box from the start battery that operates to provide normal on power supplying for engine stop. It is extremely dangerous when the wires short circuit due to insulation aging, mechanical and electrical stress, etc. In this study, the black box wiring fire risk have been analyzed and investigated when the steady state and abnormal operations, and under the following conditions: wiring arrangements with a high temperature condition, insulation aging, poor contact, and short circuits. The results showed that black box wiring short circuits had a higher fire risk than the other fire hazard elements. To prevent fire hazards caused by black box wiring, the black boxes must be installed by qualified service personnel. Do not modify the wiring, remove the fuse and secure the wiring using cable ties or insulation tape.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.51-71
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• 1997

As passenger ship accidents so frequently have occurred, crisis consciousness is highly aroused in Korean society. Although bombastic policy guidlines were suggested in accordance with every passenger ship accident, there remains a still high possibility of such an accident reoccurring because passenger ship accidents occur from the perspective of non-compliance. The research objective of this study is to government's safety regulatory policies. Data for the analysis was collected from literature review. A Case study related to passenger ship accident is adopted for the analysis. The research methods utilized in this study consist of extensive quantitative analysis of 138 passenger ship accidents which had happened over last 10 years from 1984 to 1993 in Korea and a qualitative analysis of the passenger ship accident of the Seohae Ferry in October 1993. The results of the quantitive analysis on the 138 passenger ship accidents are as follows; Seeing the accidents yearly, the accidents which occurred by policy non-compliance are still exist, only somewhat reduced as years gone by. Seeing the accidents from the perspective of types of accident, fire accidents and death and injury accidents had more non-compliance factors than contact accidents and one-side collision accidents, etc. had. Seeing the accidents from the perspectives of types of passenger ship, large ships like car ferries and general passenger ship accidents had more non-compliance factors than any other kinds of ships had. Seeing the accidents from the perspectives of tons of passenger ships, large ships weighing more than 1, 000 tons and small ships weighing less than 50tons contained a lots of non-compliance factors. The results of the qualitative analysis of the passenger ship accident of the Seohae Ferry in Octovber 1993 are as follows; From the viewpoint of the human factor, there were non-compliance to the recruiting of required number of qualified crew members and non-compliance to the rule which prohibited them from leaving port in bad weather and high wave conditions. From the viewpoint of the ship factor, there were defects in the ship. So we might say that there was non-compliance which was aroused from the lacks of technical skills. From the viewpoint of the administrative factor, there were many non-compliance factors such as sailor education, shipping management, rescue, safety equipment. From the viewpoint of the passenger factor, there were passengers' threats which compelled the crews to leave the port under bad weather conditions. In conclusion, the principal non-compliances factors are passenger ship company did not follow safety rules such as shipping the permitted number of passengers, loading permitted tons of freight and fastening freights properly and recruiting required number of qualified crew. In order to reduce accidents, firstly we should find out the causes which play key roles in passenger ship companies' non-compliance to the government's safety regulations. Secondly we should tackle the causes.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.47-53
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• 2019

A variety of general purpose polymer products such as polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PVC), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polystyrene (PS) and polyurethane (PU) are widely produced and used in the industrial field. Many industrial accidents have occurred due to fire and explosion at the manufacturing site. In order to prevent such accidents, it is important to collect and analyze accident cases that occurred in the past to identify the characteristics of accidents and to use them to prevent the same kind of accidents or similar accidents. In this study, the accident distribution characteristics of general polymer manufacturing process were examined by using SPSS based on the database of the industrial accident statistics system operated by the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency. These results can be used to prevent accidents in the general-purpose polymer product process and ensure the safety of the process.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.74-80
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• 2019

Hydrogen refueling stations that use compressed hydrogen at high pressure provide safety distances between facilities in order to ensure safety. Most accidents occurring in hydrogen stations are accidental leaks. When a leak occurs, various types of ignition sources generate a jet flame. Therefore, the analysis of leaked gas diffusion and jet flame due to high pressure hydrogen leakage is one of the most important factor for setting the safety distance. In this study, the leakage accidents that occur in the hydrogen refueling station operated in high pressure environment are simulated for various leakage source sizes. The results of this study will be used as a reference for the future safety standards.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
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• 2021.05a
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• pp.295-296
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• 2021

With the recent diversification and complication of buildings, the functions of building are also developing. As much as the development of buildings, the machine or equipment used for them is also developing. Thus, all sorts of domestic/foreign industrial facilities and fire stations in the whole nation are using the electric shutter that could meet the insulation just like the exterior wall of general buildings, for bringing-in/storage and crime prevention/fire prevention. Currently, various types of electric shutters are used. Such wrong operation and poor management are causing many panel-falling accidents. This study researched the reduction of electric shutter panel-falling risk by reviewing the domestic/foreign laws and standards, and researching the new safety equipment. First, the causes for falling and accident types were drawn by analyzing the cases of electric shutter accidents. After that, a checklist as the measures for reducing the falling of electric shutter in building was suggested by analyzing the items for the inspection of electric shutter.