• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
• /
• v.37 no.6
• /
• pp.136-147
• /
• 2022

The purpose of this study is to analyze four cases of firefighter burns in various fire scenes and to find prevention measures to decrease firefighter injuries. Among the analysis reports prepared by the National Fire Research Institute of Korea from 2016 to 2020, four burn-related accidents are summarized and the main causes are conveyed. The four accidents include second-degree burns from using extinguishers during containment of fires; nine firefighters burned due to re-ignition in the LPG car repair shop; two firefighters injured with third-degree burns from using fire extinguishers during life-saving events in residential housing; and injuries from the radiant heat of the tank BLEVE near the factory fire. These cases are comprehensively investigated in their respective scenes and analyzed based on the fire site investigation reports from the fire department and related theoretical explanations of risk for each accident scene. In the third case study, some experimental research is conducted to evaluate the risk involved with the use of safety gloves. This is evaluated by reviewing Fire Tactics and Standard Operational Procedures (SOP) to determine improvements and recommendations for an efficient firefighting response. Results show that the main causes of burn accidents are the insufficient use of personal protective equipment (PPE), such as safety gloves, and the failure to follow firefighting tactics or SOPs. Through the accident investigation and assessment, it is concluded that to reduce the frequency of burn accidents, the performance of firefighting equipment, SOPs, protection tactics, and safety policy systems require improvement.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
• /
• v.24 no.4
• /
• pp.327-339
• /
• 2022

The purpose of this study is to present the effective smoke control flow rate and mode for securing safety through quantitative risk assessment according to the smoke control flow rate and mode (supply or exhaust) of the platform when a train fire occurs at the subway platform. To this end, a fire outbreak scenario was created using a side platform with a central staircase as a model and fire analysis was performed for each scenario to compare and analyze fire propagation characteristics and ASET, evacuation analysis was performed to predict the number of deaths. In addition, a fire accident rate (F)/number of deaths (N) diagram (F/N diagram) was prepared for each scenario to compare and evaluate the risk according to the smoke control flow rate and mode. In the ASET analysis of harmful factors, carbon monoxide, temperature, and visible distance determined by performance-oriented design methods and standards for firefighting facilities, the effect of visible distance is the largest, In the case where the delay in entering the platform of the fire train was not taken into account, the ASET was analyzed to be about 800 seconds when the air flow rate was 4 × 833 m³/min. The estimated number of deaths varies greatly depending on the location of the vehicle of fire train, In the case of a fire occurring in a vehicle adjacent to the stairs, it is shown that the increase is up to three times that of the vehicle in the lead. In addition, when the smoke control flow rate increases, the number of fatalities decreases, and the reduction rate of the air supply method rather than the exhaust method increases. When the supply flow rate is 4 × 833 m³/min, the expected number of deaths is reduced to 13% compared to the case where ventilation is not performed. As a result of the risk assessment, it is found that the current social risk assessment criteria are satisfied when smoke control is performed, and the number of deaths is the flow rate 4 × 833 m³/min when smoke control is performed at 29.9 people in 10,000 year, It was analyzed that it decreased to 4.36 people.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
• /
• v.19 no.3
• /
• pp.532-544
• /
• 2023

Purpose: To identify and evaluate the risk of chemical fire causative substances by using thermal analysis methods (DSC, TGA) for the hazards and physical property changes that occur when newly used biofuels are mixed with existing fuels It is to use it for identification and evaluation of the cause of fire by securing data related to the method and the hazards of the material according to it. Method: The research method used in this experiment is the differential scanning calorimeter (DSC: Difference in heat flux) through quantitative information on the caloric change from the location, shape, number, and area of peaks. flux) was measured, and the weight change caused by decomposition heat at a specific temperature was continuously measured by performing thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA: Thermo- gravimetric Analyzer). Result: First, in the heat flux graph, the boiling point of the material and the intrinsic characteristic value of the material or the energy required for decomposition can be checked. Second, as the content of biodiesel increased, many peaks were identified. Third, it was confirmed through analysis that substances with low expected boiling points were contained. Conclusion: It was shown that the physical risk of the material can be evaluated by using the risk of biodiesel, which is currently used as a new energy source, through various physical and chemical analysis techniques (DSC + TGA).In addition, it is expected that the comparison of differences between test methods and the accumulation and utilization of know-how on experiments in this study will be helpful in future studies on physical properties of hazardous materials and risk assessment of materials.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
• /
• v.37 no.4
• /
• pp.73-79
• /
• 2022

In this study, real fire tests were performed on representative combustibles of residential facilities to analyze the fire behavior and combustion characteristics in a small residential space. The considered combustibles were a sofa, a combination of a desk and a chair, and a combination of a mattress and an electric mat. A compartment space fire test was performed using the room corner test equipment prescribed in the KS F ISO 9705 specification. Three real fire tests were conducted by placing the combustible material inside a small compartment with insulation and finishing materials and by igniting the combustible material. Results showed that the peak heat release rate and peak smoke production rate occurred in the combination of the mattress and electric mat. Furthermore, from the result of the fire rate analysis, it was estimated that the fire risk of the mattress and electric mat combination was the highest, followed by the sofa and thedesk and chair combination.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
• /
• v.22 no.4
• /
• pp.116-130
• /
• 2019

In South Korea, forest fire occurrences are increasing in size and duration due to various factors such as the increase in fuel materials and frequent drying conditions in forests. Therefore, it is necessary to minimize the damage caused by forest fires by appropriately providing the probability of forest fire risk. The purpose of this study is to improve the Daily Weather Index(DWI) provided by the current forest fire forecasting system in South Korea. A new Fire Risk Index(FRI) is proposed in this study, which is provided in a 5km grid through the synergistic use of numerical weather forecast data, satellite-based drought indices, and forest fire-prone areas. The FRI is calculated based on the product of the Fine Fuel Moisture Code(FFMC) optimized for Korea, an integrated drought index, and spatio-temporal weighting approaches. In order to improve the temporal accuracy of forest fire risk, monthly weights were applied based on the forest fire occurrences by month. Similarly, spatial weights were applied using the forest fire density information to improve the spatial accuracy of forest fire risk. In the time series analysis of the number of monthly forest fires and the FRI, the relationship between the two were well simulated. In addition, it was possible to provide more spatially detailed information on forest fire risk when using FRI in the 5km grid than DWI based on administrative units. The research findings from this study can help make appropriate decisions before and after forest fire occurrences.

• Proceedings of the KSR Conference
• /
• 2011.10a
• /
• pp.1426-1431
• /
• 2011

A study on the standardization of design fire HRR(heat release rate) curve was conducted for various railcar from the fire simulation or the fire tests. These standard curves are listed on the tunnel fire safety manual which will be used for the QRA(quantitative risk analysis) process of the long railway tunnels. The design fire curve is based with four simple factor representing the key of fire curve characteristics. Flashover time, maximum HRR and burn out time are the key factors of the design fire curve. Specially total heat release is decided by the burnable material amount in the car.

• Fire Science and Engineering
• /
• v.34 no.4
• /
• pp.13-21
• /
• 2020

This study tested the wood used in building interiors; each type had various incident heat fluxes based on their thickness. The combustion characteristics measured were effective heat of combustion, heat release rate peak and arrival time, maximum average rate of heat emission, and piloted ignition temperature. The wood specimens used in the experiment were 4.8 to 18 mm thick. 25, 35, 50, and 60 kW/㎡ were applied to the incident heat flux that the wood specimens were exposed to. The wood specimens tested were two types of medium-density fiberboard (each with a different density), treated red pine, particle board, and plywood. A comprehensive comparison of different fire characteristics was conducted to analyze the fire patterns corresponding to each type of wood in this way, the risk of fire was studied. The risk of fire was particularly high for particle board. The results of quantifying the fire characteristics of the types of wood studied could function as important input data with which to calculate the fire load of composite combustibles.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.18 no.6
• /
• pp.393-407
• /
• 2008

To protection of fire accident and to minimize danger of spreading the disaster. in railway tunnel, MCT (the Ministry of Construction and Transportation) published "Rules about the Safety Standard of Railroad (2005.10.27)" and "The Detailed Safety Standard of Railroad (2006.9.22)". QRA(Quantitative Risk Analysis) results are applied to establish the fire protection facilities in railway tunnel so that institute the reasonable application about the fire safety facilities However, it is difficult to perform the fire safety design due to lack of the detailed standards about event scenario, fire intensity, incidence rate of accidents etc. Therefore, This paper introduces the practical method about detailed standards of QRA.

• Fire Science and Engineering
• /
• v.17 no.3
• /
• pp.61-73
• /
• 2003

Most of the accidents occurred from the chemical plants are related to the catastrophic gas release events when the large amount of toxic materials is leaked from its storage tank or transmitting pipe lines. In this case, the greatest concerns are how the spreading behaviors of leakages are depended on the ambient conditions such as air stability and other environmental factors. Hence, we have focused on the risk assessments and consequential analysis for chlorine as an illustrative example. As appeared in the result, Fire & Explosion Index depicted it a bit dangerous with presenting the comprehensive degrees of hazard 90.7. And as a result of Phast6.0/ALOHA, the trends of each scenario appeared considerably identical although there are some differences in the resulting effects according to the input data for the Gas Model. The consequence analysis is performed numerically based on the dense gas mode. In the future, using more correct input data, material properties, and topographical configuration, the method of this research will be useful for the guideline of the risk assessment when the release of toxicants breaks out.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
• /
• v.16 no.4
• /
• pp.768-783
• /
• 2020

Purpose: In response to the critical risk of fire due to the characteristic of Publicly used establishments(hereinafter referred to as PUE), 'Special Act on the Safety Control of PUE' was enacted in 2006 and is still in operation. However, in spite of numerous revisions so far, still there are problems to be resolved. This study analyses the regulatory regime of fire safety in UK to find measures which could fundamentally improve the safety management of PUE. Method: This study compares and analyses the safety management system of PUE in Korea and the case of the UK by using the comparative research method. Result: As a result of the qualitative analysis, some noticeable systems and concepts of the UK regulatory regime have been discovered(e.g. 'Responsible person', 'Fire risk assessment', 'Fire safety audit', etc.) and consequently, 'Proposal for the Fire Safety Management System for PUE' is designed based on the findings from examples in the UK and drawbacks of safety management of PUE. Conclusion: This study proposes the way to improve the safety management of PUE into a more rational and effective system by analysing the case of the UK, which reorganised the fire safety management to the private sector centered, in which the fire authority minimizes intervention.