• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.29-36
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• 2010

This article describes a systematic roadmap master plan for advanced industrial safety and health policy in Korea, with an emphasis on. Since Korean industries had first emergence of industrial safety and health policy in 1953, enormous efforts have been made on upgrading the relevant laws in order to reflect real situation of industrial work environment in accordance with rapid changes of Korean and global business over three decades. Nevertheless, current policy has major defects; too much techniques-based articles, diverged contents in less organization, combined enforcement and punishments and finally enforcing regulations full of commands and control. These deficiencies have make it difficult to accommodate changes of social, industrial and employment environment in customized fashion. The approach to the solution must be generic at the level of paradigm-shift rather than local modifications and enhancement. The basic idea is to establish a new system integrated with a risk assessment scheme, which encourages employers to apply to their work environment under comprehensive responsibility. The risk assessment scheme is designed to enable to inspect employers' compliances afterwards. A project comprises four yearly phases based on applying zones; initially designating and operating a specified risk zone, gradually expanding the special zones during a period of 3 years (2010-2012) and the final zone expanded to entire nation. In each phase, the intermediate version of the system is updated through a process of precise and unbiased validation in terms of its operability, feasibility and sustainability with building relevant infrastructures as needed.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.155-161
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• 1999

Objectio ostinato the carcinogenic risks from the ingestion of some carcinogenic pesticides (CPs) in vegetables sampled at a local agricultural product market in Seoul. Methods: After applying a hazard identification step, we selected four pesticides, such as DDT, dieldrin, folpet, and heptachlor epoxide, for this risk assessment. Concentrations of each pesticide were measured from randomly sampled vegetables. In order to estimate the human exposure levels, we combined the concentration of pesticides in the vegetables with consumption rate of those vegetables. Three scenarios were hypothesized for human exposure assessment. Scenario I was the most conservative which supposed the undetected CPs would be the detection limit values. Scenario II was assumed that the undetected CPs would be a half of the detection limit values, and finally scenario III merely considered only values greater than the detection limit values. We finally presented the estimated carcinogenic risks on the basis of the traditional risk assessment procedure suggested by U.S. EPA. Results: Pesticides including DDT, dieldrin, folpet and heptachlor epoxide were detected in 9 samples (6%) in the range of $0.0006\sim0.09ppm$. The daily intake levels of carcinogenic pesticides were estimated in the range of $0.0009\sim0.0079{\mu}g/day$. As we expected, excess cancer risks based on scenario I was also the highest $(1.1\times10^{-8}\sim5.5\times10^{-5})$. Conclusions: We found that the estimated risks from the pesticides we investigated were not serious. We, however, propose that a continuos monitoring is needed to make sure for the protection of public health.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.57-63
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• 2003

In this study; the evaluation system models for evacuation safety assessment of underground malls were presented and related software program was developed. In addition, database was built integrating various data which were essential to evacuation safety assessment and enabling effective safety assessment with low cost and time. As a results of case study in local underground malls, the evacuation safety assessment system has examined in therms of field applicability and reliability.

• Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.10-17
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• 2021

Invasive alien species management is pivotal for biodiversity conservation. Commelina caroliniana Walter, from the family Commelinaceae, is an alien plant native to the Himalayas and India, but it has been widely introduced around the world, including in the United States, Brazil, Philippines, and Japan. In Korea, the first population was found growing adjacent to agricultural land and farm roads on Jejudo Island, and field observations confirmed the presence of at least nine populations there. It is similar morphologically to C. diffusa Burm. f. but can be distinguished by involucral bracts that are ciliate at the base, hairs on the peduncle and obsolete upper cincinnus, brown spots on its 4-lobed antherode, and seed surfaces that are smooth to slightly alveolate. It was determined to have an invasiveness low score of 8 according to the Korean 'Invasive Alien Plant Risk Assessment', suggesting that it may spread to natural habitats. Although the current distribution of C. caroliniana is restricted to Jeju-si, it has spread dramatically in many other areas of the world. At present, it has had a limited impact on the local environment, but local and regulatory authorities should pay close attention to this plant and take measures to prevent its expansion in the future.

• Journal of The Geomorphological Association of Korea
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.87-103
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• 2020

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the risk of cropland and man-made infrastructures in a landslide-prone area using a GIS-based method. To achieve this goal, a landslide inventory map was prepared based on aerial photograph analysis as well as field observations. A total of 550 landslides have been counted in the entire study area. For model analysis and validation, extracted landslides were randomly selected and divided into two groups. The landslide causative factors such as slope, aspect, curvature, topographic wetness index, elevation, forest type, forest crown density, geology, land-use, soil drainage, and soil texture were used in the analysis. Moreover, to identify the correlation between landslides and causative factors, pixels were divided into several classes and frequency ratio was also extracted. A landslide susceptibility map was constructed using a bayesian predictive model (BPM) based on the entire events. In the cross validation process, the landslide susceptibility map as well as observation data were plotted with a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve then the area under the curve (AUC) was calculated and tried to extract a success rate curve. The results showed that, the BPM produced 85.8% accuracy. We believed that the model was acceptable for the landslide susceptibility analysis of the study area. In addition, for risk assessment, monetary value (local) and vulnerability scale were added for each social thematic data layers, which were then converted into US dollar considering landslide occurrence time. Moreover, the total number of the study area pixels and predictive landslide affected pixels were considered for making a probability table. Matching with the affected number, 5,000 landslide pixels were assumed to run for final calculation. Based on the result, cropland showed the estimated total risk as US $ 35.4 million and man-made infrastructure risk amounted to US $ 39.3 million.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.89-98
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• 2016

Purpose - This article tackles risk communication issues and aims to address the characteristics of MERS risk information distribution in South Korea, and secondly to examine the communicative behavior of the public health authority in terms of the quality of communication strategies. Thirdly, the study attempts to figure out the risk communication to cope with MERS through the applications of SMCRE model in chronological order. We employ the social amplification of risk framework for analyzing the emergent public response as one of the main approaches. Research Design, Data and Methodology - The main framework of this study is theoretically based on the social amplification of risk, which describes signals about risk transmitted and processed by individuals and social groups. The model also reflects the interactions between social groups and institutes about disaster-related risk issues, which are potential amplifiers or attenuators of communication signals. S-M-C-R-E Model is methodologically employed to examine the social amplification for MERS risk information in each period, which we defined operationally. The proposed methodology allows the assessment of effectiveness and ineffectiveness on risk communication to be conceptualized as a countermeasure against disasters. The paper focuses on exploring how social risk amplification can be applied and organized in each stage. Results - The SMCRE model describes the exchange of risk information and is also applied to all forms of communication between stakeholders including public health authority, local government and media. Each factor of risk communication includes source, message, channel, receiver and effect. The results support that the effective risk communication involves not only the improved reliability of public health authority as a key factor of risk communication, but also a close cooperation and good collaboration with local governments. It does not seem to be possible that the government-initiated risk communication based on controllability and management cope effectively with infectious disease in early stage. The results of this study imply that the shared risks between local, regional and national authorities can enhance risk communication system. Conclusions - The study supports that the disparities in how disaster-related risk information is interpreted and coded, have made effective risk communication and public sense-making impeded. Our findings support a more communicative discussion about the role of risk information sharing between governments for the improvement of emergency management and underline the importance of social elements in the risk communication, such as relationship and trust building. Findings suggest that trust building between stakeholders could be added to help explain the processes of social amplification and attenuation of risk. It would be recommended that the continuous risk communication with all the involved stakeholders will be able to help national health promotion policy to be improved regarding emergency management. Furthermore, risk communication has to be a scientific approach for the communication pertaining to potentially sensitive or controversial situations with public concerns and low public trust.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.497-510
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• 2019

Objectives: The aim of this study was to secure the reliability of using the CalTOX model when evaluating LADD (or ADD) and Risk (or HQ) among local residents for the emission of BTEX (Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene, Xylene) and by closely examining the difference in the confidence interval of the assessment outcomes according to the difference in the probability density function of input variables. Methods: The assessment was made by dividing it according to the method ($I^{\dagger}$) of inputting the probability density function in meteorological variables of the model with log-normal distribution and the method of inputting ($II^{\ddagger}$) after grasping the optimal probability density function using @Risk. A T-test was carried out in order to analyze the difference in confidence interval of the two assessment results. Results: It was evaluated to be 1.46E-03 mg/kg-d in LADD of Benzene, 1.96E-04 mg/kg-d in ADD of Toluene, 8.15E-05 mg/kg-d in ADD of Ethylbenzene, and 2.30E-04 mg/kg-d in ADD of Xylene. As for the predicted confidence interval in LADD and ADD, there was a significant difference between the $I^{\dagger}$ and $II^{\ddagger}$ methods in $LADD_{Inhalation}$ for Benzene, and in $ADD_{Inhalation}$ and ADD for Toluene and Xylene. It appeared to be 3.58E-05 for risk in Benzene, 3.78E-03 for HQ in Toluene, 1.48E-03 for HQ in Ethylbenzene, and 3.77E-03 for HQ in Xylene. As a result of the HQ in Toluene and Xylene, the difference in confidence interval between the $I^{\dagger}$ and $II^{\ddagger}$ methods was shown to be significant. Conclusions: The human risk assessment for BTEX was made by dividing it into the method ($I^{\dagger}$) of inputting the probability density function of meteorological variables for the CalTOX model with log-normal distribution, and the method of inputting ($II^{\ddagger}$) after grasping the optimal probability density function using @Risk. As a result, it was identified that Risk (or HQ) is the same, but that there is a significant difference in the confidence interval of Risk (or HQ) between the $I^{\dagger}$ and $II^{\ddagger}$ methods.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.54 no.6
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• pp.39-44
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• 2012

Water supply capacity and operational capability in agricultural reservoirs are expressed differently in the limited storage due to seasonal and local variation of precipitation. Since agricultural water supply and demand basically assumes the uncertainty of hydrological phenomena, it is necessary to improve probabilistic approach for potential risk assessment of water supply capacity in reservoir for enhanced operational storage management. Here, it was introduced the irrigation vulnerability characteristic curves to represent the water supply capacity corresponding to probability distribution of the water demand from the paddy field and water supply in agricultural reservoir. Irrigation vulnerability probability was formulated using reliability analysis method based on water supply and demand probability distribution. The lower duration of irrigation vulnerability probability defined as the time period requiring intensive water management, and it will be considered to assessment tools as a risk mitigated water supply planning in decision making with a limited reservoir storage.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.140-151
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• 2023

This study investigated pesticide residues in 367 agricultural products from local food markets in Ulsan. Pesticide residues in these samples were analyzed using multi class pesticide multi-residue methods on the Korean Food Code for 350 pesticides using GC-MS/MS and LC-MS/MS. Residual pesticides were detected in 79 (21.5%) samples and exceeded maximum residual limits (MRLs) in 4 (1.1%) samples (chwinamul, narrow-head ragwort, green onion, apricot). The range of the hazard index (%) was 0.0000-63.1043%, and values for the pesticides that violated the MRLs were 63.1043 (green onion), 0.5417 (chwinamul), 0.0684 (apricot), and 0.0100 (narrow-head ragwort). This risk assessment study showed that the values of hazard index (%) were less than 100%, indicating that the consumption of these local agricultural food products was not harmful for human health.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.84-94
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• 2018

Background: This paper describes a simple-to-use and reliable screening tool called Critical Task Exposure Screening (CTES), developed by a chemical company. The tool assesses if the exposure to a chemical for a task is likely to be within acceptable levels. Methods: CTES is a Microsoft Excel tool, where the inhalation risk score is calculated by relating the exposure estimate to the corresponding occupational exposure limit (OEL) or occupational exposure band (OEB). The inhalation exposure is estimated for tasks by preassigned ART1.5 activity classes and modifying factors. Results: CTES requires few inputs. The toxicological data, including OELs, OEBs, and vapor pressure are read from a database. Once the substance is selected, the user specifies its concentration and then chooses the task description and its duration. CTES has three outputs that may trigger follow-up: (1) inhalation risk score; (2) identification of the skin hazard with the skin warnings for local and systemic adverse effects; and (3) status for carcinogenic, mutagenic, or reprotoxic effects. Conclusion: The tool provides an effective way to rapidly screen low-concern tasks, and quickly identifies certain tasks involving substances that will need further review with, nevertheless, the appropriate conservatism. This tool shows that the higher-tier ART1.5 inhalation exposure assessment model can be included effectively in a screening tool. After 2 years of worldwide extensive use within the company, CTES is well perceived by the users, including the shop floor management, and it fulfills its target of screening tool.