• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.258-274
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• 2016

Recently, as fluctuations in annual precipitations continue to grow, the frequency of floods and droughts is rapidly increasing. Especially, since many reservoirs are reported as having less capacity and aging faster than large dams, the damages due to floods and droughts are estimated to become more severe. With this background for the present study, field investigation of reservoirs in Chungnam, Chungbuk, and Chonbuk regions was carried out for disaster prevention and the safety management of agricultural reservoirs. Furthermore, embankment transformations were compared and analyzed after the raising of embankments. Based on design methods for remodeling agricultural reservoirs and the results of embankment raising and the problems which occurred on crest, supplementation to the upstream and downstream slopes, control sector, and spillway should be implemented in the existing reservoir. In regard to this, the condition assessment score of compound member of reservoirs was performed, the Chungnam region score was in the 3.11-4.73 range. In addition, reservoirs in Chungbuk scored in the 4.00-4.49 range, and reservoirs in Chonbuk scored in the 3.90-4.60 range. Applying current precision safety inspection practices to small reservoirs requires economic expenses and time, for which assessment items are too varied and complex. Therefore, subdivided condition assessment items and criteria should be improved and streamlined by deleting, reducing, combining, and selecting only the riskiest factors. In the future, reservoirs should be periodically monitored and systemically managed and rational plans for maintenance and repairs should be used as reinforcement methods.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.11-26
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• 2016

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which has continuously evaluated the performance of healthcare systems, has recently invested much effort into hospital performance measurement. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the hospital performance measurement programs operated by international organizations or at the national level based on the OECD's hospital performance project. Health Insurance Review & Assessment service (HIRA)'s quality assessment was analyzed based on the analytical framework of the OECD's hospital performance project. The hospital performance measurement programs of WHO, Canada, Australia, United States and United Kingdom are briefly explored, in view of the conceptual framework, key performance dimensions and indicators that are currently in use. The OECD suggested seven key dimensions of hospital performance: timeliness, efficiency, continuity, effectiveness and appropriateness, staff orientation, patient orientation and safety. The analysis of the quality assessment program of HIRA, which operates 36 diseases and procedures and 347 indicators, shows that the numbers of indicators are relatively small in the areas of safety, patient centeredness and efficiency. Continuity of care and staff orientation are not fully developed also, but the situations are similar in other countries. In conclusion, hospital performance measurement using stable and comprehensive data should be developed to improve overall system performance, and discussions on a conceptual framework that can lay out directions and key performance domains need to take into place.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.304-316
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• 2021

Objectives: By comparing and analyzing the legal system for risk assessment in South Korea with other advanced countries, the study is designed to identify the key elements of risk assessment and seek improvement measures while focusing on solutions to the execution of risk assessment violations. Methods: The study started with an awareness of the need to improve the legislation on the risk assessment of businesses in Korea. In order to reflect this problem consciousness in Korea's industrial safety and health legislation, risk assessment legislation in Japan, Britain, Germany, and Korea was analyzed in comparative terms through the literature. Results: Unlike the other advanced countries, the concept of risk assessment is defined in Korea in a broad sense that includes measures to reduce risk, and risk assessment in the manufacturing and design stages is not institutionalized. In the case of worker participation, there is a problem regarding effectiveness. It is problematic that compared to the other foreign countries there is a possibility that general risk assessment will be neutralized because it is recognized as a uniform general risk assessment for a particular risk assessment, as well as inadequate risk assessment. Conclusions: The areas diagnosed with problems compared to the legislation in other advanced countries should be improved by revising laws and administrative rules and supplementing the explanatory guidelines, etc. by referring to the legislation of these countries. In particular, the issue of enforcement for violations of risk assessment must be improved in order to ensure the effectiveness of risk assessment.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.367-374
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• 2014

The monthly mean air temperature datasets of 61 stations in South Korea from 1973 to 2012 were collected to calculate trends in the warmth index (WI) and to analyze the potential enlargement of safety cultivation limit for sweet persimmon. The WI averaged over the last 40 years was 104.1 (℃·Month) at 61 stations, with the highest at Seogwipo station (WI=137.9) and the lowest at Daegwallyeong station (WI=60.9). It has increased by 1.8 (℃·Month) per 10 years over the last 40 years, with the highest in the year 1994 (WI=112.0) and the lowest in the year 1976 (WI=94.7). When the possible stations for sweet persimmon cultivation were classified by the basis on WI≥100, 38 out of the 61 weather stations were included in the safety cultivation zone for sweet persimmon for the last 40 years. On the other hand, the number of weather stations within the safety cultivation zones for sweet persimmon for the last 10 years (from 2003 to 2012) were 47 by adding additional 9 stations (Socho, Wonju, Chungju, Seosan, Uljin, Yangpyeong, Icheon, Cheonan, and Geochang stations). A further study of the climate conditions and soil characteristics is required for a better assessment of the safety cultivation zones for sweet persimmon.

• Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
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• v.35
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• pp.35.1-35.11
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• 2023

Background: Cardio-cerebrovascular diseases (CVDs) are the most common cause of death worldwide. Various CVD risk assessment tools have been developed. In South Korea, the Korea Occupational Safety & Health Agency (KOSHA) and the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) have provided CVD risk assessments with health checkups. Since 2018, the KOSHA guide has stated that NHIS CVD risk assessment tool could be used as an alternative of KOSHA assessment tool for evaluating CVD risk of workers. The objective of this study was to determine the correlation and agreement between the KOSHA and the NHIS CVD risk assessment tools. Methods: Subjects of this study were 17,485 examinees aged 20 to 64 years who had undergone medical examinations from January 2021 to December 2021 at a general hospital. We classified subjects into low-risk, moderate-risk, high-risk, and highest-risk groups according to KOSHA and NHIS's CVD risk assessment tools. We then compared them with cross-analysis, Spearman correlation analysis, and linearly weighted kappa coefficient. Results: The correlation between KOSHA and NHIS tools was statistically significant (p-value < 0.001), with a correlation coefficient of 0.403 and a kappa coefficient of 0.203. When we compared risk group distribution using KOSHA and NHIS tools, CVD risk of 6,498 (37.1%) participants showed a concordance. Compared to the NHIS tool, the KOSHA tool classified 9,908 (56.7%) participants into a lower risk category and 1,079 (6.2%) participants into a higher risk category. Conclusions: In this study, KOSHA and NHIS tools showed a moderate correlation with a fair agreement. The NHIS tool showed a tendency to classify participants to higher CVD risk group than the KOSHA tool. To prevent CVD more effectively, a higher estimation tool among verified CVD risk assessment methods should be selected and managements such as early intervention and treatment of risk factors should be performed targeting the high-risk group.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.66-74
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• 2024

This study addresses the escalating issue of worldwide hydrogen gas accidents, which has seen a significant increase in occurrences. To comprehensively evaluate the risks associated with hydrogen, a two approach was employed in this study. Firstly, a qualitative risk assessment was conducted using the bow-tie method. Secondly, a quantitative consequence analysis was carried out utilizing the areal locations of hazardous atmospheres (ALOHA) model. The study applied this method to two incidents, the hydrogen explosion accident occurred at the Muskingum River power plant in Ohio, USA, 2007 and the hydrogen storage tank explosion accident occurred at the K Technopark water electrolysis system in Korea, 2019. The results of the risk assessments revealed critical issues such as deterioration of gas pipe, human errors in incident response and the omission of important gas cleaning facility. By analyzing the cause of accidents and assessing risks quantitatively, the effective accident response plans are proposed and the effectiveness is evaluated by comparing the effective distance obtained by ALOHA simulation. Notably, the implementation of these measures led to a significant 54.5% reduction in the risk degree of potential explosions compared to the existing risk levels.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.246-252
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• 2015

This paper compared the consistency of the Environment Stress(ES) model and the Potential Risk Assessment Model (PARK model, which was developed based on a Korean mariner risk perception) for the Busan adjacent waterway. Evaluation of accuracy and comparison of these two models have been made by Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) officers in the Busan VTS Centre. The assessment results of Busan waterway show that the PARK model is more consistent than the ES model as follows. (1) The difference between assessment results applying ES model and PARK model with risk degree of VTSOs were 34% and 5% respectively in six typical traffic situations. (2) The assessment using PARK model is more suitable and identical with the VTSOs opinion in his or her duty time.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.63-68
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• 2009

The safety culture of an organization is very complex and hard to study, but it is possible to examine norms that make up the culture. This paper describes of a Process Safety Management (PSM) climate assessment tool developed in high risk industry such as chemical industries. The main purpose is to develop measuring software tool behaviors by examining their nature and strength and by analysing underlying factors that offer explanations for attitudinal differences. We reviewed the current techniques and literatures available to assess safety climate and culture, conducted focus group interviews and discussions. Based on the reviews and focus group, PSM climate assessment questionnaires and an online application program were developed. A pilot assessment was done at a chemical plant in Korea and the safety climate profile was completed. It was suggested to have a constant feedback from different sectors of industry to improve the application.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.20 no.7_spc
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• pp.485-494
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• 2016

The risk-based assessment, also called time-based assessment of structure is usually performed to provide seismic risk evaluation of a target structure for its entire life-cycle, e.g. 50 years. The prediction of collapse probability is the estimator in the risk-based assessment. While the risk-based assessment is the key in the performance-based earthquake engineering, its application is very limited because this evaluation method is very expensive in terms of simulation and computational efforts. So the evaluation database for many archetype structures usually serve as representative of the specific system. However, there is no such an assessment performed for building stocks in Korea. Consequently, the performance objective of current building code, KBC is not clear at least in a quantitative way. This shortcoming gives an unresolved issue to insurance industry, socio-economic impact, seismic safety policy in national and local governments. In this study, we evaluate the comprehensive seismic performance of an low-rise residential buildings with discontinuous structural walls, so called piloti-type structure which is commonly found in low-rise domestic building stocks. The collapse probability is obtained using the risk integral of a conditioned collapse capacity function and regression of current hazard curve. Based on this approach it is expected to provide a robust tool to seismic safety policy as well as seismic risk analysis such as Probable Maximum Loss (PML) commonly used in the insurance industry.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.603-608
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• 2005

We recently isolated a novel probiotic strain, Lactobacillus fermentum PL9005 (KCCM-10250), from infant feces and showed that it had a potential immunoenhancing effect. In the present study, a safety assessment of the bacteria was performed using a BALB/c mouse model. Mice were administered with L. fermentum PL9005 daily for 28 days. There were no detectable changes in body weight, feed intake, or clinical signs, and no significant difference in hematological parameters or blood biochemistry between the L. fermentum PL9005-fed and control groups. Bacterial translocation was detected in the mesenteric lymph nodes, liver, and spleen of some mice with and without L. fermentum PL9005 feeding, however, the organisms were not related to ingestion of L. fermentum PL9005; this was confirmed by PCR using a species-specific primer. No gross lesions were detected in the liver, spleen, or intestine of L. fermentum PL9005-fed or control mice. Mucosal thickness in the ileum, cecum, and colon of L. fermentum PL9005-fed mice was not significantly different from that of corresponding organs in control mice. No inflammation or epithelial cell degeneration in the intestines was observed in any mice. These results indicate that ingestion of L. fermentum PL9005 is safe in mice and can be applied in the functional food market.