• 한국안전학회지
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• 제36권4호
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• pp.88-98
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• 2021

Korean industry has achieved dramatic growth in a short time through continuous technical innovations. However, safety consciousness and management have not kept pace with industry growth. The characteristics of industrial accidents in socio-technical systems have become so complicated that it has been challenging for safety professionals to implement effective preventive measures because it is difficult to determine what is happening in the complex workplace. Thus far, they have focused on technical improvements and the requirements of OSH regulations to avoid legal responsibility. Accordingly, this study has used the systemic analysis method to explain the emergence of something unexpected in complex and multi-layered business structures, which is usually related to the variabilities of humans and organizations. This study chose a shipyard where a few fatal accidents had occurred because the shipbuilding industry includes numerous variabilities, including obtaining orders, manpower supply, procurement, etc. Systemic analysis progressed using FRAM based on two accident cases related to the truss platform used in LNG vessels. The outcome shows that each function within the system has its variabilities and has become coupled or dependent on other functions, increasing the possibility of accidents. This analysis method can provide OSH professionals with practical techniques for explaining what is happening in a complex socio-technical system and how to take proper measures.

• 한국산업보건학회지
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• 제32권3호
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• pp.231-241
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• 2022

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the input status of exposure-related information in the working environment monitoring database (WEMD) and special health examination database (SHED) for the construction of a national exposure surveillance system. Methods: The industrial and process code input status of WEMD and SHED for 21 carcinogens from 2014 to 2016 was compared. Data from workers who performed both work environment monitoring and special health examinations in 2019 and 2020 were extracted and the actual status of input of industrial and process codes was analyzed. We also investigated the cause of input errors through a focus group interview with 12 data input specialists. Results: As a result of analyzing WMED and SHED for 21 carcinogens, the five-digit industrial code matching rate was low at 53.5% and the process code matching rate was 19% or less. Among the data that simultaneously conducted work environment monitoring and special health examination in 2019 and 2020, the process code matching rate was very low at 18.1% and 5.2%, respectively. The main causes of exposure-related data input errors were the difference between the WEMD and SHED process code input systems from 2020, the number of standard process and job codes being too large, and the inefficiency of the standard code search system. Conclusions: In order to use WEMD and SHED as a national surveillance system, it is necessary to simplify the number of standard code input codes and improve the search system efficiency.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• 제11권4호
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• pp.537-542
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• 2020

Background: Personal protective equipment (PPE) has been designed in such a way to reduce accident rates. Unfortunately, existing PPE is rather ineffective as it is not able to provide warning signals when hazard is around. The integration of intelligent systems is envisaged to increase the efficiency of existing PPE. Methods: This project designed a safety vest incorporated with metal detectors which can provide immediate warning to the field workers when there is metal hazard around. This product has greater freedom of design via smart manufacturing as it involves the assembly of few commercially available parts into a single entity. Briefly, the metal detector is a do it yourself (DIY) kit, and the safety vest is purchasable from any local market. The DIY kit was connected to a copper coil and being sewed into the safety vest. Results: The metal detector induces beeping sound when there is metal hazard around. A total of 121 engineering students were introduced to the prototype before being requested to answer a survey associated with the design. Respondents have rated >3.00/5.00 for the design simplicity, ease of usage, and light weight. Meanwhile, respondents suggested that the design should be further improved by increasing the metal detection range. Conclusion: It is envisaged that the introduction of this smart safety vest will allow the workers to carry out their duties securely by reducing the accident rates. Particularly, such design is expected to reduce workplace accident especially during night time at construction sites where the visibility is low.

• 한국산업보건학회지
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• 제32권1호
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• pp.31-40
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• 2022

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to understand the impact on accident reduction by analyzing the policy effectiveness of an industrial accident prevention clean workplace support project targeting the construction industry. Methods: In this study, DID and PSM models were used to analyze workplaces receiving and not receiving financial support based on the status of industrial accidents in recent years and the status of the workplaces by year. Results: The research results show that meaningful effects continued to occur in terms of reducing accidents and increasing employment. Conclusions: In this study, we show the effectiveness of the clean workplace support project, one of the South Korean government's financial support projects in the field of occupational safety and health focusing on the construction industry. Financial support projects such as clean projects should be further expanded based on the results of this study.

• 품질경영학회지
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• 제37권2호
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• pp.12-21
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• 2009

Organizations worldwide have implemented quality management system, ISO 9001:2000 and environmental management system, ISO 14001:2004. Researches have been conducted regarding occupational health and safety management system, integration of these management systems, and extension to corporate social responsibility and sustain ability management system, ISO 26000. This paper examines quality and environment management systems for machinery and metal companies using audit results. We perform statistical tests to see if there are any significant differences of minor nonconformities for requirements of ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001:2004 based on implementation motive, operating periods, and organization's size. We also present causes and reasons for statistical differences and minor nonconformities to use as references for implementing efficiently quality management system and environment management system.

• 대한안전경영과학회지
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• 제24권1호
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• pp.91-98
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• 2022

Since cranes are a kind of complex human-machine systems, it is almost impossible to completely secure safety with current technologies. Therefore, managerial interventions to prevent human errors are needed for safely operating a crane. The Occupational Safety and Health law states that cabin-type crane operators should have crane drivers' licence and crane-related operators (e.g., pendent-type crane operators, slinging workers) should take a special safety training. However, statistics on industrial accidents showed that fatalities due to crane accidents (185 accidents occurred during 2013~2017) were the highest among hazardous machinery and equipment. To effectively control the crane-related accidents, voices of crane workers need to be analyzed to investigate the current status. This study surveyed perceived causes of crane accidents and status of special safety training for crane workers of 387. The survey revealed that 24.3% of the respondents experienced crane accidents and 31.4% eye-witnessed crane accidents. 79% of the respondents pointed human errors such as improper crane operation and improper slinging as the first cause. Lastly, only 16.7% of the respondents took a professional special safety training; but the rest took lecture-based or incomplete education. The findings of the present study can be applied to improve crane-related policies and special safety training systems.

• 한국산업보건학회지
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• 제28권2호
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• pp.222-229
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• 2018

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate gas concentrations such as oxygen in ginger storage tunnels, which are the causes of asphyxiation in confined spaces and suggest directions for safety and health management at ginger farms. Methods: Five farms in the Seosan and Taean areas which use underground ginger storage tunnels were chosen and examined with a walk-through survey and direct reading device for oxygen, hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, and carbon monoxide. Results: The oxygen concentration in the storage tunnels with no ventilation was found to be under 18% in summer, which may cause health effects. The concentration in those with ventilation was about 19%. The difference in temperature by measurement day had little effect on the concentration of oxygen. Conclusions: Even though some of farms had used compulsory ventilation systems, none of the farms visited possessed any direct reading device for oxygen. Warning systems using a direct reading device can be more effective, helpful, and required compared to ventilation, considering the difficulty and expense of periodical maintenance of ventilation systems and the fact that a farmer can be placed in danger when unaware of the malfunction of the ventilation system. In addition, a warning system may make farmers more cognitive of agricultural safety and health actions while a ventilation system can cause them to become passive and ignorant of workplace hazards.

• 한국산업보건학회지
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• 제24권3호
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• pp.310-320
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• 2014

Backgrounds: Endotoxin, which found in the outer membrane of the gram-negative bacteria cell wall, makes up almost all of the lipopolysaccharide(LPS). When people are exposed to endotoxin,it can result in diverse health effects such as an airway irritation and inflammation, fever, malaise, bronchitis, allergic asthma, toxic pneumonitis, hypersensitivity lung disease. Cases among the elderly, children or pregnant can occur more frequently than a healthy adult if they are repeatedly exposed to the existing endotoxin. Therefore, we investigated and assessed the environmental characteristics associated with the airborne endotoxin concentration level in six hospital lobbies. Method: Endotoxin from indoor air in six hospital lobbies was measured by an area sampling method and analyzed according to American Society for Testing and Materials International(ASTM international) E2144-01. Total suspended particulate(TSP), carbon dioxide($CO_2$), temperature and humidity were also measured by using direct reading measurements or airborne sampling equipment at the same time. Environmental characteristics were appropriately divided into two or three groups for a statistics analysis. One-way analysis variable(one-way ANOVA) was used to examine a difference of the endotoxin concentration, depending on the environmental characteristics. In addition, only variables with p-value(p<0.25) were eventually designed to the best model by using multiple regression analysis. Results: The correlation analysis result indicated that TSP(p=0.003) and $CO_2$(p<0.0001) levels were significantly associated with endotoxin concentration levels. In contrast, temperature(p<0.068) and humidity(p<0.365) were not associated with endotoxin concentration. Levels of endotoxin concentration were statistically different among the environmental characteristics of Service time(p=0.01), Establishment of hospital(p<0.001), Scale of hospital(p=0.01), Day average people using hospital(p=0.03), Cleaning time of lobby(p=0.05), Season(p<0.001), and Cleaning of ventilation system(p<0.001) according to ANOVA. Finally, the best model(Adjusted R-square=72%) that we designed through a multiple regression test included environmental characteristics related to Service time, Area of lobby, Season, Cleaning of ventilation system, and Temperature. Conclusions: According to this study, our result showed a normal level of endotoxin concentration in the hospital lobbies and found environmental management methods to reduce the level of endotoxin concentration to a minimum. Consequently, this study recognized to be requirement for the management of ventilation systems and an indoor temperature in order to reduce the level of endotoxin concentration in the hospital lobbies.

• 대한안전경영과학회지
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• 제25권4호
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• pp.15-23
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• 2023

This study analyzed effective capacity building education plans for public institution management supervisors. A survey was conducted on 635 management supervisors of public institutions (99 institutions) subject to the safety management rating system to understand the characteristics of educational participants and the impact of educational satisfaction on professionalism improvement after capacity building education. As a result of statistical analysis, the professional improvement according to the affiliation of educational participants was higher in the workplace and construction site divisions than in the research facility division, and the professional improvement according to the working period was higher for more than 15 years than for less than 5 years and less than 15 years. In addition, the quality of education had a significant positive (+) effect on the degree of professional improvement. This study can be used as basic data for further research related to capacity building education for public institution management supervisors

• 한국재난정보학회 논문집
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• 제8권3호
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• pp.310-318
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• 2012

본 연구의 목적은 국내 안전보건경영시스템의 올바른 정착과 지속적인 개선을 통한 산업재해를 줄이기 위한 시스템 성숙도평가를 제안하는데 있다. KOSHA 18001시스템 실행의 현재 수준파악과 성숙도 측정의 검증을 통한 결과로서 다음 내용으로 요약된다. 시스템의 지속적인 성숙도 등급 향상을 위해서는 경영층 인식부문(의사결정) 46.0%, 본사지원활동 32.0%, 현장실행참여 22.0%로 중요도 로 검증되었다. 본사/현장의 활동은 위험성평가, 안전보건 재해예방활동, 성과평가 및 모니터링, 자원관리 및 지원, 경영검토 및 개선 등 활동의 중요도 순으로 실행 우선순위가 결정되었다. 또한, 전문가 그룹은 시스템의 강점, 약점, 개선주제를 제시함으로써 지속적인 개선활동과 연계시켜야 시스템을 정착할 수 있다고 제시하였다. 셋째, 안전보건경영시스템 실행의 성숙도 등급을 관리할 수 있는 도구를 제시하였다.