• Health Policy and Management
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.356-367
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• 2022

Background: The emergence of new infectious diseases threatens public health, increasing socioeconomic damage, and national risks. This study aimed to develop an evidence-based risk assessment tool to quickly respond to new infectious diseases. Methods: The risk elements were extracted by reviewing the risk assessment methods of the World Health Organization, United States, Europe, United Kingdom, and Germany, and the validity and priority of elements were determined through expert meetings and Delphi surveys. Then, the scale and level for each risk element were defined and a final score calculation method according to the risk evaluation result was derived. The developed risk assessment tool was verified using data at the time of domestic transmission of an emerging infectious disease. Results: In case of spread of actual infectious diseases, priority is determined based on the criticality of the elements in each area of transmissibility and severity, from which the weighted score of the risk assessment is derived. Then, the risk score for each element was calculated by multiplying the average value of the risk evaluation by its weight and the evaluation risk assessment score for the two areas was calculated. At last, the final score is plotted in a matrix where the x-axis indicates the transmissibility and the y-axis the severity and plotted on the coordinate plane for time series use. Conclusion: With respect to transmissibility and severity, this risk assessment method to respond to new and re-emerging infectious diseases enables rapid and evidence-based evaluation by quantitatively and qualitatively assessing various risk elements.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.9-17
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• 2019

Objectives: This study examined the safety of tattoo ink by analyzing the phenol contents in tattoo inks and its risk assessment of selected phenol. Methods: A sample of 30 tattoo inks was purchased, the phenol contents were analyzed, and a risk assessment on dermal exposure from tattooing was carried out. Hazard identification was collected from toxicity data on systemic effects caused by dermal exposure to phenol, and the most sensitive toxicity value was adopted. Exposure assessment ($Exposure_{phenol}$) was calculated by applying phenol contents and standard exposure factors, while dose-response assessment was based on the collected toxicity data and skin absorption rate of phenol, assessment factors (AFs) for derived no-effect level ($DNEL_{demal}$). In addition, the risk characterization was calculated by comparing the risk characterization ratio (RCR) with $Exposure_{phenol}$ and $DNEL_{dermal}$ Results: The phenol concentration in the 30 products was from 1.4 to $649.1{\mu}g/g$. The toxicity value for systemic effects of phenol was adopted at 107 mg/kg. $Exposure_{phenol}$ in tattooing was from 0.000087 to 0.040442 mg/kg. $DNEL_{dermal}$ was calculated at 0.0072 mg/kg (=toxicity value 107 mg/kg ${\div}$ AFs 650 ${\times}$ skin absorption rate 4.4%). Thirteen out of 30 products showed an RCR between 1.02 and 5.62. The RCR of all red inks was above 1. Conclusions: Phenol was detected in all of the 30 tattoo inks, and the RCR of 13 products above 1 indicates a high level of risk concern, making it necessary to prepare safety management standards for phenol in tattoo inks.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.76-85
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• 2023

Demand for hydrogen as a renewable energy resource is increasing. However, unlike conventional fossil fuels, hydrogen requires a dedicated refueling station for fuel supply. A risk assessment of hydrogen refueling stations must be undertaken to secure the infrastructure. Therefore, in this study, a risk assessment for hydrogen refueling stations was conducted through both qualitative and quantitative risk assessments. For the qualitative evaluation, the hydrogen dispenser module was evaluated as two nodes using the hazard and operability (HAZOP) analysis. The risk due to filter clogging and high-pressure accidents was evaluated to be high according to the criticality estimation matrix. For the quantitative risk assessment, the Hydrogen Korea Risk Assessment Module (Hy-KoRAM) was used to indicate the shape of the fire and the range of damage impact, and to evaluate the individual and social risks. The individual risk level was determined of to be as low as reasonably practicable (ALARP). Additional safety measures proposed include placing the hydrogen refueling station about 100m away from public facilities. The social risk level was derived as 1E-04/year, with a frequency of approximately 10 deaths, falling within the ALARP range. As a result of the qualitative and quantitative risk assessments, additional safety measures for the process and a safety improvement plan are proposed through the establishment of a restricted area near the hydrogen refueling station.

• Proceedings of the KSR Conference
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.1732-1750
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• 2010

Operation of KORAIL's level crossing is in charge of KORAIL. As taking over existing level crossing to KORAIL, they do not conduct risk assessments, so we do not know about any possibilities of inner risk. And present operation of safety of the level crossing is just regular checking of reaction and functions of safety equipments physically, we need to react to the changes of what's going on around of level crossing and incestigation of traffic flow and surrounding conditions more spontaneously. So, we have to prepare the strategies against accidents of level crossing cost-effectively based on regular risk assessments for sustainable safety improvements and overcome operational problems of present level crossing's safety. Here, we're going to investigate the level of safety level and present risk factors of the level crossing using risk assessments for accidents/error of the equipments to show operational strategies of level crossing based on risk assessments.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.7-14
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• 2010

Ecological Risk Assessment (ERA) supports a decision-making process such as establishment of environmental quality criteria. Soil quality criteria (SQC) are essential to protect soil organisms from the exposure to various soil contaminants. In this study, ERA methodologies of advanced countries for soil pollution were extensively compared to propose the ERA approach suitable for soil ecosystem in Korea. The soil ERAs in European Chemical Bureau(ECB), The Netherlands, and Canada can be classified as deterministic ecological risk assessment (DERA), and probabilistic ecological risk assessment (PERA) based on species sensitivity distribution (SSD). We propose three ERA methods according to abundance and reliability of soil ecotoxicity data. The method considered land use such as residential/agricultural, and industrial/commercial uses. The taxonomic groups of soil organism were classified as 'Class' level including different trophic levels (Magnoliopsida or Liliopsida, Clitellata, and Insecta or Secernentea). This study can be used to estimate the soil quality criteria to protect soil biota.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Toxicology Conference
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.34-45
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• 2006

Chemical toxicants are metabolically converted to numerous metabolites in the body. Toxicokinetic characteristics of metabolites could be therefore used as biomarker of exposure for human risk assessment. Biologically based dose response (BBDR) model was proposed for future direction of risk assessment. However, this area has not been developed well enough for human application. Benzo(a)pyrene (BP), for example, is a well-known environmental carcinogen and may produce more than 100 metabolites and BPDE-DNA adduct, a covalently bound form of DNA with benzo(a)pyrene diolepoxides (BPDES), has been applied to qualitatively or quantitaively estimate human exposure to BP. In addition, di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), a widely used plasticize. in the polymer industry, is one of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and has been monitored in humans using urinary or serum concentrations of DEHP or its monomer MEHP for exposure and risk assessment. However, it is difficult to estimate the actual level of toxicants using these biomarkers in humans using. This presentation will discuss a methodology of exposure and risk assessment by application of metabolic profiling kinetics.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.143-152
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• 2020

Korean society experienced successive earthquakes exceeding 5.0 magnitude in the past three years resulting in an increasing concern about earthquake stability of urban infrastructures. This study focuses on the significant aspects of earthquake risk assessment for the cut-and-cover underground railway station based on two-dimensional dynamic numerical analysis. Presented are features from a case study performed for the railway station in Seoul, South Korea. The PLAXIS2D was employed for numerical simulation and input of the earthquake ground motion was chosen from Pohang earthquake records (M5.4). The paper shows key aspects of earthquake risk for soil-structure system varying important parameters including embedded depth, supported ground information, and applied seismicity level, and then draws several meaningful conclusions from the analysis results such as seismic risk assessment.

• Journal of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
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• v.60 no.6
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• pp.433-440
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• 2023

This study aims to establish safety zones for bunkering operations of hydrogen propulsion ships in coastal areas through risk assessment and evaluate their validity. Using a 350 kW-class ferry operating in Busan Port as the subject of analysis, with quantitative risk assessment based on accident consequence and frequency analysis, along with a social risk assessment considering population density. The results of the risk assessment indicate that all scenarios were within acceptable risk criteria and ALARP region. The most critical accident scenarios involve complete hose rupture during bunkering, resulting in jet flames (Frequency: 2.76E-06, Fatalities: 9.81) and vapor cloud explosions (Frequency: 1.33E-08, Fatalities: 14.24). For the recommended safety zone criteria in the 6% hose cross-sectional area leakage scenario, It could be appropriate criteria considering overall risk level and safety zones criteria for hydrogen vehicle refueling stations. This research contributes to establishing safety zone for bunkering operations of hydrogen propulsion ships through risk assessment and provides valuable technical guidelines.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.499-500
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• 2004

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.12-29
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• 2011

Risk-based screening levels (RBSLs) of some pollutants for residential adults were derived with risk assessment tools developed by United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), and Korea Ministry of Environment (KMOE) and compared each other. To make the comparison simple, ingestion of soil, dermal contact with soil, outdoor inhalation of vapors, indoor inhalation of vapors, and inhalation of soil particulates were chosen as exposure pathways. The results showed that the derived RBSLs varied for every exposure pathway. For direct exposure pathways (i.e., ingestion of soil and dermal contact with soil), the derived RBSLs varied mainly due to the different default values for exposure factors and toxicity data. When identical default values for the parameters were used, the same RBSLs could be derived regardless of the assessment tools used. For inhalation of vapors and inhalation of soil particulates, however, different analysis methods for cross-media transfer rates were used and different assumptions were established for each tool, identical RBSLs could not be obtained even if the same default values for exposure factors were used. Especially for inhalation of soil particulates pathway, screening level derived using KMOE approach (most conservative) was approximately 5000~10000 times lower than the screening level derived using ASTM approach (least conservative). Our results suggest that, when deriving RBSL using a specific tool, it is a prerequisite to technically review the analysis methods for cross-media transfer rates as well as to understand how the assessment tool derives the default values for exposure factors.