• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.375-379
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• 2011

Control Banding (CB) strategies to prevent work-related illness and injury for 2.5 billion workers without access to health and safety professionals has grown exponentially this last decade. CB originates from the pharmaceutical industry to control active pharmaceutical ingredients without a complete toxicological basis and therefore no occupational exposure limits. CB applications have broadened into chemicals in general - including new emerging risks like nanomaterials and recently into ergonomics and injury prevention. CB is an action-oriented qualitative risk assessment strategy offering solutions and control measures to users through "toolkits". Chemical CB toolkits are user-friendly approaches used to achieve workplace controls in the absence of firm toxicological and quantitative exposure information. The model (technical) validation of these toolkits is well described, however firm operational analyses (implementation aspects) are lacking. Consequentially, it is often not known if toolkit use leads to successful interventions at individual workplaces. This might lead to virtual safe workplaces without knowing if workers are truly protected. Upcoming international strategies from the World Health Organization Collaborating Centers request assistance in developing and evaluating action-oriented procedures for workplace risk assessment and control. It is expected that to fulfill this strategy's goals, CB approaches will continue its important growth in protecting workers.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.363-375
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• 2021

The purpose of this study is to analyze the safety of evacuation using the Pathfinder program for the alert at once, the priority alarm method, the priority alarm method for the four floors above, and the sequential priority alarm method, which is a modification of the priority alarm method specified in the tourist hotel building. Currently, in Korea's National Fire Safety Codes (NFSC), fire alarm methods are compulsorily applied differently depending on the number of floors and total floor area of a building. Although the growth rate is getting faster due to the diversification of building structures, it is still an obstacle to improving evacuation safety to comply with the standardized fire alarm method in NFSC. As a result of the experiment, the evacuation time was found to be faster with the priority alarm method for the four floors above than the priority alarm method applied to the specific firefighting object. Compared to the priority alarm method applied to the tourist hotel, which is a specific firefighting target with 5 or more floors and a total floor area of more than 3,000m2, the time was shortened by 3.7 seconds when measured by applying the priority alarm method for the four floors directly above. This indicates that it is necessary to take measures to select a fire alarm method suitable for the structure and environmental conditions of the building rather than applying the uniform NFSC regulations.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.93-101
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• 2023

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted how people work, resulting in a massive shift towards working from home or remotely. Work from home has played a critical role in reducing the transmission of COVID-19 by limiting in-person interactions and reducing the density of people in office buildings. It also enabled businesses and organizations to continue operating while keeping their employees safe and healthy. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of work from home in business and organizational sectors worldwide, and it is likely to continue as a preferred mode of work even after the pandemic is over. This shift towards working from home has not only impacted the way people work but also has significant implications for urban development, transportation, and the environment. This study intends to develop measures for addressing potential physical and mental health issues among remotely working employees. Additionally, it identifies the major influencing factors of home workers' health hazards and proposes improvement measures that can be applied to working from home, along with existing laws and prevention methods.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2023

Background: Firefighting involves exposure of firefighters to risks related to this activity, serious injuries, and occupational diseases are recorded. There are other consequences such as thermal and emotional stress. This systematic review is proposed in order to analyze the risks and consequences faced by these workers and thus provide elements to improve safety management systems in institutions. Method: A descriptive observational study of systematic literature review on the risks and consequences of exposure to firefighters' activity was proposed, and the information was analyzed and described based on the available data and according to the variables determined. Results: The studies showed data on mechanical, physical, chemical, psychosocial risks, workers' perception and resilience, and epidemiological data. Information related to firefighters' activity on falls and slips, exposure to noise, and high concentrations of carbon monoxide is detailed. In addition, the relationship between burnout, cognitive, and physical fatigue as adverse effects on health and performance is mentioned. Conclusions: Among the preventive measures, the use of personal protective equipment is suggested, incorporation in prevention programs of information on exposure to risk factors, as well as the implementation of models that can predict the perception of workers, additionally, the generation of management systems with safety climate models for fire departments.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.15-24
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• 2024

The purpose of this study is to improve the stack effect of the staircase and the failure to take into account the opening of the outside door of the staircase, which are the disadvantages of the existing smoke control only vestibule. As a result of the study, the new vestibule and the staircase simultaneous smoke control are equipped with an exhaust flap damper with an effective opening area of about 0.25 m² in the upper part of the staircase, and a ventilator-type air supply fan of about 5 m³/s in the lower part, and take measures to prevent overpressure in the staircase. If you use the new simultaneous smoke control method of the vestibule and staircase, you can achieve the following effects. First, it is possible to open the external entrance door. Second, it can reduce the stack effect. Third, the staircase door closes automatically without fail. And a new method of preventing overpressure was proposed for the vestibule.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.20-26
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• 2024

The Chemical Substances Control Act of South Korea mandates submission of transportation plans containing information on the transportation of hazardous chemicals, with over 600,000 submissions recorded annually. In this study, big data analysis was performed on 2,506,985 transportation plans to identify trends and assess their correlation with chemical transportation accidents. The analysis confirmed that despite NaOH accounting for 20.7% of transportation plans, HCl constitutes 40% of chemical transportation accidents, which indicates a correlation of these accidents with the chemical properties of hazardous substances rather than with the number of submitted transportation plans. Furthermore, chemical transportation accidents show a higher probability of occurrence in the 6-8 am and 6-8 pm windows, which is in agreement with higher incidence and fatality rates. The departure points of transportation plans are closely related to the characteristics of local chemical industrial complexes such as Ulsan, Yeosu, and Gunsan, whereas the arrival points are closely related to Pyeongtaek, Hwaseong, and Icheon, which are the locations of semiconductor industries. Ultimately, achievement of safety by consideration of characteristics of transported chemicals, enhancement of driver concentration during specific times, and implementation of preventive measures tailored to local government characteristics are strategies anticipated to contribute to a reduction in chemical transportation accidents.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.129-136
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• 2022

Objectives: Given the real problems at industrial sites related to the Serious Accident Punishment Act (SAPA), it has become controversial as a particularly important issue in terms of occupational safety and health. I intend to examine in detail what are the problems and how to approach them. Methods: The contents of SAPA were reviewed focusing on whether its provisions conform to the principles of occupational safety and health, whether they fit the related legal theory, and whether they are effective for accident prevention. The purpose of this study is to examine whether there is a problem with SAPA from the perspective of the effectiveness of accident prevention by combining occupational safety & health management theory, and legal theory. Results: In order to ensure the effectiveness of SAPA, it should be revised to increase the predictability and implementation of safety and health measure standards. Otherwise, it is expected that there will be not only economic and social costs in the short term, but also side effects that disrupt the safety law system, resulting in a considerable number of post-mortem conditions in the mid- to long term. Conclusions: It is easy to see in comparative law that raising the legal punishment alone does not have the effect of preventing industrial accidents. SAPA should be revised as soon as possible in the direction of faithfully and elaborately reorganizing the standards for safety and health measures.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
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• 2017.05a
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• pp.95-96
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• 2017

A total of eleven keywords for construction project management engineers to know about safety are as follows. Before the construction, there are two keywords as the safety organization plan and safety management plan, safety compliance, document beach, safety check, safety management fee, hazardous risk prevention plan, safety education, safety accident, seven keywords, There are two keywords of safety inspection comprehensive report, safety management document. It is necessary to understand the keywords well in accordance with the relevant time and to do the best in safety work, and it should be recognized that safety inspection is carried out every month and the safety work should be done faithfully.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.58-67
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• 2021

Incident investigation is regarded as a means to improve safety performance. For the prevention of industrial accidents, measures such as providing safety education, enhancing management interest and participation, establishing a safety management system, and conducting inspection of the work site are necessary. In particular, accident investigation activities, which are an important element of safety management, help to prevent similar accidents, thereby minimizing damage and enhancing work safety. They are critical for understanding business-related incidents and the vulnerabilities and opportunities associated with them. Therefore, it is clear that accident investigation activities are important for accident prevention. The primary focus of many incident investigation processes is on identifying the cause of an event. While considerable research has been conducted on potential accident investigation tools there has been little research on including the views and experiences of practitioners in the accident investigation process. In this study, a questionnaire survey was conducted among safety managers in the domestic manufacturing/construction industry to understand the practice of accident investigation. The investigation pertained to companies' accident investigation systems, the competence of investigators, and the identification and recommendations of the cause of accidents. From the analysis results of accident investigations, investigators' competence, the difficulty level of investigations, and the root causes of accidents were identified from the viewpoint of the participants of the accident investigations. In particular, the development of standardized and simple accident investigation methods and their dissemination to companies were found to be necessary for activating the root cause of accidents. Based on this, it can be used as basic data for the development of root cause analysis investigation techniques that are easily applicable to organizations.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.44-48
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• 2023

To enhance safety in dangerous situations, it is essential to provide practice-oriented safety education. However, direct experiences can be limited, and thus, metaverse-based safety education is emerging as an alternative. In this study, we analyzed the first official metaverse safety education program of the Korea Ministry of Education, mainly focusing on its title, objectives, content, and results using the Revised PRISMA framework. The program concentrates on "life safety" for "fire safety," "disaster safety" for "earthquake safety," and "first aid" for "abrasions, burns, fractures, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and the use of AED." We classified the objectives of the entire program and its three sub-programs, and identified the knowledge, main practice tasks, and their results. The aim of this study is to promote an understanding of the main cases of national-led metaverse safety education and infer the practical safety education contents emphasized to Korean school-age students.