• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.21 no.1 s.73
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• pp.86-91
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• 2006

Oil spills caused by the accidents have been occurred from house and factory waste, grounded tanker, the rupture of storage tank and oil pipelines, the deterioration of various industrial facilities, etc. Many oil spills result in contamination of shorelines and workplace. Fire and explosion may happen from these spills. There are several technologies used for clean-up application, which include use of oil dispersing agents, absorbents, solidifiers, booms and skimmers by physical, chemical, and biological methods. Methods for oil spill clean-up operation are classified into the absorption type, gel type and self-swelling type. Porous materials with oil absorptive properties are classified into micropore, mesopore, and macropore depending on their pore sizes. Recently, new porous materials with smaller size have been developed, but the selective oil absorption in water-in-oil interface demonstrates the macro pore size. In this study oil absorption effects were evaluated using the organic porous materials with a complex function of gel type and swelling type. Samples were subjected to analysis by FT-IR spectroscopy and were characterized in terms of gel formation and morphologies. Oil sorption capacity, pressure retention force and gel strength were also measured. From these results, the physicochemical reactivity before and after gelation was verified and the industrial applications of clean-up operation were suggested.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.87-94
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• 2013

Background: In times of continuous change and volatile markets, organizations are increasingly characterized by downsizing, work intensification, and resource rationalization. This has resulted in diversification, and the emergence of newrisks within the field of occupational health and safety, with an important impact. This paper focuses on one such type of risk in the modern workplace-psychosocial risks. The current study aimed to explore stakeholder perspectives, regarding the extent to which psychosocial risks are incorporated into strategic risk management practices, at both the business and policy level. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 professionals, representing employer, expert, policy maker, and trade union stakeholder perspectives. Results: It was found that the majority of organizations do not sufficiently, if at all, understand and incorporate psychosocial risks into strategic decision making, whereby the key barrier related to practical difficulties of not knowing how to manage psychosocial risks adequately. Conclusion: The study found that there is a need to close the gap between policy and practice on a number of levels. Future recommendations comprise a policy framework and infrastructure underpinned by educational initiatives, partnerships, and networks to drive a shift in attitudes toward recognizing the duality of the concept of risk (including both potential negative and positive outcomes) and moving beyond simple regulatory compliance.

• Journal of Construction Engineering and Project Management
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.10-21
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• 2018

Many construction projects involve a plethora of safety-related problems that can cause loss of productivity, diminished revenue, time overruns, and legal challenges. Incorporating data collection and analytics methods can help overcome the root causes of many such problems. However, in a dynamic construction workplace collecting data from a large number of resources is not a trivial task and can be costly, while many contractors lack the motivation to incorporate technology in their activities. In this research, an Android-based mobile application, Preemptive Construction Site Safety (PCS2) is developed and tested for real-time location tracking, trajectory prediction, and prevention of potential collisions between workers and site hazards. PCS2 uses ubiquitous mobile technology (smartphones) for positional data collection, and a robust trajectory prediction technique that couples hidden Markov model (HMM) with risk-taking behavior modeling. The effectiveness of PCS2 is evaluated in field experiments where impending collisions are predicted and safety alerts are generated with enough lead time for the user. With further improvement in interface design and underlying mathematical models, PCS2 will have practical benefits in large scale multi-agent construction worksites by significantly reducing the likelihood of proximity-related accidents between workers and equipment.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.194-200
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• 2011

Objectives: Stressors in nursing put high demands on cognitive control and, therefore, may increase the risk of cognitive failures that put patients at risk. Task-related stressors were expected to be positively associated with cognitive failure at work and job control was expected to be negatively associated with cognitive failure at work. Methods: Ninety-six registered nurses from 11 Swiss hospitals were investigated (89 women, 7 men, mean age = 36 years, standard deviation = 12 years, 80% supervisors, response rate 48%). A new German version of the Workplace Cognitive Failure Scale (WCFS) was employed to assess failure in memory function, failure in attention regulation, and failure in action exertion. In linear regression analyses, WCFS was related to work characteristics, neuroticism, and conscientiousness. Results: The German WCFS was valid and reliable. The factorial structure of the original WCF could be replicated. Multilevel regression task-related stressors and conscientiousness were significantly related to attention control and action exertion. Conclusion: The study sheds light on the association between job characteristics and work-related cognitive failure. These associations were unique, i.e. associations were shown even when individual differences in conscientiousness and neuroticism were controlled for. A job redesign in nursing should address task stressors.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.410-412
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• 2017

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a serious problem not only among workers who experience industrial accidents but also among workers who witness such accidents. Early intervention is needed to prevent prolonged psychological problems. There has been no study conducted regarding the psychological problems of and interventions for bystander workers in Korea. This study introduces the experience of intervention on psychological problems at the Busan Workers' Health Center workers who witnessed their colleagues' death. An investigation and an intervention were conducted according to the Korean Occupational Safety and Health Agency (KOSHA) Guide. In total, 21 individuals including indirect observers showed statistical differences on scores of the Impact Event Scale Revised and the Patient Health Questionnaire 9 after the intervention. Future interventions and research involving a larger sample size over a longer period are needed. The KOSHA Guide could be a useful tool for urgent psychological intervention in the event of major workplace disasters.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.11
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• pp.169-178
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• 2021

Motivating employee work engagement, which has emerged as one of the most significant drivers of high performance and achievement in today's dynamic environment, has become essential in gaining a sustainable competitive advantage. As widely known, leadership is a primary factor affecting work engagement. This is also directly related to a specific style of leadership exercised. Leadership styles affect the work engagement levels of the employees. The distracting nature of leadership type can have adverse impacts on individuals' behaviors. To provide a comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon, this article draws on social interaction theory and social exchange theory to investigate the potential effects of inclusive leadership on work engagement within the workplace, and the mediating role of psychological safety on the relationship between inclusive leadership and the work engagement. Here, psychological safety is needed by employees to avoid and manage negative feelings. SPSS and AMOS software was applied to survey data obtained from (n = 373) employees. Results revealed that inclusive leadership is a strong predictor for work engagement, and psychological safety partially mediates the link between inclusive leadership and work engagement. Implications for theory and practice alongside limitations are discussed.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.10 no.7
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• pp.175-182
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• 2019

We classify topics on fall incidents occurring in construction sites using topic modeling among machine learning techniques and analyze the causes of the accidents according to each topic. In order to apply topic modeling based on latent dirichlet allocation, text data was preprocessed and evaluated with Perplexity score to improve the reliability of the model. The most common falling accidents happened to the daily workers belonging to small construction site. Most of the causes were not operated properly due to lack of safety equipment, inadequacy of arrangement and wearing, and low performance of safety equipment. In order to prevent and reduce the falling accidents, it is important to educate the daily workers of small construction site, arrange the workplace, and check the wearing of personal safety equipment and device.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.424-431
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• 2021

Background: This study aims to introduce the formulation of the regulation for the selection of respirators for accident preparedness chemicals (APCs) according to chemical workplace situations and to determine on-site applicability. Methods: Workplaces were grouped into seven work categories, and APCs were classified into six groups to select adequate respirators. A survey was conducted to enhance the understanding of work situations and adequate respirators. The total number of subjects surveyed in 2018 was 201 managers and handlers, and that in 2019 was 91 handlers and 204 managers. Results: Adequate respirators were allocated to each cell using the matrix method. The study observed an overall lack of understanding of work situations, especially in the operation of open devices, which was the highest at 32.7%. Despite its implementation in 2015, 17.6% and 25.0% of the managers and APCs handlers, respectively, were unaware of the regulations for selecting respirators. Only 70.4% of the APCs handler wore respirators in compliance with regulations. Conclusion: The method for selecting respirators according to work situations using the matrix method is considered reasonable. Thus, this study suggests that the development of educational contents and reinforcing education should be essential steps to increasing awareness of regulations.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.179-182
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• 2023

The Chemical Substances Control Act has been legislated to counter the risks posed by chemical substances to public health and the environment, but a number of small- and large-scaled incidents related to hazardous chemicals continue to occur every year. The Korean Ministry of Environment takes legal responsibility for prevention, preparedness, and response to nationwide chemical accidents under the Chemical Substances Control Act. The determination of chemical accidents that occur during hazardous chemical handling processes is based on the Article 2 (Definitions) of the law and the administrative criteria for judgement of chemical accidents. However, there are certain ambiguities in the scientific basis for determining chemical accidents under the current regulations. Whether or not a chemical accident has a direct influence on penalties and administrative measures for a workplace where an accident occurred, it is necessary to find reasonable criteria for determining chemical accident based on legal and scientific evidence.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.456-468
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• 2022

Background: This study examines quality of life (QOL) of a sample of police officers in India. The concept of QOL includes well-being, social obligations, relationships of a person, and his association with environment. The study examines the factors on which QOL of police officers depend and their relationships with each other. The issues linked with QOL are important because they directly affect the individual's ability to maintain a healthy lifestyle and affect organizational performance in the long run. This study explores relevant factors that have an impact on the QOL of the employees of police department in India. Method: In this paper, literatures review, ISM, MICMAC, and DEMATEL methodology have established eleven factors that impact the QOL of police officers in India. Mutual relations between factors have been established using the ISM approach to develop a model to represent these relationships. DEMATEL methodologies were used to analyze these factors. Results: Results indicate that "fair compensation, work overload, workplace safety, and job stress" are the top-level factors that affect QOL of police officers. Conclusion: The identification of factors and their mutual relationships that affect QOL are important for police officers and have to be dealt with according to their order of importance. The research model developed in this study shows how the factors of police officers' QOL are interrelated and presents the interrelationships among these factors. A comprehensive model depicting the relationships among these factors has been established, so that the QOL of police officers can be improved.