• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.15 no.12
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• pp.7093-7100
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• 2014

This study analyzed the factors related to labor market transition of job injured workers. The Workers' Compensation Insurance Panel data ver.1, which that was surveyed by the Korean Workers' Compensation & Welfare Service in 2013, was used. Four key findings were made: first, the economically inactive populations are 7.2% and unemployed is 22.3% of occupational accident workers who finished the treatment period; second, 31.5% of laborers who returned to a new workplace went into another type of occupation; third, the results showed that socio-demographic factors, such as gender, age and education years, injury-related factors, such as the treatment period and work limitation, and workplace factors, such as company size and employment status, were associated with the return to work; and fourth, a relatively higher proportion of people who has received occupational training could not return to work and the disability grade was not associated with the return to work. These results suggest that policy makers need to understand the characteristics of labor market transition of job injured workers and develop efficient intervention programs based on the transitional labor market.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.182-194
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• 2009

This study was conducted to evaluate health status and to propose health protection measures of irregular plant construction workers in Yoesu National Industrial Complex (YNIC). The status of safety and health management was examined in five areas including safety and health education, work environment monitoring, health examination, health management record, and personal protective equipment (PPE) for plant construction workers. The safety training rate for plant construction workers was reached high at 91%, The training was mostly consisted of safety accident related things, but training on hazardous materials was found to be insufficient. Workplace monitoring results showed that the compliance rate for work environment for irregular construction workers was 54% and workplace monitoring during turnaround (TA) period with high risk of exposure to hazardous agents has not been implemented. While 61.4% of irregular workers received the general health examination but only 36.8% received the special health examination. The special health examination was found to be conducted only upon welders from 2-3 years ago. The issue of health management record upon irregular construction workers was not being implemented. In case of PPE, basic safety protective equipments such as safety shoes, safety belt, safety helmet were being supplied well while the supply rate of respirator for organic vapor was relatively low at 40%. Based on this study, two suggestions to maximize the utilization of the current safety and health program were made while boosting its effectiveness in protecting workers' health. First, the role of owners (petrochemical plant) related to safety and health should be strengthened. Second, in consideration of the characteristics of construction workers who usually engage in short term employment and frequent movement, community based health management organization is suggested that can overcome such structural problem and carry out the implementation of health examination and sustained health management.

• Journal of Labour Economics
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.29-55
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• 2017

We examine the effects of the self-reported subjective and the objective health indexes on work compensations. The compensations consist of monetary factors, such as wages, and non-monetary factors reflecting job risks such as the workplace accidence. The wages and workplace injuries are clearly affected by gender and age differences as the subjective and objective health factors of elderly workers are combined with physical and systematic work environments. Mental health problems such as work depression are more serious especially for high income elderly groups. The elderly workers experienced with physical problems and chronic illnesses are led to the decrease in wages and the increase in safety accident risks at work sharply. Therefore, we need to provide supporting services, retirement planning designed by companies, supported by the government enhanced risk working conditions and the weakness on protecting jobs.

• Journal of the Korean Society of School Health
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.194-202
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• 2020

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to develop educational materials on field practice safety based on existing field practice data and accident cases regarding vocational high schools and apply them to identify their impact. Methods: The existing data, accumulated since 2010, on field practices of vocational high schools were analyzed, and educational materials regarding field practices were developed by six experts. 195 students in three vocational high schools were surveyed before and after being taught with the materials. The survey asked about their knowledge of industrial safety and health and attitudes toward industrial safety and health. Results: As a result of the study, harmful environments for field practices of vocational high schools were physical, chemical, ergonomic, and emotional labor, and the consequences were accidents, death by overwork, musculoskeletal diseases, etc. The materials covered students' rights and how to respond to workplace accidents in the 1st round, how to organize a workshop in the 2nd round, workplace safety and health signs in the 3rd round, prevention of musculoskeletal diseases in the 4th round, management of physical risk factors in 5th round, management of hazardous chemicals in 6th round, wearing and managing protective equipment in 7th round, first aid depending on the situation in the 8th round, CPR and defibrillator in the 9th round, sexual harassment in the 10th round, and prevention of sexual violence in the 11th round. After completing the education, their knowledge of industrial safety and health increased significantly from 6.52 points to 7.01 points. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest: first, to statistically organize the data on accidents that have occurred during field practices of vocational high schools; second, to develop a systematic curriculum for high school 1st to 3rd graders on accidents that may happen during field practices of vocational high schools.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2022.05a
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• pp.488-490
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• 2022

Recently, interest in industrial accidents such as the Industrial Safety and Health Act and the Serious Accident Punishment Act is increasing, and the demand for safety managers for safety management of workers in research institutes and industrial fields of various fields is increasing. For worker safety management, CCTVs are being installed in factories and workplaces, and workers are monitored to enhance safety management. In this paper, we intend to design a dangerous situation assessment system by constructing data using CCTV in such a workplace and modeling it in JSON format. The data modeling was produced by referring to the data set construction guide for artificial intelligence learning and the quality management guideline of the Korea National Information Society(NIA). Through this system, we want to check what kind of risk management exists in the workplace by risk situation scenario and use it to build a more systematic system.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.49 no.5
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• pp.247-250
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• 2023

This case report aims to introduce the safety campaign activities for preventing chemical accidents that were cooperatively conducted by an environmental office and chemical-handling workplaces located in the Ulsan area. A chemical safety campaign was initiated to examine and manage chemical-handling facilities at high risk for chemical accidents, specifically valves, flanges, and switches (VFS) from October 2020 to December 2022. The VFS safety check campaign was conducted to raise workers' safety consciousness based on a campaign of advertisements in the workplace from October 2020 to December 2021. In addition, a VFS plus [+] campaign was initiated to encourage actual management activities for chemical-handling facilities at high risk of chemical accidents in 2022. A total of 49 corporations participated in the VFS plus [+] campaign. In contrast to the VFS safety check campaign, which simply focused on publicity and resulted in changes in worker awareness, practicable safety management activities focusing on the handling facilities were carried out. Although notable short-term impacts have yet to be discerned from the campaigns, it is expected that they will eventually serve as a starting point for developing a proper safety culture and environment.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.806-814
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• 2023

Purpose: According to the Occupational Safety and Health Act of the Ministry of Employment and Labor, in order to prevent industrial accidents, the right to stop work must be exercised in the event of an imminent danger. This study conducted a fact-finding survey on whether employers fulfilled the right to suspend work in the workplace when an imminent danger, such as a typhoon, was encountered. Method: For two days from August 9 to October, when the impact of Typhoon Khanun No. 6 was significant, it was confirmed by wire whether or not the work suspension was carried out at the workplace, and the subjects of the survey were 1,649 construction sites, 830 manufacturing sites, and 278 other industries, for a total of 2,757 sites. Result: As a result of the fact-finding survey, 56% (1,555 locations) on August 9th and 77% (2,142 locations) on August 10th carried out full or partial work suspension. In particular, on August 10, when the typhoon landed, 40% of all workplaces completely stopped work. Conclusion: Through this study, it was confirmed that the right to suspend work by employers is being used in actual workplaces. In the future, when there is an imminent danger, in addition to the right to suspend work, flexible and telecommuting, working hour adjustments, etc. must be actively used to ensure the safety of workers and protect their lives.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.64-71
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• 2020

Safety is not a service provided selectively by the country, and it is a basic right that human beings should enjoy. However, as the recent expansion of outsourcing due to the efficient corporate management, fatal accidents such as the Taean Power Plant where subcontractors are pinched on conveyors continued to occur. In addition, public safety concerns have been widespread as there are constant safety-related accidents in public institutions such as KTX trains derailing. As public institutions require safety as a top priority for management rather than profit, the government needs a leading role to enhance the level of private safety activities. The government announced the "Measures to strengthen the workplace safety of public institutions" and is promoting measures to protect the lives and safety of the people. The purpose of this study was to in-depth analysis of the accident and death situation in public institutions in the last 5 years from 2014 to 2018. A recognition survey was also conducted and the results were analyzed. As a result of the analysis of industrial accident death, it showed that the number of industrial accident deaths in public institutions was about 50 people per year, and it occupied about 6.1% of all industrial accidents. Following the government's public policy measures, positive changes as a result of the survey on awareness were detected in the order of rising safety awareness and participation of management (56.9%), safety and health organization and personnel composition (37.9%), and increasing safety awareness and participation of members (18.9%). However, the obstacles to the implementation of government measures were followings; 1) consciousness and lack of participation (42.1%), 2) indifference from other departments (35.1%), 3) absence, or lack of competency of safety manager (33.3%). In addition, safety investments and safety management of contractors and ordering works were analyzed to have remained largely unchanged even after the implementation of safety measures. Through this study, it is intended to provide basic data for strengthening the level and activities of safety in public institutions.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.215-229
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• 2023

Objectives: To validate the effectiveness of a real-time chemical exposure monitoring system developed by KOSHA (Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency), we applied the system to a workplace in the electronics industry for 153 days. Methods: The monitoring system consisted of a PID chemical sensor, a LTE communication equipment, and a web-based platform. To monitor chemical exposure, four sets of sensors were placed in two manufacturing tasks - inspection and jig cleaning - which used TCE as a degreasing agent. We reviewed previous reports of work environment measurements and conducted a new work environment measurement on one day during the period. The PID sensor systems detected the chemical exposure levels in the workplace every second and transmitted it to the platform. Daily average and maximum chemical exposure levels were also recorded. Results: We compared the results from the real-time monitoring system and the work environment measurement by traditional methods. Generally, the data from the real-time monitoring system showed a higher level because the sensors were closer to the chemical source. We found that 28% of jig cleaning task data exceeded the STEL. Peak exposure levels of sensor data were useful for understanding the characteristics of the task's chemical use. Limitations and implications were reviewed for the adoption of the system for preventing poisoning caused by chemical substances. Conclusions: We found that the real-time chemical exposure monitoring system was an efficient tool for preventing occupational diseases caused by chemical exposure, such as acute poisoning. Further research is needed to improve the reliability and applicability of the system. We also believe that forming a social consensus around the system is essential.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.43-49
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• 2023

Hydrofluoric acid is a less acidic substance than hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, and sulfuric acid, but it is one of the most dangerous substances for humans. In recent years, it has become an indispensable substance in industries such as chemical plants and the semiconductor industry, and although it is a threat to the human body, its use is increasing for various purposes, and the amount of use is constantly increasing due to the expansion and development of the industry. The dangers of hydrogen fluoride have been highlighted since the 2012 accident, which led to a more than fivefold increase in management standards for handling facilities. Hydrogen fluoride converts to hydrofluoric acid when exposed to the air, which can be fatal to humans. This study simulates the effects of a release of a toxic substance in the workplace, even though a protection layer has been provided to minimize the damage caused by the released toxic substance, and recommend ways to control the risk to workers in the event of a release in the workplace.