• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.419-429
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• 2016

Objectives: According to the new Chemical Control Act from the Korean Ministry of Environment (2014-259), workers handling hazardous chemicals should wear personal protective equipment (PPE). However the act simply states in basic phrases that every worker handling one or more of the 69 listed chemicals should wear PPE and does not consider the unique hazard characteristics of chemicals and work types. The main purpose of this study is to provide basic data to revise the act to suit particular work processes and situations. Methods: The hazard rank of the substances was classified based on hazardous characteristics such as LC50 and vapor pressure using matrix analysis. The workplace exposure risk of the substances was also determined through a matrix analysis based on the previously determined hazard ranks and the demands of manual handling together with the likelihood of accident frequency of the operation combined with the exposure of workers during spill accidents. Results: To meet the demands for developing subsequent guidelines for the risk-based application of PPE in hazardous workplaces, this study sorted the 69 listed chemicals into five hazardous categories based on their LC50 and vapor pressures, and also assigned exposure categories according to exposure vulnerability for various types of work which are frequently performed throughout the life cycle of the chemicals. Conclusion: In the next study, an exposure risk matrix will be produced using the hazard rank of chemicals and workplace exposure risk, and then PPE will be selected to suit the categories of the exposure risk matrix.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.1-5
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• 2013

Notorious press machine bothers employers by causing so many industrial accidents which are mostly of caught-in or between type. In 2008, press machines caused 1665 cases of such type of accidents, which reached about 11% of all those. Even though various approaches has been adopted to prevent those press machine accidents, up to now, no one was found to be satisfactory. In this study, two kinds of companies, accident-occurred and accident-free by press machine, were surveyed to find out positive and negative factors for accidents prevention. 400 companies which experienced accidents in 2008 and 200 companies which did not experience accident at all during the same period were selected for this survey. Most of these companies are small companies that employ less than 50 employees. Even though small companies are exempted from legal obligations to have a safety management system for accident prevention, we surveyed about safety management systems of those companies because of its crucial importance for accident prevention including whether they appointed safety managers and various supervisors. Awareness and efforts for safety of employers and employees were also measured. Results were analysed by the method of cross tabulation analysis. Main findings of this study are as follows. Most accident-occurred companies did not appoint any safety manager or supervisor. While it is recommended that the workplace of high accident rate have a safety manager. In addition, as less employers' effort for safety was made in accident-occurred companies in order to prevent accidents during press processing, the author proposes an amendment to the relevant law. Finally, the most referred reason for the negligence of hazard is the cumbersomeness in installing safeguards.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.59-64
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• 2018

In the trend of increasing awareness of chemical accidents, hazardous chemical transport vehicle accidents are occurring every year. In this study, we analyzed improvement of accident prevention and countermeasures through statistical analysis of hazardous chemical transport vehicle accidents. A total of 383 chemical accidents between January 2014 and December 2017 were analyzed. During this period, number of transportation accidents was 83 cases, accounting for 21.67% of total chemical accidents. In the current system, despite the direct handling of hazardous chemical, it is out of regulation of damage prediction unlike the workplace. In order to effectively respond to actual accident, information on damage prediction is required and should be shared with related ministry. And it should be developed to real-time monitoring of hazardous chemical transport vehicle through integrated control tower.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.213-217
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• 2016

Background: The objective of this study is to identify high-risk groups for industrial accidents by setting up 2003 as the base year and conducting an in-depth analysis of the trends of major industrial accident indexes the index of industrial accident rate, the index of occupational injury rate, the index of occupational illness and disease rate per 10,000 people, and the index of occupational injury fatality rate per 10,000 people for the past 10 years. Methods: This study selected industrial accident victims, who died or received more than 4 days of medical care benefits, due to occupational accidents and diseases occurring at workplaces, subject to the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act, as the study population. Results: According to the trends of four major indexes by workplace characteristics, the whole industry has shown a decreasing tendency in all four major indexes since the base year (2003); as of 2012, the index of industrial accident rate was 67, while the index of occupational injury fatality rate per 10,000 people was 59. Conclusion: The manufacturing industry, age over 50 years and workplaces with more than 50 employees showed a high severity level of occupational accidents. Male workers showed a higher severity level of occupational accidents than female workers. The employment period of < 3 years and newly hired workers with a relatively shorter working period are likely to have more occupational accidents than others. Overall, an industrial accident prevention policy must be established by concentrating all available resources and capacities of these high-risk groups.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.19-26
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• 2009

This study was designed to analyse the performance and the mechanisms of workers' participation and communications in industrial accident prevention activities leading to the reduction of industrial accidents. This study also aimed to find out the causal relationship influencing the promotion of prevention activities of industrial accidents. Of the manufacturing businesses with more than 5 workers as the population of the survey, a questionnaire was conducted with 2,500 workspaces chosen by stratified sampling. Out of 2500 workspaces, 971 workspaces equipped with industrial safety and health committee were analysed in this study. According to the results of this study, the primary influential factors on safety activities were the management of industrial accidents and the cooperations between supervisors and workers on site. The secondary influential factor was the establishment of industrial safety and health committee. Regarding the effectiveness of industrial accident reduction, -0.01 was shown by workplace safety activities by themselves and -0.09 was shown by participation and communications through indirect safety activities. This indicated workers' participation and communications play an important role in the reduction of industrial accidents. By discovering the clue to the mechanism of the workers' participation and communications, this study is expected to stimulate the reduction of industrial accidents by emphasizing the importance of workers' participation and communications in resolving the safety and health problem in the workplaces.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.60 no.4
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• pp.15-25
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• 2018

The accident risk at the construction workplace associated with agricultural engineering is comparatively higher than those of other fields due mainly to its complex work types and processes. Agricultural engineering deals with a variety of agricultural infrastructures from irrigation and drainage facilities to giant-scale coastal reclamation land infrastructures. The characteristics that most agricultural projects have conducted on a small-scale even worsen the situation drawing low attentions to risk management. Therefore, systematical risk assessment that focuses on details of agricultural construction work process is required in order to enhance safety management capacity and to prevent repetitive accidents ultimately. This study aims to categorize construction work types and processes of agricultural construction works, and to quantitatively assess the accident risk of them based on accident analysis. Regarding classification of construction works, actual 827 accident cases were thoroughly reviewed and coded by their construction site, facility and work type, project scale and so on. Most accidents (71.8 % of total cases) occurred in small-scale construction workplaces with less than 5 billion Korean won project budget. And those accidents related to agricultural infrastructure project (37.4%) and agricultural water development project (22.4%). In terms of work types, accidents frequently took place in form-work followed by pipe installation work, steel bar work and concrete work. The potential risks were compared with actual outbreak of accidents based on Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The results show that the potential conditions of accident expected to be took place is somewhat different from the actual conditions where accidents actually happened. This implicates that risk management manuals or education needs to be adjusted by reflecting unexpected circumstances. Overall, this study is meaningful in that the results could be foundations as to strengthen risk management capacity for agricultural engineering projects.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.231-236
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• 2016

Background: To analyze the effects of the factors associated with different types of injury (superficial wounds, dislocations and sprains, bone fractures, concussion and internal injuries, burns scalding and freezing) caused by occupational accidents in automotive repair workshops. Methods: Study of a sample consisting of 89,954 industry accidents reported from 2003 to 2008. Odds ratios were calculated with a 95% confidence interval. Results: Belonging to a small company is a risk factor for suffering three of the five types of injury studied. Women are less likely to suffer burns and superficial wounds, and more likely to suffer dislocations or sprains. Foreign workers are more likely to suffer concussion and internal injuries. Conclusion: Health and safety strategies and accident prevention measures should be individualized and adapted to the type of worker most likely to be injured in each type of accident. Occupational health and safety training courses designed according to worker profile, and improving the participation of the workers in small firms creating regional or roving safety representatives would improve working conditions.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.36 no.4
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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.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.40 no.6
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• pp.454-468
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• 2014

Objectives: This study was conducted to investigate the actual condition of the farm work environment and personal protective equipment as part of the effort to improve livestock work for the safety and health of poultry farmers and provide basic data for establishing plans to improve and develop personal protective equipment. Methods: For this purpose, a questionnaire survey on general information about stables, the poultry work environment, accidents, the wearing of work clothes and personal protective equipment, and the level of awareness related to personal protective equipment was conducted among 148 poultry farmers. Results: As a result, it was found that poultry workplace environment was exposed to such risks as fine dusts; organic dusts; poisonous gases; odorous substances; chicken excrement; contact with chickens, bacteria or viruses; and accidents related to machine operation. Thirteen percent of respondents suffered severe respiratory diseases, and the most frequently injured sites due to accidents were the hands (25.7%), knees (23.8%), arms (17.3%), and head (10.9%). The most frequent type of accident was collisions between the body and obstacles or machinery during movement (36.4%), followed by erroneous machine operation such as feeders and electric shocks (8.5%). Regarding the wearing of work clothes and personal protective equipment, 51.7% of the respondents wore worn-out clothing or everyday clothes, whereas only 32.0% wore work clothes. The percentage of farmers who wore proper protective equipment for the work environment during poultry work was 48.4%. The most frequently used type of protective equipment was boots (38.9%), followed by mask (36.7%), gloves (36.3%), appropriate work clothes (22.6%), quarantine clothes (17.6%), helmets (13.4%), and goggles (12.6%). The rate of wearing goggles was low because they were considered inconvenient and lowered work efficiency. Furthermore, they purchased everyday products available on the market for their personal protective equipment which were not appropriate for maintaining safety in an actual harmful environment and its consequent risks. As a result of the survey of the awareness level related to personal protective equipment, their levels of awareness of accidents and attitude proved to be average or higher, but the practice of wearing protective equipment and the level of knowledge and management of personal protective equipment were lower. Conclusion: This survey found that the wearing status of personal protective equipment among poultry farmers was insufficient even though they were exposed to risks. Most respondents were aware of the necessity of wearing personal protective equipment and of the potential for accidents, but they did not wear proper protective equipment. Their wearing rate was low due to a lack of knowledge about protective equipment, as well as the inconvenience of wearing it. Therefore there is a need to improve and develop specialized personal protective equipment for respiration, hands, and eyes, as well as work clothes that can protect farmers from major harmful matter that is generated in the poultry workplace. Based on the results of this investigation, we will conduct further studies on the required performance and design directions of personal protective equipment while collecting more objective data through field-oriented assessments.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.65-74
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• 2016

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to predict industrial accident rate using time series analysis. Methods: The rates of industrial accident and occupational injury death were analyzed using industrial accident statistics analysis system of the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency from 2001 to 2014. Time series analysis was done using the most recent data, such as raw materials of Economically Active Population Survey, Economic Statistics System of the Bank of Korea, and e-National indicators. The best-fit model with time series analysis to predict occupational injury was developed by identifying predictors when the value of Akaike Information Criteria was the lowest point. Variables into the model were selected through a series of expertises' consultations and literature review, which consisted of socioeconomic structure, labor force structure, working conditions, and occupational accidents. Results: Indexes at the meso- and macro-levels predicting well occurrence of occupational accidents and occupational injury death were labor force participation rate for ages 45-49 and budget for small scaled workplace support. The rates of industrial accident and occupational injury death are expected to decline. Conclusion: For reducing industrial accident continuously, we call for safe employment policy of economically active middle aged adults and support for improving safety work environment of small sized workplace.