• Title/Summary/Keyword: accident factors

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Firefighters' Exposures to Polynuclear Aromatic Hydrocarbons and Volatile Organic Compounds by Tasks in Some Fire Scenes in Korea (일부 화재현장에서 소방공무원의 직무별 다핵방향족탄화수소 및 휘발성유기화합물 노출평가)

  • Jin, Suhyun;Byun, Hyaejeong;Kang, Taesun
    • Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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    • v.29 no.4
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    • pp.477-487
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    • 2019
  • Objectives: Firefighters are known to be exposed to a variety of toxic substances, but little information is available on the exposure profile of firefighting activities. The aims of this study were to conduct exposure monitoring of toxic chemicals at fire scenes, to compare the concentrations of respective chemicals among firefighting tasks, and to assess the main factors influencing the concentrations of chemicals. Methods: Researchers performed sampling at firefighting scenes during four weeks in 2013. At the scene, we collected samples based on firefighters' own activities and examined the situation and scale of the accident. Collected samples were classified into three categories, including fire extinguishing and overhaul, and were analyzed in the laboratory according to respective analysis methods. Results: A total of fourteen fire activity events were surveyed: five fire extinguishing, six overhaul, and three fire investigations. Although no substance exceeded the ACGIH TLV, PAHs were detected in every sample. Naphthalene ranged from 0.24 to 279.13 mg/㎥ (median 49.6 mg/㎥) and benzo(a)pyrene was detected in one overhaul case at 10.85 ㎍/㎥. Benzene (0.01-12.2 ppm) was detected in every task and exceeded the ACGIH TLV. No significant difference in concentrations between tasks was shown. Conclusions: These results indicate that all firefighting tasks generated various hazardous combustion products, including possible carcinogens.

Clinical Observation for the 161 Cases of CVA (뇌졸중환자(腦卒中患者) 161례(例)에 대(對)한 임상적(臨床的) 고찰(考察))

  • Kang, Myeong-Seog;Jun, Chan-Yong;Park, Chong-Hyeong
    • The Journal of Korean Medicine
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    • v.16 no.2 s.30
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    • pp.17-35
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    • 1995
  • Clinical observation was made on 161 cases of CVA that were confirmed through brain CT, MRI scan and clinical observation. They were hospitalized in the oriental medical hospital of Kyung-Won University from January to December in 1994. 1. The CVA cases were classified into the following kinds: cerebral infarction, cerebral hemorrhage, subarachnoid hemorrhage(SAH), transient ischemic attack, hypertensive encephalopathy, and the greatest in number among them were the cases of cerebral infarction. 2. The frequency of strokes was much the same between male and female cases and most cases were over 50 of age. 3. In the case of cerebral infarction the place of the most frequent occurrences was in the MCA territory, and as for cerebral hemorrhage, in the basal ganglia area. 4. The most ordinary preceding disease was hypertension. The next was diabetes mellitus. 5. Generally it is thought that CVA occurs frequently in winter. But on the contrary this study of observation confirmed that it occurs mostly in summer. 6. The predisposing factors of cerebral infarction were usually initiated during the time of resting and sleeping and those of cerebral hemorrhage chiefly during the time of exercising. 7. As concerns the course of hospitalization, most patients passed through western medical hospitals or oriental medical hospitals. 8. For the patients the condition of whose consciousness was bad at the time of admission, the prognosis in most cases was bad. 9. The common symptoms were motor disability and verbal disturbance. 10. With regard to cerebral infarction, the average time to start physical theraphy was 11.4 days and with cerebral hemorrhage 22.7 days after stroke. 11. The duration of hospitalization was in most cases more than one month. 12. The main complication was urinary tract infection. The next was pneumonia. 13. At the time of admission to hospital, the blood pressure in most cases was high, but it well controlled at the time of discharge. 14. Most cases were given simultaneous treatment in both ways of western and oriental medicine.

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Avifauna and Management of Breeding Season in Taeanhaean National Park (태안해안국립공원의 번식기 조류상과 관리)

  • Paik, In-Hwan;Jin, Seon-Deok;Yu, Jae-Pyoung;Paek, Woon-Kee
    • Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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    • v.24 no.2
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    • pp.139-146
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    • 2010
  • The survey was done in order to find what kinds of birds visit Taeanhaean National Park during breeding season, where we fixed up 10 coastal areas and islands within the National Park. Three groups concurrently performed the field research from 5th to 9th of July in 2009. Total 58 species and 7,323 individuals were recorded in Taeanhaean National Park. 48 species including 6,187 individuals were observed in coastal areas and 33 species including 1,136 individuals in island areas. The most dominant species in the National Park are Larus crassirostris which accounts for 60% of the birds inhabiting there, and they seem to have been bred in the islands near the National Park. The birds observed only around the coastal areas include Anas poecilorhyncha, Fulica atra, Egretta intermedia and the others which consist of 25 species and amount to 318 individuals, and the birds found exclusively in island areas include Phalacrocorax filamentosus, Apus pacificus¸ Locustella pleskei and other birds, which consist of 10 species and the number of those individuals observed was 308. The inhabited islands areas such as Gauido were characterized by high ratio of waterbird population, which seems to be correlated with the factors such as the extent of island, the richness of water resources, and the diversity of habitats. Based on the data collected during the research and other data from the previous observations, the kinds of dominant species remain nearly unchanged. And in spite of the oil spill accident in 2007, the increase in the number of waterbirds compared to 2004 may be the evidence that the area is recovering from the environmental pollution. At present, the tidal power plants are being built or scheduled to be built and large-scale reclamation is also under way. What is worse, those areas are seeing the increase of pension construction, which is likely to be the potential cause of damage and disturbance against some key habitats for the waterbirds. Therefore, it is a major priority that we build the bird information system to efficiently manage the knowledge-based asset collected from bird-watching groups and to better monitor the areas that need enhanced database through which the National Park can be appropriately administered.

Clinical Investigation of Childhood Epilepsy (소아간질의 임상적 관찰)

  • Moon, Han-Ku;Park, Yong-Hoon
    • Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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    • v.2 no.1
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    • pp.103-111
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    • 1985
  • Childhood epilepsy which has high prevalence rate and inception rate is one of the commonest problem encountered in pediatrician. In contrast with epilepsy of adult, in childhood epilepsy, more variable and varying manifestations are found because the factors of age, growth and development exert their influences in the manifestations and the courses of childhood epilepsy. Moreover epileptic children have associated problems such as physical and mental handicaps, psychologicaldisorders and learning disability. For these reasons pediatrician who deals with epileptic children experiences difficulties in making diagnosis and managing them. In order to improve understanding and management of childhood epilepsy, authors reviewed 103 cases of epileptic patients seen at pediatric department of Yeungnam University Hospital retrospectively. The patients were classified according to the type of epileptic seizure. Suspected causes of epilepsy, associated conditions of epileptic patients, age incidence and the findings of brain CT were reviewed. Large numbers of epileptic patients (61.2%) developed their first seizures under the age of 5. The most frequent type of epileptic seizure was generalized ionic-clonic, tonic, clonic seizure (49.5%), followed by simple partial seizure with secondary generalization (17.5%), simple partial seizure (7.8%), a typical absence (5.8%) and unclassified seizure (5.8%). In 83.5% of patients, we could not find specific cause of it, but in 16.5% of cases, history of neonatal hypoxia (4.9%), meningitis (3.9%), prematurity (1.9%), small for gestational age (1.0%), CO poisoning (1.0%), encephalopathy (1.0%), DPT vaccination (1.0%), cerebrovascular accident (1.0%) and neonatal jaundice (1.0%) were found, 30 cases of patients had associated diseases such as mental retardation, hyperactivity, delayed motor milestones or their combinations. The major abnormal findings of brain CT performed in 42 cases were cortical atrophy, cerebral infarction, hydrocephalus and brain swelling. This review stressed better designed classification of epilepsy is needed and with promotion of medical care, prevention of epilepsy is possible in some cases. Also it is stressed that childhood epilepsy requires multidisplinary therapy and brain CT is helpful in the evaluation of epilepsy with limitation in therapeutic aspects.

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A Clinical Analysis of Femur Neck Fracture in Elderly Patients (노년층에서 대퇴경부 골절의 치료)

  • Ihin, Joo-Choul;Ahn, Myun-Whan;Seo, Jae-Sung
    • Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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    • v.2 no.1
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    • pp.11-22
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    • 1985
  • Femur neck fracture is well known as one of the major death cause after trauma in elderly patients, and unsolved fracture due to its frequent association with complications such as avascular necrosis and nonunion. Through meticulous evaluation of the patient, hip and surgeon's experiences, reduction of mortality and morbidity as well as rapid recovery of the patient to the preinjury social and ambulatory status without local complications and revision after treatment is urgently needed. Many factors about this fracture In itself were noted, but we have analyzed 18 femur neck fractures of the patients older than 50 years preliminarily according to age, fracture pattern, osteoporosis, etiology and method of treatment with its delay in association with major complications especially avascular necrosis and nonunion. The results are as follows; 1. Of these 18 fractures, 11 were in females, 8 were caused by minor trauma such as slip-down accident and 4 were associated with definite osteoporosis according to the Sing's classification. 2. Fracture pattern of these 18 are undisplaced in 4, displaced subcapital in 11, displaced transcervical in 3. 11 fractures in the patients older than 60 year are composed of 3 undisplaced or impacted fractures and 8 displaced subcapital fractures. 3. These 18 fractures were treated by closed reduction and Internal fixation with multiple pins in 13, and hemiarthroplasty in 4, but one was not treated to die after discharge from hospital. 4. 4 undisplaced or impacted fractures and 3 displaced transcervical fractures were not associated with any complications such as avascular necrosis or nonunion. But 4 of 6 displaced subcapital fractures were complicated by avascular necrosis, 3 of which were reduced in the varus position within 1 week, and the other was reduced in the good position on 1 week after trauma. There was no complication in 2 displaced subcapital fractures reduced in valgus position within 3 days after trauma. According to the above results, the prognosis of the femur neck fracture is dependent upon the fracture pattern and delay in its treatment. So it is inevitable to reduce the fracture in anatomical or valgus position as early as possible. But the arthroplasty may be needed in displaced subcapital fractures delayed for several days, with its reluction in extreme varus position or impossible and with pre-existing disease in the same hip Joint (total hip replacement).

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A Study on the Development of Assessment Index for Catastrophic Incident Warning Sign at Refinery and Pertrochemical Plants (정유 및 석유화학플랜트 중대사고 전조신호 평가지표 개발에 관한 연구)

  • Yun, Yong Jin;Park, Dal Jae
    • Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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    • v.57 no.5
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    • pp.637-651
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    • 2019
  • In the event of a major accident such as an explosion in a refinery or a petrochemical plant, it has caused a serious loss of life and property and has had a great impact on the insurance market. In the case of catastrophic incidents occurring in process industries such as refinery and petrochemical plants, only the proximate causes of loss have been drawn and studied from inspectors or claims adjustors responsible for claims of property insurers, incident cause investigators, and national forensic service workers. However, it has not been done well for conducting root cause analysis (RCA) and identifying the factors that contributed to the failure and establishing preventive measures before leading to chemical plant's catastrophic incidents. In this study, the criteria of warning signs on CCPS catastrophic incident waning sign self-assessment tool which was derived through the RCA method and the contribution factor analysis method using the swiss cheese model principle has been reviewed first. Secondly, in order to determine the major incident warning signs in an actual chemical plant, 614 recommendations which have been issued during last the 17 years by loss control engineers of global reinsurers were analyzed. Finally, in order to facilitate the assessment index for catastrophic incident warning signs, the criteria for the catastrophic incident warning sign index at chemical plants were grouped by type and classified into upper category and lower category. Then, a catastrophic incident warning sign index for a chemical plant was developed using the weighted values of each category derived by applying the analytic hierarchy process (pairwise comparison method) through a questionnaire answered by relevant experts of the chemical plant. It is expected that the final 'assessment index for catastrophic incident warning signs' can be utilized by the refinery and petrochemical plant's internal as well as external auditors to assess vulnerability levels related to incident warning signs, and identify the elements of incident warning signs that need to be tracked and managed to prevent the occurrence of serious incidents in the future.

A Study on the Development Plan for Promotion of Advanced Disaster-Safety Awareness (선진 재난안전의식의 활성화를 위한 방안 연구)

  • Lee, Jong-hyun;Kim, Mi-ra;Ko, Jae-chul
    • Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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    • v.17 no.3
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    • pp.415-426
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    • 2021
  • Purpose: The purpose of this study is to create the deveopment plan for promotion of advanced disaster-safety awareness, which is noted as a major factor in the large disaster. Method: This study is to conduct theoretical review with regard to disaster management and safety awareness. Consciousness surveys on safety awareness and previous disaster case was analyzed to derive the cause of the disaster, and the development plan for promotion of advanced disaster-safety awareness was suggested. Result: In the survey on the public's sense of safety on the disaster management evaluation, 'Response' stage was well performed, but the 'Recovery' stage was not. Especially, it was found that disaster safety education at the 'Prevention' stage was very lacking. In the survey on the public's safety awareness, the awareness level of the evacuation facility was very low, information on infectious diseases and collapse accident was insufficient. Especially, it has been found that the awareness on safety regulation in daily life is very insufficient. Through the case study on previous disaster(COVID-19, Fire in Miryang Sejong Hospital, Forest fire in the east coas at 2004'), it was derived that the lack of safety awareness(such as safety insensitivity) was the main factor of the expansion of the damage scale. Conclusion: The development plan for promotion of advanced disaster-safety awareness are as follow. First, it is necessary to spread the safety culture movement through the expansion of safety education and safety promotion. Second, disaster confrontation training for the public should be implemented to improve the effectiveness of disaster response. Finally, it is necessary to change the individual awareness on safety. When these factors are implemented systematically, advanced disaster-safety awareness can be promoted. Ultimately, disaster accidents in our society can be reduced.

Development of tracer concentration analysis method using drone-based spatio-temporal hyperspectral image and RGB image (드론기반 시공간 초분광영상 및 RGB영상을 활용한 추적자 농도분석 기법 개발)

  • Gwon, Yeonghwa;Kim, Dongsu;You, Hojun;Han, Eunjin;Kwon, Siyoon;Kim, Youngdo
    • Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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    • v.55 no.8
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    • pp.623-634
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    • 2022
  • Due to river maintenance projects such as the creation of hydrophilic areas around rivers and the Four Rivers Project, the flow characteristics of rivers are continuously changing, and the risk of water quality accidents due to the inflow of various pollutants is increasing. In the event of a water quality accident, it is necessary to minimize the effect on the downstream side by predicting the concentration and arrival time of pollutants in consideration of the flow characteristics of the river. In order to track the behavior of these pollutants, it is necessary to calculate the diffusion coefficient and dispersion coefficient for each section of the river. Among them, the dispersion coefficient is used to analyze the diffusion range of soluble pollutants. Existing experimental research cases for tracking the behavior of pollutants require a lot of manpower and cost, and it is difficult to obtain spatially high-resolution data due to limited equipment operation. Recently, research on tracking contaminants using RGB drones has been conducted, but RGB images also have a limitation in that spectral information is limitedly collected. In this study, to supplement the limitations of existing studies, a hyperspectral sensor was mounted on a remote sensing platform using a drone to collect temporally and spatially higher-resolution data than conventional contact measurement. Using the collected spatio-temporal hyperspectral images, the tracer concentration was calculated and the transverse dispersion coefficient was derived. It is expected that by overcoming the limitations of the drone platform through future research and upgrading the dispersion coefficient calculation technology, it will be possible to detect various pollutants leaking into the water system, and to detect changes in various water quality items and river factors.

A comparative study of risk according to smoke control flow rate and methods in case of train fire at subway platform (지하철 승강장에서 열차 화재 시 제연풍량 및 방식에 따른 위험도 비교 연구)

  • Ryu, Ji-Oh;Lee, Hu-Yeong
    • Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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    • v.24 no.4
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    • pp.327-339
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    • 2022
  • The purpose of this study is to present the effective smoke control flow rate and mode for securing safety through quantitative risk assessment according to the smoke control flow rate and mode (supply or exhaust) of the platform when a train fire occurs at the subway platform. To this end, a fire outbreak scenario was created using a side platform with a central staircase as a model and fire analysis was performed for each scenario to compare and analyze fire propagation characteristics and ASET, evacuation analysis was performed to predict the number of deaths. In addition, a fire accident rate (F)/number of deaths (N) diagram (F/N diagram) was prepared for each scenario to compare and evaluate the risk according to the smoke control flow rate and mode. In the ASET analysis of harmful factors, carbon monoxide, temperature, and visible distance determined by performance-oriented design methods and standards for firefighting facilities, the effect of visible distance is the largest, In the case where the delay in entering the platform of the fire train was not taken into account, the ASET was analyzed to be about 800 seconds when the air flow rate was 4 × 833 m3/min. The estimated number of deaths varies greatly depending on the location of the vehicle of fire train, In the case of a fire occurring in a vehicle adjacent to the stairs, it is shown that the increase is up to three times that of the vehicle in the lead. In addition, when the smoke control flow rate increases, the number of fatalities decreases, and the reduction rate of the air supply method rather than the exhaust method increases. When the supply flow rate is 4 × 833 m3/min, the expected number of deaths is reduced to 13% compared to the case where ventilation is not performed. As a result of the risk assessment, it is found that the current social risk assessment criteria are satisfied when smoke control is performed, and the number of deaths is the flow rate 4 × 833 m3/min when smoke control is performed at 29.9 people in 10,000 year, It was analyzed that it decreased to 4.36 people.

The Jurisdictional Precedent Analysis of Medical Dispute in Dental Field (치과임상영역에서 발생된 의료분쟁의 판례분석)

  • Kwon, Byung-Ki;Ahn, Hyoung-Joon;Kang, Jin-Kyu;Kim, Chong-Youl;Choi, Jong-Hoon
    • Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
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    • v.31 no.4
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    • pp.283-296
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    • 2006
  • Along with the development of scientific technologies, health care has been growing remarkably, and as the social life quality improves with increasing interest in health, the demand for medical service is rapidly increasing. However, medical accident and medical dispute also are rapidly increasing due to various factors such as, increasing sense of people's right, lack of understanding in the nature of medical practice, over expectation on medical technique, commercialize medical supply system, moral degeneracy and unawareness of medical jurisprudence by doctors, widespread trend of mutual distrust, and lack of systematized device for solution of medical dispute. This study analysed 30 cases of civil suit in the year between 1994 to 2004, which were selected among the medical dispute cases in dental field with the judgement collected from organizations related to dentistry and department of oral medicine, Yonsei university dental hospital. The following results were drawn from the analyses: 1. The distribution of year showed rapid increase of medical dispute after the year 2000. 2. In the types of medical dispute, suit associated with tooth extraction took 36.7% of all. 3. As for the cause of medical dispute, uncomfortable feeling and dissatisfaction with the treatment showed 36.7%, death and permanent damage showed 16.7% each. 4. Winning the suit, compulsory mediation and recommendation for settlement took 60.0% of judgement result for the plaintiff. 5. For the type of medical organization in relation to medical dispute, 60.0% was found to be the private dental clinics, and 30.0% was university dental hospitals. 6. For the level of trial, dispute that progressed above 2 or 3 trials was of 30.0%. 7. For the amount of claim for damage, the claim amounting between 50 million to 100 million won was of 36.7%, and that of more than 100 million won was 13.3%, and in case of the judgement amount, the amount ranging from 10 million to 30 million won was of 40.0%, and that of more than 100 million won was of 6.7%. 8. For the number of dentist involved in the suit, 26.7% was of 2 or more dentists. 9. For the amount of time spent until the judgement, 46.7% took 11 to 20 months, and 36.7% took 21 to 30 months. 10. For medical malpractice, 46.7% was judged to be guilty, and 70% of the cases had undergone medical judgement or verification of the case by specialists during the process of the suit. 11. In the lost cases of doctors(18 cases), 72.2% was due to violence of carefulness in practice and 16.7% was due to missing of explanation to patient. Medical disputes occurring in the field of dentistry are usually of relatively less risky cases. Hence, the importance of explanation to patient is emphasized, and since the levels of patient satisfaction are subjective, improvement of the relationship between the patient and the dentist and recovery of autonomy within the group dentist are essential in addition to the reduction of technical malpractice. Moreover, management measure against the medical dispute should be set up through complement of the current doctors and hospitals medical malpractice insurance which is being conducted irrationally, and establishment of system in which education as well as consultation for medical disputes lead by the group of dental clinicians and academic scholars are accessible.