• Title/Summary/Keyword: environmental improvement

Search Result 4,780, Processing Time 0.031 seconds

Statement by the Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Medicine on the proposed reform of working hours in South Korea

  • Hee-Tae Kang;Chul-Ju Kim;Dong-Wook Lee;Seung-Gwon Park;Jinwoo Lee;Kanwoo Youn;Hwan-Cheol Kim;Kyoung Sook Jeong;Hansoo Song;Sung-Kyung Kim;Sang-Baek Koh
    • Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
    • /
    • v.35
    • /
    • pp.17.1-17.6
    • /
    • 2023
  • The current 52-hour workweek in South Korea consists of 40 hours of regular work and 12 hours of overtime. Although the average working hours in South Korea is declining, it is still 199 hours longer than the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development average of 1,716 hours per year. In view to this, the South Korean government has now proposed to reform the workweek, mainly intending to increase the workweek to 69 hours when the workload is heavy. This reform, by increasing the labor intensity due to long working hours, goes against the global trend of reducing work hours for a safe and healthy working environment. Long working hours can lead to increased cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases, industrial accidents, mental health problems, and safety accidents due to lack of concentration. In conclusion, the Korean government's working hour reform plan can have a negative impact on workers' health, and therefore it should be thoroughly reviewed and modified.

THE PRIORITIZATION OF IMPROVEMENT NEEDS FOR UNDERGROUND CONSTRUCTION ENVIRONMENT

  • Sanggyu Lee;Goune Kang;Chang-Won Kim;Hunhee Cho;Kyung-In Kang
    • International conference on construction engineering and project management
    • /
    • 2013.01a
    • /
    • pp.111-114
    • /
    • 2013
  • Underground construction requires long construction duration and a variety of equipment, and environmental management and improvement of its activities are considered necessary. For the purpose of the environmental improvement of underground construction activities, the appropriate development of technologies to reduce generated pollutants is mandatory. However, the analysis of the needs of technology development and the evaluation of development priorities should take precedence. In this research, the needs for the improvement of each construction activity are analyzed as a preliminary study for a proposed technology development plan to improve the environmental performance of underground construction. Firstly, environmental problem factors caused by underground construction activities are determined while underground construction types, methods, and activities are classified. A questionnaire survey to determine the needs for the improvement of each activity is then carried out. The survey indicated that the most urgent activity to be improved is that of cutting excavation, which causes environmental problems associated with flying dust. This study could be used as a basis for a technology development plan for the environmental improvement of underground construction activities. The result of this study, the priority of improvement needs, contributes to the effective allocation of a limited Research and Development (R&D) budget.

  • PDF

Measuring benefits of providing water for environmental improvement in Daechi-stream and Ji-stream

  • Hong, Seungjee
    • Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
    • /
    • v.43 no.2
    • /
    • pp.275-287
    • /
    • 2016
  • This study attempts to estimate the benefits of using water ensuing from the Chilgap multipurpose reservoir for environmental improvement. The contingent valuation method (CVM) was used to elicit the willingness to pay (WTP) for providing environmental improvement water from the Chilgap reservoir to Daechi-stream and Ji-stream. The DCDB (double-bound dichotomous choice) survey method was used to collect data for the analysis. Due to the usually high cost of increasing the sample size, the use of follow-up questions was implemented as an inexpensive method of improving the efficiency of the estimation. A spike model was used in this study because a number of respondents showed zero WTP. The spike model can be estimated as easily as the conventional model. Results show that the average annual household's WTP is 4,516 won using the conventional model and 8,644 won using the spike model. Applying the estimated average annual household's WTP to the Chungnam and Daejeon regional levels, the benefits of environmental improvement water from the Chilgap reservoir is estimated at 11.9 billion won per year. The temporal benefits of providing water for environmental improvement, for a 50-year period at a 6.0% discount rate, is estimated at about 190 billion won in the Chungnam and Daejeon areas. These results could be useful especially when the government tries to determine an appropriate level of investment and to make a policy related to providing environmental improvement water.

An Analysis on the Environmental Health Effect of Mass Improvement of Privies in Rural Area (농촌지역 집단변소개량의 환경보건학적 효과분석)

  • 정문식;정문호;백남원;한돈희
    • Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
    • /
    • v.15 no.1
    • /
    • pp.97-120
    • /
    • 1989
  • This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of environmental health between the mass improvement and the partial improvement of privies in rural area. For this study, three villages were selected in Chun Sung County, Kangwon Province.

  • PDF

A Study on the Environmental Improvement of National Parks' Public Space Design - Focusing on Trail Entry Areas - (공공디자인 측면에서의 국립공원 환경개선의 효과성 및 만족도 분석 - 탐방로 진입부 공간을 중심으로 -)

  • Lee, Sook-Hyang;Sim, Kyu-Won;Lee, Ho-Seung;Lee, Jea-Kyu;Jeong, Jeong-Kwon
    • Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
    • /
    • v.22 no.3
    • /
    • pp.49-61
    • /
    • 2016
  • This study examined the effectiveness of and satisfaction of visitors with the Environmental Improvement Project on national parks' trail entry areas. A survey was conducted to improve the proposal framework based on the data. Data for the study were obtained from 6400 respondents who used 28 national park offices at 32 national park trail entry areas. The field research was collected in 3200 surveys, divided between pre- and post-implementation of the Environmental Improvement Project. The study variables consisted of socio-demographics, visitors' perceptions on the environmental improvement of trail entries, effects of the environmental improvement, and visitor satisfaction. Several important results were found. First, the environment of trail entries has a significant impact on the formation of images and user satisfaction of national parks. Second, the influence of the trail entry improvement showed that 71.8% of visitors rated the trail entry as environmentally friendly after the Environmental Improvement Project, compared to 48.5% of visitors rated the trail entry as environmentally friendly before the Environmental Improvement Project. The findings indicated that a top priority of environmental improvement of the trail entries needs to be the installation of convenience facilities such as rest areas, restrooms, and direction boards (pre: 34.5%, post: 32.6%). Third, functionality and the other nine variables were shown to enhance the effect of the environmental improvement of the trail entries at the 1% statistical significance level. Finally, results indicated that the overall satisfaction of the visitors with the park was significantly higher after the environmental improvement (t-value=25.741, p=.000), showing the satisfaction score was higher after the environmental improvement (pre: 3.51, post: 4.12), with a statistically significant difference at the 1 % level. This study helps to understand trail entries, which have influenced the image of the national park and satisfaction. These findings can be utilized to manage and design a national park as a public space.

Regimes for the Improvement on Education and Training for Environmental Mangers on site (환경관리인의 교육.훈련 현황 및 개선 방안 연구)

  • 전의찬;조순철
    • Hwankyungkyoyuk
    • /
    • v.13 no.2
    • /
    • pp.74-90
    • /
    • 2000
  • The environmental quality in Korea was significantly deteriorated though the past economic development period. Even though the government has spent huge sum of resources on the policies and projects to improve the environmental quality, it is much removed from what the people hope for. To solve the environmental problems effectively, pollutants generated at source should be kept as minimum as possible, and possible, and pollutants from source be controlled before leaving the sources, and most of all, environmental strategies and systems be established and enforced properly. So, it is not too much to say that nation's environmental quality is entirely dependent on the education and training of the environmental managers such as environmental employees for air, water, and noise discharge facilities, technicians at environmental plants, and environmental officers of central and local governments. Regimes for the improvement of the education and training for environmental managers are suggested into four categories-educational institute, circular of the study, training contents and trainees. Referring to the improvement of integrated institute, and to improvement on educational institute, it is necessary to investigate the feasibility of integrated institute, and to recommend the inclusion of the local colleges and universities, and environmental societies. For the improvement on training courses, it is necessary that the non-obligatory course be expanded, and the courses be developed in such a way to meet the needs from the field. As for the improvement on training contents. It is suggested that the practical training on size be strengthened, and also full time environmental specialist and integrated committee be required to develop the effective circular and selection of proper lectures. Finally, environmental education for high ranked officers of autonomies, and international courses for developing countries are suggested.

  • PDF

A Study on The Prior Environmental Review System in a Costal Improvement Project (연안정비사업의 사전환경성검토 방안에 관한 연구)

  • Maeng, Jun-Ho;Cho, Kwang-Woo
    • Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
    • /
    • v.19 no.2
    • /
    • pp.179-187
    • /
    • 2010
  • A costal improvement project is designed for preventing disasters on the coast, improving costal environment, and promoting costal functions, so it is different from the one for developing coasts. However, the costal improvement project also affects the surrounding environment and it may damage the costal environment in some cases. In line with this, this study was carried out to provide the guideline to the review on environmental conditions, which should be performed in the stage of establishing the plan for a costal improvement project, so that the influence affecting marine environment can be reduced and more efficient coastal project can be planned. The costal improvement project is different in the degree of affecting the costal environment according to kinds, scales, and regions. Accordingly, in this study the state of the coastal improvement project and involved problems were analyzed. The prior environmental review system was divided into a seawall-installation project, a marine construction such as the installation of submerged breakwater and jetties, and a project for creating water-friendly coast including a park without marine landfill. The main items for reviewing these specific projects were presented.

A Study on the Performance Analysis of Environmental Improvement Fund for the Structural Advancement Project of the Old Industrial Complex (노후산업단지 구조고도화사업을 위한 환경개선펀드 성과분석에 관한 연구)

  • Kim, Jongha;Chung, Jaeho
    • Land and Housing Review
    • /
    • v.11 no.3
    • /
    • pp.21-31
    • /
    • 2020
  • This paper quantitatively analyzes the investment performance of the environmental improvement fund focusing on the sales effect and the housing benefit effect. The analysis of this study focused on the effects of sales and housing benefits for completed business sites among the business sites supported by the Environmental Improvement Fund. The analysis results are as follows. First, it appears that the sales effect of the completed workplace is effective compared to the amount of investment, so it seems that the purpose of industrial integration of the environment improvement fund is being achieved. Second, it was found that there are variations by workplace and region in housing benefits. This seems to be due to the fact that profitability can be neglected by reflecting the characteristics of residential facilities built by private businesses. The Environmental Improvement Fund is a policy fund that pursues both profitability and publicity. Therefore, it is necessary to transform the structure of the fund to expand support for industrial infrastructure with high publicity. To this end, it is necessary to establish a long-term management plan that equitably considers the profitability and publicity of the environmental improvement fund.

The Improvement Direction of the Environmental Impact Assessment System for Residential Developments (주거개발사업의 환경영향평가제도 개선방향)

  • Kim, Heung-Sik;Jeong, Jin-Hyung;Choi, Myung-Soo;An, Jung-Geun;Kim, Sang-Gyu;Kim, Jong-Dae;Chun, Chu-Young
    • Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
    • /
    • v.7 no.1
    • /
    • pp.117-123
    • /
    • 1998
  • The present study was performed to improve the Environmental Impact Assessment system by comparing and analysing EIA systems for Residential Developments in the light of the business practice. For the improvement of EIA system, future strategies from each of three part ; the organ of approval(Construction&Transportation Dept.) for residential developments, the organ of consultation(Environment Dept.) for EIA and a developer(Korea Nation Housing Corp.), were analysed, and EIA systems and the processes of Residential developments were analysed. Results from the analysis of problems have provided a proposal for improvement of the Environmental Impact Assessment.

  • PDF

Studies on the Marine Environmental Improvement and Environmental Perception of the Inhabitants around the Sun-So Coast (선소 해역 부근의 해양 환경 개선 사업 고찰 및 주민들의 환경 인식 조사에 대한 연구)

  • Shim, Wang-Geun;Park, Se-Ra;Kim, Sang-Chai
    • Hwankyungkyoyuk
    • /
    • v.22 no.1
    • /
    • pp.12-30
    • /
    • 2009
  • The relationship between marine environmental improvement and environmental perception of the inhabitants was investigated. For this purpose, the seawater and bottom materials were analysed. Apart from this, the questionnaire surveys were also conducted around the Sun-so coastal area. In order to examine the improvement in the marine environment, 12 monitoring sites, which are located around Sun-so coast and can be divided into two parts such as inland (GW1-GW6) and outland (GW7-GW12) sea, were chosen. All the collected samples were analyzed to find out the quality of seawater (temperature, pH, salinity, dissolved oxygen: DO, chemical oxygen demand: COD and suspend solid: SS), nutrients (total nitrogen: TN and phosphate: $PO_4-P$) and bottom materials (COD, volatile solids: VS) as per the standard analytical procedures. In addition, the questionnaire mainly focused on the following three factors: 1) social economy, 2) dependent environmental awareness and 3) independent environmental awareness related with the environmental education. The monitoring studies indicated that the marine environment of the Sun-so coast showed various trends for analyzing parameter. No significant temporal changes in temperature, pH and salinity were observed. However, the other parameters showed decreasing (COD, SS, TN, $PO_4-P$ and VS) and increasing (DO) trends according to the quality of seawater and bottom materials. The questionnaire survey clearly showed that most of the residents in Sun-so recognized the improvement of marine environment as compared with the situation experienced in the past. The dredging project which is closely related with economic and living conditions of the local residents led to alter the environmental perceptions and attitudes. The survey also indicated that the inhabitants perceived the necessity of the environmental education (87% of respondents) and preferred regular schooling (55% of respondents) as effective and practical education methods.

  • PDF