• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.19-28
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• 2024

Background: This study aims to analyze radiation safety management and regulatory perceptions, focusing on companies that must report radiation sources. The intent is to reduce the gap between regulation measures and addressing real concerns while improving practical safety management measures and regulations for all stakeholders. Materials and Methods: Radiation safety officers at a total of 244 reporting companies using radiation generators (79.8%) and sealed radioisotopes (15.1%) were surveyed using a questionnaire. Results and Discussion: The perception that regulation is stronger than the actual risk of the radiation source used was 3.47 points (out of 5 points), indicating a score above average. The most important factors and considerations were education and training (48%) as a human factor, safety devices of the radiation source (71.3%) as a hazardous material factor, the use of radiation (50.8%) as an organizational environment, and the radiation effect of nearby facilities (67.2%) as a physical environment. Radiation safety management educational experience (F= 5.030, p< 0.01), the group with high subjective knowledge (t= 6.017, p< 0.001), and the group with high objective knowledge (t= 1.989, p< 0.05) was found to be better at radiation safety management. Conclusion: It is necessary to standardize the educational experience regarding radiation safety management because each staff member has individual differences in educational experience. It is necessary to provide more information on how to solve radiation accidents via educational content. Applying radiation safety regulations based on the factors that significantly affect radiation safety management shown in this survey will help improve safety.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.74-81
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• 2017

An off-site consequence analysis is used to calculate the risks when hazardous chemicals that is being used on-site has been exposed off-site; the biggest factor that impacts the risk is the risks of accident scenarios. This study seeks to calculate risks according to accident scenarios by applying OGP/LOPA risk calculating methods for similar facilities, calculate risk reduction ratio by inspecting applicable IPL for incidents, and propose an appropriate risk standard for different risk calculating methods. Considering all applicable IPL when estimating the safety improvement of accident scenarios, the risk of OGP is 8.05E-04 and the risk of LOPA is 1.00E-04, According to the case of IPL, the risk is 1.34E-02. The optimal risk level for accident scenarios using LOPA was $10^{-2}$, but the appropriate risk criteria for accident scenarios in foreign similar studies were $10^{-3}{\sim}10^{-4}$, the risk of a scenario can be determined at an unacceptable level. When OGP is applied, it is analyzed as acceptable level, but in case of applying LOPA, all applicable IPL should be applied in order to satisfy the acceptable risk level. Compared to OGP, the risk is high when LOPA is applied. Therefore, the acceptable risk level should be set differently for each risk method.

• Smart Media Journal
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• v.11 no.9
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• pp.30-38
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• 2022

It is important to grasp biometric data in real time for prompt action in the event of a safety accident at a work site where the risk of safety accidents exists. Among them, blood oxygen saturation is the most important factor in maintaining human life, so real-time oxygen saturation measurement and monitoring is necessary according to the situation as a preemptive response for worker safety management. By receiving real-time bio-signals from workers wearing health and life-risk protective clothing, and sharing and analyzing the worker's risk status in an external system, it is possible to diagnose the worker's current condition and efficiently respond to emergencies that may occur to the worker. In this paper, we propose a wearable oxygen saturation measurement platform technology that can monitor the risk of harmful gases and oxygen saturation of the wearer in real time and ensure the wearer's activity and safety in order to cope with emergency situations at the scene of an accident. If we overcome the limitations identified through the results of the proposed system later and apply improved biodata such as motion correction to the platform, we expect that it will be usable not only in hazardous gas environments, but also in hospitals and homes for emergency patients.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.41-48
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• 1995

In former times the protection of our environment didn't play an important role due to the fact that emissions and effluents were not considered as serious impacts. However, opinions and scientific measurements meanwhile confirmed that the impacts are more serious than expected. Thus measures to protect our earth has to be taken into consideration. A part of these measures in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). One of the most important parts of the EIA is the collection of basic datas and the following evaluation. Experience out of the daily business of Gerling Consulting Group shows that the content of the EIA has to be revised and enlarged in certain fields. The historical development demonstrated that in areas in which the population and the industrial activities reached high concentration there is a high necessity to develop strict environmental laws and regulations. Maximum values of the concentration of hazardous materials were fixed concerning the emission into and water. Companies not following these regulations were punished. The total amount of environmental offences increased rapidly during the last decade, at least in Germany. During this development the public consciousness concerning environmental affairs increased as well in the industrialized countries. But it could clearly be seen that the development in the field of environmental protection went into the wrong direction. The technologies to protect the environment became more and more sophisticated and terms as: "state of the art" guided more and more to lower emissions, Filtertechnologies and wastewater treatment for example reached a high technical level-but all these sophisticated technologies has one and the same characteristic: they were end-of-the pipe solutions. A second effect was that this kind of environmental protection costs a lot of money. High investments are necessary to reduce the dust emission by another ppm! Could this be the correct way? In Germany the discussion started that the environmental laws reduce the attractivity to invest or to enlarge existing investments within the country. Other countries seem to be not so strict with controlling the environmental laws which means it's simply cheaper to produce in Portugal or Greece. Everybody however knows that this is not the correct way and does not solve the environmental problems. Meanwhile the general picture changes a little bit and we think it changes into the correct direction "End-of-the-pipe" solutions are still necessary but this word received a real negative touch and nobody wants to be brought into connection with this word received a real negative touch and nobody wants to be brought into connection with this word especially in connection with environmental management and safety. Modern actual environmental management starts in a different way. Thoughts about emissions start in the very beginning of the production, they start with the design of the product and modification of traditional modes of production. Basis of these ideas are detailed analyses of products and processes. Due to the above mentioned facts that the public environmental consciousness changed dramatically a continous environmental improvement of each single production plant has to be guarantied. This question is already an important question of the EIA. But it was never really checked in a wholistic approach. Environmental risks have to be taken into considerations during the execution of an EIA. This means that the environmental risks have to be reduced down to a capable risk-level. Environmental risks have to be considered within the phase of planning, during the operation of a plant and after shut down. The experience shows that most of the environmental relevant accidents were and caused by human fault. Even in highly protected plants the human risk-factor can not be excluded during evaluation of the risk-potential. Thus the approach of an EIA has to regard technical evaluations as well as organizational thoughts and the human factor. An environmental risk is a threat to the environment. An analysis of the risk concerning the organizational and human aspect however never was properly executed during an EIA. A possible solution could be to use an instrument as the actual EMAS (Environmental Management System) of the EC for more accurate evaluation of the impact to the environment during an EIA. Organizations or investors could demonstrate by an approved EMAS or even by showing their installment of EMAS that not only the technical level of the planned investment meets the requested standards but as well the actual or planned management is able to reduce the environmental impact down to a bearable level.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.179-187
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• 2021

In the past five years, form construction, which accounts for approximately 25% of the total construction period, has continued to occur without a significant decrease in the number of deaths, with the largest proportion of collapse accidents. Accordingly, this study analyzed the difference in perception between the manager and worker by a questionnaire survey on the degree of risk and safety management level regarding a mold collapse accident. The survey was conducted in three groups: safety manager, field worker, and field manager. The results of the survey were analyzed by an independent sample T-Test using the SPSS program. As a result, there was almost no difference in recognition between managers, but a significant difference in recognition between managers and workers. In addition, there was a difference in management perception between the administrator and worker, which clearly shows the difference in the position between the administrator who manages and supervises hazardous disaster factors and the worker who works directly in the field. Such differences in perception can be a factor that cannot be mitigated. Based on this study, more developed research can narrow the perception gap between managers and workers and be used as a basic material for disaster research.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.148-152
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• 2010

Domestic studies for identification of causality between children exposure to toxic chemicals, such as arsenic (As) and resulted hazardous effects were not implemented. This study was conducted to probabilistically estimate dietary As intake and health risk assessment for young children and all age-specific populations from the consumption of As-contaminated rice of Korea. Arsenic intakes for young children (1 to 6 years old) from As-contaminated rice were higher than other age-specific groups, based on a dose-per-body weight basis. Based on the current EPA cancer slope factor for As, estimated cancer risks (to the skin cancer) associated with dietary intake of As-contaminated rice for 1 to 2 years old group and 3 to years old group are 1.76 per 10,000 and 3.16 per 10,000, respectively, at the 50th percentile. Based on possible reference levels (0.005 mg/kg/day) for children, mean and $95^{th}$ percentile value of HQ from rice for young children are very below 1.0, which is a regulatory limit of non-carcinogenic risks for human.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.137-148
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• 2009

This study quantitatively investigated the emissions of indoor air pollutants associated with the utilization of air fresheners indoors, and evaluated individual exposure to five specified indoor air pollutants, which were chosen on the basis of selection criteria. An electrically-polished stainless steel chamber (50L) was employed to achieve this purpose. Test air fresheners were selected through three steps: first, on the basis of market sales; second, on the basis on a preliminary head-space study; and lastly, on the basis of emissions of toxic compounds (benzene, ethyl benzene, limonene, toluene, and xylene). The empirical mathematical model fitted well with the time-series concentrations in the environmental chamber (in most cases, determination coefficient, $R^2{\gtrsim}$0.9), thereby suggesting that the empirical model was suitable for testing emissions. The concentration equilibrium appeared 180 min after the introduction of sample air fresheners into the chamber. Both the chamber concentrations of emission rates or factors varied greatly according to air freshener type. It is noteworthy that although benzene, ethyl benzene, toluene, and xylene were emitted from all test air fresheners, their exposure levels were not significant enough to result in any significant health risk. However, certain type of air fresheners were observed to emit significant amount of limonene, which is potentially reactive with ozone to generate secondary pollutants with oxidants such as ozone, hydroxyl radicals, and nitrogen oxides. The exposure levels to limonene associated with the utilization of three air fresheners were estimated to be 13 to 175 times higher than that of other air fresheners. This information can help consumers to select low-pollutant-emitting air fresheners.

• Journal of ILASS-Korea
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.28-34
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• 2015

Recently, some researchers have been carried out risk assessment of vehicles exhaust on human health. Especially, some of VOCs which is non-controlled, was classified to hazardous pollutant, such as 1,3-Butadiene and BTEX(Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene and Xylene). Therefore, the profile on non-controlled pollutant may be needed in the future, because it would be critical data or information to control them. Additionally, with increasing amount of motorcycle, the source profiling is essential for estimating emission factor and amount on motorcycle exhaust. For these, in this study, imported motorcycles (8 vehicles) were selected as a test model while considering the increasing ratio on sales volume between 2013 and 2014; it was also compared with domestic motorcycles on those. The experiment was conducted by driving mode, UDC and ECE+EUDC that made from EURO III. In addition, it was performed at cold start driving mode without effect by displacement, for evaluating only correlation of BTEX with HC. In order to apply the ratio (m,p-Xylene/o-Xylene) as a marker, the ratio was compared with those of tunnel, road side and residential area. As a result, it showed best correlation ($R^2=0.98$) among those. In the future, it has to be considered as a marker for effect evaluation to atmospheric environment by exhaust emission.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.45-54
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• 2019

According to the Laboratory Safety Act, each laboratory in the field of science and technology must conduct safety inspections and diagnosis every year or every two years. At present, the relevant guidelines are not clear, so there is a high possibility that inspection and diagnosis will become ineffective. In the laboratory, there is a pre-risk factor analysis system for hazardous factors, but there are many difficulties in implementation due to lack of education and understanding of the researchers, excessive work, etc. For the analysis of the opinions of experts in the safety field using the Delphi technique, we analyzed the following items: 1. Consideration in applying the Lab Safety Act, 2. Consideration in Lab Safety inspection and diagnosis, and 3. Government policy necessary for Lab. safety. Through the investigation and analysis of the detailed items, we extracted for problems and alternatives in current laboratory safety diagnosis and current law.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.74-84
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• 2016

Literacy on food additives of elementary school teachers (ET) and nutrition teachers (NT) could be influential factor on safe dietary education for school children. Therefore, the perceptions and information needs on food additives were surveyed from 351 elementary school teachers and nutrition teachers in metropolitan area of Korea, and the basic data for the promotion of risk communication on food additives among them were obtained. Compared to ET who consider 'taste' (39.1%) as the most important factor while purchasing food, NT considered 'safety' (68.1%) first (p < 0.001). Among the food labelling items, the level of understanding on food additives was the lowest both in ET (3.53) and NT (4.17), and NT showed better levels of understanding overall on food labels. Both ET and NT regarded hazardous factors of food as environmental pollutants, foodborne pathogens, and food additives in order, and tended to select 'no additives' or 'no artificial color' products while purchasing processed food. Although NT answered that they know all food additives had been passed the evaluation of safety and effectiveness tests (100%) and have standards of use (81.9%), majority of them (87.5%) believed the consumption of food additives are harmful on human health. ET (75.2%) also regarded food additives as dangerous materials. Above results suggested the necessity of proper and enough risk communication for both ET and NT. Both ET and NT wanted to have information on the safety or hazard of food additives. Most preferred media to get the information on food additives was TV (3.80) among ET and lecture (3.65) among NT. ET and NT trusted hospital, research institution/universities or the personnels working in these institutions as the provider of information on food additives. The result that the trust levels of ET and NT on government were relative low suggested the weakness of risk communication in Korean government. Although ET and NT answered that they do not trust mass media, their behaviors were affected by them such as reading food labels in ET (39.4%) and reducing the consumption of food additives in NT (50%). They also indicated mass media's problem of sensitive approach on food additives and asked the urgent reaction of government by providing sound information through experts on food additives. Above results revealed that ET and NT have different perceptions and information needs on food additives, therefore, proper risk communication should be provided for them to serve as dietary educators for elementary school children.