• Title/Summary/Keyword: occupational safety and health management

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Assessment of Defect Risks in Apartment Projects based on the Defect Classification Framework (공동주택 하자분류체계 기반 하자위험 평가)

  • Jang, Ho-Myun
    • Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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    • v.19 no.3
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    • pp.61-68
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    • 2018
  • In general, defects cause a lot of maintenance costs and serious damage to various stakeholders, such as the owners, contractors or occupants of apartments. For this reason, a systematic and efficient defect management method is needed to minimize defect disputes. This paper derives a defect classification framework and proposes a defect risk assessment model for different types of defects. For this purpose, 6,000 defect items are allocated to the defect classification framework; these items are associated with 34 apartment projects over ten years old. As a result of this analysis, it was confirmed that the defect risks are concentrated in the areas of RC and finishing work. Based on these results, it is necessary to prevent the major risks of defects according to their priority. Based on this research, it is judged that further research to develop a method of managing the risks of defects may be necessary.

Characterization of Secondary Exposure to Chemicals and Indoor Air Quality in Fire Station (소방서 실내공간의 화학적 유해인자 2차노출과 실내공기질 특성)

  • Kim, Soo Jin;Ham, Seunghon;Jeon, Jeong Seok;Kim, Won
    • Fire Science and Engineering
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    • v.33 no.4
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    • pp.140-151
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    • 2019
  • It is to assess the indoor air quality of the chemical hazardous materials exposed to the fire after firefighters returned to the fire scene. The research subject randomly selected four fire stations located in Seoul, Korea. Two fire stations were set up as control groups after the return of the firefighting activities at the actual fire scene, and two other fire stations were set up as control groups to measure the air quality of the room at normal levels regardless of the action. We conducted 24-hour monitoring for all fire accidents that occurred in Seoul Metropolitan using fire safety map computer system. Also, indoor air quality was measured immediately after homecoming if the experiment group was to be dispatched due to an accident of intermediate or larger scale. 11 hazardous substance items such as fine dust, formaldehyde, volatile organic compounds, PAH, VCM, acidity, asbestos, CO2, NO2, O3 were measured according to the process test method. Three of 11 types of harmful substances exceeded domestic and foreign standards, and one of them was found to be close to foreign standards. In particular, total volatile organic compounds, carbon dioxide and sulfuric acids were 2.5 times, 2.2 times and 1.1 times higher than the standard. Also, for formaldehyde and sulfuric acid, it was measured higher in the control group than in the case group. This findings could be used in policies to improve indoor air quality in the fire station of the Seoul Metropolitan Government.

Evaluation of Puretone Threshold Using Periodic Health Examination Data on Noise-exposed Workers in Korea (소음 특수건강진단 자료를 이용한 순음청력검사 평가)

  • Kim, Yang-Ho;Choi, Jung-Keun;Park, Jung-Sun;Moon, Young-Han;Kim, Kyoo-Sang
    • Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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    • v.32 no.1
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    • pp.30-39
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    • 1999
  • Objectives. This study was carried out to evaluate hearing impairment judgement and to investigate the differences in various diagnostic criteria for noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) among workers who required for close observation (C). Methods. Out of 731,029 workers who had taken the specific periodic health examination in 1994, we used the audiometric data on 37,999 workers (C) eliminating the employees who had previous otologic problems. Many investigators have being using different criteria for the evaluation of hearing impairment. In this study, we used the criteria of early (1989-1994), current, compensation for NIHL in Korea, 2-, 3-, 4-divided classification and hearing loss at 4,000 Hz and compared the evaluation results. Results. The prevalences of C and workers who had occupational disease $(D_1)$ diagnosed for NIHL were 11.1 % and 0.44 %. There were significant difference in the prevalences of C and $D_1$, depending on different province of Korea. Pure tone averages (PTAs) were not appropriately applied in their evaluation 97% of workers whom we studied on were below the level of mild hearing loss judged by ISO standard. However, there were wide variations in the prevalence rate of mild hearing loss by diagnostic criteria. Thus, there were different judgements in determining the degree of NIHL depending on which diagnostic criteria were utilized. PTAs were found 20.54 (Rt) and 20.74 (Lt) when the method of 3-divided classification was applied for audiometric data. The degree of hearing impairment of the left ear was more severe than that of right ear. The prevalence of normal hearing threshold below 20 dB was 75.4% and the range of difference in both ear was below 10 dB. Right sided hearing threshold levels were 21.08 dB (500 Hz), 18.44 dB (1,000 Hz), 22.09 (2,000 Hz) and 52.36 dB (4,000 Hz). There was typical high frequency loss (C5-dip at 4,000 Hz) above 30 - 40 dB in normal hearing level. The increasing trend in hearing threshold level was gradually decreased by the increase of PTAs. The difference between PTAs and threshold at 4,000 Hz was about 10 dB. Conclusions. We could found that PTAs in the previous examination were not appropriately evaluated. This study revealed that they did not use unique criteria for managing the workers of NIHL. For the prevention of NIHL, it was found that the quality control on diagnosis and comprehensive management program were required, especially for those of hearing loss (C).

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A Basic Study on the Performance Improvement of Safety Certification Standards (안전인증기준 성능화에 대한 기반 연구)

  • Byeon, Jung-Hwan;Kim, Jung-Gon
    • Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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    • v.17 no.3
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    • pp.487-499
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    • 2021
  • Purpose:The purpose of the paper is to review the problems of performance enhancement of safety certification standards and to suggest directions for improvement in order to rationalize safety certification standards for future industrial development and environmental changes. Method: The problems and limitations of the safety certification system are summarized through literature review and interview with manager, and the status of safety certification standards is classified into design standards, performance standards, and detailed standards, and the status analysis is performed. In addition, by synthesizing the results of the investigation and analysis, improvements are suggested to improve the performance of the safety certification standards. Result: Through the survey, the problems and limitations of safety certification could be grouped into six categories: government-led certification system operation, standardized certification standards, long time required to improve certification, poor certification standards preparation system, and lack of reflection of industry opinions. And, as a result of analyzing the certification standards by dividing them into performance and design standards, in the case of machinery, equipment, and protection devices, the design standards were high at 69.7% and 64.9%, whereas in the case of protective equipment, the performance standards were high at 61.1%. In order to improve the performance of safety certification standards centered on design standards, it is necessary to determine the possibility of performance enhancement of the certification standards and determine the feasibility of the inspection test method. In order to improve performance, it was reviewed that it was necessary to establish a systemic foundation and infrastructure, such as strengthening the Product Liability Act, systematizing market monitoring, etc., distributing certification test tasks, and participating in the preparation of certification standards by the private sector. Conclusion: Through this study, the problems and limitations of Korea's safety certification system were summarized and the necessity for performance improvement was reviewed. Performance improvement of safety certification standards is a matter that requires preparatory work, such as legislative revision and infrastructure construction, and requires mid-to-long-term promotion. In addition, rather than improving the overall safety certification standards, the performance requirements for each item subject to certification should be reviewed and promoted, and details should be specified through additional research.

A Study on the Effects of BSC System Acceptance Factors on the Intention for Continuous Use (BSC 시스템 수용요인이 지속적 사용의도에 미치는 영향에 관한 연구)

  • Kwon, Oh-Jun;Seo, Hyun-Sik;Oh, Jay-In
    • Asia pacific journal of information systems
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    • v.19 no.3
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    • pp.151-179
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    • 2009
  • The purpose of this study is to make an empirical analysis on the factors affecting the intention for the continuous use of the BSC system, which has been recently spread in the public sector. Because the object of acceptance is the performance management system based on BSC (Balanced Scorecard) implemented in the form of information systems, this study proposes a research model by applying TAM (Technology Acceptance Model). Independent variables are factors affecting the acceptance of BSC system such as training, communication, IS support, CEO support and personal innovativeness, and we examine their effects on the dependent variable, namely, intention on continuous use via mediating variables: perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. A questionnaire survey was conducted with public institutions(firms) that had introduced and were operating the BSC system; 264 valid questionnaires are adopted. Collected data are analyzed using SPSS 16.0 and AMOS 7.0. Results of reliability test show that all analyzed data are reliable. In validity test, one item regarding communication was excluded; 9 latent variables and 34 observed variables are used in the final analysis. Based on the results of the hypothesis test through path analysis using a structural equation model, 10 out of 16 hypotheses are accepted. Factors affecting perceived usefulness are training and IS(Information System) support. The analysis results indicate that perceived ease of use is mainly affected by IS support, CEO support, and personal innovativeness among the factors related to the acceptance of the BSC system. This suggests that, contrary to the expectation that the BSC system may be used without difficulty, the management's active support is required in order to attain expected improvement in productivity and work efficiency. This was also pointed out in case studies on the construction of the BSC system in public sectors. On the other hand, perceived ease of use is found to affect perceived usefulness. This supports the results of previous researches on TAM. Perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness are found to affect the attitude towards the use of the system. The intention on continuous use is affected more by perceived usefulness than by the attitude towards the use of system. This result supports the results of previous researches on TAM, showing that the BSC system is utilized substantially in worksites. This study is considered meaningful in that it was actually performed on users at public institutions(firms) that had introduced the BSC system and that it empirically tested hypotheses on the acceptance of the BSC system by applying TAM to the research model.

Evaluation of Indoor Mold Exposure Level in dwelling Using DNA-Based Mold Assessment Method (DNA 기반 곰팡이 평가기법을 활용한 주택의 실내 곰팡이 노출수준 평가)

  • Hwang, Eun-Seol;Seo, Sung Chul;Lee, Ju-Yeong;Ryu, Jung-min;Kwon, Myung-Hee;Chung, Hyen-Mi;Cho, Yong-Min;Lee, Jung-Sub
    • Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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    • v.28 no.4
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    • pp.382-392
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    • 2018
  • Objective: Allergic diseases such as asthma due to fungal exposure in houses have increased, and proper management is urgent. Mold can grow in the air, floor, walls, and other areas according to environmental conditions, and there are many limitations to the conventional methodology for examining fungal exposure. For this reason, the degree of fungal contamination is being evaluated by ERMI (Environmental Relative Moldiness Index), a quantitative analysis method proposed by the EPA. In this study, we compared ERMI values between water-damaged dwellings and non-damaged ones to evaluate the effectiveness of Korean ERMI values. We also explored the association of ERMI values with the level of airborne mold and characteristics of dwellings. Methods: Floor dust was collected after installing a Dustream collector on the suction port of a vacuum cleaner. The collected samples were filtered to remove only 5 mg of dust, and DNA was extracted using the FastDNA SPIN KIT protocol. Results: The ERMI values were found to be 19.6 (-6.9-58.8) for flooded houses, 7.5 (-29.2-48.3) for leaks/condensation, and 0.8 (-29.2-37.9) for non-damaged dwellings. The airborne concentration of mold for flooded, leakage or condensed, and non-damaged houses were $684CFU/m^3$, $566CFU/m^3$, and $378CFU/m^3$, respectively. The correlation between ERMI values and the levels of airborne mold was low (R = 0.038), but a weakly significant association of the ERMI values with the concentration of particulate matter ($PM_{10}$) was observed as well(R=0.231,P<0.05). Conclusions: Our findings show that the reference value using ERMI can be used to distinguish water-damaged and non-damaged dwellings. It is believed that ERMI values could be a promising tool for assessing long-term fungal exposure in dwellings.

Evaluation of Postural Load during Liquid Weight Measurement Process Using Ratio of Exposure Time

  • Lee, Sung-Koon;Park, Peom
    • Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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    • v.31 no.3
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    • pp.445-453
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    • 2012
  • The aim of this paper was to prove that if the risk level in combined tasks was improved through evaluation of postural load of liquid weight measurement process, the workload level and ratio of exposure time would be changed, and the time of process would be seen concurrently. Background: According to results of epidemiological studies conducted by Korea Occupational Safety & Health Agency, 122 musculoskeletal disorders occurred during 1992 to 2008, in which manufacturing industry covers 96(78.7%) of total. However, this is an insufficient level and only occupies 39% based on the South Korea's manufacturing standard industrial classification(246 industries). Method: Firstly, the number of batches weighed on one day(460min) was investigated based on the work performed and Weight measured weekly. VCR recording was taken based on the level of liquid ingredients prescribed for 1batch using the Camcorder. After dividing a 356 sec video into 1 sec using the screen capture function in Gom player, the job classification was performed by analyzing the change of working postures, which revealed 148 working postures. Time measurement was decided by time of the postures was being maintained. Then, the REBA analysis was performed for the working postures. The ratio of Exposure time was calculated based on the measurement time and REBA Score. In addition, the recommendations were designed and implementation was carried out for the working postures with REBA Score higher than 3. Finally, after the intervention, REBA measurement, time measurement, and ratio of exposure time were calculated for the comparison of works before and after improvement. Results: The number of work elements was decreased by 30.4% from 148 to 103 after improvement. The results of time measurement showed that the time was reduced by 46.3% from 356 sec to 191 sec. And the ratio of exposure time was also improved by 52.1% from 0% to 52.1% after improvement. Conclusion: The reduction of time was found to improve the productivity of management. Furthermore, because the reduction of ratio of exposure time and the improvement of workload level are the improvement of discomfort, it would contribute to the improvement of the worker's psychological working posture. Application: These results would contribute to musculoskeletal disease prevention and management performance. Further studies for other industries would be needed based on this case study.

A Study on Industry-specific Sustainability Strategy: Analyzing ESG Reports and News Articles (산업별 지속가능경영 전략 고찰: ESG 보고서와 뉴스 기사를 중심으로)

  • WonHee Kim;YoungOk Kwon
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.29 no.3
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    • pp.287-316
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    • 2023
  • As global energy crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic have emerged as social issues, there is a growing demand for companies to move away from profit-centric business models and embrace sustainable management that balances environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors. ESG activities of companies vary across industries, and industry-specific weights are applied in ESG evaluations. Therefore, it is important to develop strategic management approaches that reflect the characteristics of each industry and the importance of each ESG factor. Additionally, with the stance of strengthened focus on ESG disclosures, specific guidelines are needed to identify and report on sustainable management activities of domestic companies. To understand corporate sustainability strategies, analyzing ESG reports and news articles by industry can help identify strategic characteristics in specific industries. However, each company has its own unique strategies and report structures, making it difficult to grasp detailed trends or action items. In our study, we analyzed ESG reports (2019-2021) and news articles (2019-2022) of six companies in the 'Finance,' 'Manufacturing,' and 'IT' sectors to examine the sustainability strategies of leading domestic ESG companies. Text mining techniques such as keyword frequency analysis and topic modeling were applied to identify industry-specific, ESG element-specific management strategies and issues. The analysis revealed that in the 'Finance' sector, customer-centric management strategies and efforts to promote an inclusive culture within and outside the company were prominent. Strategies addressing climate change, such as carbon neutrality and expanding green finance, were also emphasized. In the 'Manufacturing' sector, the focus was on creating sustainable communities through occupational health and safety issues, sustainable supply chain management, low-carbon technology development, and eco-friendly investments to achieve carbon neutrality. In the 'IT' sector, there was a tendency to focus on technological innovation and digital responsibility to enhance social value through technology. Furthermore, the key issues identified in the ESG factors were as follows: under the 'Environmental' element, issues such as greenhouse gas and carbon emission management, industry-specific eco-friendly activities, and green partnerships were identified. Under the 'Social' element, key issues included social contribution activities through stakeholder engagement, supporting the growth and coexistence of members and partner companies, and enhancing customer value through stable service provision. Under the 'Governance' element, key issues were identified as strengthening board independence through the appointment of outside directors, risk management and communication for sustainable growth, and establishing transparent governance structures. The exploration of the relationship between ESG disclosures in reports and ESG issues in news articles revealed that the sustainability strategies disclosed in reports were aligned with the issues related to ESG disclosed in news articles. However, there was a tendency to strengthen ESG activities for prevention and improvement after negative media coverage that could have a negative impact on corporate image. Additionally, environmental issues were mentioned more frequently in news articles compared to ESG reports, with environmental-related keywords being emphasized in the 'Finance' sector in the reports. Thus, ESG reports and news articles shared some similarities in content due to the sharing of information sources. However, the impact of media coverage influenced the emphasis on specific sustainability strategies, and the extent of mentioning environmental issues varied across documents. Based on our study, the following contributions were derived. From a practical perspective, companies need to consider their characteristics and establish sustainability strategies that align with their capabilities and situations. From an academic perspective, unlike previous studies on ESG strategies, we present a subdivided methodology through analysis considering the industry-specific characteristics of companies.

An Empirical Correlation Study Between Sasang Constitutions and Job Characteristic (사상체질과 작업특성간의 실증적 상관관계 연구)

  • Yoon, Sang-won;Kal, Won-mo
    • Journal of Sasang Constitutional Medicine
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    • v.12 no.1
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    • pp.37-47
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    • 2000
  • We detect lots of problems on the manufacturing spot because of working results done without considering the aptitude and inherited temper(constitution, blood type, male and female) of the worker, and they lead to results not only the occupational disease and the cause of industrial accidents but also quality deterioration and productivity reduction in point of view of manufacturing management. For the purpose of solving these problems, this study is perfomed by grasping the correlation sasang constitutions and job characteristic of small & medium enterprises. We classify sasang constitutions to four types : so-yang-in type, tae-yang-in type, tae-em-in type, so-em-in type by the utilization of QSCC II and the doctor aid of oriental medicine, and also survey differences of classified sasang constitutions with previous studies. This study tries to identify significant features between major jobs resulting from sasang constitution types in a specific small & medium enterprise producing agricultural machinery(a tractor, a combine, etc). The results of this case study indicate that sasang constitution types influences job types. Under the working conditions that virtual reality scene photographed by video camera are running, also the effects of brain function of each worker using Electroencephalograms(EEGs) are investigated. Electroencephalograms(EEGs) provide much information about the brain function, such as relaxation, concentration, various thoughts and so on. Previous studies reported the appearance of ${\theta}$ waves and an increase in the ${\alpha}$ waves during psychologically satisfaction conditions. An statistical analysis of experiments conducted shows the various changes of brain waves(${\alpha},{\beta},{\theta},{\delta}$ waves). By means of these study results, we can identify that sasang constitutions should be applied to contribute much to quality advancement and productivity improvement through a comparative study on the job characteristic.

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A Study for the Appropriateness of the Different Reference Points in the Analysis of Working Posture

  • Kim, Day-Sung;Kim, Chol-Hong
    • Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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    • v.30 no.5
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    • pp.637-644
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    • 2011
  • Objective & Background: When applying various evaluation tools that analyze work posture risk through observation, accurate measurement of body flexion angle is very important. Method: This study investigated differences and appropriateness of 5 different existing reference points commonly used in the analysis of the work posture. Twenty five ergonomist and trained professionals were participated in this study. A Same flexion angle was utilized for the evaluation of risk assessment of musculoskeletal disorders using five different reference points to investigate the degree of difference between them. To investigate how different the observers' preferred flexion angle measuring methods were compared to the ISO 11226 Reference Posture, a virtual body model was constructed using the Poser 6.0 program. Six types of body flexion postures were constructed, and since neck flexion differs according to body angle, five types of neck flexion postures were constructed with the trunk bending $20^{\circ}$ forward, making up a total of 30 virtual flexion postures. Results: Results showed that the observers used personally preferred reference points instead of reference points recommend in the evaluation tools. Also the results revealed the their seems to be 6 types of flexion angle for the trunk and 11 types of measurement methods for the neck flexion angle in the form of personally preferred reference points. The results showed that a mean difference of $14^{\circ}$($4{\sim}23^{\circ}$) occurred in the trunk, and a mean difference of $20^{\circ}$($-8{\sim}51^{\circ}$) occurred in the neck. To increase accuracy when using the 5 evaluation tools in combination, the ISO 11226 standards, observers' preferred flexion posture standards, and common flexion posture standards of the evaluation tools were compared with the reference points of the 5 evaluation tools. Results showed considerable variance in angle difference for each evaluation tool. Conclusion: According to the results of this study, considering the angle difference between the flexion angle reference points of the evaluation tool and the reference points selected by the observers, it is concluded that instead of personally preferred reference points, the standardized reference points to enhance the accuracy and the objectivity. Application: The result of this study can be used as reference guide to develop the standardized reference point in the future.