• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.155-163
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• 2016

Objective: This study aims to draw the characteristics of occupational accidents occurred in cabling work, and assess accident severity based on occupational injury data. Background: Accident factors and accident risk are different by the place of work in cabling work. Field managers require information on accident prevention that can be easily understood by workers. However, there has been a lack of studies that focus on cabling work in Korea. Method: This study classifies 450 injured persons caused in cabling work by process, and analyzes the characteristics of occupational injuries from the aspects of age, work experience and accident type. This study also analyzes accident frequency and severity of injury. Results: Results show that preparing/finishing (33.3%) was the most common type of cabling process in injuries, followed by maintenance (28.4%), routing/income (23.1%) and wiring/installation (15.1%) process. The critical incidents in the level of risk management were falls from height in the routing/incoming process, and falls from height in the maintenance process. And, incidents ranked as 'High' level of risk management were slips and trips, fall from height and vehicle incident in the preparing/finishing process, and fall from height in the wiring/installation process. Conclusion and Application: The relative frequency of accident and its severity by working process serve as important information for accident prevention, and are critical for determining priorities in preventive measures.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2023

Background: Like many other countries, falls and related injuries in older adults are great concerns in South Korea. In particular, falls are common in medical institutions, often causing the increase of the length of hospitalization. Objects: The purpose of this review was to help understand and address falls in hospitalized individuals in South Korea. Methods: The review was conducted on literature published in Korean from 2010 to 2022, searched in the Korea Citation Index and PubMed. Keywords used for the search were as follows: falls, fall risk, fall risk assessment, hospital, inpatient, intervention, Korea, and prevention. Results: A total of 54 articles were found and reviewed. The most common place of fall accidents was the inpatient room, where there were many cases of falls while walking. Loss of balance was the most common cause of falls, and many falls occurred in patients admitted to the internal medicine. Furthermore, a risk of falling increased with the type of medications taken. In terms of tools to assess patients' fall risk, the Morse Fall Scale (MFS) was commonly used. Patient-specific fall prevention activities were common to address falls, and they decreased the frequency of falls and the fear of falling. Factors influencing the effectiveness of the fall prevention activities included attitudes toward falls, education, environmental factors, patient safety culture, and self-efficacy in preventing falls. Conclusion: Our results should help understand and address falls and injuries in medical institutions.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.19-27
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• 2022

The industrial development and socioeconomic structures of a society are inextricably linked to occupational accidents and diseases. Since the 1970s, a series of major occupational diseases have occurred in South Korea, such as mercury poisoning in Munsong-myeon, carbon disulfide poisoning at Wonjin Rayon, and leukemia at Samsung Electronics. These incidents have caused us to take a critical look at the level of worker safety and health management within companies and the government. These serve as symbolic and representational events. Doctors, lawyers, and labor activists concerned about employee safety and lives came together for years to struggle with the government and industry in order to determine what caused the diseases and to obtain compensation for victims. They finally achieved recognition for occupational diseases and recompense for losses. It is difficult to find similar cases to the baby powder asbestos talc cases and the radon bed case internationally, or there is no case where such a large number of consumers have been potentially harmed. It is also difficult to prove that the damage took place due to the victims' diverse geographic locations and ages, as well as the disease's long incubation period. Based on this premise, businesses and the government have been apathetic in acknowledging these diseases and compensating for damages, with few practical outcomes. Furthermore, unlike the large-scale occupational disease cases, only a few people including expert groups were organized and actively participated in the settlement of these issues, so it remains unfinished business for our society to address.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.96-103
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• 2023

Generally, human stampedes and crowd collapses occur when people press against each other, causing falls that may result in death or injury. Particularly, crowd accidents have become increasingly common since the 1990s, with an average of 380 deaths annually. For instance, in Korea, a stampede occurred during the Itaewon Halloween festival on October 29, 2022, when several people crowded onto a narrow, downhill road, which was 45 meters long and between 3.2 and 4 meters wide. Precisely, this stampede was primarily due to the excessive number of people relative to the road size. Essentially, stampedes can occur anywhere and at any time, not just at events, but also in other places where large crowds gather. More specifically, the likelihood of accidents increases when the crowd density exceeds a turbulence threshold of 5-6 /m². Meanwhile, festivals and events, which have become more frequent and are promoted through social media, garner people from near and far to a specific location. Besides, as cities grow, the number of people gathering in one place increases. While stampedes are rare, their impact is significant, and the uncertainty associated with them is high. Currently, there is no scientific system to analyze the risk of stampedes due to crowd concentration. Consequently, to prevent such accidents, it is essential to prepare for crowd disasters that reflect social changes and regional characteristics. Hence, this study proposes using digital topographic maps and crowd-density risk simulations to develop a 3D model of the region. Specifically, the crowd density simulation allows for an analysis of the density of people walking along specific paths, which enables the prediction of danger areas and the risk of crowding. By using the simulation method in this study, it is anticipated that safety measures can be rationally established for specific situations, such as local festivals, and preparations may be made for crowd accidents in downtown areas.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2006

Purpose: Injury is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality for children. As an injury prevention measure, the differences in external causes of severe pediatric injuries based on ICECI were analyzed according to age groups. Methods: A retrospective study was performed for pediatric patients under 15 years of age, who had been admitted to the emergency department with severe injuries from January 1998 to December 2004. The external causes of injury were investigated according to the ICECI: intent, mechanisms, places of occurrence, objects/substances producing injury, and related activities. The patients were divided into four groups based on age: infant (<0 year), toddler (1~4 years), preschool age (5~8 years), and school age (9~15 years). Results: The injury mechanisms, the places of occurrence and the related objects/substances vary with the age groups. The most common subtype of traffic accidents was pedestrian injury in pre-school age group. Falls most frequently occurred in the toddler group. But falls from a height of less than l meter height (6 patients) occurred only in the infant group. The most common place of occurrence in the infant group was the home, and that of other groups was the road. The related objects/substances for falls, for example, household furnitures and playground equipment depended on the age group. Conclusion: The age-group specific characteristics of severe pediatric injury were analyzed successfully through the ICECI. Therefore, when establishing a plan for the prevention of pediatric injury, consideration must be given to the differences in the external causes of injuries according to age group.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.87-96
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• 2009

Purpose: Injuries are the most important cause of morbidity and mortality in the childhood population worldwide. Thus, this study was down to investigate the type and the severity of injuries according to the age group in childhood. Methods: A survey of injury information and a chart review were done on 378 children (257 boys, 121 girls) who visited the Emergency Departments of Asan Medical Center from March 1, 2009, to March 31, 2009. To determine differences in injury mechanism, accident place, injury site, New Injury Severity Score (NISS) and Pediatric Trauma Score (PTS), we divided the 378 patients into 4 group: under 1 year, 1 to 4 years, 5 to 9 years, and 10 to 15 years. Results: The mean (${\pm}SD$) age of the study group was 5.1 (${\pm}4.4$) years. Two year olds formed the largest group of injured children, with 77 cases (20.4% of the total). The most common cause of injury in childhood was being hit by an object (26.2%). Falls were frequent in the under-1-year group (22.2%) and slip downs (30.1%) were more frequent in 1-to-4-year group. More than half (53.4%) of the injuries occurred in the home, and the most common places of home-related injuries were the living room (41.1%) and the bedroom (31.2%). The mean (${\pm}SD$) NISS was 1.5 (${\pm}1.8$), and traffic accidents had the highest NISS ($2.8{\pm}5.1$). Injuries occurred most frequently during the evening. The peak period was 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM (33.7%). Conclusion: Patterns of childhood injury by age group were considerably different, and less severe and nonhospitalized injuries were common. Thus, need to improve surveillance of a variety of injuries, promote intersectional collaboration, build institutional capacities and mobilize community support and policy as an investment in prevention.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.173-185
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• 2015

This study aims to investigate the characteristics and types of car accidents and establish a prediction model by analyzing 456 car accidents having occurred in the 11 tunnels in Busan, through statistical analysis techniques. The results of this study can be summarized as below. As a result of analyzing the characteristics of car accidents, it was found that 64.9% of all the car accidents took place in the tunnels between 08:00 and 18:00, which was higher than 45.8 to 46.1% of the car accidents in common roads. As a result of analyzing the types of car accidents, the car-to-car accident type was the majority, and the sole-car accident type in the tunnels was relatively high, compared to that in common roads. Besides, people at the age between 21 and 40 were most involved in car accidents, and in the vehicle type of the first party to car accidents, trucks showed a high proportion, and in the cloud cover, rainy days or cloudy days showed a high proportion unlike clear days. As a result of analyzing the principal components of car accident influence factors, it was found that the first principal components were road, tunnel structure and traffic flow-related factors, the second principal components lighting facility and road structure-related factors, the third principal factors stand-by and lighting facility-related factors, the fourth principal components human and time series-related factors, the fifth principal components human-related factors, the sixth principal components vehicle and traffic flow-related factors, and the seventh principal components meteorological factors. As a result of classifying car accident spots, there were 5 optimized groups classified, and as a result of analyzing each group based on Quantification Theory Type I, it was found that the first group showed low explanation power for the prediction model, while the fourth group showed a middle explanation power and the second, third and fifth groups showed high explanation power for the prediction model. Out of all the items(principal components) over 0.2(a weak correlation) in the partial correlation coefficient absolute value of the prediction model, this study analyzed variables including road environment variables. As a result, main examination items were summarized as proper traffic flow processing, cross-section composition(the width of a road), tunnel structure(the length of a tunnel), the lineal of a road, ventilation facilities and lighting facilities.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Navigation
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.57-68
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• 1993

The economy of Korea has grown up significantly in its scale. It has, therefore, become imperative to develop countermeasures to prevent work related injuries and occupational illnesses resultining from haza-rdous working conditions and handling harmful substances. A lot of cargo handling accident in port have occurred due to the characteristics of poor working environment, diversity of working place and method, fluctuation of the amount of cargo and handling of heavy, long, harmful and dangerous cargo, etc. According to '91 industrial accident analysis carried out by the ministry of labour, the number of the stevedores injured by cargo handling accident in port were 1, 432 persons (the death accident : 22 per-sons), the amount of industrial accident compensation in port was 6.7 billion won (the amount of economic loss : 33.6 billion won), and the injury occurance rate of the stevedoring industry was higher than that of the whole industry. This paper, therefore, aims to the actual status of the stevedoring industry and to extract the main cau-ses of the accidents related to cargo handling in port through factor analysis using the data of the accide-nts in the whole habour from 1990 to 1992, and to suggest the countermeasures to prevent such accident. The main causes of the accident and countermeasures are found to be as follows through the factor analy-sis : Factor1, factor2, and factor3 related to a defect of human being and management, a defect of state and environment, and an insufficiency of education and law are extracted. The short-term countermeasures to prevent these accidents are 1) to consolidate the safety and health organization in the working spot, 2) to secure a safe condition in working spot before dock work, 3) to strengthen a dock worker's safety educa-tion. The long-term countermeasures are 1) to promote a decasualisation of dock workers, 2) to modernize the cargo working methods through constructing exclusive pier and introducing exclusive cargo handling equipment, 3) to establish a exclusive dock accident prevention organization and the dock workers law. Factor 4, factor5, factor6, and factor7 related to an unfitness, a deficiency of technical knowledge, a nonfu-lfilment of safety measures, and a bad arrangement are extracted. The countermeasures to prevent these accidents are 1) to perform a complete safety inspection of cargo handling equipments and tools and to carry out the dock work according to a working plan, 2) to publish and supply technical safety books, safety instruction book, safety check list, etc., 3) to strengthen the safety patrol at the working spot in habour and to activate a safety fund, 4) to maintain always a clean workshop with the safety consciousness in which the good arragement of the working spot is considered to be the beginning of safety.

• Korean Security Journal
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• no.33
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• pp.163-195
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• 2012

Various kinds of performances and events have been held by local governments along with the worldwide popularity of K-pop, and there is a growing concern about possible accidents. Actually, a large-scale of accident took place during the MBC pop song concert in Sangju Sports Stadium in October 3, 2005. And another great safety accident occurred during an open event in the Lotte World in Seoul in March 26, 2006. The purpose of this study is to propose improvement of security company that carry out security activity through the analysis of the cases of accidents and common causes in the event sites. The improvement of safety management for large-scale event site by the study are as followings; First, institutional measures should be taken to extend the size of private security companies. Second, more education and training should be provided for security personnels who work for the event. Third, private security companies should prepare for the security measures more thoroughly in advance. Fourth, private security companies should make every possible effort to maintain order in the event site. Fifth, private security companies should bolster their collaboration with relevant organizations. Sixth, security companies should take actions to make themselves completely ready for any possible unexpected situations.

• Journal of Korean Society of Transportation
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.17-33
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• 2004

Korea's economic development plans instituted in the 1970's, affected by the growth centered policy and rapid industrialization, have prevailed without having aviation safety management system, along with the safety of the other various means of transportation, settled in its place, and subsequently, the aviation accidents occurred until the beginning of year 2000 have incurred an enormous social expense, not to say of a massive loss of human lives. Especially, with regard to the causal factors of accidents, most of recent accidents have been associated with human factor of airmen, thus, only if this can be detected in advance and prevented, the aircraft accident rate will be reduced by a large margin. Therefore, in order to develope improvement methods on the safety system of civil aviation, in this study, safety management system has been divided into three stages: an advance preventive system, a handling system at an accident's occurrence and a post accident handling system, and thereby improvement methods on aviation safety have been suggested for each stage. The threatening factors agatinst aviation safety have been found to be the absence of management standards and regulations, the indifference to or the lack of the law abiding apirit as major factors, and in order to improve on which, it is required that the settlement of the institutional safety management system should precede, and that the Government and the aviation industry should also make a continuous effort to identify the threatening factors against aviation safety, and to provide incentives for the law abiding spirit and the attitude of giving top priority to safety to spread among all the employees.