• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.51 no.4
• /
• pp.1060-1068
• /
• 2019

This work aims to establish a model of a primary water stress corrosion crack growth rate of Alloy 690 material for the head penetration nozzles of Korean pressurized water reactors. The test material had an inhomogeneous microstructure with bands of fine-grains and intragranular carbides in the matrix of coarse-grains, which was similar to the archive materials of the head penetration nozzles. The crack growth rate was measured from the strain-hardened materials as a function of the stress intensity factor in simulated primary water at various temperatures and dissolved hydrogen contents. The effects of strain-hardening, temperature, and dissolved hydrogen on the crack growth rate were analyzed independently, and were then introduced as normalizing factors in the crack growth rate model. The crack growth rate model proposed in this work provides a key element of the tools needed to assess the progress of a stress corrosion crack when detected in thick-wall Alloy 690 components in Korean reactors.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• /
• v.22 no.2
• /
• pp.107-118
• /
• 2012

Objectives: This study examines the occurrence of disease resulting from low back pain and factors of working environment meaningfully influencing the occurrence of lumbago as well as analyzes '2nd Korean Working Condition Survey (KWCS)' conducted in 2010 so as to establish the prevention and improvement measures. Methods: The analysis method is that it is to compare the prevalence rate of low back pain according to working environment via odds ratio and to implement the test about the factors having the difference in working environment between low back pain group and normal group through weighted t-test. Results: As a result, it indicates that there is a meaningful difference for prevalence rate of low back pain according to age, status in employment and education level which are socio-demographical factors. The analysis in working hours shows that the period of work is a factor raising the prevalence rate of low back pain rather than weekly working hours. The analysis in the work risk factor indicates that the increase in prevalence rate of low back pain takes place to either workers with repetitive movement and continuously standing posture or those with heavy stress and emotional labour. Conclusions: Workers with low back pain have suffered from accident, depression, anxiety disorder and sleep. The factors in which the prevalence rate of low back pain decrease are to provide information on health and safety and working speed, and enough rest.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• /
• v.21 no.2
• /
• pp.103-109
• /
• 2011

Object: we investigated some factors which can affect workers' comprehension of chemical hazard information and their actions to protect themselves from the hazard. Method: Comprehension score of chemical hazard information and the rate of wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) was surveyed for the 109 workers from 15 factories who were exposed to N, N-dimethylformamide. Difference of the worker's comprehension score of hazard information was analyzed by education interval, work duration and the way of occupational safety and health management between self-managed or sub-contracted. Result: Mean comprehension score of N, N-dimethylformamide hazard, which was given as a short quiz composed of 10 "true" or "false" problems, was 65%. Mean percentage of wearing PPE was improved as the education program was done within a month but decreased after 6 months. Eighty seven % of workers got the chemical hazard information from the material safety data sheet placed at workplace. Conclusion: Education interval and comprehension score affected the rate of wearing PPE. The way of occupational safety and health management self-managed or sub-contracted did not affect the workers' comprehension score on hazard information nor the rate of wearing PPE.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
• /
• v.33 no.4
• /
• pp.21-29
• /
• 2018

In many companies handling flammable liquids, explosion-proof electrical equipment have been installed according to the Korean Industrial Standards (KS C IEC 60079-10-1). In these standards, hazardous area for explosive gas atmospheres has to be classified by the evaluation of the evaporation rate of flammable liquid leakage. The evaporation rate is an important factor to determine the zones classification and hazardous area distance. However, there is no systematic method or rule for the estimation of evaporation rate in these standards and the first principle equations of a evaporation rate are very difficult. Thus, it is really hard for industrial workplaces to employ these equations. Thus, this problem can trigger inaccurate results for evaluating evaporation range. In this study, empirical models for estimating an evaporation rate of flammable liquid have been developed to tackle this problem. Throughout the sensitivity analysis of the first principle equations, it can be found that main factors for the evaporation rate are wind speed and temperature and empirical models have to be nonlinear. Polynomial regression is employed to build empirical models. Methanol, benzene, para-xylene and toluene are selected as case studies to verify the accuracy of empirical models.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.55 no.6
• /
• pp.1966-1973
• /
• 2023

Virtual reality technology has been widely used in the field of nuclear and radiation safety, dose rate computing in virtual environment is essential for optimizing radiation protection and planning the work in radioactive-controlled area. Because the CPU-based gamma dose rate computing takes up a large amount of time and computing power for voxelization of volumetric radioactive source, it is inefficient and limited in its applied scope. This study is to develop an efficient gamma dose rate computing code and apply into fast virtual simulation. To improve the computing efficiency of the point kernel algorithm in the reference (Li et al., 2020), we design a GPU-based computing framework for taking full advantage of computing power of virtual engine, propose a novel voxelization algorithm of volumetric radioactive source. According to the framework, we develop the GPPK(GPU-based point kernel gamma dose rate computing) code using GPU programming, to realize the fast dose rate computing in virtual world. The test results show that the GPPK code is play and plug for different scenarios of virtual simulation, has a better performance than CPU-based gamma dose rate computing code, especially on the voxelization of three-dimensional (3D) model. The accuracy of dose rates from the proposed method is in the acceptable range.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
• /
• v.21 no.4 s.76
• /
• pp.73-84
• /
• 2006

Standard safety management cost system was established in 1988 as a decree Number of 88-13, first time. And then, it has been revised fourteen times, up to now. A lot of practical investigations have been made for the revision but many problems at sites are continued to be put out so that it should be revised. This study is to find out hazard level of each work kinds through questionnaire and interview and investigate analyze the status which standard safety management costs have been used. Also, this study is to show reasonable rates of standard safety management costs in construction industry and to set up countermeasures against those problem after reviewing its status in korea with in Japan and Europe. Budget and actually performed amount of safety management costs in this study are investigated. costs for temporary work which is clarified in Japan is collected in order to compare domestic cost rate with Japanese one related to the total project amount. This study is to investigate eleven project kinds of domestic system, first, and to investigate eleven items of apartment bldg, office, civil work such as bridge, tunnel, dam, plant etc, secondly. Additionally, three items of gymnasium, railway, particular steel tower are investigated in this study. Also this study is to investigate and analyze performed costs of presently processing worker finished work so that it shows a new reasonable rate against standard safety management costs in construction industry, in order to make basical data and material to be systemized.

• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• v.4 no.2
• /
• pp.111-116
• /
• 2013

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of the Second Korean Working Conditions Survey (KWCS), focusing on its validity and reliability. Methods: The external validity was evaluated by the assessment of sampling procedures and the response rate, in order to investigate the representativeness of the sample. The content validity was evaluated by the assessment of the development of the questionnaire, and the consistency of questions for the selected construct. The test-retest method was used to evaluate the reliability by means of a phone call survey of 30% of the respondents, who were randomly selected. The respondents' satisfaction regarding the survey procedures and interview time were analyzed to evaluate the quality of survey data. Results: The external validity was assured by an acceptable sampling procedure, rigid multi-stage stratified cluster random sampling. The content validity was also guaranteed by a reasonable procedure for the development of the questionnaire with a pretest. The internal consistency of the questions for work autonomy was maintained, with 0.738 of Cronbach's alpha. The response rate of 36% was lower than that of the European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS), with a contact rate of 66%, compared to 76% for the EWCS. The matching rates of the five retested questions were more than 98% reliable. Conclusion: The quality of the second KWCS was assured by the high external and content validity and reliability. The rigid sampling procedure and development of the questionnaire contributed to quality assurance. The high level of reliability may be guaranteed by the sophisticated field survey procedures and the development of a technical manual for interviewers. The technical strategies for a high response rate should be developed for future surveys.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
• /
• v.26 no.6
• /
• pp.1-6
• /
• 2011

This study focuses on the control strategy for industrial safety in Korea. Specifically, the effect of safety budget such as the industrial accident prevention fund on the safety performance to prevent and reduce industrial accidents is statistically examined first and modeled as a second order system. The effectiveness of such a dynamic model is also explained with a simple PI control mechanism in a feedback loop. The simulated model, however, suggests that, without improving the efficiency of the safety system, extra safety budget needed to decrease the accident rate to a level in advanced countries is far beyond the social consensus. An efficient way of reducing industrial accidents based on such a dynamic model with more internal damping but with less elastic nature in a feedback loop framework needs to be implemented.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
• /
• v.25 no.2
• /
• pp.113-120
• /
• 2023

Occupational safety and health management expenses in the construction industry are statutory and separately included in the cost statement to prevent occupational accidents and health problems. The expenses are determined by multiplying the standard amount by the rate decided according to construction types and scales. However, the current expense appropriation method does not properly reflect the recent changes in the construction industry such as industry size, industry diversification, and social atmosphere about safety reinforcement. This study surveyed 1579 questionnaires in total and analyzed expense execution rate and proportion of each expense category. The expense execution rate was relative higher in complex construction (e.g., heavy construction = 126%, civil engineering = 125%) and long-period project (equal to or over 48 months construction = 133%) compared to general construction (98~116%) and short-period project (less than 48 months construction = 115%). The proportion of spending expenses was higher in the category of safety manager labor costs (25~52%), safety facility costs (22~40%), and personal protective equipment costs (10~25%). The analysis results of the study can be utilized in revising the standard expense appropriation method by reflecting the current usages of the occupational safety and health management expenses in the construction industry.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
• /
• v.37 no.4
• /
• pp.73-79
• /
• 2022

In this study, real fire tests were performed on representative combustibles of residential facilities to analyze the fire behavior and combustion characteristics in a small residential space. The considered combustibles were a sofa, a combination of a desk and a chair, and a combination of a mattress and an electric mat. A compartment space fire test was performed using the room corner test equipment prescribed in the KS F ISO 9705 specification. Three real fire tests were conducted by placing the combustible material inside a small compartment with insulation and finishing materials and by igniting the combustible material. Results showed that the peak heat release rate and peak smoke production rate occurred in the combination of the mattress and electric mat. Furthermore, from the result of the fire rate analysis, it was estimated that the fire risk of the mattress and electric mat combination was the highest, followed by the sofa and thedesk and chair combination.