• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 1968

This paper describes the incidence of transport accident for the period, 1955-1965. Transport accidents were classified into three categories, viz. railway(WHO Classification of Diseases, E-802), watercraft (E 550-E 858) and motor vehicle accidents(E810-E835, E840-E841, E844-E845). Crude data on the subject were collected from the various souces of Government Statistical Books including Statistical Year Books edited by the Central Office of Economic Planning Board, Annual Police Reports by the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the national and local associations for road traffic safety. From the data incidence and mortality rates by year, month and local province were computed and other variables relevant to the epidemiology of accidents were observed. The following summary could be drawn: 1. Death rates due to transport accidents per 100,000 population were 12.3 for 1955 and 9.7 for 1965. The incidence of injury due to the same cause were 34.0 for 1955 and 35.9 for 1965. 2. Death rates by transportation vehicle showed 9.0 due to motor vehicle accidents, 1.7 due to water-crafts, and 1.6 due to railway trains for 1955. In 1965 death rates were 6.0 due to motor vehicles, 1.2 to water-crafts and 2.4 to railway. 3. Seasonal distribution of transport accidents revealed that car accidents occur more frequently in spring and fall fall seasons while ship accidents do in winter and train accidents more in summer. 4. Both car and ship accidents slightly decreased during the past decade, 1955-1965, whereas the accidents of railway trains showed a tendency of increase. 5. Although the survey on railway accidents excluded the injuries of passengers or railway employees corresponding to WHO classification of diseases, E 801, due to inaccuracy of data, it is roughly estimated that the same number of casualities as the incidence among pedestrians or any other than passengers or employees assumed to be at work(E 802).

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.210-228
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• 2002

Background: The purpose of this research was to examine the fall incidence rate and its related factors of fall in inpatients. Methods: The data were collected from the 138 fall incident reports in one tertiary hospital in Seoul from April 1st 1999 to September 30th 2001. The Fall Incident Report Form was originally developed based on that of Massachusetts General Hospital revised in 1995. And this was modified for this survey by the collaborating work of QI team including researcher and department of nursing service of this particular hospital. The contents of Fall Incident Form were general characteristics of patient. factors related to fall. types and places of fall. circumstances, nursing interventions. and outcome. Results: 1) The incidence rate of fall was 0.08% of total discharged patients and 0.081 per 1000 patient-day. This incidence rate is much lower than that of several hospitals in USA. This finding might result from the different incidence report system of each hospital. 2) The characteristics of fall-prone patient were found as follows. They were mostly over 60 years old, in alert mental status, ambulatory with some assistance, and dependent on ambulatory device. The types of diseases related high incidence rate were cerebrovascular disease(3.2), hypertension(1.6), cardiovascular disease(1.4), diabetes(1.3) and liver disease(0.6). 3) The majority of fall events usually occurred m bed. bedside(walking or standing) and bathroom in patient room. Usually they were up on their own when they fell. And there were more falls of elderly occurred during night time than day or evening. 4) 63.8% of fall events resulted in physical injuries such as fracture and usually the patients had diagnostic procedures and some treatment(ex. suture) which caused additional cost to the patients and their families. 5) The found risk factors of fall were drugs(antihypertensive drug, diuretics) and environmental factors like too high bed height, long distance of bedside table and lamp switch, and slippery tile of bathroom floor. Conclusion: Considering these results, every medical and nursing staff should be aware of the risk factors of patients in hospital, and should intervene more actively the preventive managements, specially for the elderly patients during night. Therefore, it is recommended that the development of Fall Prevention Programs based on these results.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.140-146
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• 2014

This paper presents a case study to develop e-learning contents of agricultural safety based on the assessment of risks of 4 selected crops and stock farming: rice, potatoes, apples, tomatoes and stock raising. The aged farmers, who are main workforce of current Korean agriculture and relatively more vulnerable to various risks of agricultural work compared to younger workers, were considered as the main users of the contents in developing them. The safety guidelines were presented as simple as possible and the interfaces were designed to be simple and easy to use so that the older users can use it without much difficulty. In making the scenarios of the contents, risk assessments were carried out for each crop and stock farming with the focus being on occupational diseases rather than accidental injuries. To make the contents more attractive to the farmers, the functions requiring active responses from the users, such as answering simple questions, were included in the contents. Usability evaluation by experts of ergonomics and agricultural tasks were carried out in modifying the draft version, whereas formal usability test was not included in the case study. Though there are some limitations in the developed contents in the aspects of evaluation of usability and effectiveness, this case study shows the structured procedure of developing e-learning safety contents based on the risk assessments on agricultural tasks. The developed e-learning contents are expected to be used practically and easily in educating and training older farmers about safety and health of agricultural tasks.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.11
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• pp.635-644
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• 2018

This descriptive study examined the practical nursing guidelines for the prevention of pressure injuries (PI) in operating rooms and their application. Method: Four general hospitals and three specialized hospitals located in Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggido province were selected through an online randomization program and nurses at these hospitals who participated in operations and had at least six months work experience were surveyed. Data were collected from January to April 2018 through a survey distributed to 150 nurses, 129 of whom returned the survey (86% recovery rate). The results showed that 43 nurses provided PI prevention care for patients in a lateral position (33.3%), 37 for patients in a supine position (28.7%), and 36 for patients in a prone position (27.9%). Gel was most widely used as the supporting surface material (102 nurses; 79.1%), followed by sponge (62 nurses; 48.1%), and cotton (47 nurses; 36.4%). Skin was often inspected twice, before and after the use of a supporting surface (90nurses; 69.8%), but no designated tool was used to determine the risk of PI developing (76 nurses; 58.9%). Additionally, the patient's position during surgery (83 nurses; 64.3%) and the length of the operation (i.e., more than two hours, in this case) (49 nurses; 38.0%) were determining factors for whether to use a supporting surface. The operating room nurses used the gel, sponge, and cotton as the supporting surfaces for the prevention of PI and confirmed that the cutoff operation time for the use of a supporting surface was more than 2 hours.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.163-169
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• 2022

Background: It is estimated that about 13 million artisanal and small-scale miners carry out their activities under harsh, precarious, unfriendly, and risky conditions. Yet, our understanding of the extent to which these workers use personal protective equipment (PPE) and navigate through the various risks and hazards they face is still limited. This article has two main objectives. First, it explores the extent of usage of PPE among artisanal and small-scale miners for the prevention of hazards and risks. Second, it examines the coping strategies used by these miners as a response to experiences of occupational injuries and risks Methods: A cross-sectional survey of small-scale miners was conducted in six communities across three districts in Ghana, West Africa. The mixed methods approach was adopted. A total of 148 small-scale miners participated in the study. Six focus group discussions (FGDs) were held across the six communities. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics. Chi-square tests were used to analyse the relationship between some socio-demographic characteristics (sex, age, and educational background) and the usage of PPE. Open-ended questions and responses from FGDs were analysed based on the content and verbatim quotations from miners. Results: Findings suggest that 78% of the miners interviewed do not use the appropriate PPE citing reasons such as cost, and their personal discomfort associated with use of PPE. There was no significant relationship between socio-demographic characteristics (i.e., sex, age, education and major mining activity) and the usage of PPE. The study further revealed four main coping strategies used by miners to handle the risks. These are rest, taking unprescribed medication and hard drugs, registration with health insurance scheme and savings and investments. Conclusion: This study shows that very few artisanal miners use PPE despite the significant hazards and risks to which they are exposed. The study recommends to the government to put in place measures to ensure that miners adhere to health and safety regulations before undertaking mining activities. This means that health and safety plans and use of PPE should be linked to the license acquisition process for miners.

• Industry Promotion Research
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.37-44
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• 2024

This study selected the worst-case scenario for fireball and vapor cloud explosion (VCE) of a styrene monomer storage tank installed in a petrochemical production plant and performed damage prediction and accident impact analysis. The range of influence of radiant heat and overpressure due to fireball and vapor VCE during the abnormal polymerization reaction of styrene monomer, the main component of the mixed residue oil storage tank, was quantitatively analyzed by applying the e-CA accident damage prediction program. The damage impact areas of radiant heat and explosion overpressure are analyzed to have a maximum radius of 1,150m and 626m, respectively. People within 1,150m of radiant heat of 4kW/m2 may have their skin swell when exposed to it for 20 seconds. In buildings within 626m, where an explosion overpressure of 21kPa is applied, steel structures may be damaged and separated from the foundation, and people may suffer physical injuries. In the event of a fire, explosion or leak, determine the risk standards such as the degree of risk and acceptability to workers in the work place, nearby residents, or surrounding facilities due to radiant heat or overpressure, identify the hazards and risks of the materials handled, and establish an emergency response system. It is expected that it will be helpful in establishing measures to minimize damage to workplaces through improvement and investment activities.

• The Korean Journal of Emergency Medical Services
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.31-44
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• 2011

Purpose : The purpose of emergency medical services(EMS) is to save human lives and assure the completeness of the body in emergency situations. Those who have been qualified on medical practice to perform such treatment as there is the risk of human life and possibility of major physical and mental injuries that could result from the urgency of time and invasiveness inflicted upon the body. In the emergency medical activities, 119 emergency medical technicians mainly perform the task but they are not able to perform such task independently and they are mandatory to receive medical direction. The purpose of this study is to examine the recognition and request for medical direction by 119 emergency medical technicians in order to provide basic information on the development of medical direction program suitable to the characteristics of EMS as well as for the studies on EMS for the sake of efficient operation of pre-hospital EMS. Method : Questionnaire via e-mail was conducted during July 1-31, 2010 for 675 participants who are emergency medical technicians, nurses and other emergency crews in Gyeongbuk. The effective 171 responses were used for the final analysis. In regards to the emergency medical technicians' scope of responsibilities defined in Attached Form 14, Enforcement regulations of EMS, t-test analysis was conducted by using the means and standard deviation of the level of request for medical direction on the scope of responsibilities of Level 1 & Level 2 emergency medical technicians as the scale of medical direction request. The general characteristics, experience result, the reason for necessity, emergency medical technicians & medical director request level, medical direction method, the place of work of the medical director, feedback content and improvement plan request level were analyzed through frequency and percentage. The level of experience in medical direction and necessity were analyzed through ${\chi}^2$ test. Results : In regards to the medical direction experience per qualification, the experience was the highest with 53.3% for Level 1 emergency medical technicians and 80.3% responded that experience was helpful. As for the recognition on the necessity of medical direction, 71.3% responded as "necessary" and it turned out to be the highest of 76.9% in nurses. As for the reason for responding "necessary", the reason for reducing the risk and side-effects from EMS for patients was the largest(75.4%), and the reason of EMS delay due to the request of medical direction was the highest(71.4%) for the reason for responding "not necessary". In regards to the request level of the task scope of emergency medical technicians, injection of certain amount of solution during a state of shock was the highest($3.10{\pm}.96$) for Level 1 emergency rescuers, and the endotracheal intubation was the highest($3.12{\pm}1.03$) for nurses, and the sublingual administration of nitroglycerine(NTG) during chest pain was the highest($2.62{\pm}1.02$) for Level 2 emergency medical technicians, and regulation of heartbeat using AED was the highest($2.76{\pm}.99$) for other emergency crews. For the revitalization of medical direction, the improvement in the capability of EMS(78.9%) was requested from emergency crew, and the ability to evaluate the medical state of patient was the highest(80.1%) in the level of request for medical director. The prehospital and direct medical direction was the highest(60.8%) for medical direction method, and the emergency medical facility was the highest(52.0%) for the placement of medical director, and the evaluation of appropriateness of EMS was the highest(66.1%) for the feedback content, and the reinforcement of emergency crew(emergency medical technicians) personnel was the highest(69.0%) for the improvement plan. Conclusion : The medical direction is an important policy in the prehospital EMS activity because 119 emergency medical technicians agreed the necessity of medical direction and over 80% of those who experienced medical direction said it was helpful. In addition, the simulation training program using algorithm and case study through feedback are necessary in order to enhance the technical capability of ambulance teams on the item of professional EMS with high level of request in the task scope of emergency medical technicians, and recognition of medical direction is the essence of the EMS field. In regards to revitalizing medical direction, the improvement of the task performance capability of 119 emergency medical technicians and medical directors, reinforcement of emergency medical activity personnel, assurance of trust between emergency medical technicians and the emergency physician, and search for professional operation plan of medical direction center are needed to expand the direct medical direction method for possible treatment beforehand through the participation by medical director even at the step in which emergency situation report is received.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.29 no.3 s.54
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• pp.617-637
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• 1996

Occupational dermatosis is one of the most prevalent occupational disorders. However, the extent of the occupational dermatoses including incidences and prevalencies of each disease entity, and etiologic materials are not yet welt stated in Korea. Authors reviewed the literatures on the statistic data and reports on the occupational dermatoses, and surveyed on the occupational dermatoses in two factories, and surveyed the physicians responsible to the occupational dermatoses with formed questionnaire. The results are as follows; 1. Among medical journals published since 1964, there were 31 articles on the occupational dermatoses. Of 31 articles, 18 were case reports and all others were review articles. Of 18 case reports, 9 were epidemiologic survey. The Workers' Periodic Health Examinations revealed that prevalence of the occupational dermatoses was highest(4.36 per 10,000 workers) in 1974, but number of the cases reported were decreased sharply since 1978 with some tendency to increase since 1981. There were 2,240 reported cases of occupational dermatoses between 1966 and 1992, which is 1.90% of all the reported occupational diseases. Skin infection and injuries due to chemicals were most frequent and there were 6 cases of skin cancer. 2. In an epidemiological survey on the dermatoses among 995 workers in a metal product manufacturing factory and 225 workers in a coal chemical factory, there were 794 with dermatomycosis, 296 workers with acne, 130 workers with scar, 123 workers with deformity of toe nails. Scars, photosensitivity dermatitis, deformity of finger and toe nails, and acne were more prevalent in the metal product manufacturing factory(p<0.05). In the metal prouct manufacturing factory, workers treating organic solvents and oils had more dermatoses than those without treating the materials(p<0.05). On the skin patch performed on 16 workers in the metal product manufacturing factory, there were 8 cases of irritation dermatitis and 5 cases of contact dermatitis. Prevalence of contact dermatitis in the metal product manufacturing factory was 1.3%. 3. On the questionnaire survey, 34 dermatologists, 29 doctors of preventive medicine, and 22 family physician replied. The proportion of occupational etiology among all dermatoses assumed by the physicians were below 9%, and the most important occupational dermatosis in Korea was contact dermatitis. Main etiologic materials related to the occupational dermatosis were organic solvent, acid and alkali, and metals. The reason for the scarcity of report of occupational dermatoses were difficulty in diagnosis and physician's ignorance of the occupational etiology. They replied that to prevent the occupational dermatoses in the workplace, the use of protective devices was most important, and development of diagnostic criteria on the occupational dermatoses is urgent. Above results shows us that there is many workers with occupational dermatoses, but they are mostly unreported. Measures to prevent and manage the occupational dermatoses are not satisfactory at present. Hence, authors suggest measures for the precise diagnosis, report and prevention of the occupational dermatoses. a. Dermatologist, preventive physician, and industrial hygienist should work as a team to examine the high risk group and establish the preventive measures. b. Disease entities, diagnostic criteria of occupational dermatoses should be listed, criteria for the compensation and job fitting at recruitment should be established, and manual for the proper treatment and effective prevention of each occupational dermatosis should be developed. c. Patch test antigens against each occupational category should be developed and it should be available to any physicians responsible. d. To facilitate the diagnosis of occupational dermatoses by the doctors responsible for the Workersr Periodic Health Examination, development of standardized questionnaire, education on the techniques of the patch test, and cooperation with the dermatologist in diagnosis of occupational dermatoses is essential.