• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.15-22
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• 2023

LPG-related accidents, which account for half of all gas accidents in Korea, have not shown any sign of decrease over the past decade, partially owing to the lack of effective safety improvement measures. The purpose of this study was to identify the effectiveness of improvement measures by analyzing the traits of accidents in terms of human factors, and to seek more effective accident prevention strategies. In this study, 108 accident cases were collected and analyzed in the aspect of accident characteristics such as violation type, human factors, and so on. The results showed that the work procedures of suppliers and engineers related to LPG accidents seemed to be similar in outward appearance; however, specific accident causes and unsafe behaviors were different. Particularly, type and target of violations were different, which could be visually confirmed by the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and the Quantification Techniques (QT). Furthermore, for engineers, insufficient supervision was a major influencing factor. In conclusion, because the accident characteristics of suppliers and engineers are different, differentiated accident prevention strategies should be implemented, which was discussed in this study.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.411-420
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• 2017

Objective: The purpose of this study is to analyze the accident characteristics according to the gender of the injured workers in building cleaning and to reflect them in the Industrial Accident Prevention Policy. Background: An analysis of industrial accidents is an essential process for establishing systematic industrial accident prevention measures. In order to establish industrial accident prevention measures for workers effectively, it is necessary to analyze accident characteristics by job type for workers who do the same work. Method: In this study, we analyzed the accident characteristics of 1,645 janitors who were approved of work-related injuries in 2015. We also analyzed the characteristics according to gender by dividing them into worker-related factors and accident-related factors. Results: The accidents caused to the janitors showed different characteristics according to gender, age, work experience, agency of accident, and distribution of original cause materials. In other words, 70.2% occurred to workers over 60 years old and 56.2% occurred to unskilled workers with less than a year of work experience. In the case of accident pattern, 79.1% occurred in tripping (slip) hazards, and 68.2% of accidents occurred on the floor (including the ground) and the stairs, indicating that the accident occurred most frequently during cleaning work on the floor or stairs. Conclusion and Application: The results of the study on the accident characteristics of the janitors can be used as basic data for systematic preventive measures against accidents occurring to the elderly female workers in the service industry.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.505-510
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• 2021

Background: Factors related to root causes can cause commonly occurring accidents such as falls, slips, and jammed injuries. An important means of reducing the frequency of occupational accidents in small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMSEs) of South Korea is to perform intensity analysis of the root cause factors for accident prevention in the cause and effect model like decision models, epidemiological models, system models, human factors models, LCU (life change unit) models, and the domino theory. Especially intensity analysis in a robot system and smart technology as Industry 4.0 is very important in order to minimize the occupational accidents and fatal accident because of the complexity of accident factors. Methods: We have developed the modern cause and effect model that includes factors of root cause through statistical testing to minimize commonly occurring accidents and fatal accidents in SMSEs of South Korea and systematically proposed educational policies for accident prevention. Results: As a result, the consciousness factors among factors of root cause such as unconsciousness, disregard, ignorance, recklessness, and misjudgment had strong relationships with occupational accidents in South Korean SMSEs. Conclusion: We conclude that the educational policies necessary for minimizing these consciousness factors include continuous training procedures followed by periodic hands-on experience, along with perceptual and cognitive education related to occupational health and safety.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.56-63
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• 2021

The narrative texts of industrial accident reports help to identify accident risk factors. They relate the accident triggers to the sequence of events and the outcomes of an accident. Particularly, a set of related keywords in the context of the narrative can represent how the accident proceeded. Previous studies on text analytics for structuring accident reports have been limited to extracting individual keywords without context. We proposed a context-based analysis using a Natural Language Processing (NLP) algorithm to remedy this shortcoming. This study aims to apply Word2Vec of the NLP algorithm to extract adjacent keywords, known as word embedding, conducted by the neural network algorithm based on supervised learning. During processing, Word2Vec is conducted by adjacent keywords in narrative texts as inputs to achieve its supervised learning; keyword weights emerge as the vectors representing the degree of neighboring among keywords. Similar keyword weights mean that the keywords are closely arranged within sentences in the narrative text. Consequently, a set of keywords that have similar weights presents similar accidents. We extracted ten accident processes containing related keywords and used them to understand the risk factors determining how an accident proceeds. This information helps identify how a checklist for an accident report should be structured.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.50-59
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• 2021

The main purpose of accident analysis is to identify the causal factors and the mechanisms of those factors leading to the accident. However, current accident analysis techniques focus only on finding the factors related to the accident without providing more insightful results, such as structures or mechanisms. For this reason, preventive actions for safety management are concentrated on the elimination of causal factors rather than blocking the connection or chain of accident processes. This greatly reduces the effectiveness of safety management in practice. In the present study, a technique to model the correlational structure of accident risk factors is proposed by using the co-occurrence keyword network analysis technique. To investigate the effectiveness of the proposed technique, a case study involving a portable ladder fall accident is conducted. The results indicate that the proposed technique can construct the correlational structure model of the risk factors of a portable ladder fall accident. This proves the effectiveness of the proposed technique in modeling the correlational structure of accident risk factors.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.96-101
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• 2010

Purpose: This study was conducted in order to evaluate the epidemiological characteristics of?children with fall-down injuries according to age groups and to analyze the major trauma groups that were treated at the emergency room (ER). Methods: Among 1,222 children under age 6 who were treated at the ER from January 2008 to December 2009, a retrospective study was conducted through examination of medical records. The children were classified by age into 3 groups: infant, toddler, and pre-schooler. In each group, the differences between the causative factors that led to the fall-down injuries were analyzed. Also, ISS (Injury Severity Score) score above 4 was classified as major trauma, and an ISS score 0-1 was classified as a minor trauma. The relationship between major trauma and age group was also analyzed. Results: Through an analysis of child fall-down injuries, men (56.6%), toddler (47.3%), head-related symptoms (72.9%), furniture-related traumas (80.2%), and falls from less than a 1-m height (69.9%) were found to be common factors. Furthermore, in radiological studies, fractures and brain hemorrhages accounted for 16.9% of major traumas, and simple skull fractures were the most common (21.4%). Distributed according to age group, the factors relevant to fall injuries were fall height and head-related symptoms for infants, accident site, fall height and head-related symptoms for toddlers, and accident site for pre-schoolers (p<0.05). Also, headrelated symptoms and fall height were independent factors of major trauma in all age groups. However, major traumas (17.3%) were related to dumped trauma, fall height and accident site (p<0.05). Conclusion: This study was mainly about head-related injuries, and toddler were most common victims. The relevant factors for the major trauma were falling height for infants, accident site and falling height for toddlers, and accident site, falling height for pre-schoolers.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.231-237
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• 2017

Objectives: This study was conducted to determine firefighters' work-related accident rate and investigate the factors affecting their on-site safety. Methods: We developed a web-based self-reported questionnaire designed to inquire into firefighters' work-related accident experience and the factors (4M; Man, Machine, Media, Management) affecting firefighters' on-site safety. We distributed questionnaires to all members of firefighting organizations in South Korea by e-mail and 9,149 were returned, resulting in a response rate of 23.1%. Results: Fifteen point seven percent of the respondents reported work-related injuries within the past one year, and 35.1% answered that current accident investigation reports are not helpful for preventing the same accident from recurring. Among the 4M factors, the one most affecting firefighters' on-site safety in the order of priority is the Man factor, followed by Machine, Media, and Management. However, the results from detailed sub-categorical factors showed some differences. 'Lack of human resources', one of the Management factors, was the most influential (70.3%), followed by 'worn-out equipment' under the Machine factor (67.2%). The viewpoint of elements of the Man factor including 'forgetting instructions' and 'fatigue and illness' were significantly different according to firefighters' rank. The higher the firefighter's rank, the more they answered 'forgetting instructions,' while the opposite was the case for 'fatigue and disease'. Conclusions: The present firefighters' accident investigation report needs to be improved, and the 4M method could prove very useful. In addition, it is necessary to set up a proper firefighters' accident investigation and prevention system.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.104-113
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• 2024

Unlike in general manufacturing process, safety management in laboratory-based research area is complicated because the latter generally involves trying untested methods or handling unusual substances in small amounts. Laboratory accidents in South Korea have recently shown an increasing trend. Unfortunately, statistics on such accidents are not officially published by any domestic public agencies. In this study, multivariate analysis was performed on the relationships between variables to develop effective strategies for preventing laboratory accidents. A Cross-Tabulation Analysis of accident-related factors in 179 accident cases revealed that the laboratory type, accident type, and unsafe-act type are all statistically significant, whereas the unsafe condition and management factors differ with the statistical criteria. Furthermore, the results of a Multiple-Correspondence Analysis showed that accidents can be divided largely into three groups having different accident causes and injury types; this confirms the necessity of different strategies to prevent accidents of each type. The findings also reveal differences between the distribution of accident types mentioned in the accident case collection books and actual reported cases. This suggests that an official statistical system administered by a public institution would be necessary for effective prevention of laboratory accidents.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.157-168
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• 2017

Objective: This study aims to understand the motorcycle accident characteristics of food delivery workers and to present basic guidelines on accident prevention through accident. Background: It is known that food delivery workers have a high ratio of self-employed and youth workers, and occupations with frequent disasters. Therefore the occupation is known to really be in need of accident prevention policy. Method: This study analyzed the data of motorcycle crashes of 1,310 food delivery workers that have been approved as on-duty industrial crashes since 2015. The accident characteristics were examined by dividing them into driver related factors and accident related factors. Results: Among the motorcycle crashes of food delivery workers, 99.2% of the victims were males, 82.6% had less than six months of work experience. 76.2% of the victims were employed by the companies with less than five workers. In addition, there was a difference in accident characteristics according to age, type of cuisine, accident time of the day, injured organs and injured body part. Conclusion: The results of this study can be used as baseline data to devise systematic measures to prevent motorcycle crashes of food delivery workers. Application: Preventative measures for novice young part time workers including safety education/training need to be established.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.231-244
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• 2017

Objective: This study aims to understand the occupational injury characteristics of the workers in the motor vehicle parts (automobile parts) manufacturing industry and to present basic guidelines on accident prevention through accident analysis. Background: There occur many occupational injuries in the motor vehicle parts manufacturing industry. But there were few researches for the occupational injuries of the workers in the motor vehicle parts manufacturing industry. Method: This study analyzed the data of occupational injuries of 1,609 workers in the motor vehicle parts manufacturing industry in 2015. The accident characteristics were analyzed by dividing them into worker related factors and accident related factors. Results: Among the occupational injuries of the workers in the motor vehicle parts manufacturing industry, 80.6% of the victims were males, 64.0% were older than 40. 57.8% of the victims were employed by the companies with less than 50 workers. In addition, there was a difference in accident characteristics according to age, work experience, employment type, events or exposures, accident time of the day, agents, natures of injuries and illnesses, injured organs and injured body part. Conclusion: It is important to prevent equipment/machinery accidents. For this purpose, more efforts should be made to establish safety measures faithful to the basics of safety devices and safety work procedures. It is also suggested that prevention of disasters should be intensively carried out for workplaces with less than 50 employees and middle-aged and elderly people. Application: The result can be used to present guidelines for preventative measures for the workers in the motor vehicle parts manufacturing industry including safety education/training.