• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
• /
• v.29 no.4
• /
• pp.332-337
• /
• 2023

Korea is not only surrounded by the sea on three sides, but also has national and local rivers extending 26,843 km, so it has a geographical feature in which abundant sea and inland water surface coexist. As the number of ships operating in the inland waters is continuously increasing due to the improvement of national income, the risk of ship accidents and human casualties in the inland waters is also increasing. In this study, a macroscopic plan for the safety management of inland water ships was presented through investigation of inland water related laws and operation status analysis. As an improvement plan, as a hardware infrastructure it is proposed to secure sufficient inland water fire-boats to secure the golden time for early response to accidents and lifesaving, and to operate an institution specializing in the prevention of inland water ships accidents. And as a software infrastructure, establish departure control standards for inland water ships and the safety diagnosis system currently applied only to sea going ships, the introduction of a system tailored to the characteristics of inland water ships. The proposed inland water safety management policy is expected to contribute to the preparation of prompt and systematic countermeasures in the event of an inland water ship accident, and it is hoped that it will serve as an opportunity to continue to pay attention to safety-related research on inland water ships, which was briefly activated after the sinking of M/V Sewol.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
• /
• v.37 no.4
• /
• pp.215-229
• /
• 2023

In this study, non-destructive technologies that can be applied to evaluate the integrity of valve materials, safety against internal pressure caused by corrosion, and the blocking function of large-diameter water valves during operation without requiring specimen collection or manpower entering the inside of the valve were tested to assess the reliability of the technologies and their suitability for field application. The results showed that the condition of the graphite structure inside the valve body can be evaluated directly through the optical microscope in the field without specimen collection for large-diameter water butterfly valves, and the depth of corrosion inside the valve body can be determined by array ultrasound and the tensile strength can be measured by instrumented indentation test. The reliability of each of these non-destructive techniques is high, and they can be widely used to evaluate the condition of steel or cast iron pipes that are significantly smaller in thickness than valves. Evaluation of blocking function of the valves with mixed gas showed that it can be detected even when a very low flow rate of mixed gas passes through the disk along with the water flow. Finally, as a result of evaluating the field applicability of non-destructive technologies for three old butterfly valves installed in the US industrial water pipeline, it was found that it is possible to check the material and determine the suitability of large-diameter water valves without taking samples, and to determine the corrosion state and mechanical strength. In addition, it was possible to evaluate safety through the measurement results, and it is judged that the evaluation of the blocking function using mixed gas will help strengthen preventive response in the event of an accident.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
• /
• v.24 no.3
• /
• pp.105-124
• /
• 2023

Modern society is facing an unstable environment due to unexpected accidents and hazardous situations. For example, incidents such as the collapse of the Bundang Bridge and the crushing accident in Itaewon could serve as examples. In addition to these, critical emergencies like sudden cardiac arrests and strokes frequently occur, requiring swift actions and smooth transfers to specialized medical institutions for effective responses. In response to these risks, the country has been establishing various systems to protect the lives and safety of its citizens. Among these, the 119 First Aid Activities plays a crucial role within the emergency medical system. Its goal is to promptly respond to critical emergency situations involving severe trauma patients or patients with serious illnesses, minimizing damage and safeguarding lives by swiftly transferring them to emergency medical institutions for specialized treatment. The core activity related to this is emergency rescue operations. In particular, the 119 First Aid system serves as a crucial institution responsible for the hospital transportation of emergency patients. However, rescue personnel still encounter cases of interference with their activities during their duties. Despite efforts from the police, these interference cases persist, and they share similarities with the crime of obstructing official duties. Interference with emergency activities exhibits a comparable nature to instances such as physical assaults and equipment damage against emergency medical practitioners working within the emergency medical system. Therefore, a comprehensive understanding and improvement efforts regarding the issues of interference that arise during the process of emergency medical activities, including the 119 First Aid system, are necessary. The solution to these problems is to establish and improve the conditions for obstruction of first aid activities, focusing on the "Framework Act on Firefighting" and the "Act on 119 Rescue and Emergency."

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.27 no.4 s.48
• /
• pp.711-734
• /
• 1994

Among chemical agents in herbicides, dioxin (2, 3, 7, 8-tetrachloro dibenzo-$\rho$-dioxin : TCDD), a chemical contaminant in herbicides sprayed during the Vietnam War has been known to be the major agent causing toxic effects. Approximately 320,000 korean soldiers participated the Vietnam War from 1964 to 1974. Although the potential hazards of the herbicides among Korean veterans exposed were implicated, the problem had not been a public issue until 1991 when Korean veterans were informed U.S. companies, the herbicides manufacturer payed fund, from which a trust fund for New Zealand and Australian Class members were established in 1985. After a series of appeals and demonstration by the Korean Veterans demanding medical care and compensation for their serious health damages, a bill of medical care and compensation for herbicides victims was promulgated in March 1993 and become effective from May 1993, This study was carried out with two major objectives : the first to understand the health problems caused from the herbicides by reviewing literatures published, and the second to examine the nature and extent of health impacts among Korean veterans exposed and to develop valid study methods for the major study by interviewing and reviewing records on a part of veterans (638 persons) registered and completed medical examination in Seoul Veterans Administration Hospital from June to October 1993. The results obtained are as followings: 1. The literature review of 107 papers revealed that 1) Dioxin is teratogenic, carcinogenic and affects almost all organs including nervous, endocrine, and reproductive systems in animal experiments. 2) The diseases showing evidence of causal association were Hodgkin's disease, non-Hodgkin's disease, lung cancer, lymphoma, soft tissue sarcoma, chloroacne and polyneuropathy when judged on the basis of consistency in study results and biological plausibility. 2. Interview and medical record review study on 638 veterans, though limited validity owing to lack of control group, crude estimates of dioxin exposure levels (no biomarkers measurable), and uncertainty of diagnosis, showed that: 1) Most of the study subject's were in their 40's of age and had been dispatched to Vietnam during the period from $1965{\sim}1970$ around one year. 2) Most frequently complained symptoms in medical examination were motor weakness (32%), sensory abnormalities in extremities (23%), skin diseases (22%), and pain in extremities (20%) whereas in Interview they were more frequent in order of skin problem (44%), motor weakness (38%), sensory abnormalities and pain in extremities(17% and 19% each). Kappa indices on the same category of complaints between two sources of information were variable and relatively low. 3) On medical examination, only a part of the 638 subjects had initial impression (442 pts) and final diagnosis (218 pts) suggesting decision making on diagnosis appeared to be difficult even with all available modern medical technologies: in initial impression disorders from peripheral and central neuropathy were predominant whereas in final diagnosis various types of skin disorder were most frequent 4) When dose-response relationship between several conditions (from questionnaire) and arbitrary exposure scores were examined by CMH linear trend test, spontaneous abortion, sexual problems and health problem of offsprings showed statistically significant linear trends. However, pregnancy, accident and suicidal attempts did not show any relationship in this study capacity. 5) Among complaints, psychosis and neurosis (anxiety, phobia) in interview study, and memory disorder and psychosis in medical record study revealed linear trend. 6) Skin disorder was the only condition showing linear trend in initial impression and none in final diagnosis on medical examination. Even though objective to select out dioxin-related disease or group of diseases from this study was not achieved the research experiences provided firm basis for developing various methodological approaches. 3. From this preliminary study we concluded that a larger scale major epidemiologic study on health impacts of herbicides among Korean veterans exposed is not only Indispensible but also well designed study with more valid exposure information and diagnosis may be able to establish causal relationship between certain groups of diseases and exposure to the herbicides among Korean veterans.

• Journal of Environmental Policy
• /
• v.7 no.3
• /
• pp.89-120
• /
• 2008

With petroleum being a major source of energy in Korea, the quantity of petroleum transported via ocean routes is on its way up due to increased consumption. Due to the increase, more than 300 cases of pollution caused by petroleum occur annually. Moreover, the number of oil-spill accidents is also on the rise. Causes of such accidents, not including the disposal of waste oil on purpose, turn out to be human error during navigation or defects in the vessels, showing that most accidents are caused by humans. Therefore, to prevent future oil spills, it is imperative that navigation efficiency be enhanced by improving the quality of navigators and replacing old vessels with newer ones. Nevertheless, such improvements cannot occur overnight, so long- and mid-term efforts should be made to achieve it institutionally. As large-scale oil-spill accidents can happen at anytime along the coastal waters of Korea, it is necessary to set-up institutional devices which go beyond the compensation limit of 92FC. The current special law regarding this issue has its limits in that it prescribes compensation be supplemented solely by national taxes. Therefore, the setting-up of a new 'national fund' is recommended for consideration rather than to subscribe to the '2003 Convention for the Supplementary Fund'. It is strongly suggested that a National fund be created from fees collected from oil companies based on the risks involved in oil transportation and according to the profiteers pay principle. In addition, a public fund should be created to handle general environmental damage, such as the large-scale destruction of the ecosystem, which is distinct from the economic damage that harms the local people. The posterior responses to the large-scale oil spill have always been unsatisfactory because of the symbolic nature of the disasters included in such accidents. Oil-spills can be prevented in advance, because they are caused by human beings. But once they occur, they inflict long-term damage to both human life and the natural ecosystem. Therefore, the best response to future oil-spills is to work to prevent them.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
• /
• v.9 no.4
• /
• pp.449-461
• /
• 2013

As the hydrofluoric acid leak in Gumi-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do or hydrochloric acid leak in Ulsan, Gyeongsangnam-do demonstrated, chemical related accidents are mostly caused by large amounts of volatile toxic substances leaking due to the damages of storage tank or pipe lines of transporter. Safety assessment is the most important concern because such toxic material accidents cause human and material damages to the environment and atmosphere of the surrounding area. Therefore, in this study, a hydrofluoric acid leaked from a storage tank was selected as the study example to simulate the leaked substance diffusing into the atmosphere and result analysis was performed through the numerical Analysis and diffusion simulation of ALOHA(Areal Location of Hazardous Atmospheres). the results of a qualitative evaluation of HAZOP (Hazard Operability)was looked at to find that the flange leak, operation delay due to leakage of the valve and the hose, and toxic gas leak were danger factors. Possibility of fire from temperature, pressure and corrosion, nitrogen supply overpressure and toxic leak from internal corrosion of tank or pipe joints were also found to be high. ALOHA resulting effects were a little different depending on the input data of Dense Gas Model, however, the wind direction and speed, rather than atmospheric stability, played bigger role. Higher wind speed affected the diffusion of contaminant. In term of the diffusion concentration, both liquid and gas leaks resulted in almost the same $LC_{50}$ and ALOHA AEGL-3(Acute Exposure Guidline Level) values. Each scenarios showed almost identical results in ALOHA model. Therefore, a buffer distance of toxic gas can be determined by comparing the numerical analysis and the diffusion concentration to the IDLH(Immediately Dangerous to Life and Health). Such study will help perform the risk assessment of toxic leak more efficiently and be utilized in establishing community emergency response system properly.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
• /
• v.17 no.3
• /
• pp.415-426
• /
• 2021

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to create the deveopment plan for promotion of advanced disaster-safety awareness, which is noted as a major factor in the large disaster. Method: This study is to conduct theoretical review with regard to disaster management and safety awareness. Consciousness surveys on safety awareness and previous disaster case was analyzed to derive the cause of the disaster, and the development plan for promotion of advanced disaster-safety awareness was suggested. Result: In the survey on the public's sense of safety on the disaster management evaluation, 'Response' stage was well performed, but the 'Recovery' stage was not. Especially, it was found that disaster safety education at the 'Prevention' stage was very lacking. In the survey on the public's safety awareness, the awareness level of the evacuation facility was very low, information on infectious diseases and collapse accident was insufficient. Especially, it has been found that the awareness on safety regulation in daily life is very insufficient. Through the case study on previous disaster(COVID-19, Fire in Miryang Sejong Hospital, Forest fire in the east coas at 2004'), it was derived that the lack of safety awareness(such as safety insensitivity) was the main factor of the expansion of the damage scale. Conclusion: The development plan for promotion of advanced disaster-safety awareness are as follow. First, it is necessary to spread the safety culture movement through the expansion of safety education and safety promotion. Second, disaster confrontation training for the public should be implemented to improve the effectiveness of disaster response. Finally, it is necessary to change the individual awareness on safety. When these factors are implemented systematically, advanced disaster-safety awareness can be promoted. Ultimately, disaster accidents in our society can be reduced.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
• /
• v.15 no.1
• /
• pp.59-75
• /
• 1985

Accepting the health as the fundamental human right, the nation and society came to admit the duty to give it to all the people. Korean government is expanding the Primary Health Care as one of the policies for developing the people's health by the lead of community. Like this current situation the School Health Service which is the center of community Health Service schould be active to keep, promote and maintain the health of students and teachers. This investigation was attempted to help to establish the basis of the Health Education Program which would perform the health education efficiently and bring the reforming of student's health control, by measuring the degree of junior high school student's practice concerning health care and con-firming the relationship of knowledge, concern and level of health. The subjects for this study were made up 296 boys at the third grade in a school, located in Seoul. The tool for this study was questionaire. Data were collected for five days, September 22∼26, 1983. The investigators explained the students how to answer the questions of the survey questionaire and then collected the survey cards immediately. The data were analyzed by means of percentages, Pearson Correlation Coefficient and Stepwise Multiple Regression. The results of this study are as follows. 1. The subjects' reaction to the practice concerning Health Care; According to the average proportion of practice concerning health care, subjects' practice in the aspect of Infectious Disease Care is the highest 82.4％ and they showed their practice in the aspect of the accident prevention by 77.5% and in the aspect of mental health by 74.8%. Their practice in the aspect of personal hygiene and daily lifehabit is the lowest 71.2%. 2. Health Knowledge; The whole mark distribution of health knowledge is ranged from the lowest 4 point to the highest, 30 point, therefore point range is 26.0. The Average point is 16.58. 11.2% of students solved more than two thirds of personal knowledge levels. 81.4% of students did more than one third of them. 7.415 of students did less than one third of them. 3. Health Concern; The Students of the average 3.99 point respond positively to the question about the health concern, ‘They think health is more important than money’, this is the highest rate. The students of the average 2.78 respond“when they are sick, they enter the appointed hospital where they own choose”, while it is the lowest. 4. Subjects' response to the health level are at follow: Very healthy 26.0%, healthy 47.0%, less healthy 10.5%, 34.9% of them have ever been sick within two weeks, the number of symptoms they reported amount to 114 and the number of cases poi one person is 0.35. 5. The hypotheses test about the practice concerning health care and the factor which effect on it. 1) The main first hypothesis:“The more knowledge of health the subjects have, the better they practice health care.”was accepted. (r=0.1582, p <0.05) 2) The minor first hypothesis:“The more interest in health subjects have, the better they practice”was accepted. (r=0.4354, p ＜0.001) 3) The minor second hypothesis;“The healthier subjects are, the better they practice health care”was accepted. (r=0.1069, p＜0.05) As other test, partical correlation test is performed in other refine whether health knowledge, a fact influencing the students practice concerning health care, is associated with the practice after controlling the third variables. First, after controlling health concern, the correlation of health knowledge and practice concerning health care was kept. (r=0.1347, p <0.005) Second, after controlling health level, the correlation of health knowledge and practice concerning health care was kept. (r=0.1526, p <0.005) And finally, after controlling economic state, the correlation of health knowledge and practice concern-ing health care was kept. (r=0.1413, p <0.05) Additionally Stepwise Multiple Regression between practice concerning health care and variables. 1.6591 of compliance was explained with the know-ledge (F=5.584, p <0.05), 20.0% of compliance was explained with the health concern added to knowledge. (F=63,213, p <0.005) As the above, health knowledge obviously have effects on the practice about the health care. But, contrary to researcher's expectation, health concern has more affects than health knowledge. Therefore, we must grope the plan to enhance health concern through the regular curriculum and systematic health education for students. Besides, we must study further on, to find the factors which have affect on the practice concerning health care.

• The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
• /
• v.30 no.1
• /
• pp.207-244
• /
• 2015

Aviation safety is the stage in which the risk of harm to persons or of property damage is reduced to, and maintained at or below, an acceptable level through a continuing process of hazard identification and risk management. Many accidents and incidents have been taking place since 2014, while there had been relatively safer skies before 2014. International civil aviation community has been exerting great efforts to deal with these emerging issues, thus enhancing and ensuring safety throughout the world over the years. The Preamble of the Chicago Convention emphasizes safety and order of international air transport, and so many Articles in the Convention are related to the safety. Furthermore, most of the Annexes to the Convention are International Standards and Recommended Practices pertaining to the safety. In particular, Annex 19, which was promulgated in Nov. 2013, dealing with safety management system. ICAO, as law-making body, has Air Navigation Commission, Council, Assembly to deliberate and make decisions regarding safety issues. It is also implementing USOAP and USAP to supervise safety functions of member States. After MH 370 disappeared in 2014, ICAO is developing Global Tracking System whereby there should be no loophole in tracking the location of aircraft anywhere in world with the information provided by many stakeholders concerned. MH 17 accident drove ICAO to install web-based repository where information relating to the operation in conflict zones is provided and shared. In addition, ICAO has been initiating various solutions to emerging issues such as ebola outbreak and operation under extreme meteorological conditions. Considering the necessity of protection and sharing of safety data and information to enhance safety level, ICAO is now suggesting enhanced provisions to do so, and getting feedback from member States. It has been observed that ICAO has been approaching issues towards problem-solving from four different dimensions. First regarding time, it analyses past experiences and best practices, and make solutions in short, mid and long terms. Second, from space perspective, ICAO covers States, region and the world as a whole. Third, regarding stakeholders it consults with and hear from as many entities as it could, including airlines, airports, community, consumers, manufacturers, air traffic control centers, air navigation service providers, industry and insurers. Last not but least, in terms of regulatory changes, it identifies best practices, guidance materials and provisions which could become standards and recommended practices.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.13 no.6
• /
• pp.2607-2616
• /
• 2012

This study was designed to figure out patient safety culture of medical institutions and try to utilize the study results as basic data for analyzing doctor's awareness of patient safety culture. To this end, questionnaire survey was conducted from August 1st to September 5th, 2011, targeting doctors working at senior general hospitals located in G city, and 194 questionnaires were utilized for final analysis. The research results are as follows. First, there was a difference in awareness of deployment of staffs depending on gender, age, term of service in the hospital, contact with patients and working hours per week in relationship between subjects, wards and hospital safety culture, and organizational learning and teamwork in the ward turned out to be significant in accordance with working hours per week, and all sub-areas of the ward safety culture by departments. Second, feedback about the malpractice, communication, report on malpractice frequency and overall safety awareness were found to be significant by departments in relationship of subjects, medical incident reporting system, patient safety evaluation and overall level of consciousness, and the overall safety awareness showed significant results according to contact with patients and working hours per week. Third, there was a positive corelation in sub-areas of the ward and hospital safety culture awareness, overall recognition and patient safety evaluation, and a positive corelation with medical incident reporting system was found in all areas except for attitude of managers/immediate supervisors and that of hospital executives. Fourth, sub-areas of patient safety culture which has a effect on patient safety showed significant results in organizational learning, openness of communication, overall safety awareness, systematic cooperation between departments, feedback/communication and non-punitive response. In conclusion, to increase the level of the ward and hospital patient safety culture of doctors and implement medical incident reporting system faithfully, it is necessary to activate teamwork through organizational learning in the ward based on the adequate staffing and working hours, promote open communication between departments and provide feedback on medical malpractice, thereby establishing a cooperative system by departments and active support of hospital executives for patient safet.