• Journal of Internet of Things and Convergence
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.15-21
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• 2021

This study aims to derive the problems of firefighting and safety measures for architectural heritage with a wooden structure in rural areas and present their improvement measures. To identify those problems, this study grasped the features of the cultural heritage through the building structure and environment of a wooden Catholic secondary station in Dangjin, and analyzed fires that may occur and safety factors. As a result, although the mission station is an important cultural property in terms of its history, place and local identity, it had problems with disaster prevention systems such as vulnerable safety including fire and difficulties in fire recognition and initial firefighting. Therefore, this study concluded through its review and analysis that a disaster prevention system such as stronger firefighting is needed; that fire fighting facilities suitable for the characteristics of the secondary station with a wooden structure should be installed and a main player should be arranged in fire prevention activities to improve the fire prevention system of the cultural property; and that as most mission stations are located in rural areas, it is necessary to more thoroughly protect wooden-structure secondary stations from natural disasters such as forest fire and to improve fire response measures.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.136-147
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• 2022

The purpose of this study is to analyze four cases of firefighter burns in various fire scenes and to find prevention measures to decrease firefighter injuries. Among the analysis reports prepared by the National Fire Research Institute of Korea from 2016 to 2020, four burn-related accidents are summarized and the main causes are conveyed. The four accidents include second-degree burns from using extinguishers during containment of fires; nine firefighters burned due to re-ignition in the LPG car repair shop; two firefighters injured with third-degree burns from using fire extinguishers during life-saving events in residential housing; and injuries from the radiant heat of the tank BLEVE near the factory fire. These cases are comprehensively investigated in their respective scenes and analyzed based on the fire site investigation reports from the fire department and related theoretical explanations of risk for each accident scene. In the third case study, some experimental research is conducted to evaluate the risk involved with the use of safety gloves. This is evaluated by reviewing Fire Tactics and Standard Operational Procedures (SOP) to determine improvements and recommendations for an efficient firefighting response. Results show that the main causes of burn accidents are the insufficient use of personal protective equipment (PPE), such as safety gloves, and the failure to follow firefighting tactics or SOPs. Through the accident investigation and assessment, it is concluded that to reduce the frequency of burn accidents, the performance of firefighting equipment, SOPs, protection tactics, and safety policy systems require improvement.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.105-124
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• 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 Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.195-203
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• 2012

Objectives: This paper aims to investigate the influence on stress hormones of job stress resulting from firefighting duties, as well as the degree of such influence. Methods: KOSS-26 and stress hormones such as norepinephrine (NE), epinephrine (EPI), adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH), and cortisol were analyzed for 191 male firefighters from the western area of Incheon, the Incheon Industrial Complex, and Bucheon, Korea. Job stress and stress hormones were compared between a office working group and field-working group. Results: There was no significant difference in EPI and ACTH between the two groups. Change of stress hormones prior to engaging in typical duties, following typical duties, and immediately after field activities was examined. All the EPI, ACTH, and cortisol showed statistically significant changes with time, but not NE in the blood. In the field-working group, the cortisol levels in the blood of the firefighting and rescue groups showed notable differences depending on the time at which the measurements were taken. Conclusion: The differences in stress hormone levels depending on the type of duties of the firefighters were identified. Thus, interventions proper to job requirements is required in order to ease stress.

• Journal of East-West Nursing Research
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.46-54
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• 2013

Purpose: An objective of this study was to investigate nurses' perceptions toward patient safety culture and to examine the factors affecting safety care activities. Methods: The participants were 429 nurses, at 6 hospitals located in regions, which have 150 to 300 beds, and HSOPSC (AHRQ, 2009) and questionnaire on safety care activities were used as measurement tools. Descriptive statistics, independent t-test, one way ANOVA, and stepwise multiple regression with SPSS/WIN version12.0 were used to analyze the data. Results: Supervisor manager expectations and actions promoting patients safety and frequency of events reported were the highest as positive responses, whereas staffing and nonpunitive response to errors showed the lowest scores as positive responses. Scores of medication surveillance is the highest while firefighting surveillance is the lowest in terms of safety care activities. Significant predictors influencing safety care activities were frequency of events report, handoffs and transitions, work unit a patient safety grade, organizational learning-continuous improvement, and teamwork across units. These predictors account for 23% of the variance. Conclusion: These results suggest that hospital policies and systems should be built to settle patient safety culture effectively. Development of standard manuals for safety care activities is another critical element for promoting patient safety.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.477-487
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• 2019

Objectives: Firefighters are known to be exposed to a variety of toxic substances, but little information is available on the exposure profile of firefighting activities. The aims of this study were to conduct exposure monitoring of toxic chemicals at fire scenes, to compare the concentrations of respective chemicals among firefighting tasks, and to assess the main factors influencing the concentrations of chemicals. Methods: Researchers performed sampling at firefighting scenes during four weeks in 2013. At the scene, we collected samples based on firefighters' own activities and examined the situation and scale of the accident. Collected samples were classified into three categories, including fire extinguishing and overhaul, and were analyzed in the laboratory according to respective analysis methods. Results: A total of fourteen fire activity events were surveyed: five fire extinguishing, six overhaul, and three fire investigations. Although no substance exceeded the ACGIH TLV, PAHs were detected in every sample. Naphthalene ranged from 0.24 to 279.13 mg/㎥ (median 49.6 mg/㎥) and benzo(a)pyrene was detected in one overhaul case at 10.85 ㎍/㎥. Benzene (0.01-12.2 ppm) was detected in every task and exceeded the ACGIH TLV. No significant difference in concentrations between tasks was shown. Conclusions: These results indicate that all firefighting tasks generated various hazardous combustion products, including possible carcinogens.

• Journal of Korean Critical Care Nursing
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.1-11
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• 2022

Purpose : The purpose of this study was to not only examine the importance and performance status of patient safety nursing activities in the intensive care unit but also to understand nurses' educational needs in this respect. Methods : In this descriptive study, 196 nurses working in the intensive care units of university hospitals located at B City and G Province were enrolled. They completed the Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) questionnaire, and the data were statistically analyzed. Results : Mean±standard deviation item scores of importance and performance of patient safety nursing activities were 4.75±0.33 and 4.48±0.38, respectively. In the IPA results, a total of 10 items were included in the second quadrant, including 1 item related to 'transfer,' 1 to 'infection,' and 1 to 'firefighting surveillance.' As the second quadrant contains the high-importance, low-performance items, these 10 items resemble the nurses' educational needs that should be prioritized. Conclusion : The results of this study can be used as a basis for the development of nursing educational programs for patient safety in the intensive care unit.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.87-94
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• 2017

This paper was dealing with the change of academic meaning for activities of volunteer firefighter by enforcement of "Act on Volunteer Fire Brigade Establishment & Operation". For that, we checked the references including definition, origin, history, activities, and characteristics of volunteer firefighter. In addition, we confirmed the differentiating activity characteristics between the volunteer firefighter and the general volunteer. In result, the characteristics of the volunteer firefighter activities did not have with the spontaneity of the general volunteer activities due to Article 3 (appointment of volunteer firefighter), Article 4 (dismissal of volunteer firefighter), and Article 9 (working conditions of volunteer firefighter, etc) of "Act on Volunteer Fire Brigade Establishment & Operation". Finally, we could not interpret that the characteristics of the activities of volunteer firefither is same with the general volunteer activities. The result in this paper is expected to serve as a basis for the research of the volunteer fire department in Korea.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.163-169
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• 2022

Recently, in Korea, if a very large forest fire occurs due to the people's carelessness, it is of great interest because it spreads into a large forest fire. If a wildfire spreads and becomes large, it will inflict great damage (appointment and property), and the damage is irreversible. The best way to extinguish a wildfire is to prevent it before it occurs. If a forest fire occurs due to a failure in prevention, the early firefighting activities to prevent the progress of the forest fire by promptly dispatching it by reporting it and approaching the site as soon as possible should now be managed with a systematic integrated management system. To do so, it is necessary to prepare a preventive system, such as issuing warnings for each weather condition by the Korea Forest Service, consisting of cooperation (support) activities for forest fire prevention by related organizations, etc. In order to minimize the loss of precious lives and forests, measures have been taken to establish a system, to establish a prompt and accurate situation reporting system, and to establish an integrated command system (ICS) for on-site commanders.

• The Korean Journal of Emergency Medical Services
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.119-127
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• 2022

Purpose: This study aimed to examine the necessity of administrative compensation insurance and claims cases during the emergency medical service process among administrative compensation insurance cases and suggests problems and improvement measures. Methods: We compared the details of administrative compensation insurance claims of 15 cities and provinces, excluding Seoul and Kwangju, from 2017 to 2020 by requesting details disclosure of the comprehensive deduction for administrative compensation in 17 cities and provinces across the country. Results: A total of 69 cases were compensated through the administrative comprehensive compensation deductions. There were 53 cases of damage that occurred at the field stage, 14 cases at the transfer and hospital stage, and two other cases. Conclusion: The 119 paramedics, which are the perpetrators, should be active in field activities and free from the psychological pressure caused by increased workload and litigation. Active compensation administration is required for damage cases occurring in the firefighting activities context.