• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.515-526
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• 2021

This study aimed to investigate the evaluation of firefighting gloves and the behavior regarding their usage, of firefighting officials in Seoul, using a questionnaire. Responses from a total of 270 firefighters who are responsible for putting out fires or undertaking rescue works in Seoul were analyzed. As per the findings, the firefighters considered ease of hand operation and fire/flame protection as the most important performance factors for firefighting gloves, and they were satisfied with the supply status of the gloves. The average number of firefighting gloves currently owned by the firefighters was 2.6 ± 0.8 pairs. Thirty-nine percent of the respondents said that their firefighting gloves lasted, with maintained performance, for more than six months and less than a year, and when asked how they handled the gloves with degraded performance, 46% of them said that they would discard them. Sixty-eight percent of the respondents said that they used the most recently developed and supplied gloves, which they considered as the most satisfying gloves and which they mainly used these days. Respondents were highly satisfied with the fire/flame protection performance of their firefighting gloves, but were less satisfied, however, with the glove fit. These results suggest that there has been a significant improvement in the overall performance level and supply status of the firefighting gloves. Given the current situation, careful considerations with flexible approaches are needed on the current firefighting gloves size system as well as on the personal protective equipment maintenance and management scheme.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aviation and Aeronautics
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.113-119
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• 2015

Recently, even though firefighting operations are supposed to be incorporated into single body IAW restructuring of the government organizations, in terms of efficiency it is still difficult to find any significant improvements due to the centrally and locally segregated operating bodies and also, as with organizations firefighting manpowers are divided nationally and locally, which results in differing firefighting functioning. Although governments firefighting bodies are changed to operate better, there are always limitations in firefighting operations. This study explores firefighting organizations, manpower, equipment and operations itself to optimize firefighting operations, and ultimately, to provide the future-oriented functions and roles of the firefighting aviation corps.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.49-56
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• 2012

The purpose of this paper is to present a model for operating an emergency power system(EPS) that can secure a sufficient power supply used in case of a fire by analyzing the status of power supplies for emergency and firefighting operations. Investigations on the one of the causes of the operational failure of firefighting systems show evidence of EPS. Generally, when power to a building is interrupted, EPS supplies the emergency load(excepted firefighting load) first. When a power outage and a fire occur simultaneously, the EPS must be able to supply both the emergency load and the firefighting load, especially the firefighting load to the end. However, in order to save construction costs, emergency power generators in apartment, commercial, and business buildings can satisfy only one of the required loads. In cases like this, when a power outage and a fire occur simultaneously, there is a danger of firefighting equipment not operating due to insufficient power supply from the emergency generator. Therefore, an EPS must have a reserved firefighting power that can supply both the firefighting and the emergency load. Such EPS, when faced with a danger of an overload, will shut down the supply to all or part of the emergency load, thus securing a continuous power supply to the firefighting equipment. The generator power system with reserved firefighting power (RFP) will also have an indicator to show that the selective control is being used. General power generation systems for emergency load and firefighting load were found to have a demand factor of 50-60% with a lump. However, when installing an EPS, the builders must choose the higher demand factor suggested according to the official approval demand factor of the building.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.14-22
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• 2014

Hydrocarbon fires and explosions in petrochemical plants have occurred repeatedly every year. But domestic law of fire protection system is insufficient for the worst case scenario. In this study, we analyzed domestic and foreign standards of fire protection system in petrochemical plants and surveyed firefighting equipment of 32 petrochemical plants in ulsan petrochemical complex. Finally, it is necessary to design fire water supply based on the worst case scenario in petrochemical plants and firefighting equipment such as fixed water spray system, elevated monitor nozzle, water curtain, large amount foam monitor system should be installed for the worst case scenario in petrochemical plants.

• The Korean Journal of Emergency Medical Services
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.87-99
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• 2022

Purpose: This study aimed to provide basic data for the improvement of the standards related to the performance improvement of the firefighting equipment standards for special ambulances. Methods: Among the domestic firefighting equipment standards, the special ambulance standard was compared with the NFPA 1917 standard for the United States automobile ambulance 2019 and European Union European standard EN 1789 medical vehicle and its equipment, a road ambulance. Results: Anti-skid performance based on indoor noise standards, performance standards for interior lights, seat belt warning device, child car seat fixing device, safety handle, auxiliary footrest, and flooring materials should be supplemented. Conclusion: It is necessary to strengthen the production and performance standards for improvement to a level corresponding to the national standards, such as the United States and European Union.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.138-148
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• 2016

A firefighting simulation was developed in order to assess the physical work capacity of firefighters. The simulation consisted of eight common firefighting tasks, including walking with radiant heat for 3 min while wearing full personal protective equipment (PPE). Nine professional firefighters performed the test a total of three times with a 5 min rest interval between each session. The entire series of tests took approximately 30 min to complete ($381{\pm}30s$). Rectal temperatures were found to increase from $37.4{\pm}0.3^{\circ}C$ to $38.5{\pm}0.4^{\circ}C$, while heart rates were found to increase from $92{\pm}18bpm$ to $185{\pm}13bpm$ during testing. Time to completion of the test drills and non-modified physical fitness values showed a significantly negative correlation (r = -0.728, p < 0.05). Firefighters who had longer periods of firefighting service had longer duration time and also recorded higher scores using an integrated scoring system of time to completion (TTC) and physiological strain index (PhSI). The results indicated that the determination of TTC alone can be a misrepresentation of capability, as it neglects to account for accumulated heat strain. The simulated firefighting test provided a useful insight into physical fitness level, but also the comprehensive work capacity of the firefighters when assessed based on TTC and PhSI.

• 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.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.334-344
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• 2021

The study has suggested a way to minimize safety accidents found in on-site firefighting activity by analyzing firefighters' [investigation report on accidents to on-sie workers]. The study result is described as follows. First, the result of [investigation report on on-site workers] shows that while accidents are found to most frequently have occurred to low-ranking firefighting officers such as Sobangsa and Sobanggyo and firefighting officers with career of less than 5 years, fire-extinguishing activity proved to be the most prone to accidents in the category of activity. Second, analysis performed to identify variance between injury extent and area based on cause of accident shows statistically significant variance. In addition, the result of verifying difference in cause of accident based on category of activity shows significant difference with 'falling over and sliding' being the highly likely cause of accident in fire containment and rescue activities and 'reckless move' being highly likely case of accident in emergency activities. Third, the result of verifying factors behind the extent of injury done to on-site workers shows that when accident is caused by 'incomplete behavior', it was found that the extent of injury is substantial. It was also found that rescue activity is accompanied by substantial extent of injury. As a solution to this, the study suggested ways to establish, extend and operate safety-specific curriculum for entrants, develop materials regarding risk prognosis training and explicate training-related regulations, set up safety management measure for a single squad team, upgrade performance of private protection equipment, institutionalize SOP by on-site activity stage, materialize and activate swift rescue team and increase objectivity and proficiency of safety accident investigation.

• Journal of Korean Living Environment System
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.549-561
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• 2017

We conducted a nationalwide questionnaire to investigate accidental experiences and injuries at flashover or flame-fire for active firefighters in the line of duty. A total of 794 firefighters participated in this survey (764 males, 27 females, and 3 respondents; $39.2{\pm}8.4yr$ in age, $173.7{\pm}5.1cm$ in height, $73.4{\pm}8.6kg$ in body mass). The results showed that high risk circumstances the most frequently experienced while firefighting in Korea was flashover followed by backdraft, rollover and flameover. At the high risk circumstances the most frequently-experienced injuries were bruise, stabs and burns. Firefighters hoped to reduce the total mass of personal protective equipment (PPE), improve the mobility of the PPE and dexterity of protective gloves, so that they could escape from the high risk circumstances as fast as possible. In particular, requirements for improvement on protective gloves were greater than those on other PPE. The present study suggested that the need for improvements on the current firefighters' PPE to cope with emergency high risk situations in terms of PPE mass reduction and mobility.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.182-194
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• 2022

Objectives: This study evaluates and recommends the priority of policy implementation to improve the fire protection clothing management system used by firefighters and the reduction of cross-contamination from contaminated clothing at the scene of a fire. Methods: It consisted of 7 experts and conducted three interviews and two modified Delphi surveys. Through the results of previous research and interviews with experts, a plan to reduce cross-contamination of fire suits and improve the management system was first derived. An improvement plan was presented in the four areas including resources, management, fire protection related work, and laws and regulations, and the priority of policy implementation was derived by analyzing the importance and practicality of the policy at the same time. Results: As a result of the analysis, the first priority was education on the health effects of pollutants at the disaster scene for firefighters, and the second priority was the addition of SOP for the primary decontamination of on-scene personal protective equipment in preparation for the health effects of the disaster scene, and education for fire suppression and rescue workers. The next step was to improve the management system of personal protective equipment such as fire suits and develop a training course for systematic operation. Conclusions: This findings could be used in the implementation of mid- to long-term firefighting policies for the systematic operation and establishment of a systematic management system for personal protective equipment such as fire protective suits.