• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.19-28
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• 2024

Background: This study aims to analyze radiation safety management and regulatory perceptions, focusing on companies that must report radiation sources. The intent is to reduce the gap between regulation measures and addressing real concerns while improving practical safety management measures and regulations for all stakeholders. Materials and Methods: Radiation safety officers at a total of 244 reporting companies using radiation generators (79.8%) and sealed radioisotopes (15.1%) were surveyed using a questionnaire. Results and Discussion: The perception that regulation is stronger than the actual risk of the radiation source used was 3.47 points (out of 5 points), indicating a score above average. The most important factors and considerations were education and training (48%) as a human factor, safety devices of the radiation source (71.3%) as a hazardous material factor, the use of radiation (50.8%) as an organizational environment, and the radiation effect of nearby facilities (67.2%) as a physical environment. Radiation safety management educational experience (F= 5.030, p< 0.01), the group with high subjective knowledge (t= 6.017, p< 0.001), and the group with high objective knowledge (t= 1.989, p< 0.05) was found to be better at radiation safety management. Conclusion: It is necessary to standardize the educational experience regarding radiation safety management because each staff member has individual differences in educational experience. It is necessary to provide more information on how to solve radiation accidents via educational content. Applying radiation safety regulations based on the factors that significantly affect radiation safety management shown in this survey will help improve safety.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.192-199
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• 2024

Background: Safety data sheets (SDSs) are hazard communication materials that accompany chemicals/hazardous products in the workplace. Many SDSs contain dense, technical text, which places considerable comprehension demands on workers, especially those with lower literacy skills. The goal of this study was to assess SDSs for readability, comprehensibility, and suitability (i.e., fit to the target audience). Methods: The Suitability Assessment of Materials (SAM) tool assessed SDSs for suitability and readability. We then amended the SAM tool to further assess SDSs for comprehensibility factors. Both the original and amended SAM tool were used to score 45 randomly selected SDSs for content, literacy demand, graphics, and layout/typography. Results: SDSs performed poorly in terms of readability, suitability, and comprehensibility. The mean readability scores were Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (9.6), Gunning Fog index (11.0), Coleman-Liau index (13.7), and Simple Measure of Gobbledygook index (10.7), all above the recommended reading level. The original SAM graded SDSs as "not suitable" for suitability and readability. When the amended SAM was used, the mean total SAM score increased, but the SDSs were still considered "not suitable" when adding comprehensibility considerations. The amended SAM tool better identified content-related issues specific to SDSs that make it difficult for a reader to understand the material. Conclusions: In terms of readability, comprehensibility, and suitability, SDSs perform poorly in their primary role as a hazard communication tool, therefore, putting workers at risk. The amended SAM tool could be used when writing SDSs to ensure that the information is more easily understandable for all audiences.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.449-461
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• 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 Korean Society for Geospatial Information Science
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.43-50
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• 2016

Urbanization in Korea has increased significantly and subsequently, various facilities have been concentrated in urban areas at high speed in accordance with a growing urban population. Accordingly, damages have occurred due to a variety of disasters. In particular, fire damage among the social disasters caused the most severe damage in urban areas along with traffic accidents. 44,432 cases of fire occurred in 2015 in Korea. Due to these accidents, 253 were killed and property damage of 4,50 billion won was generated. However, despite the efforts to reduce a variety of damage, fire danger still remains high. In this regard, this study collected fire data, generated from 2007 to 2014 through the Jinju Fire Department and the National Fire Data System(NFDS) and calculated fire risk by analyzing the clustering of fire cases and facilities in Jinju-si based on the current DB of facilities, offered by the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs. As a result, the risk ratings of fire occurrence were classified as four stages under the standards of the US Society of Fire Protection Engineers(SEPE). Business facilities, entertainment facilities, and automobile facilities were classified as the highest A grade, detached houses, Apartment houses, education facilities, sales facilities, accommodation, set of facilities, medical facilities, industrial facilities, and life service facilities were classified as U grade, and other facilities were classified as EU grade. Finally, hazardous production facilities were classified as BEU grade, the lowest grade. In addition, in the case of setting the standard with loss of life, the highest risk facility was the hazardous production facilities, while in the case of setting the standard with property damage, a set of facilities and industrial facilities showed the highest risk. In this regard, this study is expected to be effectively utilized to establish the fire reduction measures against facilities, distributed in urban space by calculating risk grades regarding the generation frequency, casualties, and property damage, through the classification of fire, occurred in the city, according to the facilities.

• Information Systems Review
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.147-167
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• 2009

As global climate changes, the interest in environmental crisis is increasing and a number of international agreements and regulations against this crisis are being established. Global information technology(IT) corporations are building their own pro-environmental green IT strategies to cope with the regulatory measures. Green IT broadly refers to pro-environmental technologies designed to replace hazardous materials, maximize energy effectivity, and find alternative energies. In the current stage of the IT industry development, Green IT specifically refers to the technologies that deal with the server heat generation and the energy reduction in data center. This study defines the concept of Green IT and reviews its origin and necessity. Then, it examines the issues regarding Green IT industry in Korea as well as other countries and compares the Green IT strategies developed in each country. Reviewing the recent development of IT and data center market enables us to see that overall Green IT strategies focus on the establishment of Green Internet Data Centers. Therefore, this study analyzes the cases in which some domestic and foreign corporations introduced Green Data Centers in order to examine the protocol and legal requirements for building Green IT, the aspects of environmental evaluation and design, and specific strategies for launching Green IT strategies and its future assignments. The conclusions of this study are as follows. First, to introduce Green Data Center as a strategy to build Green IT, the government and corporations should cooperate with each other. Partial introduction at the initial stage is desirable because, through the process, mutual trust between the two parties can be built more smoothly. Second, CEO's determination to build Green IT and continue its operation is indispensable. CEO's are required to have clear understanding as to why Green IT needs to be built and how it should be constructed. Those who initiate the construction of Green Data Center for Green IT need to know the definition and necessity of Green IT while at the same time understanding the implicit meanings of Green IT. They also need to be aware of future-oriented values of Green Data Center and readjust their corporate business activities in the pro-environmental direction. Finally, not only the CEOs' pro-environmental activities but also the change of mind on the part of all corporate employees is required to realize Green IT. It should be remembered that pro-environmental Green IT starts with minor activities.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.347-353
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• 2005

The risk assessment is the qualitative or quantitative evaluation of the risk posed to human health and the environment by the actual or potential presence or release of hazardous substances, pollutants or contaminants. The environmental impact assessment (EIA) is assessed by the environmental criteria, and risk assessment is assessed by the risk rate. Risk rate based on dose-response values may not be easy to apply on regulatory basis like EIA for uncertainty. Internationally there is an example of OECD program. Risk assessment of High Production Volume (HPV) Chemicals has started since the OECD Program with the 1990 Council Act on the Co-operative Investigation and Risk Reduction of Existing Chemicals. These HPV chemicals include all chemicals produced or imported at levels greater than 1,000 tonnes per year in at least one Member country or in the European Union region. The SIDS called the Screening Information Data Set is regarded as the minimum information needed to assess an HPV chemical to determine whether any further work should be carried out or not. All the data elements of SIDS including assessment for environment and health are prepared as three formats of the full SIDS Dossier, the SIDS Initial Assessment Report (SIAR), and the SIDS Initial Assessment Profile (SIAP) of an HPV chemical. In 1998 the global chemical industry through the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA) has joined to work with OECD. The OECD has assessed approximately 1,000 chemicals from 1991 through 2004 with ICCA. Till the February of 2005, 592 chemicals of those chemicals completed SIDS reports. Member countries have been targeted the goal of 1,000 new chemicals from 2005 to 2010 and Korea shared 36 chemicals from the 1,000 new chemicals. Currently Korea has completed SIDS reports of 7 chemicals among sponsored 24 chemicals. In conclusion SIDS project will be linked to national program for outputs application with more reliable production. Both the OECD and industry will carry out their commitment to complete assessments for more and the remaining chemicals assessment. The major outputs will contribute to cope with international chemical management.

• Spatial Information Research
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.79-87
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• 2014

In order to foster rapid disaster response and public life protection, National Emergency Management Agency has been trying to spread 'Emergency Rescue Standard System' on a national scale since 2006. The agency has also intensified management of firefighter's safety on disaster site by implementing danger predication training, specialized training and education and safety procedure check as a part of safety management officer duties. Nevertheless, there are limitations for effective fire fighting steps, such as damage spreading and life damage due to unawareness of illegal converted structure, structure transformation by high temperature and nearby hazardous material storage as well as extemporary situation handling endangered firefighter's life. In order to eliminate these limitations there is a need for an effort and technology application to minimize human errors such as inaccurate situational awareness, wrong decision built on experience and judgment of field commander and firefighters. The purpose of this study is to propose a new disaster response model which is applied with geospatial information. we executed spatial contextual awareness map analysis using fire-fighting vulnerable zone model to propose the new disaster response model and also examined a case study for Dalseo-gu in Daegu Metropolitan City. Finally, we also suggested operational concept of new proposed model on a national scale.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2021

Objective: The purpose of this study was to contribute to the prevention of occupational diseases through the development of an automatic analysis program for evaluating workers' exposure to hazardous chemical substances. Methods: The authors selected chemical substances that caused occupational disease in Korea and chemical substances that are frequently used in industrial sites as target substances for a GC-MS automatic analysis program. The target substances are organic compounds which can be measured by a passive sampler. The automatic analysis program was studied using various raw data obtained from GC-MS analysis for the target substances. Results: A total of 48 organic compounds that can be measured with a passive sampler were selected as target substances for the GC-MS automatic analysis program. The selected compounds included substances that caused occupational disease, substances related to C1 and D1 in special health examinations, and substances for which work environment measurements have been frequently conducted. The GC-MS automatic analysis program was developed by combining information mainly on retention time and mass spectrum. The GC-MS automatic analysis program is designed to analyze unknown samples by comparing the mass spectrum and retention time of the samples to those of reference materials. To evaluate the stability of the program, samples at about the 30-50% level of OELs were prepared and analyzed with the GC-MS automatic analysis program, resulting in stable results for all 48 organic compounds. Conclusion: An automatic analysis program for a total of 48 organic compounds was developed using a GC-MS system that can analyze organic compounds. Unknown samples that contain the 48 organic compounds can be automatically analyzed by the developed program. It is anticipated that it can contribute to the prevention of occupational diseases through an GC-MS automatic analysis program that can quickly provide workers with information on exposure to chemical substances.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.306-313
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• 2022

Purpose: The purpose of this study is suggested to improve upon current existing methods of ammonia chemical accident prevention and damage reduction. Method: Ammonia is one of the most common toxic substances that causes frequent chemical accidents. And it was selected as leakage materials according to statistics on chemical accident. Based on actual cases of chemical accidents, CARIS modeling was used to compare the damage impact range of Ammonia and HCl and Cl. Also, find out problems with the current systems. Result: As a result of find out the range of accident influence that spreads to the surroundings when an ammonia chemical accident, it was longer than the range of influence of hydrochloric acid and shorter than that of chlorine. In addition, it was found that when chemical accident by ammonia, hydrochloric acid, or chlorine, there are apartments and schools, which can have an effect. Conclusion: It is decided that it is necessary to determine whether or not chemical accident prevention management plans and statistical investigations are submitted for workplaces dealing with ammonia, and detailed guidelines and reviews are necessary. In addition, it is judged that it is necessary to establish a DB for ammonia handling plants, and it is considered that information sharing and joint inspection among related organizations should be pursued.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.91-100
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• 2010

Existing traffic safety studies have focused on identifying the relationship among roadway crashes, highway design and incremental weather condition such as rainy/ice weather. However, it is hard to find researches that studied the effect of sun glare on traffic safety although there are abundant evidences demonstrating that fatal traffic crashes are attributed to the sun glare. Affecting drivers'vision particularly during the morning or the evening time when the sun positions close to the horizon, sun glare directly deteriorate drivers'judgmental capability. In this paper, we numerically analyze the effect of sun glare on the drivers'vision in time and space domains. Applied to the roadways around St Louis area in the United States, the GIS based simulation analysis identifies the time of day in a year and the segments of highways that are potentially influenced by the sun glare. This study evidentially confirms the fact that roadway bounded for West and East directions have longer time influenced by sun glare particularly during Spring and Fall season than other roadways. The computational result provides risky time periods of day at intersections or pedestrian crossings where the sun glare potentially endangers traffic safety, which be utilized to reduce the crashes due to the sun glare.