• Title/Summary/Keyword: Health and safety risks

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High resolution size characterization of particulate contaminants for radioactive metal waste treatment

  • Lee, Min-Ho;Yang, Wonseok;Chae, Nakkyu;Choi, Sungyeol
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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    • v.53 no.7
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    • pp.2277-2288
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    • 2021
  • To regulate the safety protocols in nuclear facilities, radioactive aerosols have been extensively researched to understand their health impacts. However, most measured particle-size distributions remain at low resolutions, with the particle sizes ranging from nanometer to micrometer. This study combines the high-resolution detection of 500 size classes, ranging from 6 nm to 10 ㎛, for aerodynamic diameter distributions, with a regional lung deposition calculation. We applied the new approach to characterize particle-size distributions of aerosols generated during the plasma arc cutting of simulated non-radioactive steel alloy wastes. The high-resolution measured data were used to calculate the deposition ratios of the aerosols in different lung regions. The deposition ratios in the alveolar sacs contained the dominant particle sizes ranging from 0.01 to 0.1 ㎛. We determined the distribution of various metals using different vapor pressures of the alloying components and analyzed the uncertainties of lung deposition calculations using the low-resolution aerodynamic diameter data simultaneously. In high-resolution data, the changes in aerosols that can penetrate the blood system were better captured, correcting their potential risks by a maximum of 42%. The combined calculations can aid the enhancement of high-resolution measuring equipment to effectively manage radiation safety in nuclear facilities.

Research on the Safety Improvement Method for the Company' s RAMS Management Business and Public Infrastructure

  • Lee, Jong-Beom;Cho, Jai-Rip
    • Proceedings of the Korean Society for Quality Management Conference
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    • 2010.04a
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    • pp.254-261
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    • 2010
  • The increase in hazard level is attributed to the industrial hazard environment; complete national environmental hazards to human health include climate change. The damage level in Korea from 1993 to 2009 has exceeded the Increase In adverse environmental conditions. Priority areas of concern will include those risks that are most likely to occur and are expensive when they do take place such as accident or injury at a community pool. Therefore, in this paper, we suggest the System Engineering method for application to the railway RAMS. Recently, the requirement of high-integrity level of infrastructure has been deemed important. The systems level approach is defined through the assessment of the RAMS interactions between elements of complex system applications.

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Prioritizing Management Ranking for Hazardous Chemicals Reflecting Aggregate Exposure (통합노출을 고려한 유해물질 관리의 우선순위 선정)

  • Jeong, Ji-Yoon;Jung, Yoo-Kyung;Hwang, Myung-Sil;Jung, Ki-Kyung;Yoon, Hae-Jung
    • Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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    • v.27 no.4
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    • pp.349-355
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    • 2012
  • In this study, we configured a system which ranks hazardous chemicals to determine their management priorities based on experts' opinions and the existing CRS (chemical ranking and scoring). Aggregate exposure of food, health functional food, oriental/herbal medicine and cosmetics have been taken into account to determine management priority. In this study, 25 hazardous chemicals were selected, such as cadmium, lead, mercury, and arsenic, etc. These 25 materials were ranked according to their 1) risk (exposure or hazard) indexes, 2) exposure source-based weight, and 3) public interests, which were also formed based on the existing priority ranking system. Cadmium was scored the highest (178.5) and bisphenol A the lowest (56.8). Ten materials -- cadmium, lead, mercury, arsenic, tar, acrylamide, benzopyrene, aluminium, benzene, and PAHs -- scored higher than 100. Eight materials -- aflatoxin, manganese, phthalate, chromium, nitrate/nitrite, ethylcarbamate, formaldehyde, and copper -- recorded scores in the range from 70 to 100. Also evaluated as potential risks were 7 materials; sulfur dioxide, ochratoxin, dioxins, PCBs, fumonisin, methyl mercury, and bisphenol A, and these materials were scored above 50. Then we compared risk index and correlation coefficient of total scores to confirm the validity of the total scores; we analyzed correlation coefficient of parameter and indicator. We discovered that the total score and weight, which has incorporated public interests, were high and statistically significant. In conclusion, the result of this study contributes to strengthening risk assessment and risk management of hazardous chemicals.

Public Health Risks: Chemical and Antibiotic Residues - Review -

  • Lee, M.H.;Lee, H.J.;Ryu, P.D.
    • Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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    • v.14 no.3
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    • pp.402-413
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    • 2001
  • Food safety is a term broadly applied to food quality that may adversely affect human health. These include zoonotic diseases and acute and chronic effects of ingesting natural and human-made xenobiotics. There are two major areas of concern over the presence of residues of antibiotics in animal-derived foodstuffs with regard to human health. The first is allergic reactions. Some antibiotics, such as penicillins can evoke allergic reactions even though small amounts of them are ingested or exposed by parenteral routes. The second is development of antibiotic resistance in gut bacteria of human. Recently multi-resistant pneumococcal, glycopeptide-resistant enterococci and gram negative bacteria with extended-spectrum $\beta$-lactamases have spread all over the world, and are now a serious therapeutic problem in human. Although it is evident that drugs are required in the efficient production of meat, milk and eggs, their indiscriminate use should never be substituted for hygienic management of farm. Drug should be used only when they are required. In addition to veterinary drugs, environmental contaminants that were contaminated in feed, water and air can make residues in animal products. Mycotoxins, heavy metals, pesticides, herbicides and other chemicals derived from industries can be harmful both to animal and human health. Most of organic contaminants, such as dioxin, PCBs and DDT, and metals are persistent in environment and biological organisms and can be accumulated in fat and hard tissues. Some of them are suspected to have endocrine disrupting, carcinogenic, teratogenic, immunodepressive and nervous effects. The governmental agencies concerned make efforts to prevent residue problems; approval of drugs including withdrawal times of each preparation of drugs, establishment of tolerances, guidelines regarding drug use and sanitation enforcement of livestock products. National residue program is conducted to audit the status of the chemical residues in foods. Recently HACCP has been introduced to promote food safety from farm to table by reducing hazardous biological, chemical and physical factors. Animal Production Food Safety Program, Quality Assurance Programs, Food Animal Residue Avoidance Databank are para- or non-governmental activities ensuring food safety. This topic will cover classification and usage or sources of chemical residues, their adverse effects, and chemical residue status of some countries. Issues are expanded to residue detection methodologies, toxicological and pharmacokinetic backgrounds of MRL and withdrawal time establishments, and the importance of non-governmental activities with regard to reducing chemical residues in food.

Managing Technological Risk and Risk Conflict : Public Debates on Health Risks of Mobile Phones EMF (기술위험 관리와 위험갈등 : 휴대전화 전자파의 인체유해성 논란)

  • Jung, Byung-Kul
    • Journal of Science and Technology Studies
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    • v.8 no.1
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    • pp.97-129
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    • 2008
  • We are living in the time of high probability of technological risk due to increased rate of technology development and diffusion of new technologies. Resolving uncertainties, the basic attribution of risk, by accumulating knowledge over the risk factors of certain technology is critical to management of technological risk. In many cases of technological risks, high uncertainty of knowledge is commonly mentioned reason for public controversies on risk management. However, the type of technological risk with low social agreement and low uncertainty of knowledge, the main reason for public controversy is absence of social agreement. Public debates on the risks of mobile phones electromagnetic fields(EMF) to human health comes under this category. The knowledge uncertainty on human health effect of mobile phones EMF has been lowered increasingly by accumulating enormous volume of knowledge though scientists have not reached a final conclusion whether it pose a risk to the physical and mental health of the general population or not. In contrast with civil organizations calling for precautionary approach based regulation, the mobile phone industry is cling to the position of no-regulation-needed by arguing no clear evidence to prove health risks of mobile phone EMF has found. In Korea, government set exposure standards based on a measurement called the 'specific absorption rate'(SAR) and require the mobile phone industry to open SAR information to the public by their own decision. From the view of pro-regulation side based on precautionary approach, technology risk managament of mobile phones EMF in Korea is highly limited and formalized one with limited measuring of SAR on head part only and problematic self-regulated opening of information about SAR to the public. As far as the government keeps having priority on protecting interest of mobile phone industry over precautionary regulation of mobile phones EMF, the disagreement between civil organizations and the government will not resolved. The risk of mobile phones EMF to human health have high probability of being underestimated in the rate and damage of risk than objectively estimated ones due to familiarity of mobile phone technology. And this can be the cause of destructive social dispute or devastating disaster. To prevent such disastrous results, technology risk management, which integrating the goals of safety with economic growth in public policy and designing and promoting risk communication, is required.

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A Study on the Improvement of Safety Management by Port Logistics Industry Using Bow-Tie Analysis (Bow-Tie 분석기법을 이용한 항만물류산업 안전관리 개선방안에 관한 연구)

  • KIM, Do-Yean;SIM, Min-Seop;Lee, Jeong-Min;SHIN, Yong-Ran
    • Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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    • v.46 no.1
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    • pp.57-72
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    • 2022
  • The recent increase in international trade volume and explosive increase in cargo volume due to the non-face-to-face society are leading to an increase in risk exposure and safety accidents in the port logistics industry. Consequently, as the atmosphere and consensus on safety are spreading throughout the society, various safety laws are being enacted by the industry. Nevertheless, according to the industrial accidents status analysis by the Ministry of Employment and Labor, the average annual number of injured persons increased by 11.1% and the number of deaths by 4.0% from 2015 to 2019. This means that special attention should be paid to possible future risks and preventive measures for major causes of accidents should be established. Therefore, in this study, risk assessment was conducted based on 5,028 accident cases that were reported by the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency for 5 years, from 2016 to 2020, and major risk factors for each industry were derived, and then bow-tie analysis was conducted to perform the risk assessment; Further, the study aimed to derive the causes and preventive measures from the risk factors.

Hybrid bolt-loosening detection in wind turbine tower structures by vibration and impedance responses

  • Nguyen, Tuan-Cuong;Huynh, Thanh-Canh;Yi, Jin-Hak;Kim, Jeong-Tae
    • Wind and Structures
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    • v.24 no.4
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    • pp.385-403
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    • 2017
  • In recent years, the wind energy has played an increasingly important role in national energy sector of many countries. To harvest more electric power, the wind turbine (WT) tower structure becomes physically larger, which may cause more risks during long-term operation. Associated with the great development of WT projects, the number of accidents related to large-scaled WT has also been increased. Therefore, a structural health monitoring (SHM) system for WT structures is needed to ensure their safety and serviceability during operational time. The objective of this study is to develop a hybrid damage detection method for WT tower structures by measuring vibration and impedance responses. To achieve the objective, the following approaches are implemented. Firstly, a hybrid damage detection scheme which combines vibration-based and impedance-based methods is proposed as a sequential process in three stages. Secondly, a series of vibration and impedance tests are conducted on a lab-scaled model of the WT structure in which a set of bolt-loosening cases is simulated for the segmental joints. Finally, the feasibility of the proposed hybrid damage detection method is experimentally evaluated via its performance during the damage detection process in the tested model.

A Study on the Design of Humane Animal Care System and Java Implementation

  • Gong, Hui-Su;Weon, Sunghyun;Huh, Jun-Ho
    • Journal of Information Processing Systems
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    • v.14 no.5
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    • pp.1225-1236
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    • 2018
  • Nowadays, the number of pets in the Republic of Korea (ROK) is continuously growing, and people's perception of animals is changing. Accordingly, new systems and services for them are emerging. Despite such changes, there are still many serious problems such as animal cruelty, abandonment, and factory-type breeding places. In this study, we have conducted a research on the design of a humane animal care system and its implementation with Java. The methodology involved in the design will enable managing animals' safety and health by systematically categorizing and studying each health-related issue for protection. Moreover, with this methodology, animals can avert risks through periodic examinations, and the analyzed data will be useful in managing animals efficiently. Thus, this paper proposes a system that monitors whether the owners actually carry out such obligation. Authors expect this convenient, easily accessible system to lead to a more humane approach to the animals they own. The authors plan to establish an animal care network together with local animal associations for the active promotion of the system implemented in this study, in the hope that the network will be extended nationwide.

The Study of Opportunistic Infection in the Medical Radiation Environment

  • Kim, Hyun-Soo;Dong, Kyung-Rae;Park, Ho-Sung
    • Korean Journal of Digital Imaging in Medicine
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    • v.13 no.3
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    • pp.105-109
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    • 2011
  • With the development of medical technologies and the growth of household incomes, most of the people have become to be interested in health as it leads to significant early detection and cure of diseases. However the pattern of disease becomes diverse and it makes the imaging diagnosis department crowded with many patients. Therefore the opportunistic infection could be serious there. The hospital becomes the place which provides high risks of infection danger but it is true that the opportunistic infection of the hospital employees is not still recognized well. The imaging diagnosis department has developed a lot but it becomes the medium of secondary infection of patients and employees. So this study analyzesthe status of bacteria infection of the examination table, the handle of diagnostic equipment and the hands of radiation staffs in imaging diagnosis department of the general hospitals and individual ones. And the result shows that some bacteria were found even though it's little. We are trying to make the hospitals to be free of secondary infection securing safety measure to prevent the secondaryinfection from occurring to patients and hospital employees.

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A Study on Optimal Ventilation Design for Gas Boxes Installed in Semiconductor Manufacturing Equipment Handling Flammable Liquids (인화성 가스를 취급하는 반도체 제조장비에 설치된 가스박스 최적 환기 설계에 대한 연구)

  • Gyu Sun Cho;Sang Ryung Kim;Won Baek Yang
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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    • v.27 no.1
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    • pp.63-69
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    • 2023
  • Although Korea is the world's No. 1 semiconductor producing country, most studies are conducted with risk assessment for simple material risks due to the closedness of the site for industrial protection. In terms of industrial safety, a monitoring system such as a gas detector to determine the leakage of hazardous substances has been established, but research on effectively discharging harmful gastritis substances in case of leakage has only recently begun. Semiconductor manufacturing facilities (gas boxes) where a large amount of flammable materials are handled are currently being safety managed by using a gas detector and blocking the air inlet. It is difficult to dilute in a short time in case of leakage of flammable substances. Therefore, in this study, based on various criteria, the size of the duct according to the size of the gas box is determined and the appropriate size of the air inlet is studied to minimize the exhaust performance requirement without exposing hazardous chemicals to the outside in the event of a flammable leak. We want to do an optimal exhaust design.