• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.360-366
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• 2018

Purpose: This study operation of Joint inter-agency Chemical Emergency Preparedness Center and contribute to the reduction of chemical accidents that occur continuously. Method: The Joint inter-agency Chemical Emergency Preparedness Center functions and Chemical accident statistics data of the ('13~'17) were utilized. Results: The number of chemical accidents is decreasing from 113 in '15, 78 in '16, 87 in '17(latest five years 469 chemical accidents). The Joint inter-agency Chemical Emergency Preparedness Center is located in the industrial complex that handling a large amount of chemical, and performs functions such as prompt response, probation & investigation, accident prevention training, safety patrol. It is believed that it contributes to the decreasing of chemical accident by local control accident prevention function. Conclusion: Decreasing the safety management according to the Chemicals control act('15.1.1). The Joint inter-agency Chemical Emergency Preparedness Center('14.1 set up manage organization), which is operated as a mission to prepare respond to chemical accidents, plays a role.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.409-417
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• 2019

Purpose: Since the implementation of the Chemical Substance Management Act, data on the number of occurrences by annual chemical accident in Korea and the contractor's contract data received from the competent authority were used. After the implementation of the contract reporting system, the contribution to the reduction of chemical accidents is summarized by statistical data. The characteristics of each region, month, type and those of similar industries and human life were compared and analyzed. Method: 4 years of chemical accident statistics from 2015 to 2018 and since 2003, we have used data from the Chemical Safety Clearing-House (CSC), which provides safety information on cases of chemical accidents. Results and Conclusion: The risk of accidents increases as a number of unskilled workers are put into the workplace during the period when the hazardous chemical handling process is temporarily suspended. Through the reporting for awarding a contract, the operators are strengthening the safety management of chemical accidents by educating unskilled workers and wearing personal protective equipment.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.515-519
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• 2015

87 and 104 cases of chemical accidents in 2013 and 2014 respectively have brought enormous damages to people and environment. Also, the industry has significant damages the company reputation and a lot of expense to repair the damage handling. Toxic substance has spread out rapidly in the atmosphere at chemical accidents and that affect to workers as well as neighborhood. In order to analyze the causes of chemical accidents throughly, reliable and systematic investigation procedure should be considered. In this study, the chemical accident investigation system of each government agency in charge of the accident investigation is compared and analysed.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.39 no.11
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• pp.650-654
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• 2017

As the amount of chemicals increases, there is a global movement to reorganize the chemical management system. Korea has also reorganized its chemical management system to enact the act on Chemical Control and Registration and Evaluation etc. of chemical substance. However, it is true that there are not enough explanations in domestic workplaces. Therefore, deepening understanding of chemical control act and searched for a complementary point and future development direction. Through the proposed method, chemical control act should be widely adopted and studied both inside and outside the country as a safe chemical management system.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.1-5
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• 2017

301 cases of chemical accidents occurred during the recent three years('13~15) recording about 100cases on average in Korea.. Chemical accidents has brought casualties and negative impact on the environment. The chemical accident by transporting vehicles during recent 3 years records 21 on average & takes about 21% of the whole chemical accident. Systematic investigation on chemical accident was needed by corresponding authorities since the transport accident has occurred on the road, all over the nation. For the systematic investigation on the accident scene by the corresponding authorities, the cooperation of transport companies and transport contractor is highly necessary. The investigation of such accident scene was examined and analyzed in this study. Through this study, the results can be basis to analyzed the cause of chemical accident by transporting vehicles and to prepare procedures for on-site investigation and handling systematically.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.219-225
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• 2015

Hydrofluoric acid leakage accident was occurred on Dec. 2012 in Hube Global. That accident has bought many changes of response in national organizations. Chemical companies respond quickly even when small quantities leakage of chemicals and response agencies were put a lot of manpower and equipment in incident response. Incident response to the response activities of the agents is difficult if the accident substance was not identified. Unknown chemicals can be generated by the water for fire-fighting during the emergency response process. In this case, an additional information was needed for response of chemical accident to prevent of great damage. In this study, we investigated the improvement of chemical accident information by extraordinary chemical accident.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.12-18
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• 2023

Objectives: Personal protective equipment (PPE) is an essential means for protecting workers against hazardous agents or risks that threaten their safety and health. Governmental organizations related to safety and health in the workplace regulate the PPE rules to protect workers and to minimize damage from hazardous agents. This study discussed current PPE rules overseen by the Korea Ministry of Environment and explores future perspectives on the matter. Methods: This study was based on a review of PPE regulations with which every stakeholder should comply in the workplace. Both South Korean regulations enforced by the Ministry of Employment and Labor and the Ministry of Environment and cases from other countries were reviewed. Results: Regulations related to the PPE required for handling chemical substances in the workplace are enforced by the Occupational Safety and Health Act, Enforcement Decree, Enforcement Rules, and Notification of Protective Equipment Certification under the Ministry of Employment and Labor. The Ministry of Environment also regulates the PPE standards for 97 substances requiring preparation for accidents and adjustment of work conditions, but a recent amendment (partially amended on September 30, 2022) loosened some unreasonable or excessive provisions. It requires workers simply to carry or otherwise keep PPE handy instead of wearing it for some tasks in which hazardous chemicals are not handled directly. Conclusions: It is important to regularly review provisions that need to be improved or supplemented to help all stakeholders. Considerations should be also made to build a reasonable regulatory system that can induce more mature safety management in each workplace.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.132-137
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• 2018

Although the number of chemical accidents has been declining since the Chemical Control Act of 2015, there have been repeated occurrences of similar types of accidents at printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing facilities. These accidents were caused by the overflow of hydrochloric acid and hydrogen peroxide, which are toxic chemicals used in the printed circuit board manufacturing process. An analysis of the $Cl^-$ content to identify the cause of the accident showed that in the mixed route of hydrochloric acid and hydrogen peroxide, which are accidental substances, the $Cl^-$ concentration was 66.85 ppm in the hydrogen peroxide sample. Through reaction experiments, it was confirmed that the deformation of a PVC storage tank and generation of chlorine gas, which is a toxic gas, occurred due to reaction heat occurring up to $50.5^{\circ}C$. This paper proposes a facility safety management plan, including overcharge, overflow prevention, leak detection device, and separation tank design for mixing prevention in printed circuit board manufacturing facility etch process. To prevent the recurrence of accidents of the same type, the necessity of a periodic facility safety inspection and strengthening of the safety education of workers was discussed.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.84-90
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• 2018

Chemical accidents occur in various forms, such as explosions, leaks, spills, and fires. In particular, chemical accidents caused by fires seriously affect the surrounding air environment due to soot, causing anxiety to the residents. Therefore, it is important to identify the causative substances quickly and examine the influence of air quality in the surrounding area. In this paper, proton transfer reaction-time of flight mass spectrometry(PTR-ToFMS) was used to identify the causative material in a fire and monitor the air quality in real time. This analyzer is capable of real-time analysis with a rapid response time without sample collection and pretreatment. In addition, it is suitable for quantitative and qualitative analysis of most volatile organic compounds with high hydrogen affinity, to identify the cause of fire and examine the influence of ambient air. In April 2018, when a local fire occurred, methanol, acetone, and methyl ethyl ketone were the main causative agents in PTR-ToFMS.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.59-64
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• 2018

In the trend of increasing awareness of chemical accidents, hazardous chemical transport vehicle accidents are occurring every year. In this study, we analyzed improvement of accident prevention and countermeasures through statistical analysis of hazardous chemical transport vehicle accidents. A total of 383 chemical accidents between January 2014 and December 2017 were analyzed. During this period, number of transportation accidents was 83 cases, accounting for 21.67% of total chemical accidents. In the current system, despite the direct handling of hazardous chemical, it is out of regulation of damage prediction unlike the workplace. In order to effectively respond to actual accident, information on damage prediction is required and should be shared with related ministry. And it should be developed to real-time monitoring of hazardous chemical transport vehicle through integrated control tower.