• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.60-69
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• 2023

Objectives: Business operators handling hazardous chemicals regulated under the Chemical Substances Control Act (CSCA) must receive permits to operate their business from the Ministry of Environment. This study analyzed the status of recent legal violation in chemical handling workplaces in Ulsan where a large volume of chemicals is handled for industrial use. Methods: A total of 557 corporations have been granted legal status as business operators in Ulsan. For all business operators, legal violations in regard to the CSCA that were discovered by the environmental office in the last five years (2018~2022) were thoroughly analyzed. Results: A total of 225 violations of the CSCA have been discovered at 165 corporations, with the violation rate accounting for approximately 27% of all business operators. In particular, 22% of the 165 violators (36 corporations) were discovered to have violated twice or more, and some business operators (6%) even violated in consecutive years. Non-compliance of facility inspection was the most frequent violation (45 cases, 20.1%), followed by non-reporting of important changes in the permitted matters (23 cases, 10.3%), non-completion of legal safety education (19 cases, 8.5%), failure to secure permission for modification in the permitted matters (18 cases, 8.0%), and failure to submit chemical transport plans (16 cases, 7.1%). Conclusions: Most of the violations could have been prevented if the field personnel had paid sufficient attention. Thus, it is fundamentally necessary to create an environment for spontaneous safety management for themselves and to strengthen individual capabilities.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.346-354
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• 2023

Objectives: Chemical accidents cause extensive human and environmental damage. Therefore, it is important to prepare measures to prevent their recurrence and minimize future damage through accident investigation. To this end, it is necessary to identify the accident occurrence process and analyze the extent of damage. In this study, the development process and damage range of actual chemical leakage accidents were analyzed using CFD. Methods: For application to actual chemical leakage accidents using FLACS codes specialized for chemical dispersion simulation among CFD codes, release rate calculation and 3D geometry were created, and scenarios for simulation were derived. Results: The development process of the accident and the dispersion behavior of materials were analyzed considering the influencing factors at the time of the accident. In addition, to confirm the validity of the results, we compared the results of the actual damage impact investigation and the simulation analysis results. As a result, both showed similar damage impact ranges. Conclusions: The FLACS code allows the detailed analysis of the simulated dispersion process and concentration of substances similar to real ones. Therefore, it is judged that the analysis method using CFD simulation can be usefully applied as a chemical accident investigation technique.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.80-86
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• 2019

In Korea, a total of 556 chemical accidents occurred from 2012 to 2018 caused by adverse reactions of two or more chemicals, which required significant amounts of time to identify the causative chemicals. Rapid analysis is required for effective incident response and probing. In this study, a quantum transition time-of-flight mass spectrometer was used to identify the causative agents of chemical accidents caused by adverse reactions. The analyzer enabled fast real-time analysis without the need for sample collection and pretreatment. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of most volatile organic compounds with high hydrogen affinity was performed to investigate the cause of the chemical accidents. In fact, in the month of 201◯, methanol and toluene were detected as causative agents of the accident using a quantum transition time mass spectrometer, and were also the cause of the reported odor.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.10
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• pp.733-738
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• 2017

In this study, we selected chlorine, a typical toxic material used in many workplaces, as the leakage material, and through the analysis of alternative scenarios based on the meteorological conditions in the summer frequently encountered in accidents, we suggest ways to improve the (method of analysis/accident scenario modeling). The analysis of 296 chemical accidents from January 2014 to December 2016 found that the highest rate of occurrence was in summer, accounting for 35.81% of the total. According to the risk assessment, the influence range and number of inhabitants in the influence area were 712.4 m and 20,090 under the annual mean weather conditions and 796.2 m and 27,143 people under the summer mean weather conditions, respectively. This result implies that, under certain conditions, the range of impacts in the current alternative scenario is incomplete. Therefore, risk assessment systems need to be improved in order to take into consideration the characteristics of each chemical substance.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.39 no.12
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• pp.685-688
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• 2017

Using ALOHA and PHAST Program, it was modeled assuming the leakage accident scenarios of chlorine which is designated as accident preparation chemical in chemical control act. End-point distances corresponding to ERPG-2 concentrations were calculated while varying annual mean temperature, wind speed, humidity, and atmospheric stability. The calculated endpoint distance values were compared and the correlation with each meteorological factor was analyzed. And we also investigated strengths and weaknesses of ALOHA and PHAST. The results show that ALOHA has little or no correlation with annual average temperature, humidity and it has a large correlation with wind speed and atmospheric stability. In the case of PHAST, the end-point distances were correlated with all the meteorological factors such as average annual temperature, wind speed, humidity, and atmospheric stability, Among them, the effect of atmospheric stability were the largest.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.77-86
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• 2017

Globally, use of affordable fuels such as briquettes, woods and wood pellets has increased. Organic pollutants emitted from non-point sources using solid fuels may have contributed to air pollution in urban environment. In this study, we utilized simulated incinerator proposed by U.S. EPA and investigated concentrations of PM, $PM_{10}$, $PM_{2.5}$, OC/EC, CO, $SO_x$, $NO_x$, VOCs and PAHs emitted while cooking meat and fish using briquettes, woods and wood pellets, and developed emission factors. As a result, wood combustion produced more air pollutants than the others. Particulate matter emission factors for woods and wood pellets were 13.54 g/kg and 9.15 g/kg, respectively. Total VOCs emission factors for briquettes, woods and wood pellets were 36.12mg/kg, 46.13mg/kg and 18.26mg/kg, respectively. Additionally, total PAHs emission factors for briquette, woods and wood pellets were 0.44 mg/kg, 18.84mg/kg and 101.62mg/kg, respectively.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.794-801
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• 2021

Purpose: The effectiveness of the transport vehicle management system of the Chemical Substances Control Act will be studies and used as basic data for future system improvement plans. Method: After the enforcement of the Chemical Substances Control Act, the effectiveness for the transport vehicle management system was studies by comparing the transport plan, guidance and inspection status, safety training completion management, ect., and the reduction rate of chemical accidents. Results: The average number of chemical accidents in transport vehicles nationwide is 20 each year. And It is decreasing with the stabilization of the Chemical Substances Control Act('15.1.1). The first reason for the decrease in chemical accidents is the increase in submission of transport plans. Second, as the guidance and inspection rate increased every year, the shipper company's management of transport companies was naturally strengthened. Finally, it is judged that chemical accident caused by transport vehicles decrease through safety education. Conclusion: The current tranport vehicle management system of the Chemical Substances Control Act is effective. However, further research is needed to improve the practical and efficient transport vehicle management system.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.8
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• pp.60-66
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• 2020

This paper presents a method for improving the selection of boundary areas suitable for Korea's situation based on domestic and foreign case studies on the establishment of boundary areas to protect people and the environment from chemical substances in response to chemical accidents and chemical terrorism. Currently, various related ministries are divided into hot zones, warm zones, and cold zones in common, but in specific areas, they are used in different ways in terms of terminology utilization. Therefore, it was suggested that the boundary areas be divided into four zones: hot zone, warm zone, cold zone, and safety zone. In addition, the terms warm zone and safety zone should be re-established. The existing ERPG acute exposure standard does not take into account various exposure times. Therefore, it is unsuitable for long-term exposure, so the priority of application should be AEGL, ERPG, PAC, and IDLHs. The CARIS information provision method is classified into substances that can or cannot be diffused or classified as indoor leaks. In addition, the wind direction trust line and the ERG's initial separation distance and protective action distance are expressed together so that they can be used for accident responses.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.11
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• pp.16-22
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• 2017

This study examined the status of resident evacuation sites notified to nearby communities, centered on business sites subject to the risk management plan of Incheon, Siheung, and Ansan. Through an analysis of the meteorological data, the direction of improvement of the site selection process for the safe evacuation of chemical accidents was studied. Among a total of 111 evacuation sites, 30 schools were selected the most, and 2-3 sites were usually selected for evacuation. As a result of an analysis of the Incheon meteorological data of 2016, the frequency of occurrences was 18.8525% in the NNE wind direction, 18.0328% in the NNW wind direction, 12.2951% in the WSW wind direction, 9.0164% in the SSE direction, 8.4700% in the SW direction, 6.5574% in the W direction, and 5.7376% in the S direction. The NNE wind direction showed the highest frequency, but the other winds showed a relatively high frequency, indicating that the annual wind direction was not biased toward one side.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.37 no.11
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• pp.631-635
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• 2015

Water quality investigation was conducted for small/medium sized reservoirs in A city in June and November 2014 as a preliminary step for further use. Water quality analysis experiments were conducted for 21 reservoirs managed by a local government and water quality data were obtained from Korea Rural Community Corporation for 12 reservoirs. It was found that relatively poor water quality, not satisfied with the regulation level (somewhat poor(IV)) for agricultural use, was observed for some reservoirs and worse water quality (poor(V) and very poor(VI) grade) was observed for more reservoirs during autumn /winter season due to the decrease in water volume. Correspondingly, the trophic state was obtained as "Eutrophic" or "Hypertrophic" using the Korean trophic state index for most reservoirs. It was also revealed that significant contamination in sediments was not observed for selected 8 reservoirs considering water quality in each reservoir. The results in this study could be useful for the use of small/medium sized reservoirs as alternative water resources, tourism resources, inland fishery resources, renewable energy production sites, and anti-flooding reservoirs.