• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.31-36
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• 2016

The flash point is one of the most important indicators of the flammability of liquid solutions. The flash point is the lowest temperature at which there is enough concentration of flammable vapor to form an ignitable mixture with air. In this study the flash points of ternary liquid solutions, n-nonane+n-decane+n-dodecane system, were measured using Seta flash closed cup tester. The measured values were compared with the calculated values using Raoult's law and empirical equation. The calculated data by empirical equation described the measured values more effectively than those calculated by Raoult's law.

• Proceedings of the Korea Institute of Fire Science and Engineering Conference
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• 2009.04a
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• pp.365-371
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• 2009

산불에 있어 화염높이 산정은 복사열전달에 의한 수평 또는 수직적 화염확산을 예측하는데 있어 매우 중요한 부분이다. 화염특성 중 화염높이는 빛을 수반하는 화염(the luminous flame)의 평균높이로 확인할 수 있다. 본 연구에서는 외부 풍속과 경사 등으로 인한 화염 높이가 변화될 수 있는 조건을 제외한 산림 내 지표연소물질인 낙엽층(fuel bed)에 대한 화염높이 관측실험과 Cone calorimeter(ASTM-1354)을 이용하여Heat Release Rate 측정하였고 surface fuel에 대한 화염높이 산출식 $H_f=0.027{\dot{Q}}^{2/3}$을 도출하였다. 실험값과 개발 산정식, 기존 Heskestad(1998) 식과의 적용값 비교 결과, 소나무 낙엽의 경우, 실험값과 개발 산정식 적용값의 표준오차는 0.08, 실험값과 기존 Heskestad(1998)의 표준오차는 0.23으로 개발 산정식의 정확성이 높은 것으로 나타났다. 따라서 앞으로 이 식을 이용하여 복사열전달에 의한 화염확산해석 및 화염의 높이에 따른 수관화 전이해석 등에 활용 가능할 것으로 사료된다.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.66-73
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• 2019

Thanks to various efforts to reduce disasters by the government and the Health and Safety Authority, disasters across industries and the construction industry show their reduction trend. However, the falling disasters in the construction industry have not decreased and increased on the contrary. Especially falling disaster caused by Hanging Scaffolding is the most critical disaster which shows low occurrence frequency but is directly connected to death of worker. The working environment for Hanging Scaffolding is poor in domestic construction site. In particular, the Hanging Scaffolding workers in small construction sites are not on the safety control and management by anyone for their works. They are driven to unsafe working condition with mostly uncertified facilities which are made by themselves. Therefore, this study is focused on searching falling disaster factors from the 242 disaster cases caused by Hanging Scaffolding Work in 15 years presented by KOSHA, and trying to provide suggestions for improvement. The improvement of the method of work requires facility improvement and work due to high accident rate caused by unsafe behavior. Analysis of the case of a disaster occurring over the past 15 years shows that no disaster occurred due to problems in the order of operations presented by KOSHA. However, it was found that many accidents resulted from death caused by safety belts not being installed or attached to ropes using safety belts without following the order of work. The most important aspect of improving the work method was the installation and wearing of lifeboats and safety belts.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.482-492
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• 2015

Objectives: Exposure Assessment for workplace hazards where the exposure level is below occupational exposure limits(OELs) has been performed without considering either the degrees of risk or exposure levels and has failed to lead to intervention in many cases. The objective of this study was to suggest and test an application framework for risk assessment methodology under the current exposure assessment system in Korea. Materials: First, we investigated the exposure assessment systems in Korea and other countries. To adopt some risk assessment techniques, we also analyzed risk assessment systems and compared them to exposure assessment systems. A few suggestions were made. We held a public hearing during an industrial hygiene conference and took surveys using a questionnaire. Results: The first suggestion was to implement the risk assessment and exposure assessment through a "one-stop" system. In that case, one expected question would be who has been doing the jobs so far. In most cases, industrial hygiene consulting services or laboratories have been performing exposure assessment for business owners. Business owners are required to perform risk assessment. As two different groups of people will be required to implement two things in a one-stop system, they need to share information. As an information vehicle to share information, commonly filed survey checklists were suggested. The second suggestion was to categorize exposure level into four groups instead of the current binary divisions based on OELs. In the risk assessment system, exposure level is divided into four groups utilizing the cut-points of 10%, 50%, and 100% of OELs. The same schema can be adopted in the exposure assessment system and different levels of requirements can be assigned for each group. The third suggestion was regarding the regulation system. To provide the suggestions some thrust toward being implemented in the field, changes should be made in the legal system. Two different types of new exposure assessment result reporting forms were suggested. Some investigations such as an ergonomic survey are officially accepted as risk assessment under the current legal system. A few items were suggested to be included in the exposure assessment result reporting to be accepted as risk assessment. A pilot study in two small factories was performed and pointed out the strengths and weakness of our suggestions. Conclusions: Discussions and studies on the improvement of the exposure assessment system have been held for decades and no tangible changes have yet been made. We hope this result can help realize healthy lives for workers in Korea.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.15-29
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• 2004

The purpose of this study was to understand the relationship among knowledge, attitude, and behavior of dental personnel about the defense against dental radiation according to general features, and help them recognize the importance of defense against dental radiation. A questionnaire survey of 187 dental personnel who were working in 121 medical institutions such as university hospitals, general hospitals, hospitals, clinics, and public health centers in Seoul area was conducted from December 2002 to January 2003. Study findings are as follows: 1. The average knowledge score for the defense of radiation was 9.51(full score=14): By the demographic features, the know level for the defense of radiation was appeared to be different with the occupational category, age, academic background, workplace, year of working, and whether having the education of radiation or not. By questionnaire items, the knowledge for the defense of radiation was high in general, but for the item. 'the average amount of being bombed with radiation according occupations cannot be over 20mSv in a year for prescribed 5 years'. it was 18.7%: and for the item. 'the longer the length between focus and film. the less the amount of skin exposure', it was 40.6%. showing less knowledge for these two items. 2. The average attitude score for the defense of radiation was 64.24 (full score=75): By the demographic features, the attitude score was higher with respondents who were 31-35 years old. 11-15 years of working. and having radiation education. The attitude score by questionnaire items was generally high for all the items. 3. The average behavior score for the defense of radiation was 45.43: (a) By the demographic features, the behavior score for the defense of radiation was appeared to be higher with respondents who were dentists for occupational category, the aged for age, holding higher diploma for academic background, working in the university hospitals for workplace, and having longer occupational career for the year of working. (b) The behavior score for the defense of radiation by questionnaire items was lower than that of the attitude score for all the items. For the item, 'the amount of X-ray radiation is adjusted according to such conditions as patients' age, radiating areas, and kind of films', the score was 4.03; and for the item, 'Must receive the education of safety management of radiation periodically', the score was 1.73 and it was the lowest one. 4. As for the correlation among the knowledge, attitude, and behavior for the defense of radiation, the higher the level of knowledge and attitude, the higher the level of behavior.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.32-38
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• 2023

Purpose: This study aimed to identify the characteristics of patients injured by high-rotation cutting tools and the factors related to the severity of their injuries. Methods: Adult patients (≥18 years), who presented to the emergency department (ED) after a high-rotation cutting tool injury and who were registered in the Korean Emergency Department-based Injury In-Depth Surveillance (2011-2018) database, were included. Patients' demographic characteristics, injury-related factors, and Injury Severity Scores were collected. All included cases were categorized into two groups according to the tool that caused the injury: grinder versus nongrinder. The characteristics of the two groups were compared, and the factors associated with the severity of injuries were investigated. Results: Among 8,697 ED visits, 4,603 patients had been using a grinder and 4,094 had been using a nongrinder tool. The most frequently injured body part while using a grinder was the hand (46.4%), followed by the head (23.0%). While using a nongrinder tool, the most frequently injured body part was also the hand (64.0%), followed by the lower leg (11.4%). The odds of a severe injury were affected by patient age (odds ratio [OR], 1.024; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.020-1.028) and using a grinder (OR, 2.073; 95% CI, 1.877-2.290). The odds of a severe injury using a grinder were higher in arm injuries (OR, 1.60; 95% CI, 1.40-1.83) and multiple-part injuries (OR, 1.998; 95% CI, 1.639-2.437). The odds of a severe injury using a grinder were lower for head injuries (OR, 0.481; 95% CI, 0.297-0.781). Conclusions: Injuries from grinders were more likely to affect the head and neck than nongrinder injuries, despite the lower severity. The current lack of regulations on grinders in occupational safety and health standards warrants relevant legislation and the development of applicable safety equipment.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.185-192
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• 2019

Construction has been well known as the industry in which accidents occur more often than other industries. The efforts to eliminate the accidents at construction sites need to be continuously conducted because they tend to cause the social problems such as massive loss of life and property. According to the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency (KOSHA), 26,570 (29.3 percent) out of 90,656 workers in total industrial accidents have been occurred in the construction industry in 2016. Particularly, the falling victims are the largest number, which is about 8,699. This number is increasing due to the increase of the large scale, high-rise, and complex construction structures and the various construction methods. In reality, there is a lack of analysis on the risk factors of safety accidents and preventive measures. Therefore, in this study, we have selected risk factors by analyzing the accident cases at construction sites. Based on the results, we conducted a safety practitioner-focused survey and had an interview with safety managers. In analyzing the cases, we have categorized them into three groups such as upper, middle, and lower and compared their statistical results. This study are expected to provide safety management guidelines with workers and safety managers to prevent previously fall accidents at construction site.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.505-516
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• 2016

With the development of nanotechnology, nanomaterials are used in various fields. Therefore, the interest regarding the safety of nanomaterial use is increasing and much effort is diverted toward establishment of exposure assessment and management methods. Occupational exposure limits (OELs) are effectively used to protect the health of workers in various industrial workplaces. This study aimed to propose an OEL for domestic multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) based on animal inhalation toxicity test. Basic procedure for development of OELs was examined. For OEL estimation, epidemiological study and quantitative risk assessment are generally performed based on toxicity data. In addition, inhalation toxicity data-based no observed adverse effect level (NOAEL) and benchmark dose (BMD) are estimated to obtain the OEL. Three different estimation processes (NEDO in Japan, NIOSH in USA, and Baytubes in Germany) of OELs for carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were intensively reviewed. From the rat inhalation toxicity test for MWCNTs manufactured in Korea, a NOAEL of $0.98mg/m^3$ was derived. Using the simple equation for estimation of OEL suggested by NEDO, the OEL of $142{\mu}g/m^3$ was estimated for the MWCNT manufacturing workplace. Here, we used test rat and Korean human data and adopted 36 as an uncertainty factor. The OEL for MWCNT estimated in this work is higher than those ($2-80{\mu}g/m^3$) suggested by previous investigators. It may be greatly caused by different physicochemical properties of MWCNT and their dispersion method and test rat data. For setting of regulatory OELs in CNT workplaces, further epidemiological studies in addition to animal studies are needed. More advanced technical methods such as CNT dispersion in air and liquid should be also developed.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.371-378
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• 2014

Manual materials handling tasks are the main risk factors for the work-related musculoskeletal disorders. Many assistant tools for manual materials handling are being used in various kind of industries. One of them is a 4-wheeled cart which is widely used in manufacturing factories, hospitals, etc. The major force required to control the 4-wheeled cart is pushing and pulling. There are two types of handles being used for the 4-wheeled cart : vertical type (two vertical handles), and horizontal type (one horizontal handle). This study tried to investigate the pushing forces and subjective discomforts (hand/writst, shoulder, low back, and overall) of the two handle types with different handle height and distance conditions. Twelve healthy male students (mean age = 23.4 years) participated in the experiment. The independent variables were handle angle (horizontal, vertical), handle height (low, medium, high), and handle distance (narrow, medium, wide). The full factorial design was used for the experiment and the maximum pushing forces were measured in 18 different conditions ($2{\times}3{\times}3$). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) procedure was conducted to test the effects of the independent variables on the pushing force and discomfort levels. Handle height and angle were found to be the critical design factors that affect the maximal pushing forces and subjective discomfort. In the middle height, subjects exerted higher pushing forces, and experience lower discomfort levels compared to the high, and low height. There was no statistical influence of the handle distance to the pushing forces and subjective discomfort levels. It was found out that the effects of the handle angle (horizontal and vertical) on both pushing force and subjective discomfort were statistically significant (p < 0.05). The vertical handle revealed higher pushing force and lower discomfort level than the horizontal handle. The reason for that was thought to be the different postures of the hand when grasping the handles. The horizontal handle induced pronaton of the hand and made hand posture more deviated from the neutral position.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.1-6
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• 2017

The fire and explosion properties of combustible materials are necessary for the safe handling, storage, transportation and disposal. Typical combustion characteristics for process safety include auto ignition temperature(AIT). The AIT is an important index for the safe handling of combustible liquids. The AIT is the lowest temperature at which the material will spontaneously ignite. In this study, the AITs and ignition delay times of n-pentanol and p-xylene mixture were measured by using ASTM E659 apparatus. The AITs of n-pentanol and p-xylene which constituted binary system were $285^{\circ}C$ and $557^{\circ}C$, respectively. The experimental AITs and ignition delay times of n-pentanol and p-xylene mixture were a good agreement with the calculated AITs and ignition delay times by the proposed equations with a few A.A.D. (average absolute deviation). Therefore, it is possible to estimate the AITs and ignition delay times in other compositions of n-pentanol and p-xylene mixture by using the predictive equations which presented in this study.