• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.78-86
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• 2019

Various safety measures have been established and implemented in order to reduce construction accidents. However, statistics data on at construction sites still show higher accident and mortality rates than other industries. As a result of investigating the causes of accidents occurring in the construction industry, most accidents resulted from the failure of the system. Therefore, the existing safety management system of the construction site is monitored so that it operates properly in the field, and it is an important factor to actively participate in construction work. In order to overcome this, the government emphasized on-site inspections and planning and implementation confirmation by public institutes to ensure the effectiveness of the safety management system through amendment of the Construction Technology Promotion Act, but the orderer' safety capability and manpower are insufficient at present. Therefore, in this study, the safety management system, such as design for safety, safety management plan, safety check, safety management cost, etc. specified in the Construction Technology Promotion Act, is regularly checked and confirmed to improve the effectiveness of the safety management system as well as to improve the safety management system of the construction site by deriving measures to strengthen the public function of the government.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.97-121
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• 2004

Recently, human embryonic stem cell research raises exciting public expectation on medical possibilities as well as ethical debate. Embryo management has become an integral part of the management of infertility treatment, researches on embryo and human embryonic stem cells and so on. Britain has permitted the research on stem cells derived from human embryo which made the first nation to allow the cloning of human embryo for the stem cell research. However, new technologies such as the assisted reproductive technologies and human embryonic stem cell research continue to pose an increasing source of ethical dilemmas for physician, scientists, legislators, religious authorities and the general publics to deal with. None the less, the United Kingdom has adopted the most liberal policies regarding human embryo and human embryonic stem cell research. The implication of the British embryo management system are as follows: 1) the development of reproductive technologies and new stem cell research technologies continue to pose legal and ethical debates, since those involve several parties; 2) the UK has taken the legal and institutional approaches to cope with those serious issues; 3) the UK adopted most liberal policies regarding embryonic and human embryonic stem cell researches; 4) the British HFE Act is consistent with the existing Acts related to human embryo management and researches; 5) through amending the HFE Act to accomodate the changes of technologies, the UK try to minimize the legal and ethical burden on undertaking research regarding embryo. The debates about the researches on human embryo and human embryonic stem cells is likely to continue in the Korean society. Because of the controversy and competing ethical values, as well as the evolving technologies, so far no consensus exists in our society. It suggest that it is premature to bring closure by ruling out any particular approaches. Thus our society needs to make an efforts to find a basis which could resolve the societal controversies through enriching the societal conversation about the profound ethical issues regarding embryo management.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.437-454
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• 2020

According to the privacy regulations of the health insurance portability and accountability act (HIPAA), patients' control over electronic health data is one of the major concern issues. Currently, remote access authorization is considered as the best solution to guarantee the patients' control over their health data. In this paper, a new biometric-based key management scheme is proposed to facilitate remote access authorization anytime and anywhere. First, patients and doctors can use their biometric information to verify the authenticity of communication partners through real-time video communication technology. Second, a safety channel is provided in delivering their access authorization and secret data between patient and doctor. In the designed scheme, the user's public key is authenticated by the corresponding biometric information without the help of public key infrastructure (PKI). Therefore, our proposed scheme does not have the costs of certificate storage, certificate delivery, and certificate revocation. In addition, the implementation time of our proposed system can be significantly reduced.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.311-325
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• 2019

Purpose: This study examined the definition of care coordination, and the activities and roles of nurse care coordinators. The study also proposed suggestions for establishing and expanding the role of nurse care coordinators in community health practice. Methods: This study derived its conclusions by conducting a literature review. Results: The definition of care coordination is a comprehensive concept that includes case management and transitional care, and can be summarized as organizer and integrator of care. According to the literature review, 12 activities and 6 roles of nurse care coordinator were identified such as a collaborator, an individualized care planer, an educator/counselor, a direct nursing care providers, a population care coordinator, and a program evaluator. Training for nurse care coordinators is currently addressed in the Primary Medical Chronic Disease Management Program. Visiting nurses working at the Eupyeong-dong visiting health and welfare service are expected to act as nurse care coordinators, and the role of nurse care coordinators will, in the future, gradually increase in various nursing facilities. Conclusion: In addition to developing competencies to act as a nurse care coordinator, there is need for approaches to health policy that develop both independent role and population focused role as care coordinators.

• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.37-47
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• 2022

The Act on the Punishment of Serious Accidents to Prevent Large-scale Disasters, including Ferry Sewol and Taean Thermal Power Plant, passed the National Assembly on January 8, 2021, and has been in effect since January 27, 2022. However, the law, in which the representative of the headquarters is unlimitedly responsible for each worker's accident, is somewhat unreasonable at a time when a company owns dozens to hundreds of construction sites due to the nature of the construction industry. I agree with the purpose of enacting the law to reduce chronic serious accidents at construction sites, but it is necessary to carefully reconsider the implementation of the law in that punishment alone cannot achieve industrial safety. Previous studies focused on revising the Occupational Safety and Health Act, but there are few studies on the impact on the construction industry after the implementation of the Serious Accident Act. Therefore, this study attempts to derive problems related to the application of the Serious Accident Act and present improvement measures. To this end, after analyzing previous studies, SWOT analysis was performed by applying the Delphi method to derive strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. In addition, the results of two surveys of safety experts such as public institutions, academia, and companies were reflected, and its countermeasures were presented as follows. S/O strategy: establishing on-site execution capabilities of health and safety management system; W/O strategy: expanding legal and system execution checks; S/T strategy: establishing a risk response system; W/T strategy: expanding consulting by external specialized institutions

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.201-217
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• 2007

This study reviews the amount and expenditures in national health promotion fund from 1997 to 2006, to analyse the problems and provide the future direction of health promotion fund programs. This study suggested the guide for future plans and the scope and contents of health promotion fund programs, priority and fund budgetary allocation, and operation organization. It is needed to revise health promotion law and enforcement decree of the health promotion act. The fund should be used in limited 9 areas related to healthy life activities: (1)Anti-smoking actions, (2)To support activities leading to a healthy life, (3)Public health education and development of materials, (4)Investigation and research regarding community health matters, (5)Public nutrition management activities, (6)Oral health management activities, (7)Physical exercises for health promotion, (8)Foundation related to supporting healthy life style practice society, (9)Expenses necessary for the management and operation of the fund. And also, in order to improve the performance of health promotion, it is considered to reform the operation system including organization.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.109-118
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• 2016

Objectives: To review reference levels by the international and domestic management and provide the basis for setting occupational exposure limits(OELs) of radon in Korea Methods: Government's organizations with laws and systems for monitoring radon exposure were investigated and compared. There are five laws governing Indoor Air Quality(IAQ) control such as Occupational Safety and Health Act, Indoor Air Quality Control in Public Use Facilities, Etc. Act, School Health Act, Public Health Control Act and Parking Lot Act in Korea. It was surveyed that a total of 32 countries including 24 countries in the European Union(EU), six countries in Asian and two countries in North America setting the reference levels for radon in the world. Results: In Korea, there are set guidelines for radon in the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Education. Reference levels of radon for existing dwellings were $150{\sim}400Bq/m^3$ for Western European countries, and $200{\sim}1,500Bq/m^3$ in Eastern European countries. Approximately 67% of those EU countries were set up $400Bq/m^3$ to the standards for existing dwellings. EU countries such as Luxembourg, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Russia had adopted mandatory level for radon. Radon guidelines for new dwellings were set more strictly reference level($200Bq/m^3$) than existing dwellings. Conclusions: International organizations such as ICRP, UNSCEAR and NCRP, etc. had recommended the guidelines for radon. It was calculated the relation of the dose conversion factors with the annual effective doses. the OELs of radon suggest to need to establish $150Bq/m^3$ for office room and $400{\sim}1,000Bq/m^3$ for the workplace.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.364-373
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• 2012

The United Nations Environmental Program Governing Council has regulated mercury as a global pollutant since 2001 and has been preparing the mercury convention, which will have a strongly binding force through Global Mercury Assessment, Global Mercury Partnership Activities, and establishment of the Open-Ended Working Group on Mercury. The European Union maintains an inclusive strategy on risks and contamination of mercury, and has executed the Mercury Export Ban Act since December in 2010. The US Environmental Protection Agency established the Mercury Action Plan (1998) and the Mercury Roadmap (2006) and has proposed systematic mercury management methods to reduce the health risks posed by mercury exposure. Japan, which experienced Minamata disease, aims vigorously at perfection in mercury management in several ways. In Korea, the Ministry of Environment established the Comprehensive Plan and Countermeasures for Mercury Management to prepare for the mercury convention and to reduce risks of mercury to protect public health.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.19-28
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• 2023

Background: With the enactment of the Hospice, Palliative, Care, and Life-sustaining Treatment Decision-Making Act in February 2018, legal guidelines for physician orders for life-sustaining treatment (POLST) were presented. This study was conducted to analyze the association of writing POLST on the use of health care before death. Methods: The study analyzed the electronic medical records and POLSTs of 1,003 adult patients who died at a tertiary hospital located in Seoul from February 4, 2018 to February 4, 2019. Results: Of the deaths, 80% (n=804) completed POLST. Among patients who completed POLST before death, 51% (n=412) were written 1-7 days before death, and only 31% (n=246) were completed by patients themselves. 99% (n=799) decided to withdraw or withhold cardiopulmonary resuscitation. As a result of analyzing the effect of POLST on medical use before death, it was found that POLST and inpatient cost had a significant negative correlation, and POLST completion significantly reduced death in the intensive care unit (ICU). However, both inpatient costs and death at ICU increased when the POLST was completed by surrogate decision-makers rather than patients themselves. Conclusion: The enactment of the Hospice, Palliative, Care, and Life-sustaining Treatment Decision-Making Act provided a legal basis for withdrawing and withholding meaningless life-sustaining treatment. By specifying the treatment to be received at the end of one's life through the POLST, inpatient treatment costs and death at the ICU were decreased. However, the frequent decision-making by the surrogates and completion of POLST close to death may hinder the original purpose of the law.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.179-182
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• 2023

The Chemical Substances Control Act has been legislated to counter the risks posed by chemical substances to public health and the environment, but a number of small- and large-scaled incidents related to hazardous chemicals continue to occur every year. The Korean Ministry of Environment takes legal responsibility for prevention, preparedness, and response to nationwide chemical accidents under the Chemical Substances Control Act. The determination of chemical accidents that occur during hazardous chemical handling processes is based on the Article 2 (Definitions) of the law and the administrative criteria for judgement of chemical accidents. However, there are certain ambiguities in the scientific basis for determining chemical accidents under the current regulations. Whether or not a chemical accident has a direct influence on penalties and administrative measures for a workplace where an accident occurred, it is necessary to find reasonable criteria for determining chemical accident based on legal and scientific evidence.