• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.46 no.5
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• pp.261-270
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• 2013

Objectives: This study investigated the socio-demographic characteristics and medical causes of death among meteorological disaster casualties and compared them with deaths from all causes. Methods: Based on the death data provided by the National Statistical Office from 2000 to 2011, the authors analyzed the gender, age, and region of 709 casualties whose external causes were recorded as natural events (X330-X389). Exact matching was applied to compare between deaths from meteorological disasters and all deaths. Results: The total number of deaths for last 12 years was 2 728 505. After exact matching, 642 casualties of meteorological disasters were matched to 6815 all-cause deaths, which were defined as general deaths. The mean age of the meteorological disaster casualties was 51.56, which was lower than that of the general deaths by 17.02 (p<0.001). As for the gender ratio, 62.34% of the meteorological event casualties were male. While 54.09% of the matched all-cause deaths occurred at a medical institution, only 7.6% of casualties from meteorological events did. As for occupation, the rate of those working in agriculture, forestry, and fishery jobs was twice as high in the casualties from meteorological disasters as that in the general deaths (p<0.001). Meteorological disaster-related injuries like drowning were more prevalent in the casualties of meteorological events (57.48%). The rate of amputation and crushing injury in deaths from meteorological disasters was three times as high as in the general deaths Conclusions: The new information gained on the particular characteristics contributing to casualties from meteorological events will be useful for developing prevention policies.

• International Journal of Safety
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.35-40
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• 2010

Many casualties are being occurred due to many misses the railway platform, and the accident occurrence is being increased. Recently in Korea, efforts to prevent casualties fundamentally are being made by installing and operating the PSD(Passenger Screen Door) as to prevent these casualties of passengers. However, in case of the PSD system, although it can solve the problem of public casualties at platform fundamentally, it is impossible to install it at whole railway platforms. This paper proposes the safety equipment using LaserRadar sensor for the prevention against casualties of passengers at platform. The safety equipment using novel sensor is the safety equipment making an approaching train stopped if the falling object is a person by detecting the obstacle at platform, and it has the merit possible to apply it to platform since it may detect accurately under ambient environmental elements such as the snow, rain and yellow dust, etc. also. We manufactured a prototype of the safety equipment to reduce public casualties at platform by using LaserRadar sensor and carried out its performance test, and the result is presented in this paper.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers P
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• v.62 no.2
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• pp.57-64
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• 2013

Many accidents are being occurred due to many missteps, etc. at the railway platform. Recently in Korea, efforts to prevent casualties fundamentally are being made by installing and operating the PSD(Platform Screen Door) with underground station building as its center to prevent these casualties of passengers. Although this PSD can solve the problem of public casualties at platform fundamentally, it is impossible to install it at whole station buildings since its installation cost is high, and in case of the ground station building of general railway whose operation speed is higher, installation of PSD is impossible due to the characteristics of railway system. This paper proposes the novel safety equipment using Laser radar sensors for the prevention against casualties of passengers at station buildings where the PSDs are not installed like this. The safety equipment using Laser radar sensors is the safety equipment making an approaching train stopped if the falling object is a person by detecting the obstacle at platform through, and it has the merit possible to apply it to station buildings not only in the underground section but also in the ground section since it may detect accurately under ambient environmental elements such as the snow, rain and yellow dust, etc. also. We developed the prototype of the safety equipment to reduce public casualties at platform by using Laser radar sensors and carried out its performance test, and the result is presented in this paper.

• Proceedings of the KSR Conference
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.1906-1913
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• 2009

The each train operators in Korea have its own public railway safety campaign program but it is not systematic and repeated because of budget limitation. Continuous public casualties in railway transportation require that organized safety education program for the public. This paper analysed statistics of public casualties so that urgent subject occurring many times should be developed primarily as education program. Several foreign cases were investigated and characterized. Finally, a railway safety education program proposed. The program is designed to supply experiential learning, lecture and exhibition.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.3-26
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• 2005

In recent years, there is growing concern about the potential use of biological agents in war or acts of terrorism accompanied an increased realization that rapid preparedness and response are needed to prevent or treat the human damage that can be caused by these agents. The threat is indeed serious, and the potential for devastating numbers of casualties is high. The use of agents as weapons, even on a small scale, has the potential for huge social and economic disruption and massive diversion of regional and national resources to combat the threat, to treat primary disease, and to clean up environmental contamination. Biological weapons are one of weapons of mass destruction (or mass casualty weapons, to be precise. since they do not damage non-living entities) that are based on bacteria, viruses, rickettsia, fungi or toxins produced by these organisms. Biological weapons are known to be easy and cheap to produce and can be used to selectively target humans, animals, or plants. Theses agents can cause large numbers of casualties with minimal logistical requirements (in wide area). The spread of disease cannot be controlled until there is awareness of the signs of infection followed by identification of agents; and if the organism is easily spread from person to person, as in the case of smallpox, the number of casualties could run into the tens of thousands. Biological weapons could be used covertly, there can be a lot of different deployment scenarios. A lot of different agents could be used in biological weapons. And, there are a lot of different techniques to manufacture biological weapons. Terrorist acts that make use of Biological Agents differ in a number of ways from those involving chemicals. The distinction between terrorist and military use of Biological Weapon is increasingly problematic. The stealthy qualities of biological weapons further complicate the distinction between terrorism and war. In reality, all biological attacks are likely to require an integrated response involving both military and civilian communities. The basic considerations when public health agencies establish national defence plan against bioterrorism must be 1) arraying various laws and regulations to meet the realistic needs, 2)education for public health personnels and support of concerned academic society, 3)information collection and cooperative project with other countries, 4)Detection and surveillance(Early detection is essential for ensuring a prompt response to biological or chemical attack, including the provision of prophylactic medicines, chemical antidotes, or vaccines) and 5) Response(A comprehensive public health response to a biological or chemical terrorist event involves epidemiologic investigation, medical treatment and prophylaxis for affacted persons, and the initiation of disease prevention or environmental decontamination measures). The purpose of this paper is providing basic material of preparedness and response for biological terrorism in modern society.

• The Korean Journal of Emergency Medical Services
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.235-246
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• 2003

Due to major disasters Korea has been damaged, and they caused lots of casualties: for last ten years natural disasters caused 1288 deaths including missing people; human disasters including industrial disasters brought as many as 4,512.148 casual ties (126,372 deaths with 4,385,400 injuries); and they cost 44.1 trillion property damage. However, even though major disasters have brought about tremendous human loss and property damage, Koreas National Disaster Medical System to rescue casualties is insufficient, and it has not been activated. Fortunately, through major disaster management process, the National Disaster Management System has been developed, increasing its own efficiency, and resulting in to organize an Office of Firefighting and Prevention of Disasters under the central government. Considering the value of human lives, the disaster medical part, in the U.S.A. as well as in Korea, must have an independent organization in the government, not as one sector of the government department. It will have its own organizational structure, such as disaster planning, operation, and logistics, and interact with central and local government or between local government agencies. So each agency will cooperate and supply resources interchangeably. Also, with the system of disaster management and restoration, the disaster medical system must be advanced in keeping step. Its role must be extended due to the possibility of biological terror or SARS around the world, resulting in severe casualties. Korea has the Emergency Medical Service System based on the regulation of emergency medical care, yet it is a part of the National Disaster Management System. It must be managed independently apart from it. As we see the emergency medical technicians playing as the backbone in disaster medical care in the US, we should have legal foundations for Koreas emergency medical technicians, emergency medical providers, to participate in rescue operation actively. At the same time, we need to have a national register system to classify disaster medical resources, and a total plan to place resources according to the impact of disaster, and how to organize teams. We also need to draw up a scheme to activate civil disaster medical resources, as integrating public and private or voluntary organizations.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.43-56
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• 2023

Banda Aceh is one of the areas that sustains the most damage during a natural disaster because it contains so many houses, office buildings, public facilities, and schools. Public structures in coastal areas are highly susceptible to earthquakes, resulting in high casualties and property damage. Several public structures were reconstructed during the reconstruction and rehabilitation period. Because this building is located in an area with a high risk of earthquakes, its capacity must be analyzed initially. Additionally, history indicates that Aceh Province has been struck by numerous earthquakes, including the largest ever recorded in 1983 and the most recent earthquake with a magnitude of 9.3 SR on December 26, 2004. The city of Banda Aceh was devastated by this earthquake, which was followed by a tsunami. The possibility of a large earthquake in Banda Aceh City necessitates that the structures constructed there be resistant to seismic risk. This study's objective was to evaluate the seismic performance of the existing building by applying the method of strengthening the structure in the form of jacketing columns and the addition of steel bracing in order to estimate the performance of the structure using multiple ground motions. Therefore, several public buildings must be analyzed to determine the optimal seismic retrofitting technique.

• The Korean Journal of Emergency Medical Services
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.73-85
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• 2022

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to understand currently active Korean paramedics' disaster response abilities, including immediate response, severity classification, patient treatment, and patient transfer, in a disaster situation with multiple casualties. Methods: A structured questionnaire consisting of a total of 25 questions was used, including 5 questions on the subject's general characteristics and 20 questions on disaster-related emergency response abilities. Results: Among the disaster response abilities of the participants, the patient transport ability scores were high and the cooperative support ability scores were low. In terms of general characteristics, there was a significant difference in age, and it was high in the 40s, and there was a significant positive correlation between each competency. Conclusion: These results suggest that there is an urgent need to develop a systematic and specialized educational system with components inside and outside fire departments related to multiple casualty disasters to improve overall abilities.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.83-92
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• 2024

In recent years, the number of cases caused by people such as forest fires has been increasing, so it is very important for the whole nation to prevent and practice forest fires. In addition, due to climate change around the world, many lives and disaster losses are increasing due to forest fire-related disasters, and in the last 10 years (2014-2023), there have been 5,668 forest fires and 40,037 hectares of damage, which is equivalent to 56,000 football fields, resulting in 19 casualties and 285.4 billion won in damages. Now, in order to improve the understanding and awareness of forest fires among all the people, the government should actively inform the people about how to act in the event of a forest fire by making the people's action tips related to forest fires easy to understand and practical through public relations activities. In addition, the public and the government should work together to prevent and prepare for forest fires before they occur.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.64 no.2
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• pp.349-352
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• 2015

This paper estimates electrical fire damage cost-effect to analyze electrical safety efficiency by applying a cost-benefit analysis method for analyzing the efficiency of a business public interest. Electrical fire loss statistics data was presented as direct costs and casualties, including deaths due to an electrical fire, this paper adds overhead "Incidental Cost of Accidents to the Employer" by W. H. Heinrich was applied to estimate the cost of economic loss. Also wounded, including the loss of human deaths by referring to the car accident insurance claims costs and human development estimated the losses caused by an electrical fire. And to perform a cost-benefit analysis of the electrical safety as a result of future work. In this paper, the economic effect of the electric field of safety and public interest work to systematically presented.