• Title/Summary/Keyword: Safety risk factor

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An Analysis of Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders Among Butchers in Kano Metropolis, Nigeria

  • Kaka, Bashir;Idowu, Opeyemi A.;Fawole, Henrietta O.;Adeniyi, Ade F.;Ogwumike, Omoyemi O.;Toryila, Mark T.
    • Safety and Health at Work
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    • v.7 no.3
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    • pp.218-224
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    • 2016
  • Background: Butchering is often associated with high rates of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSDs). However, published work on the prevalence of WRMSDs among butchers in Nigeria is scarce. This is important because meat processing practices differ across geographical and cultural locations. This study was therefore aimed at analyzing WRMSDs among butchers in Kano metropolis. Methods: Sociodemographic and work-settings information was obtained from 102 male cattle butchers (age, $37.49{\pm}11.68years$) through survey. Information on the prevalence and pattern of musculoskeletal disorders was obtained from the respondents using the Standardized Nordic Questionnaire. Additional information on health seeking practices was also obtained using a pro forma. Associations between the prevalence of WRMSDs and each of the sociodemographic data and work settings were explored using Chi-square analysis. The level of significance was set at p < 0.05. Results: The 12-month and point prevalence rates of WRMSDs among butchers in this study were 88.2% and 74.5%, respectively. Whereas lower back complaints (66.7%) were the overall and lower body quadrant's most commonly reported WRMSDs among the butchers surveyed, wrist/hand complaints were the leading upper quadrant's (45.1%) most commonly reported WRMSDs among the respondents. There were significant associations between age and majority of WRMSDs in the body regions. Only 23.3% of the 90 individuals who had WRMSD visited the hospital to seek redress for their WRMSD. Conclusion: The prevalence of WRMSDs is high among butchers in Kano Metropolis. Few individuals with WRMSD utilize healthcare facilities. Age is a major risk factor in this setting.

Development and Rationalization of Maritime Traffic Facilities Management System (해양교통시설 운영관리 시스템 구축 및 합리화 방안)

  • Jeon, Min-Su;Lee, Joong-Woo
    • Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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    • v.37 no.6
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    • pp.587-595
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    • 2013
  • Establishment and operation of Aids to Navigation in the process of port design, construction and management are crucial factor of maritime safety and collision prevention. According to the IMO SOLAS Chapter 5, regulation 13, the establishment and operation of maritime safety facilities are mandated for the competent authorities. The facilities of Aids to Navigations are moving to a concept of e-Navigation with state-of-the-art technology of radio navigation equipments such as AIS, DGPS and e-Loran from the traditional visual facilities (optics, shape), Although the autonomous maritime traffic system is a new trend, yet the traditional and conventional Aids to Navigation like lighthouses and beacons are still imperative for vessel's safe navigation. In this paper, for decision of service level of maritime traffic facilities to enhance the efficiency of visual navigation system management it was proposed the Aids to Navigation availability as an efficient management system incorporating the whole maritime traffic facilities under one management system. Comparison of foreign level of services and analysis of the theoretical background of them were analyzed and the proposed LOS was applied to Incheon area to evaluate the safety of navigation routes.

A Study on the Significance of Unit Capacity Factor (Utilization Rate) of Nuclear Power Plants and Measures for Increasing (원전 이용률의 의의 및 증진방안 고찰)

  • Don Kug Lee;Chi Bum Bahn
    • Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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    • v.18 no.2
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    • pp.87-100
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    • 2022
  • Unit capacity factor (utilization rate) of nuclear power plants (NPPs) is an important performance indicator. Since the first commercial operation of Kori Unit 1 began in April 1978, the utilization rate of domestic NPPs has gradually increased, reaching 90% from the end of the 1990s. However, due to various issues such as the Fukushima accident in 2011, corrosion of the CLP, the utilization rate dropped to 65~80%. In the early 1980s, the utilization rate of the U.S. NPPs was around 60%. However, since 2004, it has been consistently maintained above 90%. Therefore, in this study, we first examined the causes of declining the utilization rate in domestic NPPs. Next, the significances of the utilization rates are reviewed in five aspects: investment capability, electricity rate, safety and export, etc., with discussion on the current status of the utilization rates in the U.S. Based on this, three key factors are derived as the reasons of the increasing: equipment reliability program, on-line maintenance and the pursuit of institutional rationality. And finally, by synthesizing above results, the measures for increasing the utilization rate of domestic NPPs are proposed in terms of equipment management, institutional improvements, and personnel resources.

Determining Input Values for Dragging Anchor Assessments Using Regression Analysis (회귀분석을 이용한 주묘 위험성 평가 입력요소 결정에 관한 연구)

  • Kang, Byung-Sun;Jung, Chang-Hyun
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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    • v.27 no.6
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    • pp.822-831
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    • 2021
  • Although programs have been developed to evaluate the risk of dragging anchors, it is practically difficult for VTS(vessel traffic service) operators to calculate and evaluate these risks by obtaining input factors from anchored ships. Therefore, in this study, the gross tonnage (GT) that could be easily obtained from the ship by the VTS operators was set as an independent variable, and linear and nonlinear regression analyses were performed using the input factors as the dependent variables. From comparing the fit of the polynomial model (linear) and power series model (nonlinear), the power series model was evaluated to be more suitable for all input factors in the case of container ships and bulk carriers. However, in the case of tanker ships, the power supply model was suitable for the LBP(length between perpendiculars), width, and draft, and the polynomial model was evaluated to be more suitable for the front wind pressure area, weight of the anchor, equipment number, and height of the hawse pipe from the bottom of the ship. In addition, all other dependent variables, except for the front wind pressure area factor of the tanker ship, showed high degrees of fit with a coefficient of determination (R-squared value) of 0.7 or more. Therefore, among the input factors of the dragging anchor risk assessment program, all factors except the external force, seabed quality, water depth, and amount of anchor chain let out are automatically applied by the regression analysis model formula when only the GT of the ship is provided.

Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment of Non-thermal Processed Japanese Foods Using Monte Carlo Simulation (몬테카를로 시뮬레이션을 이용한 일식메뉴 중 비가열 처리 식품의 정량적 위해평가)

  • Song, Ju-Hyun;Choi, Yu-Jin;Nang, Hyo-Min;Lee, Kwang-Geun
    • Food Engineering Progress
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    • v.13 no.1
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    • pp.56-63
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    • 2009
  • The aim of this study was to control the outbreak of food pathogen through quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA). We used Monte Calro Simulation (MCS) to predict contamination levels of Staphylococcus aureus on the raw materials, equipments and cook in Japanese restaurant located in Seoul. The result of sensitivity analysis showed that the most significant factor for the outbreak of food pathogen was consumption temperature and storage time. In shrimp and octopus sushi, 'consumption temperature' was the highest sensitivity value of 0.419 followed by 'storage time' of 0.374. To increase safety of sushi, consumers should have sushi as soon as possible after cooking. In sushi 'storage time after cooking' was determined as Critical Control Point (CCP). To determine Control Limit (CL), Scenario Analysis (SA) was carried out. In sushi, SA was carried out using storage time as a unit condition. Safety level of S. aureus was set lower than 5 log CFU/g. After 2 hr 'storage time' the number of S. aureus increased to 3.908 log CFU/g. Therefore, 'storage time' of sushi was set as CL in case of room temperature storage.

A Case Study on the Human Error Analysis of Forklift Operations in a Small Enterprise (소규모 사업장의 지게차 작업에 관한 휴먼에러 분석 사례 연구)

  • Ha, Gyu Cheol;Park, Jungchul
    • Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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    • v.12 no.5
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    • pp.207-215
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    • 2021
  • A forklift is an industrial vehicle with a power-operated fork for lifting and moving heavy loads over short distances. A significant number of accidents are caused by forklifts every year. Most of them are known to be caused by the unsafe acts of workers. However, only a few studies have focused on the risks of forklift work from the perspective of human error. In addition, various methods have been developed to analyze the risk of human error, while it is hard to find studies that directly compare the effectiveness or strengths/weaknesses of those methods. This study aims to analyze risk factors related to unsafe behavior in forklift operations using two representative human error analysis techniques, i.e., .SHERPA and HE-HAZOP, and compare their advantages and disadvantages. The analysis was performed on three main forklift operations ('unloading from the truck', 'moving and loading into the storage', and 'loading on the truck'). As a result, 118 errors and 34 remedial measures were derived by SHERPA. Through HAZOP, 139 errors and 54 measures were derived. The two techniques were compared in terms of the number of results and the method of deriving errors and remedial measures, cause analysis, and risk assessment. This study might be used to reduce human error related disasters in workplaces using forklifts. In order to provide a guide for choosing an appropriate analysis method, more comparative studies on different techniques involving wide range of tasks are needed in the future.

Reading and Influence of Personal Dose Meter in University Hospital C (C 대학병원의 개인선량계 판독과 영향)

  • Lee, Joo-Ah
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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    • v.16 no.3
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    • pp.357-363
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    • 2022
  • This study aims to improve the safety inspection awareness of occupational exposure and help radiation safety management by analyzing radiation exposure doses by occupational type of radiation related-workers and radiation workers. Radiation-related workers and radiation workers were classified into three occupations (radiological technologist, doctors, and nurses). A nominal risk coefficient based on ICRP 103 was used to calculate the probability of causing side effects of the lungs due to exposure doses. As a result of analyzing the exposure dose of all workers for one year, the exposure dose of radiological technologist among radiation-related workers was 1.63 ± 2.84 mSv, doctors 0.12 ± 0.22 mSv, and nurses 0.59 ± 1.08 mSv. The one-year deep dose for radiation workers was 2.44 ± 3.30 mSv for radiological technologists, 0.19 ± 0.26 mSv for doctors, and 0.12 ± 0.00 mSv for nurses. Due to this dose, the probability of causing side effects in the lungs was 1.2 per 100,000 radiological technologist, 0.096 doctors, and 0.06 nurses. In this study, it is believed that the probability of side effects on lungs by occupation of radiation exposure dose will be studied and used as useful data for radiation safety management in relation to probabilistic effects in the future.

Associations of Depressive Symptoms and Brachial Artery Reactivity among Police Officers

  • Violanti, John M.;Charles, Luenda E.;Gu, Ja K.;Burchfiel, Cecil M.;Andrew, Michael E.;Joseph, Parveen N.;Dorn, Joan M.
    • Safety and Health at Work
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    • v.4 no.1
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    • pp.27-36
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    • 2013
  • Objectives: Mental health has been shown to be linked with certain underlying physiological mechanisms. The objective of this cross sectional study was to investigate the relationship between depressive symptoms and brachial artery reactivity (BAR) in an understudied population: police officers. Methods: Participants were 351 police officers who were clinically examined in the Buffalo Cardio-Metabolic Police Stress (BCOPS) study. BAR was performed using standard B-Mode ultrasound procedures. Depressive symptoms were measured using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression (CES-D) scale. Mean values of the difference between the baseline and maximum diameters of the brachial artery were determined across three categories of CES-D score using the analysis of variance and the analysis of covariance. p-values for linear trends were obtained from linear regression models. Results: The mean age (${\pm}$ standard deviation) of all officers was $40.9{\pm}7.2$ years. Women had a slightly higher mean CES-D score than men ($8.9{\pm}8.9$ vs. $7.4{\pm}6.4$) and a slightly higher percentage increase of BAR than men (6.90 vs. 5.26%). Smoking status significantly modified the associations between depressive symptoms and BAR. Among current smokers, mean absolute values of BAR significantly decreased as depressive symptoms increased after adjustment for age, gender, race/ethnicity, hypertension, and diabetes; the multivariate-adjusted p-values were 0.033 (absolute) and 0.040 (%). Associations between depressive symptoms and BAR were not statistically significant among former smokers or never smokers. Conclusion: Depressive symptoms were inversely associated with BAR among police officers who were current smokers and together may be considered a risk factor for cardiovascular disease among police officers. Further prospective research is warranted.

Customized Evacuation Pathfinding through WSN-Based Monitoring in Fire Scenarios (WSN 기반 화재 상황 모니터링을 통한 대피 경로 도출 알고리즘)

  • Yoon, JinYi;Jin, YeonJin;Park, So-Yeon;Lee, HyungJune
    • The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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    • v.41 no.11
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    • pp.1661-1670
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    • 2016
  • In this paper, we present a risk prediction system and customized evacuation pathfinding algorithm in fire scenarios. For the risk prediction, we apply a multi-level clustering mechanism using collected temperature at sensor nodes throughout the network in order to predict the temperature at the time that users actually evacuate. Based on the predicted temperature and its reliability, we suggest an evacuation pathfinding algorithm that finds a suitable evacuation path from a user's current location to the safest exit. Simulation results based on FDS(Fire Dynamics Simulator) of NIST for a wireless sensor network consisting of 47 stationary nodes for 1436.41 seconds show that our proposed prediction system achieves a higher accuracy by a factor of 1.48. Particularly for nodes in the most reliable group, it improves the accuracy by a factor of up to 4.21. Also, the customized evacuation pathfinding based on our prediction algorithm performs closely with that of the ground-truth temperature in terms of the ratio of safe nodes on the selected path, while outperforming the shortest-path evacuation with a factor of up to 12% in terms of a safety measure.

Determination of Mycotoxins in Agricultural Products Used for Food and Medicine Using Liquid Chromatography Triple Quadrupole Mass Spectrometry and Their Risk Assessment (LC-MS/MS를 이용한 식·약 공용 농산물의 곰팡이독소 분석 및 위해평가)

  • Choi, Su-Jeong;Ko, Suk-Kyung;Park, Young-Ae;Jung, Sam-Ju;Choi, Eun-Jung;Kim, Hee-sun;Kim, Eun-Jung;Hwang, In-Sook;Shin, Gi-Young;Yu, In-Sil;Shin, Yong-Seung
    • Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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    • v.36 no.1
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    • pp.24-33
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    • 2021
  • For this study, we surveyed concentrations of 8 mycotoxins (aflatoxin B1, B2, G1, G2, ochratoxin A, fumonisin B1, B2 and zearalenone) in agricultural products used for food and medicine by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry and conducted a risk assessment. Samples were collected at the Yangnyeong Market in Seoul, Korea, between January and November 2019. Mycotoxins were extracted from these samples by adding 0.1% formic acid in 50% acetonitrile and cleaned up by using an ISOLUTE Myco cartridge. The method was validated by assessing its matrix effects, linearity, limit of detection (LOD), limit of quantification (LOQ), recovery and precision using four representative matrices. Matrix-matched standard calibration was used for quantification and the calibration curves of all analytes showed good linearity (r2>0.9999). LODs and LOQs were in the range of 0.02-0.11 ㎍/kg and 0.06-0.26 ㎍/kg, respectively. Sample recoveries were from 81.2 to 118.7% and relative standard deviations lower than 8.90%. The method developed in this study was applied to analyze a total of 187 samples, and aflatoxin B1 was detected at the range of 1.18-7.29 ㎍/kg (below the maximum allowable limit set by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, MFDS), whereas aflatoxin B2, G1 and G2 were not detected. Mycotoxins that are not regulated presently in Korea were also detected: fumonisin (0.84-14.25 ㎍/kg), ochratoxin A (0.76-17.42 ㎍/kg), and zearalenone (1.73-15.96 ㎍/kg). Risk assessment was evaluated by using estimated daily intake (EDI) and specific guideline values. These results indicate that the overall exposure level of Koreans to mycotoxins due to the intake of agricultural products used for food and medicine is unlikely to be a major risk factor for their health.