• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.77-84
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• 2023

Welding and cutting, which are representative tasks in handling firearms at industrial sites, are the basis for production and maintenance processes across all industries. They are also essential in the root industry. Specifically, they are widely used in the manufacturing industry, including equipment industries such as shipbuilding, automobiles, and chemicals, and subsequent maintenance work and general facility repair. However, such hot work carries a high fire risk owing to sparks scattering and inadequate management, resulting in a high occurrence of accidents. In response, the government and relevant organizations have recently revised the Occupational Safety and Health Act to prevent accidents during hot work. These revisions impose more stringent regulations than before, which are expected to help prevent actual fire accidents. However, whether the fire observer system, which is the core element of the revision, would be practically applied and maintained is unclear. Therefore, this study compared the fire observer system in the revised Occupational Safety and Health Act with those in the laws and systems of developed countries, conducted interviews with safety and health experts to assess the suitability of the new system for fire observer operations, and improvement plans were derived accordingly. Therefore, the laws and systems of developed countries grant more authority to fire observers compared with those of Korea. Moreover, professional training in handling emergency is required. Interviews with safety and health experts revealed that regardless of company size, the same operating standards were applied, and standards for deploying fire observers in various locations were unclear. Furthermore, there was a lack of professional education and training, and the role and authority of fire observers were limited. These findings revealed a problem in this sector. The results of this study are expected to serve as basic data for establishing a practical system for placing fire observers and supplementing laws, guidelines, and systems for preventing fire accidents.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.23-31
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• 2023

Revising the Occupational Safety and Health Act led to enacting and revising related laws and systems, such as placing fire observers in hot workplaces. However, the operating standards in such cases are still ambiguous. Although fire accidents occur through multiple and multi-step factors, the hazards of fire accidents have been identified in this study as individual rather than interrelated factors. The aim has been to identify multiple factors of accidents, outlining fire and explosion accidents that recently occurred in the domestic manufacturing industry. First, major keywords were extracted through text mining. Then representative accident types were derived by combining the main keywords through the co-word network analysis to identify the hazards and their relationships. The representative fire accidents were identified as six types, and their major hazards were then addressed for improving safety measures using the identification of hazards in the "Risk Assessment" tool. It is found that various safety measures, such as professional fire observers' training and clear placement standards, are needed. This study will provide useful basic data for revising practical laws and guidelines for fire accident prevention, system supplementation, safety policy establishment, and future related research.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.26-35
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• 2023

Sparks cause most fire and explosion accidents in the manufacturing industry during hot work, which ignites surrounding combustible materials. Such incidents lead to high casualties due to suffocation from toxic gases and lack of evacuation. Therefore, the government recently enacted and revised 'The Occupational Safety and Health Act' to prevent fires and explosions at work sites, incorporating legal standards for fire observers, which are important in preventing accidents and the spread of fire during hot work. However, there are notable shortcomings in conducting professional cause analysis of these accidents and in aligning them with advanced foreign legal standards. Additionally, there is a lack of literature review reflecting the manufacturing industry characteristics. Despite the recent enactment and revision of legal standards, gathering sufficient opinions and professional reviews remains insufficient. To address these gaps, interviews were conducted with safety and health workers, analyzing recent fire and explosion causes in domestic manufacturing industries, and reviewing both domestic and international legal standards. Conclusively, proposed improvement measures were centered on the professionalization of fire observer education, enhancing their roles and authority realistically, and improving fire observer placement and operation standards. Consequently, additional 'Occupational Safety and Health Act' standards are necessary for fire observer education and defining the government's role. Second, precise legal standards outlining the role and authority of fire observers are required. Third tailored fire observer arrangements and management standards appropriate for varying work characteristics and company sizes are required. This study emphasizes the importance of supplementing relevant legal standards to prevent fire accidents in the manufacturing industry.

• Journal of Positioning, Navigation, and Timing
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.145-156
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• 2016

A variety of methods for indoor positioning systems have been underway to ensure the safety of emergency rescuers who are working in dangerous situations such as fire fighters. However, since most systems display locations of rescue workers in two-dimension (2D)-based maps, it is difficult for a commander located in the outside to recognize locations of rescuers inside the building intuitively. An augmented reality (AR)-based indoor positioning monitoring system can display locations of rescuer inside the building that can be seen by commanders to help intuitive recognition of positioning. To monitor AR-based indoor positioning, it is necessary to have an estimation technique of line of sight vector of observers. In the present study, an estimation technique of a line of sight vector using ultra-wide band tranceiver installed inside the indoor to trace locations is presented.