• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.367-376
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• 2022

The purpose of this study is to investigate the current status of work performance of public health doctors(PHDs) involved in quarantine of COVID-19, and to suggest a plan to support PHDs for effective national epidemic prevention and control in the future. As a result of the study, it was found that PHDs mainly performed sample collection, interview, and treatment. 39% of PHDs worked in places without negative pressure facilities, and personal protective equipment and welfare support were poor. In addition, it was investigated that they experienced high-risk infectious diseases, mental distress, exclusion from the decision-making process, conflicts with officials, problems with work guidelines, and lack of prior education. For effective infectious disease management, it is necessary to assign appropriate ranks and to participate in the decision-making process for quarantine, to specify appropriate compensation and regulations, to education, and to support mental health.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.19-30
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• 2022

In this study, a simple loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) combined with visual detection method (vLAMP) assay was developed for the rapid and specific detection of African swine fever virus (ASFV), overcoming the shortcomings of previously described LAMP assays that require additional detection steps or pose a cross-contamination risk. The assay results can be directly detected by the naked eye using hydroxynaphthol blue after incubation for 40 min at 62℃. The assay specifically amplified ASFV DNA and no other viral nucleic acids. The limit of detection of the assay was <50 DNA copies/reaction, which was ten times more sensitive than conventional polymerase chain reaction (cPCR) and comparable to real-time PCR (qPCR). For clinical evaluation, the ASFV detection rate of vLAMP was higher than cPCR and comparable to OIE-recommended qPCR, showing 100% concordance, with a κ value (95% confidence interval) of 1 (1.00~1.00). Considering the advantages of high sensitivity and specificity, no possibility for cross-contamination, and being able to be used as low-cost equipment, the developed vLAMP assay will be a valuable tool for detecting ASFV from clinical samples, even in resource-limited laboratories.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.28 no.10
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• pp.207-215
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• 2023

The ship system is complex and advanced, and the operation relationship between each element is very high. So it is necessary to approach it in terms of an overall and integrated system in addition to the traditional sequential approach of finding and removing the direct cause of the accident when analyzing the accident. In this study, it is analyzed the recent fire accidents on ships occurred the Korean terrestrial water using a STAMP methodology that is different from conventional accident analysis techniques. This analysis reviews a range of factors, including safety requirements to prevent fires in ships, inappropriate decisions and actions, situations, equipment defects, and recommendations derived from accident analysis results. Through a comprehensive approach to accident prevention using STAMP, alternative evaluations are presented at the component level within the entire system of ships, and they are systematically used for accident prevention and risk evaluation as well as simple accident analysis.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.168-175
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• 2011

Construction accidents are major problem in Turkish Construction industry and especially fatally rates are very high. Current legislative system on occupational safety in Turkey enforces employers to implement safety measures as well as safety management systems. However level of consciousness in the industry is unsatisfactory and safety are perceived as extra cost and unnecessary expenditure. Moreover, especially in small residential building constructions which have a big share in the industry and unfortunately safety measures to mitigate or abate construction risks do not exist. The study focuses on small residential building construction sites and in the scope of this study, thirty building projects are examined. For each building project, project cost including labour and material costs, service and consultancy costs for mechanical, electrical systems as well as architectural and structural services, costs for supervision and finally general expenditures for construction site facilities were calculated. On the other hand, occupational safety costs for personal protective equipment, collective protective measures, consultancy and training were determined. Work breakdown structures were established and for each work item firstly occupational risks were evaluated and furthermore according to risk scores safety measures to be implemented were defined and related costs were calculated. The study gave results for total safety cost on average, in terms of percentage of total project cost (3.73% of total project cost), safety cost per man-hour (0.40 USD) and safety cost in terms of unit construction area (11.60 USD per square meter). Since safety management is a part of whole project management process, study gives suggestions and techniques to calculate safety costs and implement safety measures as a part of project management service for professionals. Authors believe that suggested approach may easily developed by the usage of more data to establish a model for estimation not only for building construction sites but also for all construction projects.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.417-426
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• 2024

Shield tunneling method is widely used to build tunnels in complex geological environment. Stability control of tunnel face is the key to the safety of projects. To improve the excavation efficiency or perform equipment maintenance, the excavation chamber sometimes is not fully filled with support medium, which can reduce the load and increase tunneling speed while easily lead to ground collapse. Due to the high risk of the face failure under non-fully support mode, the tunnel face stability should be carefully evaluated. Whether compressive air is required for compensation and how much air pressure should be provided need to be determined accurately. Based on the upper bound theorem of limit analysis, a non-fully support rotational failure model is developed in this study. The failure mechanism of the model is verified by numerical simulation. It shows that increasing the density of supporting medium could significantly improve the stability of tunnel face while the increase of tunnel diameter would be unfavorable for the face stability. The critical support ratio is used to evaluate the face failure under the nonfully support mode, which could be an important index to determine whether the specific unsupported height could be allowed during shield tunneling. To avoid of face failure under the non-fully support mode, several charts are provided for the assessment of compressed air pressure, which could help engineers to determine the required air pressure for face stability.

• Clinical Endoscopy
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• v.57 no.1
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• pp.96-104
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• 2024

Background/Aims: Selective bile duct or pancreatic duct cannulation remains a significant initial hurdle in endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) despite advances in endoscopy and accessories. This study evaluated our experience with a rotatable sphincterotome in cases of difficult cannulation. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed ERCP cases using TRUEtome, a rotatable sphincterotome, as a rescue device for cannulation at a cancer institute in Japan from October 2014 to December 2021. Results: TRUEtome was used in 88 patients. Duodenoscopes were used for 51 patients, while single-balloon enteroscopes (SBE) were used for 37 patients. TRUEtome was used for biliary and pancreatic duct cannulation (84.1%), intrahepatic bile duct selection (12.5%), and strictures of the afferent limb (3.4%). Cannulation success rates were similar in the duodenoscope and SBE groups (86.3% vs. 75.7%, p=0.213). TRUEtome was more commonly used in cases with steep cannulation angles in the duodenoscope group and in cases requiring cannulation in different directions in the SBE group. There were no significant differences in adverse events between the two groups. Conclusions: The cannulation sphincterotome was useful for difficult cannulations in both unaltered and surgically altered anatomies. It may be an option to consider before high-risk procedures such as precut and endoscopic ultrasound-guided rendezvous techniques.

• Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
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• v.34
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• pp.29.1-29.14
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• 2022

Background: Hotel housekeepers are one of the most important occupational group within tourism hotel sector; various health problems related to their job have been described, above all musculoskeletal disorders. The objective of this study is to understand the experiences and perceptions of hotel housekeepers and key informants from the Balearic Islands (Spain) regarding occupational health conditions and the strategies employed to mitigate them. Methods: A qualitative study was carried out. Six focus groups with hotel housekeepers and 10 semi-structured interviews with key informants were conducted. Next, we carried out a content analysis. Results: Hotel housekeepers reported musculoskeletal disorders, anxiety and stress as main occupational health problems; health professionals underscored the physical problems. Hotel housekeepers perceived that their work (physically demanding and with repetitive movements) caused their health conditions. To solve health issues, they used medication (anti-inflammatory agents, painkillers, sedatives and anxiolytics), which allowed them to continue working; health public services, generally rated as satisfactory; individual protective equipment; ergonomics (with difficulties due to high work pace and hotel facilities) and physical activity. Two contrasting attitudes were identified regarding sick leave: HHs who refused to accept a doctor-prescribed sick leave (due to fear of being fired, sense of responsibility, ...), and those who accepted it (because they could not continue working, they prioritised health before work). Conclusions: Our results might contribute to plan improvement strategies and programs to address health problems among hotel housekeepers. These programs should include interventions, such as coping strategies for the work-related risk factors (i.e., stress) and strategies to reduce medicine consumption. Additionally, hotel facilities should adopt policies focused on making workplaces more ergonomic (i.e., furniture) and to diminish the work pace.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.129-142
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• 2015

PURPOSES : The purpose of this study is to suggest a basis for setting appropriate safety goals specifically related to the threshold zone luminance in a vehicular traffic tunnel. METHODS : In the test, drivers were divided into two groups. One group consisted of all drivers (average drivers) group with an age ratio of drivers holding domestic driver's license and driver group by age to produce threshold zone luminance in the tunnel. The threshold zone luminance produced as a result was used to analyze how it affects the safety level of each driver group and provide a basis for setting an appropriate safety criterion that can be used to determine threshold zone luminance. We used test equipment, test conditions, and ananalysis of threshold zone luminance identical to that reported by ChoandJung(2014) but the values of adaptation luminance in our analys is were expanded to range from100 to $10,000cd/m^2$. RESULTS : Adaptation luminance and threshold zone luminance are found to be related by a quadratic function. The threshold zone luminance needed by older drivers to ensure a certain safety level is significantly higher than that for drivers of other age brackets when adaptation luminance increases. 56% of older drivers are at an increased risk of an accident at the same luminance for which the safety level of average drivers is 75%. The safety level that can be achieved for older drivers increases to above 60% when threshold zone luminance level is set with the goal of attaining a safety level of more than 85% for average drivers. The safety level that can be attained for average drivers is above 90% when the threshold zone luminance is high enough to ensure over 75% in the safety level of older drivers. Results of this study are applicable to highways and others whose designed speed is 100 km/h. CONCLUSIONS : Threshold zone luminance determined on the basis of drivers having average visual ability is of limited value as a performance standard for ensuring the safety of older drivers. Hence, safety level for older drivers should be considered separately from safety levels for drivers with an average ability to avoid risk. Upward adjustment of older drivers' safety level in the process of determining appropriate threshold zone luminance in a vehicular traffic tunnel may bring both tangible and intangible benefit as a result of reducing accidents. However, there is an associated dollar cost arising from installing and operating lights. As a result, the economic impact of these trade-offs should also be considered.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.147-158
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• 2016

Objectives: The objective of this study was to evaluate the assessment of exposure to welding fume and heavy metals among construction welders. Methods: Activity-specific personal air samplings(n=206) were carried out at construction sites of three apartment, two office buildings, and two plant buildings using PVC(poly vinyl chloride) filters with personal air samplers. The concentration of fumes and heavy metals were evaluated for five different types of construction welding jobs: general building pipefitter, chemical plant pipefitter, boiler maker, ironworker, metal finishing welder. Results: The concentration of welding fumes was highest among general building pipefitters($4.753mg/m^3$) followed by ironworkers($3.765mg/m^3$), boilermakers($1.384mg/m^3$), metal finishing welders($0.783mg/m^3$), chemical pipefitters($0.710mg/m^3$). Among the different types of welding methods, the concentration of welding fumes was highest with the $CO_2$ welding method($2.08mg/m^3$) followed by SMAW(shield metal arc welding, $1.54mg/m^3$) and TIG(tungsten inert gas, $0.70mg/m^3$). Among the different types of workplace, the concentration of welding fumes was highest in underground workplaces($1.97mg/m^3$) followed by outdoor($0.93mg/m^3$) and indoor(wall opening as $0.87mg/m^3$). Specifically comparing the workplaces of general building welders, the concentration of welding fumes was highest in underground workplaces($7.75mg/m^3$) followed by indoor(wall opening as $2.15mg/m^3$). Conclusions: It was found that construction welders experience a risk of expose to welding hazards at a level exceeding the exposure limits. In particular, for high-risk welding jobs such as general building pipefitters and ironworkers, underground welding work and $CO_2$ welding operations require special occupational health management regarding the use of air supply and exhaust equipment and special safety and health education and fume mask are necessary. In addition, there is a need to establish construction work monitoring systems, health planning and management practices.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.38-49
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• 2020

As the quality of life has been improving, people are getting higher interest and higher expectation for safety. However, the accident rate at the construction site is still high. Therefore, it is urgent to secure the safety at the construction work. Due to the nature of the construction industry, construction sites are directly exposed to the external environment. The possibility of accident occurrence is increased due to various factors such as the always variable processes, the diversity of manpower input, the increase in vulnerable class, and the danger of construction equipment..Particularly, the disasters occurring at the small- or medium-sized construction sites (budget ≤ 12 billion KRW) account for 88.9% of the total disasters at construction sites (73.4% for casualty). It was due to the lack of management caused by the absence of supervisors and insufficient safety measures. Moreover, it is difficult for the small- or medium-sized construction sites to apply basic safety measures such as safety education and safety facility installation by themselves in order to prevent disasters because they don't have sufficient safety organizations. It is because they have relatively less safety personnel and poorer technology system than large-sized construction sites. Therefore, in order to reduce accidents in construction, it is necessary to prevent accidents at the small- and medium-sized construction sites. From this point of view, the objectives of this study were to identify the key risk items causing accidents frequently by analyzing the accidents at construction sites and identifying problems associated with safety management, and to secure the safety at the small- and medium-sized construction sites.