• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.44-49
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• 2021

Domestic industrial accidents continue to increase, with 2,142 deaths in 2018, up by 185 (9.5%) from 1,957 deaths in 2017. Industrial accidents that cause loss of human lives pose a serious risk to businesses because of the strengthening of safety regulations and the changing public perception of social responsibility. Accordingly, to prevent industrial accidents, companies regularly conduct onsite safety activities and conduct education and training to raise awareness among employees. However, many such corporate activities are not conducted voluntarily and practically by employees but mostly by formal implementation. To discontinue this customary and passive behavior of employees and establish a mature safety culture, strengthening the execution power of safety management at the site is of paramount importance, and to this end, we aim to utilize the safety practice index (SPI). In this study, the SPI calculated on the basis of the results of the 2018 and 2019 risk management and safety activities of a site was compared with the reported safety accidents. The results confirmed that the SPI index can be used as a valid indicator for safety activities for accident prevention, such as strengthening leadership and safety policies to grade and manage safety management levels for a certain period of time or by a department or to convert weaknesses into strengths.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.75-89
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• 2024

The objective of this study was to conduct research and analysis using Group Focus Interview to survey the between construction site workers and managers implementing for the Severe Accident Punishment Act. Focused on measures to improve safety management effectiveness for the effectiveness of establishing a safety management system. A plan to improve the efficient safety management system was presented to 50 construction industrial managers and workers. In order to ensure the industrial accident prevention policies appropriately, it is necessary to be aware of safety obligations for workers as well as business operators. In addition, despite the existence of a commentary on the Serious Accident Punishment Act, confusion in the field still persists, so in the event of a major accidents, the obligation to take safety and health education is strengthened, and effective case education is proposed by teaching actual accident cases suitable for actual working sites. It is necessary to make all training mandatory, and it is necessary to reconsider awareness through writing a daily safety log, awareness of risk factors, etc., and writing down risk information. Above all, at the construction ordering stage, it is necessary to keep the construction safety, request corrections and supplements for problems issues that arise, and consult between the orderer and the construction company about the problems issues. Rather than having only the construction company correct or supplement the safety management plan, the contents should be shared with supervisors and workers to establish a more practical solution. Results of this study will contribute to improving the effectiveness of the serious accident and construction safety management system.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.16
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• pp.7171-7178
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• 2015

Background: This descriptive study was performed in order to assess health perspectives of women, who applied to Yildirim Beyazit University Ataturk Education and Research Hospital, Outpatient Clinic of Obstetrics and Gynecology for cervical cancer scans and were in the reproductive years. Factors influencing their perspectives were also assessed. Materials and Methods: In this study, a simple random sampling formula was adopted to calculate the volume (300) of the targeted sample. Results of the research were obtained through individual diagnosis form and cervical cancer and the Pap smear test health belief model scale (HBMS). Results: It was found that 75.0% of the women heard of the Pap smear test before, and 48.7% had undertaken one. Some 51.4% of the women who had Pap smear test expressed that they had the test at irregular periods. Most of the women stated that they heard about the smear test from the health staff (51.7%). Lack of any health complaints (28.3%) and not having adequate information about the test (21.0%) were among the reasons for not undergoing a Pap smear test. It was found that lower dimension average scores of the women obtained from the cervical cancer and Pap smear test HBMS varied from $7.7{\pm}2.3$ to $33.5{\pm}9.3$. When the lower dimension average scores of women from the HBMS were examined, the perception of usefulness was high but the susceptibility and health motivations were low. Conclusions: In this study, it was determined that the awareness of women about cervical cancer and the Pap smear test was insufficient, and susceptibility and motivation perception towards having a Pap smear test were low.

• Journal of Construction Engineering and Project Management
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.1-7
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• 2016

Construction in the UK is the second most dangerous industry in terms of fatal and minor injuries according to the 2014 report of HSE. The use of mobile devices such as iPad, Tablets and Smart phones on the live construction projects is also on the increase in the UK due to the 2016 - Level 2 BIM (Building Information Modelling) implementation target, set by the UK Government. Hence, the use of such devices may become a distraction from work activities on the construction sites and will cause a major risk to the end users. The subject of improving safety of BIM use is widely researched, but there is a gap in knowledge about the actual use of the mobile devices and perception of 'Site BIM', on the construction site activities. The main gap identified in the 'Site BIM' is the health and safety aspect of using such devices on the construction sites. A safer way of working with such devices needs to be identified to avoid any potential site hazards and fatalities before the widespread use of the devices are found on the construction projects. In that context, the paper is aimed to highlight the safety issues that are required to address for the successful implementation of the mobile devices for safer use of the 'Site BIM'. Questionnaire survey was used to collect the site information among construction professionals in the UK. The survey findings suggested that a proactive approach may be helpful to stop potential hazards and risks causing by the use of mobile devices and potential measures need to be identified before any injuries and incidents occur. The paper concludes that training, changing size of mobile devices and ensuring a separate induction training for 'Site BIM' tools will improve the health and safety of the end users of the mobile devices at the live construction sites.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.31 no.5 s.86
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• pp.431-443
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• 2005

This study was performed to investigate the perceptions of the opinion leaders, such as government officials, researchers, NGO workers, and journalists on the risks of endocrine disrupters (EDs) and genetically modified organisms (GMOs) as well as the related policies on these two hazards or potential hazards. The opinion leaders generally considered the EDs as the most serious hazard among twenty-one environmental health hazards in Korea, and agreed that the EDs would continuously be the most serious hazard. On overall average, the GMOs were ranked the 11th among the twenty-one health hazards. Further investigation indicated that the GMOs were variously ranked by the group of respondents: they were ranked the 2nd by the NGO workers, the 7th by the journalists, the 9th by the researchers and the 11th by the government officials. In general, the respondents considered the dioxin as a hazard with the highest risk while the GMOs were considered less hazardous. The opinion leaders considered that although the risks of the GMOs and EDs were not fully verified, the risks should be controlled through the legislation. The EDs and GMOs should be separately regulated for the time being, while the EDs should put under more strengthened regulation. It is recommended that a web-site containing the information on the EDs and the GMOs be prepared for the journalists. In addition, a training program in relation to the EDs and the GMOs needs to be organized by the Korean Press Foundation and the Korea Food and Drug Administration to educate the journalists. A committee consisting of government officials, scientists, and NGO workers needs to be established, and it should provide framework of future policies and public relations programs.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.298-309
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• 2019

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate stages of safety and health culture change through a reflection on 40 years of hearing conservation history at a multinational company. Methods: The target workplaces were multinational companies with more than 1,000 employees. The research used the clinical case study and system analysis methods based on direct observation of the research from 1994 to 2009. The latter method performed an analysis of the equilibrium state of the cross-section in the given period and the longitudinal profile of the change during the given period. Results: The stages of cultural change are divided into five stages and summarized as follows. In the first stage, workplace noise was not widely recognized as a hazard, while in the second stage, the measurement of noise levels and audiometric testing were conducted under the Korean Occupational Safety and Health Act (KOSHA). The driving force for change in the second stage was the amendment of the KOSHA. In the third stage, noise came to be recognized as a hazard factor through awareness training. The driving force of change during the third stage was the strong executive power exerted by the audit of the industrial hygiene program from the US head office. In the fourth step, there was a change to actually reduce noise. The driving force in this stage was a change in company executives' risk perception resulting from lawsuits over noise-induced hearing loss and the task force team activities for culture change based on the action learning protocol. At the fifth stage, a 'buy quiet policy' was institutionalized. The management's experience that noise reduction was difficult was the motivation to manage noise from the time of purchase of equipment. Conclusions: The activities of a hearing conservation program are determined by the improvement of the legal system and by the way it is enforced. Noise control activities to reduce noise areas may be possible through the shared risk perception of noise-induced hearing loss and by a change agent role as a facilitator to implement noise control.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.892-905
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• 2022

This study attempted to derive high-risk groups of adolescent status delinquency(ASD) and to identify related factors. This study was conducted with 1,979 adolescents enrolled in the first year of high school, data from the 7th year of the 4th grade panel of the Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey. Classification and regression tree analysis method was used. The ASD group was 264, which was 13.3% of the total. The high-risk group for ASD is that is male who has a low perception of positive parenting style. Positive parenting style was found to be the most important influencing factor in ASD, followed by gender, emotional problems, relationship with teacher, and achievement value. In order to prevent ASD, it is necessary to develop a parenting education program and an intervention program specialized for male adolescents. In addition, interventions that comprehensively deal with emotional problems such as depression and social withdrawal are required, going beyond the previous interventions that focused on aggression. In particular, it has been found that relationship with teachers is the most important influencing factor in the school environment. Through education on the causes and consequences of ASD and training on counseling techniques, the promotion of relationships with teachers will act as a protective factor to prevent ASD.

• The Journal of Korean Academic Society of Nursing Education
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.92-100
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• 2010

Purpose: This study was conducted to investigate the cognition level and the performance level of universal precautions on blood-borne infections and to analyze related-factors on the performance level for universal precautions among the nurses. Method: A total of 166 nurses participated in the survey. We performed multiple linear regression to assess the related-factors on the performance level for universal precautions. Result: The mean scores of cognition and performance level for universal precautions were 65.61(${\pm}8.74$) and 53.98(${\pm}8.42$) respectively. The mean score of the cognition level was significantly lower than the performance level in all items. The cognition level was associated with the working field. The performance level was highest for nurses working over 36 years, nurses in university hospitals, and nurses in the operating room. The cognitive level for universal precautions, education level, exposure to blood-borne infection, family's income, and marital status significantly predicted the performance level for universal precautions in the multiple linear regression model (Adjusted $R^2=0.42$). Conclusion: The cognition level for universal precautions is the strongest predictor on the performance level for universal precautions. An integrated approach should incorporate training experiences to improve cognition and perception of risk on universal precautions for preventing blood-borne infections.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.72-77
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• 2016

Background: This study aimed to determine the prevalence and factors related to needle stick injuries (NSIs) and to assess related safety measures among a sample of Iranian nurses. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, a random sample of 168 registered active nurses was selected from different wards of one of the hospitals of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences (SUMS). Data were collected by an anonymous questionnaire and a checklist based observational method among the 168 registered active nurses. Results: The prevalence of NSIs in the total of work experience and the last year was 76% and 54%, respectively. Hollow-bore needles were the most common devices involved in the injuries (85.5%). The majority of NSIs occurred in the morning shift (57.8%) and the most common activity leading to NSIs was recapping needles (41.4%). The rate of underreporting NSIs was 60.2% and the major reasons for not reporting the NSIs were heavy clinical schedule (46.7%) and perception of low risk of infection (37.7%). A statistically significant relationship was found between the occurrence of NSIs and sex, hours worked/week, and frequency of shifts/month. Conclusion: The study showed a high prevalence of NSIs among nurses. Supportive measures such as improving injection practices, modification of working schedule, planning training programs targeted at using personal protective equipment, and providing an adequate number of safety facilities such as puncture resistant disposal containers and engineered safe devices are essential for the effective prevention of NSI incidents among the studied nurses.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.19-28
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• 2024

Background: This study aims to analyze radiation safety management and regulatory perceptions, focusing on companies that must report radiation sources. The intent is to reduce the gap between regulation measures and addressing real concerns while improving practical safety management measures and regulations for all stakeholders. Materials and Methods: Radiation safety officers at a total of 244 reporting companies using radiation generators (79.8%) and sealed radioisotopes (15.1%) were surveyed using a questionnaire. Results and Discussion: The perception that regulation is stronger than the actual risk of the radiation source used was 3.47 points (out of 5 points), indicating a score above average. The most important factors and considerations were education and training (48%) as a human factor, safety devices of the radiation source (71.3%) as a hazardous material factor, the use of radiation (50.8%) as an organizational environment, and the radiation effect of nearby facilities (67.2%) as a physical environment. Radiation safety management educational experience (F= 5.030, p< 0.01), the group with high subjective knowledge (t= 6.017, p< 0.001), and the group with high objective knowledge (t= 1.989, p< 0.05) was found to be better at radiation safety management. Conclusion: It is necessary to standardize the educational experience regarding radiation safety management because each staff member has individual differences in educational experience. It is necessary to provide more information on how to solve radiation accidents via educational content. Applying radiation safety regulations based on the factors that significantly affect radiation safety management shown in this survey will help improve safety.