• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.249-256
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• 2018

This article aims to provide a systematic review of the exposure assessment methods used to assign wafer fabrication (fab) workers in epidemiologic cohort studies of mortality from all causes and various cancers. Epidemiologic and exposure-assessment studies of silicon wafer fab operations in the semiconductor industry were collected through an extensive literature review of articles reported until 2017. The studies found various outcomes possibly linked to fab operations, but a clear association with the chemicals in the process was not found, possibly because of exposure assessment methodology. No study used a tiered assessment approach to identify similar exposure groups that incorporated manufacturing era, facility, fab environment, operation, job and level of exposure to individual hazardous agents. Further epidemiologic studies of fab workers are warranted with more refined exposure assessment methods incorporating both operation and job title and hazardous agents to examine the associations with cancer risk or mortality.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.23-30
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• 2011

This study was carried out in order to verity the usefulness of FSA(Formal Safety Assessment) methods as a tool to conduct a safety assessment of general cargo ships flying the Korean flag, and to provide useful information on 'the Safety of General Cargo Ships' for IMO committee's discussion on the matter at a future session. In the previous paper, "A Study on High-level FSA for Korean-flagged General Cargo Ships(1)", the concepts of the FSA methodology and its five steps were described and the results of Hazard Identification(Step 1) and Risk Analysis(Step 2) from the FSA study for the Korean-flagged general cargo ships were discussed. Subsequent to the Steps 1 & 2, the identification of Risk Control Options(RCOs-Step 3) for eliminating or reducing either the frequency or the severity of the risks identified and their Cost-Benefit Assessment(CBA-Step 4) were undertaken. In this paper, the results of the Steps 3 & 4 are discussed, and some recommendations are made.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.489-504
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• 2006

A review has been made for the previous studies on safety of a geologic repository for high-level radioactive wastes (HLW) related to autocatalytic criticality phenomena with positive reactivity feedback. Neutronic studies on geometric and materials configuration consisting of rock, water and thermally fissile materials and the radionuclide migration and accumulation studies were performed previously for the Yucca Mountain Repository and a hypothetical water-saturated repository for vitrified HLW. In either case, it was concluded that it would be highly unlikely for an autocatalytic criticality event to happen at a geologic repository. Remaining scenarios can be avoided by careful selection of a repository site, engineered-barrier design and conditioning of solidified HLW. Thus, criticality safety should be properly addressed in regulations and site selection criteria. The models developed for radiological safety assessment to obtain conservatively overestimated exposure dose rates to the public may not be used directly for the criticality safety assessment, where accumulated fissile materials mass needs to be conservatively overestimated. The models for criticality safety also require more careful treatment of geometry and heterogeneity in transport paths because a minimum critical mass is sensitive to geometry of fissile materials accumulation.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.350-358
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• 2022

Objectives: For chemical risk assessment in workplaces, it is necessary to determine a reference value through hazard assessment. In general, OEL (Occupational Exposure Limit) is used for this value. However, since chemicals with OEL were not enough, the concept of DNEL (Derived No Effect Level) was introduced in chemical safety assessment. In this study, the possibility and approach of applying DNEL for chemical risk assessment in domestic workplaces were investigated. Methods: The characteristics of OEL and DNEL were investigated. In addition, ACGIH TLV and GESTIS DNEL were compared and the corresponding scopes were analyzed among the chemical substances notified in South Korea. Results: OEL and DNEL are similar concepts reflecting reference values that should not be exposed based on health effects. While their evaluation and derivation are determined based on similar information and procedures, they may vary depending on the responsible actor, data availability, principles of judgment, and more. As a result of the comparative analysis of ACGIH TLV and GESTIS DNEL, it was confirmed that there is some correlation between TWA and DNEL. The conservatism of DNEL was around 50%. Additionally, it was found that the available range of DNEL among chemicals in South Korea is considerable. Conclusions: This study showed that DNEL can be applied when assessing the risk of chemical substances in domestic workplaces considering several regards. However, since this is not the same level as OEL, we have proposed a proper approach to carry out risk assessment step by step.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.33-48
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• 2017

An optimum disposal plan of disused sealed radioactive sources (DSRSs) should be established to ensure long-term disposal safety at the low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste (LILW) disposal facility in Gyeongju. In this study, an optimum disposal system was suggested and preliminary post-closure safety assessment was performed. The DSRSs disposal system was composed of a rock cavern and near surface disposal facilities at the Gyeongju LILW disposal facility. The assessment was conducted using GoldSim program, and probabilistic assessment and sensitivity analysis were implemented to evaluate the uncertainties in the input parameters of natural barriers. Deterministic and probabilistic calculations indicated that the maximum dose was below the regulatory limits ($0.1mSvyr^{-1}$ for the normal scenario, $1mSvyr^{-1}$ for the well scenario). It was concluded that the DSRSs disposal system would maintain environmental safety over a long-time. Moreover, the partition coefficient of Np in host rock, Darcy velocity in host rock, and density of the host rock were the most sensitive parameters in predicting exposure dose in the safety assessment.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.144-150
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• 2014

A man is a component of a large system how complex it may be so that human performance which can influence on the system safety should be included in system safety assessment. Meanwhile, human performance can vary over time due to lots of factors. Among them, stress is an indirect factor that may cause human error which can result in industrial accidents. To assess stress level of human workers, not a few assessment tools have been developed. However, it can be questionable to utilize them for human performance anticipation because they were mainly developed with the viewpoint of mental health, though stress assessment can be also required in the safety aspect. Therefore, this study aimed to survey the possibility of their application with safety purpose. About 10 kinds of work stress tools were collected and analyzed with reference to assessment items, assessment and analysis methods, and follow-up measures. The results showed that most tools focused their weights on Demands, Supports, and Relationships, in sequence. However, they, except only one tool developed by the Japanese researchers, merely advised to set up counterplans in PDCA cycle or risk management activities. In consequence, application of stress assessment tools mainly developed for mental health seemed impractical for safety purpose with respect to human performance anticipation so that it was concluded that development of a new assessment tools aimed to human performance variation and accident prevention would be inevitable.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Systems Engineering
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.55-61
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• 2008

In this paper, there is the case study which assesses the systems engineering capability maturity of the safety organization that performs the Railway Safety project using systems engineering method. To In ore effective and efficient a research and development to railway safety domain, a new research and development method can be progressively needed such as systems engineering. To assess quantitatively research of systems engineering efforts in the railway safety project, SECM(EIA/IS 731) Standard is utilized in the paper. It is by questionnaire that the capability maturity assessment is executed wit h the safety organization and staffs who performs the systems engineering activities; requirement analysis and management, interface control management. product verification and validation, and so on. As a result, the systems engineering capability level of the safety organization rises from 0 level at the initial project to 2 level after two years and all staffs give an affirmative answer about the importance and effectiveness of the systems engineering approach.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.80-84
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• 2008

Maximum level of hazardous chemicals in foods can be settled after overall investigation of toxicological database, the representative exposure assessment, risk level on the present exposure level, the need of maximum level establishment, making of maximum level scenario proposed under consumer protection and verification of contamination reduction method and review of application efficiency on maximum level for risk management. The maximum level should be needed when the risk value of specific chemical caused by food ingestion was high and chronic human exposure was predicted continuously unless the maximum level exists. The key role of the risk assessment is to improve the efficiency of the risk management to reduce the present risk level and make the risk management policy scientifically by setting the representative result of the risk assessment.

• Journal of Applied Reliability
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.207-215
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• 2015

Safety' can be used in a variety of ways and may also have different meanings when used in theoretical field and routinely used. In this paper, the 'safety' means that human injury, fire or physical accident condition does not occur while used by the end-user. The meaning of safety may be different by era and culture. Even in contemporary era, the meaning can be used differently by country, region and culture. As the rights of consumers are increasingly reinforced, we can expect the acceptable risk or safety level can rise higher. In this paper, the R-map of Japan and the European risk assessment guidelines (RAPEX) were reviewed considering domestic incidents database status and its applicability. Because it is difficult to make a model based on a R-map, a revised model was developed mainly based on European Assessment Model with a combination of the important characteristics of Japan model R-map. Also utilizing this revised model, the availability as a new risk assessment model was confirmed by comparing the test results for the same scenarios to the other risk assessment model (RAPEX/RAG).

• Journal of Applied Reliability
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.167-179
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• 2008

System risk is the totality of all safety risks to customers, employees, suppliers, and other third parties that arise due to system operations. To assess the risk of major hazards with the potential to cause fatality to the customers and other members of the public, quantitative risk assessment methodologies are used. This paper presents the general principles of risk based management approach to improve the safety of high risk systems such as aviation, railway, and nuclear power plants. For the suitable risk control arrangement, case studies of acceptable risk level, risk rating matrix, and safety management philosophy are presented.