• Title/Summary/Keyword: technological risk

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Managing Technological Risk and Risk Conflict : Public Debates on Health Risks of Mobile Phones EMF (기술위험 관리와 위험갈등 : 휴대전화 전자파의 인체유해성 논란)

  • Jung, Byung-Kul
    • Journal of Science and Technology Studies
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    • v.8 no.1
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    • pp.97-129
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    • 2008
  • We are living in the time of high probability of technological risk due to increased rate of technology development and diffusion of new technologies. Resolving uncertainties, the basic attribution of risk, by accumulating knowledge over the risk factors of certain technology is critical to management of technological risk. In many cases of technological risks, high uncertainty of knowledge is commonly mentioned reason for public controversies on risk management. However, the type of technological risk with low social agreement and low uncertainty of knowledge, the main reason for public controversy is absence of social agreement. Public debates on the risks of mobile phones electromagnetic fields(EMF) to human health comes under this category. The knowledge uncertainty on human health effect of mobile phones EMF has been lowered increasingly by accumulating enormous volume of knowledge though scientists have not reached a final conclusion whether it pose a risk to the physical and mental health of the general population or not. In contrast with civil organizations calling for precautionary approach based regulation, the mobile phone industry is cling to the position of no-regulation-needed by arguing no clear evidence to prove health risks of mobile phone EMF has found. In Korea, government set exposure standards based on a measurement called the 'specific absorption rate'(SAR) and require the mobile phone industry to open SAR information to the public by their own decision. From the view of pro-regulation side based on precautionary approach, technology risk managament of mobile phones EMF in Korea is highly limited and formalized one with limited measuring of SAR on head part only and problematic self-regulated opening of information about SAR to the public. As far as the government keeps having priority on protecting interest of mobile phone industry over precautionary regulation of mobile phones EMF, the disagreement between civil organizations and the government will not resolved. The risk of mobile phones EMF to human health have high probability of being underestimated in the rate and damage of risk than objectively estimated ones due to familiarity of mobile phone technology. And this can be the cause of destructive social dispute or devastating disaster. To prevent such disastrous results, technology risk management, which integrating the goals of safety with economic growth in public policy and designing and promoting risk communication, is required.

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The role of risk perception for the definition of acceptable risk (위험 인식이 위험성 수용 기준 설정에 미치는 역할)

  • 노삼규
    • Fire Science and Engineering
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    • v.9 no.2
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    • pp.3-9
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    • 1995
  • Acceptable risk problem are decision problems they requires a choice among different estimations of technological risks. The alternative option includes a threat to life among its consequences. However, the definition used to ignore the public's perceived risk which should be identified as acceptable risk. The study examine the role of perception of risk as acceptable risk between different situations of estimated consequence and probability of risk. The cost benefit principle for the reduction of risk applied to find the possible solutions with in decision making process.

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OPTION DESIGN STRATEGIES FOR INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS

  • Charles Y. J. Cheah;Jicai Liu
    • International conference on construction engineering and project management
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    • 2005.10a
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    • pp.980-985
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    • 2005
  • Since the 1980s, Build-Operate-Transfer and its variations have become a common approach to develop large-scale infrastructure projects. Despite the slight variations in contractual settings, the key issue for all parties concerned is to assess the risks and uncertainties inherent in a project. The risk factors studied and highlighted by past researchers are very diverse. This paper starts with an objective to compare the risk factors in different sectors of infrastructure, and then categorize them into two kinds: general and specific. Following this classification, risk mitigation strategies should be adopted differently at the corporate and project levels. A few short cases have also been used to illustrate the flexible measures or "options" that some project participants have designed to address risks and uncertainties at the two levels.

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Guidelines for Risk Management and Analysis (리스크 관리 및 분석 지침)

  • Choi Sung-Woon
    • Proceedings of the Safety Management and Science Conference
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    • 2006.04a
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    • pp.513-523
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    • 2006
  • This paper is to introduce guidelines for risk management and analysis. International tandards such as IEC 60300-3-9, IEC 61511-3, ISO 14971-1 and ISO/IEC Guide 73 are considered. This study is to discuss risk analysis of technological systems, and guidelines in the application of hazard and risk analysis for functional safety instrumented system, and risk management of medical devices, and guidelines for use in risk management standards.

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The Possibility and Limit of Risk Management through Technological Fix: A Case Study into the Platform Screen Door (PSD) (기술적 해결을 통한 위험관리의 가능성과 한계: 지하철 스크린도어를 중심으로)

  • Kang, Yun-Jae
    • Journal of Science and Technology Studies
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    • v.10 no.2
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    • pp.77-105
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    • 2010
  • This essay aims to look into the possibility and limit of a technological fix with the PSD (platform screen door), which was proposed as the solution of subway risk problems. Subway risk problems may be classified into five categories-on-rail accidents, in-station accidents, platform accidents, spatial risks in underground, and risks due to a crime or terror-, and the platform accidents, which happens at the interface between the rail and the station, is the most serious and prominent. The PSD is considered as an effective technical means to prevent platform accidents. However, there remains a possibility of aggravating unexpected and invisible risks. When a fire breaks out in platforms, especially at exchange stations during the rush hour, the PSD can become a "wall of outcrying", since it may act as the "safety shutter" which killed many people in the 2003 Daegu subway disaster. This is why we need to look into the limit of a technological fix with the PSD.

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Effects of Information Release for Technological Innovation on Firm's Value (기술혁신 정보가 기업가치에 미치는 영향)

  • Cho, Seong-Pyo;Park, Jeong-Hwan
    • Journal of Technology Innovation
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    • v.12 no.3
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    • pp.159-177
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    • 2004
  • Technological innovation is one of the critical success factors determining firm's Technological innovation is one of the critical success factors determining firm's value in the knowledge based economy. The study examines whether the information release on technological innovation has information contents in the stock market. The abnormal returns and cumulative abnormal return were calculated by using Market and Risk Adjusted Return Model. The results say that the market positively reacts to the information release of technological innovation on the event date. Especially, the disclosure on technology development causes stable increase of the firm's value. It is concluded that the market reacts favorably to technological innovations.

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The Explicit Treatment of Model Uncertainties in the Presence of Aleatory and Epistemic Parameter Uncertainties in Risk and Reliability Analysis

  • Ahn, Kwang-ll;Yang, Joon-Eon
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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    • v.35 no.1
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    • pp.64-79
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    • 2003
  • In the risk and reliability analysis of complex technological systems, the primary concern of formal uncertainty analysis is to understand why uncertainties arise, and to evaluate how they impact the results of the analysis. In recent times, many of the uncertainty analyses have focused on parameters of the risk and reliability analysis models, whose values are uncertain in an aleatory or an epistemic way. As the field of parametric uncertainty analysis matures, however, more attention is being paid to the explicit treatment of uncertainties that are addressed in the predictive model itself as well as the accuracy of the predictive model. The essential steps for evaluating impacts of these model uncertainties in the presence of parameter uncertainties are to determine rigorously various sources of uncertainties to be addressed in an underlying model itself and in turn model parameters, based on our state-of-knowledge and relevant evidence. Answering clearly the question of how to characterize and treat explicitly the forgoing different sources of uncertainty is particularly important for practical aspects such as risk and reliability optimization of systems as well as more transparent risk information and decision-making under various uncertainties. The main purpose of this paper is to provide practical guidance for quantitatively treating various model uncertainties that would often be encountered in the risk and reliability modeling process of complex technological systems.

Differences of Experts and Non-experts in Perceiving Environmental and Technological Risks (전문가와 비전문가의 환경 및 과학기술 위험에 대한 위해도 인식 차이)

  • Hahm, Myung-Il;Kwon, Ho-Jang;Lee, Hoo-Yeon;Park, Hwa-Gyoo;Lee, Sang-Gyu
    • Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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    • v.35 no.4
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    • pp.269-277
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    • 2009
  • Objective : The objective of this study was to examine how experts and the public perceived various environmental and technological hazards based on psychometric paradigm. Methods : We conducted a survey that included 30 hazards and 10 risk attributes. Subjects of this study were 214 people with three groups; (1) experts (55 people), (2) graduates( 78 people), (3) under graduates (81 people). Factor analysis was used to confirm the common risk attribute from 8 risk attributes. Also, multiple regression analysis was used to identify factors influencing on perceived risk and benefit of hazards. Results : This study revealed that experts tend to be more tolerant than graduates and under graduate students for the 30 hazards. Using factor analysis, two main factors were identified: factor 1, commonly called "Dread Risk", and factors 2, commonly called, "Unknown Risk" in the literature. We identified that environmental hormone concentration and global warming ranked high in both dread risk and unknown risk. Multiple regression models were used to test the association of perceived social risk and perceived social benefit with two main factors. Dread risk had significant explanatory power on perceived social risk and benefit. We identified that the experts were less likely to perceived dread risk and know more information about the hazards. Conclusions : There were differences of risk perception between experts and lay people. Especially, experts' perception of risk was commonly lower than other people's perception.

The Impact of COVID-19 on Jobs in Korea: Does Contact-intensiveness Matter?

  • AUM, SANGMIN
    • KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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    • v.44 no.2
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    • pp.1-28
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    • 2022
  • This paper studies how COVID-19 has affected the labor market in Korea through a general equilibrium model with multiple industries and occupations. In the model, workers are allocated to one of many occupations in an industry, and industrial or occupational shocks alter the employment structure. I calibrate the model with Korean data and identify industrial and occupational shocks, referred to here as COVID-19 shocks, behind the employment dynamics in 2020 and 2021. I find that COVID-19 shocks are more severe for those with jobs with a higher risk of infection and in those that are more difficult to do from home. Interestingly, the relationship between COVID-19 shocks and infection risk weakened as the pandemic progressed, whereas the relationship between COVID-19 shocks and easiness of work-from-home strengthened. I interpret the results as meaning that the pandemic may direct future technological changes to replace tasks that require contact-intensive steps, and I simulate the impact of such technological changes through the lens of the model. The results show that such technological changes will lower the demand for manual workers compared to the demands for other occupations. This contrasts with the earlier trend of job polarization, where manual workers continued to increase their employment share, with the share of routine workers secularly declining at the same time.

Better Management (Risk and Change) through NEC Contracts in Hong Kong

  • TUNG, Chu Hoi;MEMON, Shoeb Ahmed;JAVED, Arshad Ali
    • International conference on construction engineering and project management
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    • 2020.12a
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    • pp.323-330
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    • 2020
  • Project delays, cost overruns, and disputes are becoming a norm for the construction industry in Hong Kong. Researchers argue that the inability of traditional contracts to manage risk and associated changes are perhaps the main points of contention. The Institution of Civil Engineers published a new engineering contract (NEC), NEC4 Suite of Contracts in this to facilitate better risk management through collaborative culture in construction projects. NEC aims to increase the chances of project success thought its flexible nature of contracts, 'simple' and 'clearly written' documents and provision for the incentive by adopting a better management approach. This paper focuses on traditional and NEC contracts to compare risk management and change management aspects. Through literature review and preliminary interviews with three industry professionals, the paper is exploring how a change in traditional contracts can recuperate from disaster. Our interviewees in this work have extensive experience in traditional as well as in NEC contracts. The results suggest a proactive risk management provisions in NEC contracts does make a difference to avoid later escalation of issues. Whereas, management of change helps streamline all identified issues through a structured process without going in mediation or litigation. NEC, with its new approach to collaborative working, allows partners to be vigilant, yet gratifying in the project process.

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