• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.104-109
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• 2012

Singapore, an island republic of over 5 million inhabitants, has 3.1 million workers. Most are employed in the service, finance and tourist/transport industry. Significant numbers work in manufacturing, construction and heavy industry. Following a series of construction and shipyard accidents with multiple deaths in 2004, the government announced its intention to reduce workplace fatalities from 4.9 to 2.5 per 100,000 by 2015. There was strong political will to achieve this target. The strategic approaches were to build workplace safety and health (WSH) capabilities; implement legislative changes with enforcement; promote benefits of WSH and recognize best practices, and enhance partnership with stakeholders. The anticipated outcomes were to reduce workplace fatality and injury rates; have WSH as an integral part of business; and establish a progressive and pervasive WSH culture. With these measures, the workplace fatality rate declined from 4.9/100,000 in 2004, to 2.2/100,000 in 2010. However, other confounding factors could also account for this decline, and have to be considered. The next target, announced by Singapore's Prime Minister in 2008, is to further reduce the workplace fatality rate to 1.8/100,000 by 2018, and to have "one of the best workplace safety records in the world".

• Molecular & Cellular Toxicology
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.230-234
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• 2008

Epidemiological studies demonstrate an adverse effect of several environmental and occupational exposures on male sex hormone. Bisphenol A (BPA) is a weak estrogen and a widely used industrial chemical. Epoxy resin painters may be continuously exposed to BPA at high concentrations. The effect of occupational exposure of BPA on male reproduction was examined by measuring the urinary BPA, testosterone and gonadotropic hormones of epoxy resin painters in the shipyard. The painters had significantly higher concentrations of urinary BPA (2.61${\pm}$1.08 ${\mu}g$/g creatinine) than controls (1.38${\pm}$0.5 9 ${\mu}g$/g creatinine). In serum, the testosterone level of painters was significantly decreased but the luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) levels of painters were significantly higher than controls. Occupational exposure to BPA influences testosterone and gonadotropic hormones in male workers.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.23 no.7
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• pp.858-868
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• 2017

Korea's shipbuilding industry has led the world in the technical area over the last century. Despite this commendable performance, around 2,000 workers experience accidents almost every year with 40 being killed. This raises a question of whether the safety level of our shipbuilding industry, in particular the safety of workers, is actually at the world-class level. Accordingly, this research has analyzed several types of safety training currently provided in the field through investigating statistical data of serious accidents occurring from 2006 to 2015 in the domestic shipbuilding industry, analyzing its occurrence and causes, and conducting a survey targeting employees in the shipbuilding industry. Based on this, it has investigated problems of safety training in the shipbuilding industry and suggested improvements. First, it is essential to create a standard system for safety training in the shipbuilding industry to address problems of different kinds and levels of safety training provided by each shipyard and low quality of training, and operate more organized and systemized training. Second, safety training curriculum specializing in the shipbuilding industry should continue to be developed and standardized based on a standard system for safe training to prevent serious accidents and improve safety awareness of workers. Lastly, both employers and employees should actively provide and participate in safety training to secure safety of workers through preventing serious accidents and ultimately create safety-first culture in workplace.

• Korean Journal of Labor Studies
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.321-365
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• 2018

Though the British shipbuilding industry dominated the world market in the 19th century, it could not avoid the repetitive rise and fall of the unemployment following after the cyclical fluctuations. Without challenging the employers' rights to fire at will, the boilermakers maintained their own unemployment insurance in order to escape from the new poverty law system. In the beginning the craft union could continue their own unemployment insurance under the National Insurance Act of 1911, but it went into bankruptcy under the massive unemployment of the 1920s and the attacks of shipyard employers. The Act of 1911 was a step towards social solidarity in that it spread the risks beyond the occupational boundaries, applying unemployment insurance to unskilled and non-union workers, and the employer and the government also paid the premium. In the Great Depression, the shipyard trade unions demanded that the government should intervene in the shipbuilding market to provide jobs, but it was not accepted by the government. The government responded only to the another demand of the union for the maintenance, which could be achieved partially through the abnormal operation of the insurance system, abandoning the insurance principle. After all, unemployment in the shipbuilding industry was resolved only by the expansion of rearmaments and the outbreak of World War II. From the 19th century to the World War II, the craft unions did not challenge the employers' right to fire at will and did not attempt to regulate dismissal procedures or make any demands on dismissal compensations. During interwar periods rules and practices related with weak employment protection - one of the main features of the liberal employment adjustment institution - were prevalent in Britain. The principle of 'employment at will' could survive through the historical events such as the World War I, II as the operation of the unemployment insurance became the focus of the social conflicts.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.28 no.7
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• pp.1267-1273
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• 2022

Although the Korea shipbuilding industry has recently been receiving most of the orders for ships in the world, production processes are being disrupted due to a shortage of manpower at the production site. This is because the workers quit the shipyard as both work and wages were reduced due to the long slump in the shipbuilding industry. The main reason for the increase in orders was the large-scale orders for Qatar LNG carriers, and the situation in which the technical specifications required for ships are becoming more complex is also working to an advantage. Because the contract delivery time is of utmost importance for ships, the dock launch plan is the most important management item among the shipyard's major processes. The structure to be built in the dock may be a hull that has left the design work or a finished vessel, and in some cases, it is often at the level of some blocks of the hull. When launching, the hull is affected by the hogging or sagging moment due to the fluid force, and securing the safety of the structural strength of the block connection is of utmost importance. In a normal process, the connecting member launches after welding has been completed, but in actual shipbuilders, quick decision-making is needed on the conditions for securing structural safety to comply with the docking schedule. In this study, a detailed analysis method and applicability using a bending stress evaluation method and finite element analysis modelling were analyzed to rationally judge the above-mentioned problems from an engineering point of view. The main contents mentioned in the thesis can be used as good examples when conducting similar structural strength evaluations in the future.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.137-146
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• 2003

Objectives : Impaired hearing is a prevalent occupational hazard, not only in industry, but also in the armed forces. In military life, noise has unusual characteristics, and constitutes a serious hazard to hearing. The aim of this study was to analyze the hearing threshold data in order to compare the hearing loss among shipyard workers, representing different workers, and a military service background. Methods : A cross-sectional audiological survey, combined with a questionnaire study, was conducted on a stratified random sample of 440 shipyard workers, with long-term exposure to noise. The employees were divided into four groups, according to their working and military service backgrounds, in relation to their exposure to noise. Results : As expected, the working and military noise exposure group (Group I) had significantly poorer hearing than the other groups. The high frequencies (2-8 kHz) showed the greatest difference in terms of poorer fearing in both ears. The prevalence of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) was highest in Group I. A logistic regression analysis was applied to determine the dependence of the NIHL in relation to age, smoking, drinking, working duration, ear protection, past history of ear diseases, and working and military sonics backgrounds, on the noise exposure The important factors found to be related to the NIHL, in relation to noise exposure were: age, work duration, and working and military service backgrounds. The adjusted odds ratio estimates for NIML in the right ear were 4.5 times greater (95% CI 1.7-11.6) for the military noise exposed group, and 7.9 times greater (95% CI 2.0-31.3) for the working noise exposed group than in the controls. The hearing thresholds at the pure-tone average and 4 kHz were significantly increased with age and work duration with both the working and military service backgrounds. Conclusions : From these results, specific preventive programs were planned, which should be assessed by epidemiological surveillance of the military noise exposed population.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.9
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• pp.18-23
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• 2017

The shipyard quay process struggles to control workers and maintain a secure working environment because of the presence of at least 1,000 people. Therefore, safety accidents such as an explosion or a fire are likely to occur. With the recent increase in safety accidents at shipyards, the requirements for safety and process monitoring have been strengthened. Major shipyards are conducting researchto monitor the process in real time and to detect the work environment for safety. In this paper, we propose a safe and accurate evacuation route based on the information of the dangerous area and the user's location based on a mobile application to reduce the casualty accidents in the presence of many personnel in a concentrated area. To do this, we analyze the trend of the fire escape system on the ground building, compare various algorithms for escape route calculation, select appropriate algorithms for this study, and perform programming. A basic experiment was conducted to confirm the results. The proposed method is expected to be used in large ship construction sites, passenger ships and large public facilities to reduce accidents in the case of a safety accident.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.123-127
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• 2011

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the status of asbestos-containing materials (ACMs) used on ships and to consider measures for preventing worker exposure to asbestos fibers. Methods: A total of 17 ships including 16 ships under repair and a ship under construction at shipyards in Korea were investigated. Bulk samples were collected from suspected ACMs on engine exhaust pipes, boiler steam pipes, generator exhaust pipes, and etc. in ships in order to identify the presence of ACMs. Types and contents of asbestos were determined using polarized light microscopy (PLM). Results: ACMs were found from 14 ships out of 17 ships investigated. Only chrysotile asbestos was found from all samples. ACMs were mainly found from samples collected at the exhaust pipes of the engine, generator and incinerator, and boiler steam pipes where exhaust gases or steam of high temperature pass through. In most cases, types of ACMs were asbestos-containing fabrics such as asbestos tape. Friable ACMs were also found in some cases. Use of ACMs on ships was relevant to built time and owner of the ships rather than type and tonnage of the ships. Conclusions: ACMs were found from most ships built prior to 2000s. Therefore, measures for preventing asbestos-related diseases such as preparation of asbestos map on the ship and installation of warning signs, hazard communication with workers (ship-repairing workers, engine room workers and etc.), and follow-up for worker's health management are needed.

• Journal of Korea Society of Industrial Information Systems
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.53-62
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• 2023

This paper has suggested the necessity of introducing training contents using XR(Extended reality) technology as a way to lower the high rate of nursing accidents among unskilled technical personnel in domestic shipbuilding industry, focusing on cable pulling using winch. The occurrence rate of nursing accidents in the domestic shipbuilding industry was almost double(197.4%) (2017~2020) when compared with other manufacturing industries. In particular, it is worth noting that more than 31.8% of nursing accidents in the shipbuilding industry occurred among workers whose job experience is no more than 6 months. Most of new workers are seen to have hard time due to several factors such as lack of work information, inexperience, and unfamiliarity with the working environments. This indicates that it is essential to incorporate more effective training method that could help new workers become familiar with technical skills as well as working environments in a short period of time. Currently, education/training at the domestic shipyard is biased toward technical skills such as welding, painting, machine installation, and electrical installation. Contrary, even more important training required to get new workers used to the working environment has remained at a superficial level such as explaining ship building processes using 2D drawings. This may be the reason why it is inevitable to repeat similar training at OJT (On-the-Job Training) even at the leading domestic companies. Domestic shipbuilding industries have been attracting a lot of new workers thanks to recent economic recovery, which is very likely to increase the occurrence of disasters. In this paper, the introduction of training using XR technology was proposed, and as a specific example, the process of pulling cables using winches on ships was implemented as XR-based training content by using Unity. Using the developed content, it demonstrated that new workers can experience the actual work process in advance through simulation in a virtual space, thereby becoming more effective training content that can help new workers become familiar with the work environment.

• Special Issue of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
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• 2011.09a
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• pp.12-16
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• 2011

During the shipbuilding construction, the repair works will be occurred by various reasons such as the natural disaster, mistakes of engineers or workers, defect of material, and so on. The one of the engineer's responsibilities is to design considering every possibility and to prevent the repair works due to the mistakes during construction stages, but actually it is very difficult and impossible to avoid every mistake. However, it is also the responsibility of engineers to find the best solution for the unavoidable mistakes which is to maintain the capacity of vessel and guarantee the safety for the repair works considering the construction schedules and economic cost. In this paper, it will be introduced the brief of repair works to the structural damage of the moon-pool structure in drillship which is built in our shipyard. For the verification of the structural strength, the fatigue analysis has been carried out based on the guide of Classification society. Furthermore, the modifications of structure design and welding procedure have been applied to avoid the stress concentration in the moon-pool structure.