• Title/Summary/Keyword: toxic risk

Search Result 446, Processing Time 0.027 seconds

A Study on the Improvement of Risk Assessment Items and Index for Sunken Ship (침몰선박 위해도 평가항목 및 평가지수 개선에 관한 연구)

  • Lee, Seung-Hyun;Choi, Hyuek-Jin;Suh, Jae-Joon
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
    • /
    • v.21 no.6
    • /
    • pp.704-711
    • /
    • 2015
  • In this study, we have conducted a survey of AHP technique through the ocean experts to derive new items and revise assessment items and indices for risk of sunken ships based on the survey results. As a result of the survey, two new items such as accident cause and tidal current are derived. And it shows that existing items such as toxic liquid substance, remaining oil and explosive gas which were evaluated as one group are desirable to be evaluated respectively. Accordingly, we analyze the indices of the new eleven assessment items adjusted from the existing seven assessment items. As a result, the indices are ordered by toxic liquid substance, possibility of leaking, explosive gas, carrying capacity of fuel oil, sensitivity of sea environment, marine traffic environment, cause of accident, tidal current, keel clearance, ship type, and ship size. Especially, as compared with the indices of existing assessment items, the indices of sensitivity of sea environment and possibility of leaking are higher and the index of keel clearance is lower.

Study of the Fire Risk of Occupants During Pilotis Space Fires (필로티 공간의 화재 시 재실자의 위험성에 관한 연구)

  • Choi, Seung-Bok;Choi, Doo-Chan;Choi, Don-Mook
    • Fire Science and Engineering
    • /
    • v.30 no.5
    • /
    • pp.144-150
    • /
    • 2016
  • An apartment house with a pilotis that raises the architectural volume and provides a space for circulation is becoming popular. With the popularity of pilotis in apartment houses, people also have a keen interest in the potential fire risk at the pilotis. As residents can only access their apartment house through the pilotis, there is a risk to the occupants if there is fire there. Therefore, this study evaluated the pilotis fire cases of urban multifamily housing to conduct a Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) and Fire Evacuation Simulation (FES). Through these two simulation methods, it is possible to validate the riskiness of fire at an apartment with a pilotis. The study identified that the toxic gases and flame spread out to the pilotis within hundred seconds after ignition. In addition, the toxic gases and flame also reach the second floor within three seconds and the entire building within 735 seconds if the entrance doors at the pilotis are opened. On the other hand, the FES simulation results showed that it also takes about approximately 609 seconds to excavate from the apartment house with a pilotis. Therefore, this research shows that an apartment house with a pilotis can ensure the building occupants' lives and their safety if there is fire.

Molecular/biochemical Biomarkers for Exposure to Hazardous Chemicals in the Water Environment and their Application to Freshwater Fish (유해물질 노출로 인한 분자.생화학적 바이오마커와 담수 어류에 대한 현장 적용성)

  • Kim, Jung-Kon;Park, Ye-Na;Kim, Woo-Keun;Kim, Ji-Won;Lee, Sung-Kyu;Choi, Kyung-Ho
    • Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
    • /
    • v.36 no.5
    • /
    • pp.418-434
    • /
    • 2010
  • As concerns regarding water pollution grow, the need increases for a fast and accurate assessment of ecological risk. In this context, many studies have been conducted to identify biomarkers which can sensitively indicate exposure to and effects of various contaminants in a water environment. However, the utility of most such biomarkers in the real water environment is not yet validated. In this paper, we conducted a thorough review of publications that were related to developing or evaluating molecular and biochemical biomarkers of freshwater fish in ecological risk assessment, and evaluated whether these biomarkers of interest could link to the effects on higher biological levels, such as histopathology and above. Biomarkers of interest included those associated with metabolism, oxidative stress, reproduction and endocrine disruption, genotoxicity, and defense against heavy metal exposure. We found that, when used alone, most molecular and biochemical biomarkers are not sufficient to understand the effects of toxic substances in higher biological levels, due to defense or acclimation mechanisms of organisms. Moreover, some biomarkers respond not only to hazardous substances but also to the changes in water quality and disease outbreak. Molecular and biochemical biomarkers may be most useful in understanding the potential biological effects of toxic compounds when used in parallel with relevant endpoints of higher biological levels.

Health Effects of Mercury Exposure through Fish (어패류를 통한 수은 노출과 건강영향)

  • SaKong, Joon
    • Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
    • /
    • v.28 no.2
    • /
    • pp.105-115
    • /
    • 2011
  • Mercury is a toxic, persistent pollutant that bioaccumulates and biomagnifies through food webs. People are exposed to methyhnercruy mainly through their diet, especially through the consumption of freshwater and marine fish and of other animals that consume fish (e.g., marine mammals). All humans are exposed to low levels of mercury. Dietary patterns can increase exposure to a fish-eating population where the fish and seafood are contaminated with mercury. The primary toxicity targets of mercury and mercury compounds are the nervous system, kidneys, and cardiovascular system. It is generally accepted that developing organ systems are most sensitive to the toxic effects of mercury. The fetal-brain mercury levels appear to be significantly higher than the maternal-blood mercury levels, and the developing central nervous system of the fetus is currently regarded as the main system of concern as it demonstrates the greatest sensitivity. The subpopulation that may be at greater risk for mercury toxicity are those exposed to higher levels of methylmercury due to carnivorous fish, including sharks.

  • PDF

Properties of Foamed Concrete according to Dilution Concentrations of Animality Protein Foaming Agent (동물성 기포제의 희석농도에 따른 기포콘크리트의 특성)

  • Lim, Jeong-Jun;Lee, Sang-Soo
    • Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
    • /
    • 2019.11a
    • /
    • pp.77-78
    • /
    • 2019
  • Organic insulating materials can cause fatal toxic gases when burned, which can lead to human injury. As a combustible material, the risk of fire spreading is great. Therefore, there is a need for a study on the lightweight cured body for the non-combustible inorganic insulation to replace the flammable organic insulation. This study aims to examine the properties of lightweight foamed concrete according to the dilution concentration of animal foaming agent which forms a closed void when foaming as a part of the experiment to examine the utility of the lightweight foamed concrete as an insulating material. Bubbles occupy a large volume of lightweight foam concrete and have a great influence on the properties. Therefore, the stability of the bubble is very important, and as a result of the experiment, it is determined that 3% of the smallest vesicles are prepared at the proper dilution concentration.

  • PDF

The Future of Chemical Pest Control

  • Pickett, John-A.;Woodcock, Christine-M.
    • Korean journal of applied entomology
    • /
    • v.31 no.3
    • /
    • pp.304-313
    • /
    • 1992
  • The agricultural industry is beset by continuing demands to decrease the use of pest control agents which employ toxic modes of action. Although there are real problems of pesticide resistance, and sometimes overuse or redistribution in the environment, much criticism results from a lack of appreciation of how small is the risk involved. Whatever the background reasons, research and development for pesticide alternatives, particularly within Integrated Pest Management systems, is clearly of high priority. Currently available approaches, including use of natural products and molecular biology, are often regarded with naive optimism and require critical appraisal. For the future, methods of pest control based on chemicals with non-toxic modes of action (e.g. pheromones) continue to offer promise but, for widespread use, will require their integration with biological agents and development by means of plant molecular biology.

  • PDF

An Update on Occupation and Prostate Cancer

  • Doolan, Glenn;Benke, Geza;Giles, Graham
    • Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
    • /
    • v.15 no.2
    • /
    • pp.501-516
    • /
    • 2014
  • Background: Our aim was to identify gaps and limitations in the current literature and to make recommendations for future research required to address these. Materials and Methods: We reviewed occupational exposures and related factors associated with the risk of prostate cancer between 2000 and 2012. These included chemical, ergonomic, physical or environmental, and psychosocial factors which have been reported by epidemiological studies across a range of industries. Results: The results are inconsistent from study to study and generally this is due to the reliance upon the retrospectivity of case-control studies and prevalence (ecological) studies. Exposure assessment bias is a recurring limitation of many of the studies in this review. Conclusions: We consider there is insufficient evidence to implicate prostate cancer risk for ergonomic, physical, environmental or psychosocial factors, but there is sufficient evidence to implicate toxic metals, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). More research is required to identify specific pesticides that may be associated with risk of prostate cancer.

Ecological Risk Assessment of Chemicals of Concern for Initiation of Ecorisk-based Water Quality Standards in Korea (생태수질기준설정을 위한 대상물질의 생태위해성 평가)

  • An, Youn-Joo;Nam, Sun-Hwa;Kim, Yong-Hwa
    • Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
    • /
    • v.24 no.5
    • /
    • pp.592-597
    • /
    • 2008
  • Current water quality standard (WQS) in Korea is based on the protection of human health, not considering the protection of aquatic organisms. Most of chemicals can be toxic to ecological biota as well as human. Health of aquatic biota is closely related to the human health via food chain, therefore ecological risk based-WQS needs to be developed to protect the aquatic ecosystem. In this study, we selected the 31 chemicals in the Project entitled 'Development of integrated methodology for evaluation of water environment'. The methodology for calculating water quality criteria was derived from the Australian and New Zealand processes for deriving guideline trigger value for aquatic ecosystem. The available ecotoxicity data were collected from US EPA's ECOTOXicology Database (ECOTOX), TOX-2000 Database, European Chemicals Bureau (ECB)'s International Uniform Chemical Information Database (IUCLID) and Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA)'s report 'Ambient Water Quality Criteria (AWQC)'. The aquatic toxicity data for the Korean species were selected for risk assessment to reflect the Korean water environment. The monitoring values were calculated from the water quality monitoring data four main Korean rivers. We suggested the order of priorities of chemicals based on ecological risk assessment. We expect that these results can be useful information for establishing the WQS for the protection of aquatic ecosystem.

Risk Assessment of Petrochemical Equipments Using Enhanced RBI Technique (개선된 RBI 기법을 이용한 석유화학설비의 위험도평가)

  • Lee Sang-Min;Song Ki-Hun;Chang Yoon-Suk;Choi Jae-Boong;Kim Young-Jin;Han Sang-In;Choi Song-Chun
    • Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
    • /
    • v.29 no.10 s.241
    • /
    • pp.1392-1398
    • /
    • 2005
  • API 581 guideline provides a methodology for calculating the risks of equipments in refinery or petrochemical plant. However, especially in part of the consequence of failure, there is a major limitation of its application to the petrochemical plant directly since only a representative material is considered in calculating the risk while the equipment is composed of numerous materials. The objectives of this paper are to propose an enhanced risk-based inspection (RBI) technique to resolve shortcomings inclusive of the above issue and to assess the risks of typical petrochemical equipments. In this respect, a program incorporating material database was developed to fully incorporate the characteristics of different materials. The proposed RBI program consists of qualitative, semi-quantitative and quantitative risk evaluation modules in which toxic materials as well as representative materials were selected automatically for comparison to those in the current guideline. It has been applied to assess the risks of equipments in ethylene facilities of petrochemical plants. Thereby, more realistic evaluation results were obtained and applicability of the proposed RBI program was proven.

A Study on Evacuees Risk Assesment for Application of Spatial Risk Information (공간위험정보를 적용한 대피자 위험성평가에 관한 연구)

  • Hong, Seungbum;Jang, Jae-Soon;Park, Hyun-A;Rie, Dong-Ho
    • Fire Science and Engineering
    • /
    • v.29 no.2
    • /
    • pp.8-12
    • /
    • 2015
  • Performance Based Design is evaluating after each calculatiuon ASET and RSET. Risk informaion values such as heat, smoke, toxic gas etc are extracted by FDS in this study. These Risk informaion values by FDS apply Artisoc (evacuation simulator). Building structure made $60m{\times}65m$, exit number is made 2 positions and people in this building are 50 ramdonly. 20 times (case1~case 20) simulated and analysis evacuees risk by evacuated route positions.