Control of Industrial Safety Based on Dynamic Characteristics of a Safety Budget-Industrial Accident Rate Model in Republic of Korea

BACKGROUND: Despite the recent efforts to prevent industrial accidents in the Republic of Korea, the industrial accident rate has not improved much. Industrial safety policies and safety management are also known to be inefficient. This study focused on dynamic characteristics of industrial safety systems and their effects on safety performance in the Republic of Korea. Such dynamic characteristics are particularly important for restructuring of the industrial safety system. METHODS: The effects of damping and elastic characteristics of the industrial safety system model on safety performance were examined and feedback control performance was explained in view of cost and benefit. The implications on safety policies of restructuring the industrial safety system were also explored. RESULTS: A strong correlation between the safety budget and the industrial accident rate enabled modeling of an industrial safety system with these variables as the input and the output, respectively. A more effective and efficient industrial safety system could be realized by having weaker elastic characteristics and stronger damping characteristics in it. A substantial decrease in total social cost is expected as the industrial safety system is restructured accordingly. CONCLUSION: A simple feedback control with proportional–integral action is effective in prevention of industrial accidents. Securing a lower level of elastic industrial accident-driving energy appears to have dominant effects on the control performance compared with the damping effort to dissipate such energy. More attention needs to be directed towards physical and social feedbacks that have prolonged cumulative effects. Suggestions for further improvement of the safety system including physical and social feedbacks are also made.

Effect of Occupational Health and Safety Management System on Work-Related Accident Rate and Differences of Occupational Health and Safety Management System Awareness between Managers in South Korea's Construction Industry

BACKGROUND: The study was conducted to investigate the current status of the occupational health and safety management system (OHSMS) in the construction industry and the effect of OHSMS on accident rates. Differences of awareness levels on safety issues among site general managers and occupational health and safety (OHS) managers are identified through surveys. METHODS: The accident rates for the OHSMS-certified construction companies from 2006 to 2011, when the construction OHSMS became widely available, were analyzed to understand the effect of OHSMS on the work-related injury rates in the construction industry. The Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency 18001 is the certification to these companies performing OHSMS in South Korea. The questionnaire was created to analyze the differences of OHSMS awareness between site general managers and OHS managers of construction companies. RESULTS: The implementation of OHSMS among the top 100 construction companies in South Korea shows that the accident rate decreased by 67% and the fatal accident rate decreased by 10.3% during the period from 2006 to 2011. The survey in this study shows different OHSMS awareness levels between site general managers and OHS managers. The differences were motivation for developing OHSMS, external support needed for implementing OHSMS, problems and effectiveness of implementing OHSMS. CONCLUSION: Both work-related accident and fatal accident rates were found to be significantly reduced by implementing OHSMS in this study. The differences of OHSMS awareness between site general managers and OHS managers were identified through a survey. The effect of these differences on safety and other benefits warrants further research with proper data collection.

An Analysis of Industrial Accidents in an Automobile Factory / 대한산업의학회지

OBJECTIVES: To know the present conditions of industrial accidents in automobile factories in Korea and make the basic materials essential to prevention of industrial accidents METHODS: We reviewed and analyzed the records of industrial accidents occurred in an automobile factory in 1997 by time of occurrence, job categories(fixed production, skilled trades, mechanical material handling, and clerical 8r technical), type of injury, kind of accident, and location of injury. RESULTS: 1. By age groups, the accident rate was the highest in age 45-49(1.6 %o) followed by age 35-39(1.3 %), 40-44(0.9 %), 30-34(0.9 %), 25-29(0.6 %), and 20-24(0.4 %) and by working duration, it was highest in group of experience over 25 years, and so we could see that the more age or working duration increases the more accident rate increases. 2. By work time, the accident rate was the highest in 10-11 a.m. (21.4 %) followed by 2-3 p.m. (17.9%). By the day of the week, it was as follows, Friday(20.5%) Wednesday (17. 9%), Monday (16. 2 %), Thesday (15. 4 %), Saturday (12. 0 %), Thursday(11.1 %), Sunday(6.8 %) in order. By the month, it was high in May(17.9 %), March(11.1 %), and April(11.1 %) followed by August(10.3 %) and January(9.4 %), so we could see it was high in spring. 3. The most frequent injury was in the back by 41.0 % followed by 17 cases in fingers(14.5 %), legs(9.4 %), hands(7.7 %), head(6.0 %) in order. And by the type of injuries, the sprain was most frequent by 38. 5% followed by fracture(22. 2 %, lumbar HNP(11.1 %), and contusion(9.4 %) in order. The causes of accident were handling heavy materials(34.2 %), upset(17.1 %), stenosis(16.2 %), and falling(6.8 %) in order. CONCLUSIONS: By the above results, to prevent the industrial accidents in automobile factories in Korea, preventive activities for handling heavy materials and back injury, and continuous industrial education are necessary.