Seong Rok Chang

Application of Digital Human Modeling for Design of Yacht

Objective: In this study, virtual reality was adopted to consider ergonomic factors in yacht design. Virtual human which is the same actual human was created in virtual environment using Digital Human Modeling which has been used in the manufacturing communities to design better workplaces and maximize the safety of workers. Background: During the past 40 years yachting has expanded from being, generally speaking, a minority sport - too expensive for the large majority of people - into a major recreational activity practiced by millions all over the world. Many new yacht designs have appeared and number of professional, as well as amateur designers has increased steadily. But they had not considered ergonomic factors in yacht design. Method: Workers posture, traffic line and workload had been analyzed in sailing yacht. After the caution level was evaluated, we pointed out clues which had high workload and interference. To reduce workload, we applied ergonomic principles for improving working conditions and environments in Digital Human Model. Results: We found the space problems and workload of postures. Conclusion: (1) Unnatural posture of crews was sustained. (2) Workload that occurs in the human body was overloaded. (3) Crews work space was very narrow. Application: This study will be applied the new ergonomic design of yacht.

A Study of the Implementation of the Ergonomics Program in a Shipbuilding Company

Work related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) became a major problem since 2000 in shipbuilding industry. WMSDs are known to be resulted from awkward postures, high repetitive motions, excessive forces, mechanical stress and vibration. Korean government enacted a law to require companies to take measures to prevent musculoskeletal disorders at work. If there are more than 10 incidences of WMSDs or 5 incidences which are more than 10 percent of all workers in a company, this law requires a company to implement an ergonomics program. A few large companies in shipbuilding industry have already implemented or are in the process of implementing an ergonomics program. This paper presents a case study of an implementation of an ergonomics program in a Korean shipbuilding company. We audited the process of the ergonomics program in this shipbuilding company four times for 3 years. Based on the findings, this paper presents effects and problems of an ergonomics program and improvement measures of them. These findings will help companies which want to implement an ergonomics program in the future.

A Study on the Work Ability Index by the Type of Business, Age and Job

According to the Korea National Statistical Office data in 2008, the population over ages of 65 years would possess to 10.7% whole population of Korea in 2009 denoting Korea is already in the aging society. It is well-known that the possibility to work longer and to live better is highly related to the work ability of individuals. The objective of this study is to evaluate the work ability of each aged group using the Work Ability Index(WAI) in the shipbuilding industry, machinery industry and Korea housing corporation, and to assess the effect of the type of business, age and job on the WAI score. The results showed that no significant difference was identified on the effect of aging although work ability of some group(over 55 years) was a little higher than that of others. Also, type of business and job had a significant effect on WAI score. These results suggested that the work ability is not necessarily related to aging in Korean society. One possible explanation for this might be different cultural characteristics of Korean society.

Assessment of Work Ability of Korean Workers in the Shipbuilding Industry using FIOH Questionnaire

Objective: The goal of this study was to assess work ability of Korean workers in the shipbuilding industry. Background: Old age is associated with inevitable time-dependent losses in physical capabilities. However the maintenance of physical capabilities is essential for continuing independence in old age. The work ability index(WAI) was constructed to reveal how well a worker is able to perform his or her work. Method: The WAI is a kind of survey methods developed to estimate the work capacity of aged workers by the Finish Institute of Occupational Health(FIOH) in 1998. The difference of the WAI between groups in each category was tested using the Kruskal-Wallis test, and the relationship between the WAI and the workers’ ages was tested by the Correlation test. Results: This study surveyed 2,709 persons working in the shipbuilding industry in Korea. The average WAI score for all workers was 40.0 denoting a Good Level. Also, workers in the shipbuilding industry had lower work ability, as compared to the results of other industries. The WAI was analyzed for different age groups(≤29; 30~34; 35~39; 40~44; 45~49; 50~54; ≥55). The results of Kruskal-Wallis test showed that significant difference was identified on the effect of aging(p＜0.05). Conclusion: Advanced countries like the Finland showed decreasing tendency in good and excellent levels as aged, but there was no decreasing tendency in Korean population. The results may be attributable to the general characteristics of Korean society, such as poor social security and burden caused by role of the patriarch. It may bring forth higher work ability in aged population even their physical condition is getting worse. Application: This finding could be used for developing more accurate assessment tool of work ability for working environment.

A Study on the Application Plan of the Basic Safety and Health Education for Service Industries

Recently, as Korean industrial structure is moving to the service job, the number of workers engaged in the service job is increasing slowly. According to the statistics by Ministry of Employment and Labor announced in June, 2013, the number of service job workers in Korea was 7,477,135 which accounted for 48.4% of total workers. The trend of this service job is expected to increase continuously in the future. According to the 2013 statistics by Ministry of Employment and Labor, the number of industrial accidents victims of industrial accidents in the service job was 30,526 which was the biggest number among the entire businesses. The victims in the service job accounted for 33.2% among the total number of industrial accidents and represented more than those in the manufacture and construction industry. The service job had various works and employment patterns and most service jobs are petty and are small-sized establishments and it is difficult to try voluntarily to prevent the industrial accidents. However, Korean occupational safety and health act was enacted in accordance with the construction and manufacture in which industrial accidents occurred frequently in the past. The support of the government for the industrial accident prevention is focused on the construction and manufacture. Therefore, the current service job is placed on the blind spot of the safety management. Raising the safety awareness of workers through the safety education is the most important in order to prevent the industrial accidents of the service job with many conventional/repeated disasters such as the conduction by a simple mistake. Accordingly, this study analyzed the features and accidents of the domestic service jobs through the literature survey and analyzed the institutional devices for the safety management of the domestic service job, and the safety management cases of foreign service jobs and compared with domestic systems. Considering demands for the basic safety education for service job workers, a questionnaire was conducted targeting the service job workers and the execution plan of the basic safety & health education targeting the service job workers was carried out through the brainstorming of trainers of worker in the service job.

A Methodology for Establishment of Safety Culture in Industry through Global Company Practices

Objective:The purpose of this study is to suggest the methodology for establishment of safety culture in industry. Background: There have been studies indicating positive relation between safety culture and safety performance. But the areas of those efforts have been mainly focused on elements or factors consisting of safety culture. So it is expected that studies on methodologies for developing process of the culture could contribute for the industry to understand and apply it accordingly in order to improve their practices. Method: In this study, the scope was considered just for industry, even though there are many fields of culture. As the first step, the limitations of regulatory control and efforts by industry were reviewed, and the trends of researches were presented. In the second step, the global company practices were provided with detailed activities. Results: This paper showed the limitations of present state in government strategies and industry for safety culture improvement. Also the restricted areas in researches were shown. As one of the solutions to resolve those things, such global company practices as perception to safety journey, the steps of culture development, total safety philosophy, structure and elements of safety process, standards and procedures, training, and up to keys to success were suggested. Conclusion: Through this study, the development of the structure of safety process which consists of many purposeful activities has been derived to be very important. Because it will be the seeds of safety culture expressing their thinking process and behaviors. Also it is required to approach success step by step according to the achievement of each step. Application: This study can be used to develop the methodology and safety process in industry with different viewpoints for safety culture establishment.

A Study on the Process Analysis and the Risk Assessment for Removal Work of the Asbestos Cement Slate

Asbestos is given to a variety of six naturally occurring silicate minerals. These minerals possess high tensile strength, flexibility, resistance to chemical and thermal degradation, and electrical resistance. These minerals have been used for decades in thousands of commercial products, such as insulation and fireproofing materials, automotive brakes, textile products, cement and wallboard materials. When handled, asbestos can separate into microscopic-size particles that remain in the air and are easily inhaled. It is now known that prolonged inhalation of asbestos fibers can cause serious and fatal illnesses including malignant lung cancer, mesothelioma, and asbestosis. Therefore the use of asbestos and asbestos products has dramatically decreased in recent years. Also all constructions including asbestos should be removed under strictly controlled conditions and very tightly implemented health & safety management systems. In this study, the process of the removal work of the asbestos cement slate was analyzed by IDEF-0 modeling and evaluated by 4M risk assessment method. The results show that removal work of the asbestos cement slate was classified five process and eighteen detail process. The risk of safety side the higher than the risk of health side in 4M risk assessment.

The Development of a SVR-based Empirical Model for the Effect of the Unbalanced Floor Height on MVC of Lifting Task

Abstract : Low back pain is one of major issues in musculoskeletal diseases mainly caused by MMH (Manual Material Handling) tasks. In Korea, the standards of NIOSH(National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) Lift Equations in U. S. A. have been most widely used. However, there is no standard in case the height of one feet is higher than that of another one. Moreover, since t he standards are developed in U. S. A., there are many limitations for the applicability of Korean workers. In this study, MVC(Maximum Voluntary Contraction) for four postures are measured and an empirical model based on SVR(Support Vector Regression) is constructed. Constructing SVR model, PSO(Particle Swarm Optimization) is employed to investigate the optimal parameters of SVR. The results show that the performance of this empirical model is approximately accurate, even if the deviation of experimental values is la rge due to the individual differences. This empirical model may contribute to establish the standards of MMH tasks in Korea.

Fundamental Study for Ergonomic Design of Sailing Yacht

Abstract : Leisure activities alter overland tourism into marine tourism according to a rise in national income. It is expected that the leisure boat with period of introduction in marine tourism will be developed rapidly. It needs to unite with marine technology, optimized layout design,interior design and so on in order to build a yacht of high quality. Because optimized layout design and interior design technique increase the added value of the yacht, it needs to be convergence technology between Ergonomics, Sensibility Ergonomics, and design technique. In this study, we analyzed traffic line of crews in a sailing yacht and assessed working posture using OWAS, RULA and REBA tools. Also we suggestedtips of Ergonomic design in the sailing yacht. Key Words : sailing yacht, ergonomic design, traffic line, musculoskeletal disorders, working posture analysis † Corresponding Author: Seong Rok Chang, Tel : +82-51-629-6468, E-mail : srchang@pknu.ac.krDepartment of Safety Engineering, Pukyong National University, 365, Sinseon-ro, Nam-Gu, Busan 608-739, Korea