Analysis of accidents in chemistry/chemical engineering laboratories in Korea

Abstract

This is the first study to statistically analyze all chemical laboratory accidents in South Korea during 2015–2021 to examine the relationship among accident types and causes, damage types, and damaged areas. The data included accidents with injury requiring treatment for more than three days, following the standards of the Act on the Establishment of Safe Laboratory Environment. Frequency analysis was conducted on the current status of each variable, and a cross‐tabulation analysis identified the associations among them. The results identified 1380 laboratory accidents, with 342 chemistry/chemical engineering accidents. Chemical accidents were categorized as fires, explosions, and spills according to accident type; spills exhibited the highest frequency (69.0%) and were mostly caused by inadequate handling of chemicals (62.5%). Most explosions (62.2%) and fires (52.2%) were caused by abnormal/runaway reactions. Burn damage was high in all accident types, especially spills (76.1%). The face was frequently damaged across all accident types, while explosions damaged multiple areas. Several safety management measures are proposed to prevent/reduce spills, explosions, fires, and damage based on the results. The results can help researchers develop new protective technologies for safety in chemistry/chemical engineering laboratories.