As an effort to prevent serious accidents involving oxygen deficiency and suffocation in confined spaces and to identify the causes of such accidents, the present study investigated relevant accidents and systems in Korea and other countries. This study also conducted a number of experiments at lethal concentration levels of oxygen deficiency using SD rats and observed the changes of experimental animals with humidity, organic gas (toluene), hydrogen sulfide, carbon monoxide and so on at the oxygen deficient environment. The results of the study are as follows. 1. The results from the experiment conducted using SD rats at lethal concentration levels of oxygen showed that there were no casualties at the 7% oxygen concentration level, but the mortality increase to 20% at 6% oxygen. it was jumped to 90% at 5% oxygen, and it was also dramatically reached 100% at 4% oxygen concentration. Therefore, 5.5% was calculated as the LC?? (rat, 4hr) from these dose-response experiments with oxygen deficiency. 2. When we changed the level of toluene, H₂S, CO, humidity, and so on, in an oxygen deficient environment, it was observed that the small concentrations of H₂S and CO make the highest effect on animals. In case of 350 ppm H₂S, it resulted in 30% mortality, and the 100% mortality was shown in 1,200 ppm CO concentration. The mortality increased as an oxygen deficient condition. However in the case of toluene up to 1,000 ppm, it were not affected with oxygen deficiency, and it did not indicate any significant differences in mortality as 20%, 90% humidities.
PDF Links
Full text via DOI 
Download Citation 
