Authors : Younhee Kim and Hakkyong Kim
Abstract: Young children spend significnat amount of time in child care centers. The Korean government has established the Child Care Center Accreditation Program (CCCAP) to promote a higher safety standards. The CCCAP has various indexes and regulations for preventing fire hazards in child care centers. However, there are not many studies being conducted to examine the actual practices of safety and on fire hazards in child care centers. The aim of this research is to assess the risks associated with safety practices in child care centers. In particular, the research tried to extract the appropriate knowledge for the safety practices on fire hazards in child care centers. For this research, a total of 20 child care centers were investigated to examine the safety practices in gas and electricity usage. In addition to that, interviews were conducted with principals or head teachers to extract the requirements of the safety needs for the purpose of preventing fire hazards in child care centers. Findings of this study can be used to improve the safety indexes in the CCCAP.
Younhee Kim and Hakkyong Kim, 2018. Safe or not?: Critical Review of Current Safety Practices in Korean Child Care Centers. Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences, 13: 7921-7926.