The Swiss cheese model for disasters

WI MOON-HEE
The author is a national 2 of .

Mountainous areas make up 70 percent of . Dairy farming has long developed in the country, taking advantage of the mountain regions. As a result, diverse kinds of cheese using cow milk have been produced. According to the website of the in Korea, there are more than 450 kinds of cheeses in . In 2019, about 195,000 tons of cheese were produced, and more than 20 kilograms (44 pounds) of cheese is consumed per person each year.

Emmental cheese in particular is the most well-known Swiss cheese, notably characterized by the holes called “cheese eyes.” It is Jerry’s favorite cheese in the cartoon “ and Jerry.” The cheese eyes are said to produce the flavor. Emmental cheese is made with milk from the cows that live in alpine areas. Emmental is a name made by combining the Emmen area in Berne and “tal,” meaning valley.

In his book “Human Error,” published in 1990, James Reason, a at the , presented the Swiss cheese model for disasters. In fact, it is the Swiss “Emmental” cheese model. This model compares potential flaws that can cause a safety accident to the holes in Emmental cheese. When you overlay multiple layers of Emmental cheese, a linear gap can emerge through the holes on all layers of cheese. This “trajectory” can cause a major accident, he argued. The case of the accident should be expanded from human negligence to organizational factors, he maintained.

As all the holes lurking in the police, fire departments and local governments overlapped at once in the Itaewon disaster before Halloween, it caused devastating damages. There were 11 emergency calls warning of an imminent risk of crush from four hours before the disaster. Halloween festivities peak up until around midnight, but the fire department only planned safety…

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