Radiation Safety Committee

The implementation of safety guidelines is the responsibility of radiation safety officer and the radiation safety committee. The radiation safety officer is required to conduct periodic inspection of the locations and areas containing radioactive materials and to present a report of inspection to the safety committee for information and implementation of the recommendations. 

After the incident is over, a review of the causes of the accident and the emergency response should be conducted by the appropriate safety committee or committees. In this case, the laboratory safety committee and the radiation safety committee would probably jointly conduct the review. Basically, there were two root causes of this specific incident. Solvents should not be stored in any container which cannot be tightly sealed, but this would... 

Most larger organizations and many smaller ones have a " hroad license to use radioactive materials covering the entire organization, or at least that part of it at a single location. Although it is possible to have individual users directly licensed by the NRC, it is still required, in die latter case, to establish a radiation safety committee and safety officer to monitor the use of radioisotopes. 

The establishment of a radiation safety committee composed of such persons as a radiological safety officer, a representative of management, and persons trained and experienced in the safe use of radioactive materials ... 

Under item(3Xiii) the Radiation safety Committee also approves individual users if radioisotopes under the Broad License. In effect, they act as a local NRC governing use of the radioisotopes. 

While the license is in effect, the NRC has the right to make inspections of the facility, the byproduct material, and the areas where the byproduct material is in use or stored. These inspections have to be at reasonable hours, but they are almost always unannounced. The inspector also will normally ask to see records of such items as surveys, personnel exposure records, transfers and receipts of radioactive materials, waste disposal records, instrument calibrations, radiation safety committee minutes, documentation of any committee actions, and any other records relevant to compliance with the terms of the license and compliance with other parts of 10 CFR, such as 19 and 20. Failure to be in compliance can result in citations of various levels or of financial penalties. Enforcement will be discussed further later. The NRC can require tests to be done to show that the facility is being operated properly, such as asking for tests of the instruments used in monitoring the radiation levels, or... 

Licensed facilities designate a Radiation Safety Officer or a Radiation Safety Committee... 

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