Radiation safety personnel responsibilities

It is occasionally necessary for personnel to enter some of these facilities. This requires considerable time for decontamination and placement of local shielding. The operations that will be performed are carefully planned and rehearsed in order to get the entry over with as swiftly as possible. A special group of employees, the health physicists, are responsible for radiation safety throughout the plant, and they provide close monitoring of these entries. 

Assurance of competent staff begins by preparing position descriptions that specify the educational requirements, operational experience, and duties of the laboratory personnel. The qualifications of the supervisors, analysts, and instrument operators who are hired must match these descriptions. Each staff position should have a set of core training specifications (e.g., radiation safety, chemical safety, waste minimization and disposal, quality assurance) plus specific training in its area of responsibility. Table 13.3 provides suggested position titles, educational requirements, and general responsibilities for the optimal laboratory staff. 

Groups involved in planning the response should include the participation of laboratory personnel, radiation safety specialists, managerial personnel, media relations staff, and other support groups as dictated by the nature of the incident. 

For this reason, NCRP recommends that emergency response personnel and first response vehicles should be equipped with radiation detection equipment to alert them for a radiologically compromised environment. Furthermore, this equipment should be designed to alert the responders when unacceptable ambient dose rates or dose limits are reached. Responders should wear appropriate personal protective equipment (e.g., chemical safety suits, respirators). 

The manager of the HCF organization is responsible for obtaining the resources necessary to perform in a timely manner the required preventive and corrective maintenance of those safety-related items for which the organization is responsible. ES H Center personnel are responsible for obtaining the resources necessary to perform in a timely manner the required calibration and preventive and corrective maintenance of the radiation-monitoring equipment. All of these personnel report to senior SNL/NM managers to obtain prompt resolution of any maintenance problems that could affect the safety of the HCF. 

Site area emergency Major decrease in level of safety-—one more failure or remaining at this state for extended time could result in core damage (General Emergency) Off-site doses a fraction of the PAGs Fully activate response Evacuate non-essential personnel Implement radiation protection for staff Conduct monitoring off-site Fully activate response Alert the population to the problem... 

In that such lamps emit harmful radiation, personnel must take care to avoid direct exposure to unprotected areas of the body. The severity of reaction depends on exposure time and the body surface affected. Hands, arms, and face may sunburn, whereas irreversible damage may result from exposure to eyes, and longer term exposure may result in skin cancer. Overexposure to UVL is not immediately noticeable and, hence, the injury may have already occurred before the individual develops a response. Thus, laboratory training and education is crucial to minimizing employee health and safety risks. 

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