Workplace Radiation In Australia

Over the years there have been concerns about the effects of workplace radiation on the health and safety of workers. As a result in Australia, as in most developed countries, legislation and regulation has been developed to provide structure and guidelines for the control of radioactive substances, radioactive sources and radiation apparatus. These Acts include procedures to prevent or limit the hazards associated with radiation for the occupational users and the general public. The regulations place requirements on the owners and users of the radioactive sources to be licensed. The licence conditions might include that the radiation sources are secure and that the users have had appropriate and adequate training.

The International Commission

The national radiation protection standards based on ICRP recommendations were taken up in the radiation protection legislation of the States and Territories under various Acts and their respective Regulations. There are 9 Australian State and Territory Regulatory Authorities (1 Commonwealth & 8 State/Territory). The Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) has the lead role in respect to radiation. As the Federal regulator it provides a framework for radiation safety together with clear regulatory statements to be adopted by the Commonwealth, States and Territories (ARPNSA 2015b). The relevant Procedures, Standards, Codes of Practice, Recommendations and Safety Guides, are published by ARPANSA and their adoption by organisations brings 'best practice' the management of ionising and non-ionising radiation in the workplace. All these are further complemented by the role of Australian Safeguards and Non-Proliferation Office (ASNO) which considers security

For this to be achieved, the optimisation has to be driven by the choice dose values that depend on the nature of the exposure and the amenability to control. These values are selected from bands or dose ranges, depending on exposure situation. Additionally, these values may be expressed a) as constraints where it would be unacceptable to exceed those in planning, and b) as reference values which indicate desired levels for guiding the optimisation. As Kosako (2009) states, “the way in which the optimization process should be implemented is now viewed more broadly to reflect the increasing role of individual equity, safety culture, and stakeholder involvement in our modern