AW: [ RadSafe ] Medical examinations

[Franz Schönhofer]

Hi,

I cannot speak for all of Europe, but only for Austria. The European Union
issues directives containing for instance "the health of workers has to be
monitored", but the details are implemented by national legislation.

In Austria radiation workers are subject to medical checks on an annual
basis, independent on their dosimeter results. As usual the authorities have
the right to prescribe other intervals, both shorter and longer ones. These
checks are on a very common basis, like basic blood parameters, urine, blood
pressure, etc. Any excess for dose limits would have to be reported
immediately by the employer at once to the competent authority.

Anybody working with (potentially) poisonous material has to undergo annual
checks with varying analyses. For instance persons working with lead will of
course be tested for lead in blood, those working with solvents will have
extended lung and blood analyses etc. 

The costs are paid by the social security system, which is funded by
compulsory contributions of both workers and employers, the amount depending
on the level of income. The service is the same, the patients will pay the
same fee for e.g. heart surgery or prostata cancer treatment, whether being
a construction worker or the director of a bank - namely almost "zero". For
my treatment of a coronary infarction, including dilatation, P-32 stents
insertion I had to pay an almost ridiculous small amount for my stay in
hospital. Since the income for the social security system from workers and
employers is of course not enough, tax payer money is channeled to it. 

A "friendly" person on RADSAFE commented not so long ago, that I only accept
things coming from Austria. Though I lack in depth knowledge about the
systems in other European countries I would think, that the systems are sure
very similar. This is backed by the fact that citizens from one EU country
are treated medically free of charge in other EU countries. I experienced
this already both in Poland and Spain. I once had a very severe throat
inflammation in the USA and the first question of the nurse was for my
credit card...... I could imagine that millions of US citizens would prefer
our social security system - needless to say that we have of course a
compulsary retirement "insurance", with guarantees retirement pay, depending
on the previous income and fixed contribution to the system. 

>From this slightly off-topic issue back to another RADSAFE post (George
Dowell - SynebryKOFF) with the question of X-rays. Almost all of Viennas
radiation workers went for the examination to the biggest hospital in
Vienna, where there exists a department for occupational health medicine.
Only one of my technicians consulted before I got rid of him his "family
doctor", who of some dubious and unknown reasons was on the list of doctors
authorized (not certified) to perform such examinations. The first thing the
doctor did, was to take a lung X-ray....... So this technician received by
the examination a far higher dose than from his work in my low-level
radioactivity measurements laboratory!

Finally: I do not really understand, why one would oppose this annual
medical examination. It is not only positive for the employees, but also for
the employers. A careful record of the health of employees would be a good
argument, if some employees would blame the working conditions for health
problems which are not associated with the working environment.

Best regards,

Franz

Franz Schoenhofer, PhD
MinRat i.R.
Habicherg. 31/7
A-1160 Wien/Vienna
AUSTRIA


-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] Im Auftrag
von kali1 at zahav.net.il
Gesendet: Sonntag, 09. September 2007 18:06
An: radsafe at radlab.nl; MEDPHYS at LISTS.WAYNE.EDU
Betreff: [ RadSafe ] Medical examinations

Hi all

In Israel every X-ray technician, and all other radiation workers, must be
annually checked medically. I think this practice to be nonsensical. I would
appreciate your views and would like to know what are the regulations in the
U.S. and in Europe.

Yehoshua Kalish,
Consultant, 
Hod-Hasharon, Israel 
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