[ RadSafe ] RSO responsibility

[Jeff Terry]

Forwarded to the list. Please remember to send plain text messages. 

Thanks,

Jeff


Begin forwarded message:
> 
> 
> From: Laurence F Friedman <friedmanla at iit.edu>
> Subject: RSO responsibility for unauthorized transfer of licensed material
> Date: October 14, 2011 5:06:23 PM CDT
> To: radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu
> 
> 
> D. Felipe Gaitan, Ph.D. posted the following question: 
> 
> "Does anybody have any experience with the situation where a manager in a
> company ships (in the US) restricted radiation material without consulting
> with the RSO? Is the RSO still responsible and/or liable?"
> 
> I ran into exactly this situation when I was an inspector for the USNRC. A
> physician at a hospital transferred licensed material to an entity not
> licensed to receive it without consulting the RSO or anyone else. If anyone
> was cited it would have been the hospital. My recollection is that the
> hospital was not cited because they detected the violation and reported it
> promptly to the NRC. There was never any question of the RSO being cited or
> sanctioned. I don't know what action the hospital took against the offending
> physician. During the closing interview I suggested that the hospital send
> his head to the NRC. 
> 
> I left the NRC in 1989 and since that time the NRC has promulgated
> regulations that allow it to proceed against individuals who intentionally
> place their employers in violation of regulations. Thus the individual who
> made the transfer might be subject to sanctions. 
> 
> If this event took place in an Agreement State the liability of the licensee
> and individuals involved would depend on the regulations of the particular
> Agreement State. 
> 
> Aside from legal liability, questions might be asked about the quality of
> the licensee's radiation control program, including the training of
> employees. If the incident was caused or facilitated by deficiencies in the
> program this might come back to the RSO. 
> 
> Laurence F. Friedman, Ph.D., CHP
> Senior Lecturer, Physics Department 
> Illinois Institute of Technology
> Room 182, Life Science
> 3101 South Dearborn
> Chicago, IL 60616-3793
> (312) 842-1789
> friedmanla at iit.edu
> http://www.iit.edu/~bcps/database/search.cgi/:/frontend/prof/mhp_desc
> 
> 
> 
>