[ RadSafe ] radiography incident -Unpardonable carelessness

[Dahlskog, Leif]

Dear Parthasarathy

I agree with you about pictures of burns etc.  In our jurisdiction we
require the ind. rad. assistants (trainee) to undergo a basic radiation
safety exam.  I used to administer the exam some years ago.  After the
exam, I'd show the examinee a dummy pigtail (source holder) as this
would hopefully be the only time they'd ever see one, but if they did in
future they'd recognise what it was.  I would also show them some
graphic pictures of burns caused by ind. rad. accidents.  If they choose
to work in this industry they must recognise the potential for serious
injury and death and their responsibilities to safety for colleagues and
the public.  The IAEA accident reports are very useful for this.
Particularly 'The Radiological Accident in Yanango' which can be found
in acrobat pdf format on the IAEA website.

The U.S.N.R.C. had a video titled "Taking Control: Safe Procedure for
Industrial Radiography" which although used the wrong units ( :-} -
that's a smiley - ie humour intented for those challenged on a Monday
morning), was about the best I'd seen covering basic safety for
industrial radiographers. It was in VHS-NTSC format. I had it converted
to PAL format and with USNRC's permission, distributed copies to all the
industrial radiography companies in our jurisdiction.  An update of the
video with Bq and Sv in DVD format would be great but I am not aware if
it is even available any longer. 

regards

Leif Dahlskog
Senior Health Physicist
Radiation Health Branch

Grace Vaughan House, 227 Stubbs Terrace, Shenton Park WA 6009
AUSTRALIA