Mallinckrodt didn't take radiation overexposures seriously, inspectors say

[GlennACarlson@aol.com]

Posted: Saturday, June 24, 2000 | 3:42 a.m. 

Mallinckrodt didn't take radiation overexposures seriously, inspectors say
By Virginia Baldwin Gilbert f The Post-Dispatch


* The almost casual attitude "seemed to be inherent in their operation," one 
inspector said.

Supervisors at Mallinckrodt Inc.'s plant in Maryland Heights knew workers 
touched unshielded radioactive material and did not take their overexposure 
seriously, federal inspectors said Friday.

Jamnes Cameron, who led the inspection team from the Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, said the agency "was very surprised anyone would see as an 
acceptable practice handling unshielded sources" of radioactive material.

Cameron commented after a public meeting in Maryland Heights where the 
commission released the results of its inspection of the plant, at 2703 
Wagner Place and 11480 Warnen Road.

Brad Fercho, president of Mallinckrodt's imaging division, said, "We take 
these issues very seriously.

"Our goal is to operate in such a manner that worker safety is held in the 
highest regard."

Mallinckrodt is the largest nuclear materials licensee regulated by the 
commission, which also regulates nuclear power plants and medical facilities 
that handle radioactive material.

The Maryland Heights plant makes and ships radioactive tracers and dyes used 
for diagnostic tests.

On Thursday, the director of enforcement for the commission ordered 
Mallinckrodt's license amended to require the company to hire an independent 
consultant to find and fix safety problems.

"We feel several areas of control had broken down," said Jim Dyer, regional 
director of the commission. "The actions of the order, we feel, will control 
the situation."

Investigators discovered at least three areas of the plant where workers 
touched unshielded radioactive products.

But more importantly, they found that management underestimated the 
seriousness of employees routinely handling radioactive materials without the 
proper shielding.

The almost casual attitude "seemed to be inherent in their operation," 
Cameron said. "It was held by virtually every employee, supervisor and 
manager at the plant."

The practices came to light after a worker in the Molybdenum generator lab 
accidentally exposed his thumb and forefinger to as much as 40 times the 
annual radiation limit for workers. The exposure, on March 31, lasted less 
than a minute, investigators believe, and was limited to the fingertips.

The worker's name has not been released. Investigators estimated that he had 
received as much as 2,000 rems in those few seconds.

The annual cumulative exposure limit for radiation workers' fingers is 50 
rems. The annual cumulative exposure limit for a worker's body is 5 rems.

Inspectors criticized the company's reliance on monitors worn as rings to 
measure fingertip exposure. They said the company incorrectly assumed that if 
an exposure did not register on the ring monitor, it didn't occur.

After Mallinckrodt reported the Molybdenum worker's overexposure, it 
investigated and reported problems in two other areas.

In all, 14 more workers in the two areas were found to have suffered 
overexposures as much as 12 times the annual maximum, some for several years 
in a row.

The commission found the company gave satisfactory descriptions of the events 
and responded correctly once the federal inspectors became involved. The 
commission agreed with the company's calculations for estimating doses.

But the problems "could have been discovered earlier," Dyer said.

LOCAL \E-mail: vhick@postnet.com \Phone: 314-862-2153 \postnet.com/links: Go 
online to find out more on Mallinckrodt Inc.

                
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