Re: Personal Contamination Goals

[William V Lipton <liptonw@dteenergy.com>]

Just as important as you metric is the threshold you use for a "personal skin and clothing contamination," and whether the contamination is "planned" or inadvertent.  Let me explain:

1.  There is no standard threshold for reporting a personal contamination.  Some plants report anything detectable, while some only report those over a specified threshold.  This makes a big difference in the number of reported events.

2.  Many contamination events are planned, or, at least, result from an assumed risk.  For some jobs a respirator is not worn in an airborne radioactivity area, to reduce TEDE, or less than ideal protective clothing is worn to avoid heat stress or other industrial safety concerns.  The personal
contamination events resulting from this are accepted from a risk versus benefit perspective.  These should not be taken as an indication of poor radiological controls.

The opinions expressed are strictly mine.
It's not about dose, it's about trust.

Bill Lipton
liptonw@dteenergy.com


Mike Davidson wrote:

> Greetings Radsafers.
>
> I am working to establish a meaningful metric for the number of personal skin and clothing contaminations at a facility.  I am leaning towards a "personal contamination rate" (contaminations per man-hour worked in radiologically controlled areas) per rather than just number of contams.  Questions:
>
> 1.  Any further suggestions or examples of a weighted tabulation based upon total hours worked?
>
> 2.  What would an appropriate goal value be for an effective materials control program?  Obviously, zero is a desirable goal, but rarely attained.  I am looking for a realistic benchmark based upon rates in well-maintained programs.
>
> Thanks and happy holidays!
> Mike
>
> Mike Davidson
> GTS Duratek
> 10100 Old Columbia Road
> Columbia, MD 21046
> 410.312.5121 voice
> 410.290.8734 fax
> davidson@gtsduratek.com
>
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