Re: Personal Contamination Goals

[james.g.barnes@att.net]

Dear Mike,

1.  Any further suggestions or examples of a weighted 
tabulation based upon total hours worked?

You are correct in that rates are much more meaningful 
than absolute values.  I would suggest that you might 
want to track "total contaminations / man-hour" and "skin 
contaminations / man-hour."  The latter should be much 
lower than the former.

Keep in mind that the point of these efforts is to 
gain an understanding about the underlying process (at 
least that's what its *supposed* to be about).  If you 
only have one or two incidents a year, tracking them is 
probably not going to tell you anything about the 
overall process, so is it really worth the effort?  20 or 
30 might tell you something, and the breakout could be 
informative.

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.

I would not *set* a goal at this time.  Rather, I would 
just track and determine what your trends look like for, 
say, 6 months or a year.  The point you raise gets into 
statistical process controls (e.g., Deming statistical 
methods).  Until you have characterized the process, 
there is no meaningful way you can set a "goal" to 
attain.  Once the process is characterized, you will have 
a central trend, and should have some sense of your 
fluctuations around that central trend.  Then your goal 
setting will have a reasonable basis and you can manage 
the process, which is the whole point to begin with.


Jim Barnes, CHP
Radiation Safety Officer
Rocketdyne / Boeing
james.g.barnes@att.net
> 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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