Re: radsafe-digest V1 #450, Radiography HP

[rob.w.powell@exxonmobil.com]

Re: Radiography HP



We agree with Bill Lipton's observation below that customers should at

least be concerned about radiographers on their site.  At our Baytown,

Texas facility, we have an auditing program that:

   has the radiographer check in with security

   requires the radiographer to call in to our RSO whenever he moves a

   source within the plant from one unit to another

   trains IHers and IH techs to perform 'surprise' field audits - the

   auditors have RSO training, geiger counters, TLD badges, and copies of

   state regulations and our radiation safety manual

   has the 'power' to kick a radiographer off site forever, and even kick

   out a radiography company (we've done this twice, once for a

   radiographer trying to do a job without a survey meter, and once for a

   radiographer inviting a bystander into his barricaded area).



The auditing/penalty system results in about 10-15 letters a year to

radiography company management.  The 'power' comes from the fact that the

letters are sent not by the RSO, but by Contracts Administration.  The

warning statements conveyed to the radiography companies get noticed.  NO

contractor on our site is encouraged to rush to get a job done if it

compromises any safety, but this is especially true for radiography.  We

have had jobs delayed for hours/days while we discussed with the

radiography crews the best way to perform a 30-minute job safely.



We felt we had to do this to protect our employees and non-radiography

contractors on our site (a combined chem plant and refinery).  We have

enough people who understand radiation and volunteer to audit (~ 3

hour/month is typical), and even have a few former contract radiographers

who are now part of our inspection group and counsel our auditing team.



I presented this program to the AIHCE in 1994.





Rob Powell

ExxonMobil

Safety, Health, & Environment

Medicine and Occupational Health - Americas

Shared Service Center - Baytown

281-834-2854 FAX 281-834-5757

email: rob.w.powell@exxonmobil.com



Bill Lipton wrote:

d.  This is a tough one, especially for me, but there should also be a

system to

hold the customers accountable for the safety of their radiography

contractors.

Right now, the organizations employing radiographers are generally not

responsible for radiography violations at their facilities.  Thus, they

generally don't audit their radiographers' safety programs; all they care

about

is adequate films at the lowest price.  This attitude is transmitted to the

radiography vendors, who often perceive  (I did it, again.) that resources

devoted to safety are unproductive.  This is NOT the case in the hazardous

waste

business.  If a hazardous waste TSDF screws up, the waste generator is also

held

responsible.  Thus, companies are a lot more careful about whom they deal

with.

This approach has to be adopted for radiography.

















************************************************************************

You are currently subscribed to the Radsafe mailing list. To unsubscribe,

send an e-mail to Majordomo@list.vanderbilt.edu  Put the text "unsubscribe

radsafe" (no quote marks) in the body of the e-mail, with no subject line.

You can view the Radsafe archives at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/radsafe/