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Re: Comments of First Response Action Levels
Dear Ken,
You raise an interesting question. Personally, I don't think there is
one "right" setting, because there are different flavors of first responders.
For example, if you have a crew of responders who are going to do an initial
scene search and rescue, it is likely that a) they know that they are going to
encounter radiation and radioactivity b) they are carrying some type of survey
instruments, c) they have some rudimentary knowledge of radiation and
radioactivity (at least as a type of "toxic material") from their HAZWOPR or
similar training. So, if it is known that they are going to encounter
potentially high levels, you want to alert them to dangerous situations, not
just the presence of radiation. In these cases, the emergency limits are in
the tens of rem (10 Rem for property; 25 Rem (or greater) for lifesaving); the
reference on this is "EPA 400-R-92-...." In this case, I'd set up the
dosimeters for:
Increment: 100 mr
Dose Rate Alert: 100 mr/hour
Dose Rate Alarm: 1,000 mr/hour
Accumulated Dose Alert: 5,000 mr (notification that he/she is in emergancy
dose limit range)
Accumulated Dose Alarm: 24,000 mr (UNLESS the responder has been approved
for a higher limit (say 50,000) mr); I'd alarm a bit below the limit to permit
some time to escape the area. I select 24,000 mr as the person is on a search
and rescue (i.e., lifesaving) mission. If he were doing routine property
protection, then I'd use 9,500 mr.
These are settings for people who KNOW they are entering an area where the
doses are high, and the settings are there to PROTECT the person from harm.
If on the other hand you are setting up the system for the "identify and
contain" responder (e.g., police) or emergency room personnel, your settings
would work just fine, as in these cases the intent is to warn the responder
that there is a radiological component to the event. However, I would put an
accumlated dose alert at 100 mr (public limit), and the accumlated dose alarm
at 500 mr (10% of the occupational limit), as high doses would not be
anticipated in these cases. Also, recognize that having a 0.1 mr increment
beep can drive someone looney tune about at about 10 mr/hour, so you might want
to rethink that setting out of compassion for your fellow man.
If you have both types of responders, perhaps you could color code the
dosimeters. Red could be for the high dose situations, and green could be the
low dose situations.
As a final note, these devices are very useful for alerting and tracking dose.
But keep reminding your responders that they need to have, and know how to use,
survey meters, and encourage them to get some good, basic meters in addition to
the dosimeters.
Jim Barnes
james.g.barnes@att.net
> Hi Radsafers -
>
>
>
> I'm assisting my local county by setting up some new radiation pagers
> that they were able to recently obtain.
>
>
>
> They have purchased generic "pager-like" electronic dosimeters. The
> dosimeter is sensitive to only gamma radiation > 50 Kev. They record a
> deep-dose equivalent reading in 0.1 mrem increments. The dosimeter comes
> with 1 alert and 1 alarm for the dose rate measurement, and 1 alert and
> 1 alarm for the dose measurement.
>
>
>
> I've been searching for some recommend levels and actions to have them
> programmed at. Unfortunately its been very difficult to find federal or
> state standards for actions levels for first responders. Below is my
> attempt to set the alert and alarm levels.
>
>
>
> Your assistance is appreciated by sharing any comments that you may
> have. Also, pointing me towards some other know action levels would be
> great.
>
>
>
> ALERT AND ALARM LEVELS:
>
>
>
> Beep:
>
> Every 0.1 mrem of dose
>
> Action: Just an alert to Emergency Response Personnel
>
> Reference: N/A
>
>
>
> Alert Dose Rate:
>
> 0.5 mrem/hr
>
> Action: This is to indicate the presence of gamma radiation. Notify
> OES/DHS of radiation presence.
>
> Reference: ~ 2x dosimeter background level.
>
>
>
> Alarm Dose Rate
>
> 2 mrem/hr
>
> Action: Public exposure limit. Evacuate public from areas exceeding this
> level.
>
> Reference: 10 CFR 20 non-occupation dose limit.
>
>
>
> Alert Dose
>
> 5000 mrem
>
> Action: Trade out ER personnel for non-life saving activities
>
> Reference: 10 CFR 20 occupation dose limit
>
>
>
>
>
> Alarm Dose
>
> 50000 mrem
>
> Action: Trade out ER personnel for life saving activities
>
> Reference: NCRP 138 limit for emergency action.
>
>
>
>
>
> Thanks
>
> Ken
>
>
>
>
>
> Ken Smith, CHP
>
> _____________________________________________________________________
>
> Radiation Safety Officer / Laboratory Safety voice: (831) 459-3911
>
> Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S) cell: (831) 212-3911
>
> University of California fax: (831) 459-3209
>
> 1156 High St. e-mail: ksmith@ucsc.edu
>
> Santa Cruz, CA 95064 web: ehs.ucsc.edu
>
> Watch Pager: (866) 457-8509 or e-mail 8664578509@skytel.com
>
>
>
>
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