Re: Badging Workers

["Dale E. Boyce" <dale@radpro.uchicago.edu>]

Keith,

Many of the people we badge are not "radworkers".  Physical plant
engineers, janatorial staff, etc. are frequently badged at hospitals
and universities just so we can show that they aren't exposed to
anything.  We also badge a lot of doctors, professors, post docs, techs
etc. that work with radioactive materials in quantities that would not
be expected to create a significant exposure hazard.  At the University
of Chicago we badge about 1,000 employees through the Radiation Safety
Office and our hospital badges another 7000 to 800.  Out of the 1,000
that we badge probably not more than a dozen or two technically require
badging.  The hospital probably has more that require badges for
regulatory purposes, but still the majority never receive an exposure.
Some of the ones that are badged, are badged because of limits we have
set because of state inspections.  Others are badged purely because it is
cheap insurance in case of litigation.  I think as we have seen in
these discussions that most universities and hospitals have similar
practices.  The level of training of ancillary personnel probably
varies, but I don't think the level of training could qualify them as
"radiation workers".  In fact I could imagine a circumstance where
badging someone that is not a radiation worker could backfire.  I
believe that badging someone who does not work with radiation does
not allow you to declare their exposures to be occupational.  A few
fogged badges could lead to exceeding the 100 mRem limit to any
member of the public.  

This is not necessarily my opinion and certainly does not reflect
any input from my employer and is hereby disclaimed.

Dale Boyce
dale@radpro.uchicago.edu