Litigation

[<L666783@LMSC5.IS.LMSC.LOCKHEED.COM>]

Welcome back, everyone. Hope you had a good time in Boston while the
rest of us poor slobs were WORKING. :)

With the downsizing in the defense industry and aerospace in general,
we've been pressured to cut costs everywhere. One place we looked was
the dosimetry program, where we eliminated a large number of badges. We
used to have the philosophy of "badge the world" until we asked
ourselves, "why?" Does a person operating an auger microprobe or SEM
need to be badged? Bottom line is, we now issue badges to a lot fewer
people, and use more badges as area monitors.

Seeing this issue discussed here recently, it seems that a prime
motivator for issuing "unnecessary" badges is to obtain defensive
evidence in case of litigation. I'd like some information about
incidences of litigation in the radiation community. The few cases I
have been involved in were dull and uninteresting. Does issuing
additional badges _really_ provide additional protection? I like
statistics, not "Oh, it should be obvious" or "gut feelings". Is there a
central repository out there somewhere where I can look this information
up? ANI probably has some stuff, but will they let anyone into their
case histories? Some of this information may help show management how
much their investment in radiation safety is saving the company, a
difficult (at best) metric to measure.

Please email me directly. Thank you in advance.

Donald P. Mercado, O/47-20, B/106      PROFS Nickname: DMERCADO
Radiation Safety Officer        Internet: Don@LMSC.Lockheed.com
Lockheed Martin Missiles & Space            Tel. (408) 742-0759
Sunnyvale, Ca 94089                         Fax. (408) 742-0611