Re: Film badge results

[gu9@ornl.gov (Robert J. Gunter)]

Lynn,

I would recommend that you do three things.  First, ask the vendor for
records of control badges sent by you and their own.  Take a look at how
much dose difference there is between the two, and the issue periods.  Also,
look into how they account for background dose.  We have had some experience
with airport X-ray machines at small airports.  Sometimes the smaller
airports have some real dinosaurs.  These relatively high dose machines are
often of the variety where the package is placed in a chamber which is
closed, then exposed.

Next, if possible, find a carrier that doesn't carry any radioactive
materials.  I have heard of some vendors that say when they label the
packages "radiation sensitive" the shippers place them near the rad sources
because they have similar labels (radXXX, go figure).  One vendor
discontinued the labeling as radiation sensitive because of this.  This was
a while ago, so I don't know what they are doing today.  We use a carrier
that doesn't ship radioactive materials who provides service between us and
the people we serve.  However we found recently they sub some of the work
out so be warned.  Apparently they did not provide service between us and a
new customer and didn't bother telling us.  Fortunately we don't think they
got exposed.

Also, you may want to consider inserting unidentified blanks into the
dosimeters returned for processing.  We do this in our QC program.  Maybe
you could get a price break on them since they serve as a QC device for you
and the vendor.  Tell the vendor which were the blanks after you get the
results.

We only use the control dosimeters for background dose subtraction if they
indicate an unusual dose.

Good luck,

Rob Gunter

At 09:09 AM 10/3/95 -0500, you wrote:
>For some reason,  I'm full of questions today.
>
> We have just received our August dosimetry reports and there were
>alot of whole body readings of 10-60 mrem ( which is highly unusual
>based on our past reports).  Also we received codes on two of our lab
>reports that stated misuse or damage to control badge.  This means the
>company used  their own control badges which resulted in exposure
>readings for all personnel in the two labs.  I remember a thread on
>radsafe recently on erroneous ring badge readings.  Has anyone
>experienced this on whole body film badges lately?  What could cause
>damage to controls ( we do a physical inspection of the badges before
>sending them to be read.)?  Thanks for inputs.
> My e-mail address: ldobbs@moore.admin.sc.edu
>
>Lynn Dobbs
>Radiation Safety Office
>Univ. of South Carolina
>telephone: (803) 777-5269
>
>
>
>
Robert J. Gunter
Lockheed Martin Energy Systems, Inc.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
P.O. Box 2008 
Bldg: 105MIT Mail Stop 6494
Oak Ridge, TN 37871-6494
PH:  (615) 576-6317
FAX: (615) 576-8593
email: gunterrj@ornl.gov