Re: ? RCM or RSO Pre-requisites

[Herrold@uwyo.edu (Jim F. Herrold)]

I've resisted flogging this old horse up until now, but Alex Zapantis' reply 
gave me encouragement. The original question was:

>What level of Health Physics experience or education is
>considered reasonable of an RSO (Rad Safety Officer)
>or RCM (Rad Con Manager)?

Alex Zapantis wrote:

"RSOs for universities or research institutions where the scope of RS use is
limited only by the imagination of the academics should however have a
minimum of a degree in physics/health physics and 5 years relevant
experience or a degree in Occ Hygiene, training in radiation safety in a
short course and similar experience. Of course there are exception to the
rule (like me!!)."

What does the NRC consider to be the qualifications of an RSO? You'll find 
that answer in Draft Regulatory Guide OP 722-4 "Qualifications for the 
Radiation Safety Officer in a Large-Scale Non-Fuel-Cycle Radionuclide 
Program" (At least, in 1995 it was still in draft form)  It says you should 
have one of the following:

     A BS in Health Physics or Radiological Health and 4 years experience
     A BS in science, 1 year graduate HP work and 4 years experience
     A master's HP or radiological health degree and 3 years experience
     A Ph.D.  in Health Physics or radiological health and 2 years 
experience
     ABHP certification and 2 years experience

I, too, am one of the exceptions to this general rule. At the risk of losing 
the respect of all degreed Health Physicists out there, I have a confession 
to make: I was approved by the NRC as the RSO for a Broad-scope By-product 
materials license for a major university (okay, it's a small one, the 
enrollment is around 10,000, but it's the only one in Wyoming) and I never 
took even one Health Physics class  for college credit. (shock)

If a person does not have any of the degrees  listed above, they have to 
convince the NRC that their training and experience are sufficient for the 
license in question. When I applied as RSO on our license three years ago I 
had 9 years of experience as Assistant RSO and Hazardous Waste Manager for 
the university and over 600 hours of documented Radiation Safety and 
Hazardous Materials training. The NRC bought off on it.

There is incredible pressure while working in a university setting to have 
letters after your name. I suspect it's job security for the people selling 
those degrees. There is also a lot of pressure (witness some of the messages 
on this forum) from the Health Physics community. I'm working on an HP 
degree, but I'm not going to quit a good job to get it. The degree will come 
in bits and pieces over the next four years or so. I like to think I'm doing 
it for job enrichment, not just to satisfy those in the community who think 
a diploma automatically makes you qualified (like the scarecrow in The 
Wizard of OZ). Here at the University I've dealt with a few Ph.D.s  who make 
me wonder.

Maybe the question should be: "What qualifications do you have to have 
before your colleagues will call you a Health Physicist?"

The editorializing is all my own. Standard disclaimers apply. I'll leave 
this ol' horse alone now.

Jim Herrold
RSO/Assistant Manager, EHS
University of Wyoming
herrold@uwyo.edu