Blatant refusal to "follow" procedures

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@ix.netcom.com>]

Here is an article regarding a facility fined 5 times by the NRC for 
violating regulations. NOTE: The article refers to these violations 
as "violating federal radiation-safety rules." This is what the 
public sees. While a violation CAN affect safety, not all violations 
have anything to do with safety. Granted, individuals are supposed to 
receive annual requalification training ,,, however, NOT receiving 
the training in no way infers that safety is being jeopardized. Same 
way with audits of materials.

Before someone jumps on me, I am not saying that they should n't have 
been issued the citations. If I were in charge of the NRC program, I 
would recommend issuing a "Cease and Desist" Order ASAP due to their 
attitude towards regulations, procedures and safety in general. Note 
the statement from the facility Director .. "concedes the  
irregularities and says the hospital will pay the fine, but no one
will be disciplined."  Want to bet how the public views the NRC, the 
facility and the Director???
----------------
CLEVELAND, Dec. 26 (UPI) -- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission plans
to fine the Cleveland Clinic for violating federal radiation-safety rules.
  It will be the fifth time the medical center in 
Cleveland has been fined -- a national record. The NRC says the 
clinic deliberately failed to provide annual training for workers and 
yearly audits of how radioactive materials were handled.  The agency 
also says top administrators knew about the violations and  refused 
to correct them.  The NRC is fining the clinic $5,000, twice the 
standard amount. The agency says the violations began in 1993 and 
continued until this past spring. 
 Clinic Division of Health Chairman John Clough concedes the  
irregularities and says the hospital will pay the fine, but no one
will be disciplined. Clough said the violations didn't directly harm
any workers or patients, but a 1991 memo called the radiation-safety
program an ``embarrassment.'' 

Sandy Perle
Director, Technical Operations
ICN Dosimetry Division
Office: (800) 548-5100 Ext. 2306 
Fax: (714) 668-3149

E-Mail: sandyfl@ix.netcom.com    

Personal Homepages:

http://www.netcom.com/~sandyfl/home.html
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/1205