Re: Low Positive Doses in Personnel Monitoring

["Schoenhofer" <schoenho@via.at>]

Schoenhofer
Habichergasse 31/7
A-1160 Wien
AUSTRIA
Tel./Fax: +43-1-4955308
Mobiltel.: +43-664-3380333
e-mail: schoenho@via.at

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> Von: Sue M. Dupre <dupre@Arundel.Princeton.edu>
> An: Multiple recipients of list <radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu>
> Betreff: Low Positive Doses in Personnel Monitoring
> Datum: Freitag, 18. April 1997 16:11
> 
> Good morning!  I've just been handed responsibility for the routine 
> management of our personnel monitoring program, and I'm giving some 
> consideration to different ways of handling some aspects of the 
> program.  For instance, we've been discussing the problem of those 
> ever-present low positives, positives on the order of 10 or 20 or 30 
> mrem. I presume that we all are suspicious of doses that are close to 
> minimum detectable levels, that we've all seen cases in which a dose 
> is reported but the badge wasn't worn, for instance.  Assuming that 
> you've dealt with the vendor to eliminate factors such as control badge
> problems,  then how do you proceed?
>-------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Sorry, I do not understand your concern. When a dosemeter shows that a
person has received 10, 20 or 30 mrem (I suppose, it is per month - you did
not mention it), then it is with an almost 100% certainty from background
radiation, which everybody - occupational radiation workers as well - are
exposed to. If this person has not been working with radioactive material,
but his or her neighbour in the lab, then the person has been exposed to
radiation, whether him- or herself is working with it or not. If you
receive a reading of zero mrem, then you can be absolute sure that there is
something wrong with the dosemeter or its evaluation. 

Anyway 10, 20 or 30 mrem per month are so low compared with the maximum
permissible doses for occupational workers, that there again is no reason
for concern. Vienna is in a low background radiation area and when we do
not work with radioactive material our doses for "whole body" are given as
about 10 mrem per month, for fingerring dosemeters it is given as 5 mrem
per month, in both cases using TLD. (Do not ask me, why it is different.)
So we record these readings - that is all!

If I were responsible for your monitoring program I would take hard action
against persons, who do not wear their badges!!!!!

Franz