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Re: Landauer's New Badge



The issue of the lower sensitivity of the new Landauer badges brings up some 
interesting points.  I too would like Landauer to reconsider their position on 
not allowing a customer defined "threshold" for reporting, but, maybe the real 
issue is do these individuals real "require" monitoring?  In most cases I am 
involved in the answer would be NO.  So maybe we should be following the lead of 
NIH and work on reducing the number of monitored individuals.  Make the proper 
assessments of the "likelihood" of receiving 10%, document that, and move on.  
This would reduce the amount of work and cost of our programs without impacting 
safety. 
Do we provide similar monitoring for internal exposures?  In the 
biotech/research environments I have been involved in/with very little internal 
exposure monitoring and/or assessment is performed but we will put a monitoring 
badge on anyone and everyone.  In some cases the potential may be greater than 
that of any external exposure (i.e. tritium). And yes I have seen some RSO's 
badge people who work with tritium, carbon-14 and S-35 exclusively and never 
look into internal exposure assessment routinely.

I think the answer is in one's training and communication programs and after 
reading the proceedings of the HPS Summer School, Management and Administration 
of Radiation Safety Programs, my feeling that training and communication are two 
distinctly different beasts is reconfirmed. 

Just my opinion folks, no flames needed, I get enough from my two teen-aged boys 
at home.

William A. Lorenzen
Children's Hospital
Boston, MA 02115

lorenzen_w@a1.tch.harvard.edu

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