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Standard 4 - HEALTH and SAFETY
Effective levels of control with respect to health
and safety must be maintained.
Commentary
Radiation Safety
Safety is emphasised because of hazards inherent in use of radiation.
Unit personnel, hospital employees, patients and the community at large
must be protected. Attention is drawn to the NHMRC Recommendations for
Limiting Exposure to Ionizing Radiation and the National Standard for
Limiting Occupational Exposure to Ionizing Radiation, and the New Zealand
National Radiation Laboratory Code C5. Units must in addition comply with
relevant State radiation safety and occupational health regulations. Specific
requirements of a densitometry facility are as follows:
- A qualified Radiation Safety Officer shall be appointed,
or shall be accessible for consultation relating to radiation safety
issues.
- Staff shall have attended a recognised course on radiation
safety as it pertains to bone densitometry. Base grade training for
nuclear medicine technologists and radiographers qualifies as such a
course.
- All staff operating DXA fan beam units or performing
QCT must wear radiation monitoring devices. Records of radiation exposure
shall be kept and be available for review at any time, unless specific
exemption is given by the State radiation regulatory authority. For
pencil beam units, the issue of personal monitoring may depend on the
local regulatory authority.
- Staff shall be aware of the effective radiation doses
involved in densitometry and the clinical relevance of these doses to
the normal population, pregnant women and to children. Staff shall also
be aware of, and be able to clinically interpret, the effective radiation
dose of complementary tests (e.g. chest and spinal radiographs).
Other Safety Issues
These include electrical and mechanical safety, which would be governed
by Australian and New Zealand Standards and institutional and state regulations.
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