Working in Radiation Protection

A Catalyst article about how people can work more safely with radiation. Radiation protection is a specialised area of health and safety. It deals with the protection of workers, patients, the general public, organisations and the environment. It is concerned with the use of two types of radiation:

*ionising radiation (e.g. X-ray machines,radioactive materials)

*non-ionising radiation (e.g. lasers, ultraviolet light and electromagnetic fields).

Radiation Protection Practitioners, often known as health physicists, give advice, provide guidance and offer a wide variety of support services including:

*Measuring levels of radiation in the workplace or the environment.

*Investigating incidents or accidents.

*Managing the disposal of radioactive waste.

*Advising of the safety of facilities and work practices.

*Assessing radiation doses to people.

*Handling the security and safe transport of radioactive materials.

*Ensuring organisations and people comply with all the radiation laws.

*Specialist training.

*Liaising with, or acting as, Government radiation inspectors or regulators producing legislation.

This article is from Catalyst: Secondary Science Review 2009, Volume 19, Issue 3.

Catalyst is a science magazine for students aged 14-19 years. Annual subscriptions to print copies of the magazine can be purchased from Mindsets.