Welcome Guest! The IOSH forums are a free resource to both members and non-members. Login or register to use them

Postings made by forum users are personal opinions. IOSH is not responsible for the content or accuracy of any of the information contained in forum postings. Please carefully consider any advice you receive.

Notification

Icon
Error

Options
Go to last post Go to first unread
ttxela  
#1 Posted : 14 January 2020 17:03:51(UTC)
Rank: Forum user
ttxela

We sometimes provide loan equipment to customers on a trial basis or because theirs is being repaired. We have a customer who wants to use this loan equipment with radioactively marked material. They assure us they can easily decontaminate the equipment when it is sent back to us.

We don't work with radiation normally and don't have any suitable equipment on site to check or verify this.

Can we rely on the customers decontamination certificate when the equipment is returned (we wouldn't normally double check for chemical or biological contmination unless the customers decontamination documentation was missing).

A Kurdziel  
#2 Posted : 15 January 2020 09:49:35(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
A Kurdziel

Well it’s your equipment, so you can decide who to loan it out. If they were using a radiation source I’d want to know what type of source. So, if it is seal solid source then there is no issue with contamination. If on the other hand it is liquid source, residual contamination would be a problem.

I would want to know, the nature of the source, what sort of radiation it emitted, and what levels.

I’d want a detailed description of the decontamination procedure and how they monitor its effectiveness. I’d expect them to take swabs or something similar and put them through a scintillation counter (more sensitive than a Geiger counter, especially if you are trying to measure contamination inside a piece of kit). They might decide to quarantine the kit ie leave it for some time (months?) so that the radiation decays to an acceptable level.

Basically it is down to them to prove to you that they have taken all steps to decontaminate the kit and to assure that it is safe to return to you and that you can use it as normal.

Users browsing this topic
You cannot post new topics in this forum.
You cannot reply to topics in this forum.
You cannot delete your posts in this forum.
You cannot edit your posts in this forum.
You cannot create polls in this forum.
You cannot vote in polls in this forum.