Western Australian Current Regulations Western Australian Current Regulations (1) Unless
subregulation (7) applies or the Council has granted a registrant an
exemption in writing, a registrant shall ensure that an approved personal
monitoring device is issued to every designated radiation worker on the
registered premises or on a field site, and that every such worker is given
adequate instruction and training in the use of the device.
(2) The Council may in
writing require a designated radiation worker to wear on various parts of the
body personal monitoring devices of a kind nominated by the Council.
(3) A registrant shall
ensure that —
(a) a
personal monitoring device is used by a designated radiation worker for not
longer than the period specified in the literature issued with the device;
(b)
except where otherwise approved, every designated radiation worker is
instructed to wear the personal monitoring device issued to him during the
course of his work and under any radiation protective clothing that is used;
(c)
every designated radiation worker is instructed that the personal monitoring
device issued to him is not to be worn or used by any other person except in
approved circumstances;
(d)
every designated radiation worker is instructed to take care to protect the
personal monitoring device issued to him as far as practicable from heat,
chemicals, immersion and ionising radiation while the device is not being
worn;
(e) at
the end of its permitted period of use, each personal monitoring device is
returned to the monitoring organization for assessment, together with a
statement of the name of the designated radiation worker who wore the device
and the kinds of radiation to which he may have been exposed.
(4) A person to whom a
personal monitoring device has been issued shall, unless otherwise instructed
by the registrant concerned —
(a) wear
the device during the course of his work and under any radiation protective
clothing that is used; and
(b) not
permit the device to be worn by any other person.
(5) A registrant who
is also a designated radiation worker shall comply with the obligations that
attach to such workers under this regulation.
(6) A person shall
not —
(a)
tamper with a personal monitoring device; or
(b)
expose a personal monitoring device to radiation deliberately; or
(c)
unnecessarily subject a personal monitoring device to heat, chemicals or other
agents that may affect its reading.
(7) Except where
otherwise directed by the Council, a person using any of the following kinds
of equipment or substances is not required to wear a personal monitoring
device —
(a)
fully enclosed x‑ray analysis apparatus where interlocks do not have to
be bypassed;
(b)
portable mineral analysers or portable alloy analysers;
(c)
radiation gauges that are fixed to structures or equipment and that comply
with regulation 27(4);
(d)
cabinet x‑ray apparatus that complies with the NHMRC’s Statement
on Cabinet X‑Ray Equipment (1987) or x‑ray apparatus for special
applications that complies with the NHMRC’s Statement on Enclosed
X‑Ray Equipment for Special Applications (1987);
(e) the
substances as quantified —
Carbon 14
No limit
Hydrogen 3
No limit
Iodine 125
≤ 2 MBq
Sulphur 35
No limit;
(f) when
used for educational purposes, the substances as quantified —
Americium 241
≤ 0.02 MBq
Caesium 137
≤ 0.2 MBq
Cobalt 60
≤ 0.2 MBq
Strontium 90
≤ 0.08 MBq
Radium 226
≤ 0.02 MBq.
(8) In any legal
proceedings where it is an issue, it shall be presumed, unless the contrary is
proved, that a designated radiation worker to whom a personal monitoring
device was issued wore and handled the device in accordance with this
regulation.
(9) Where a designated
radiation worker who is required to wear a personal monitoring device does not
do so, or a device issued to the worker is lost, damaged or destroyed, and it
is impossible to ascertain the amount of radiation to which the worker was
exposed during the period when the device was not worn, the Council may,
taking into account the nature of the employment of the worker, estimate the
effective dose received by the worker and the effective dose estimated shall
be presumed, unless the contrary is proved, to be the effective dose received
by the worker during that period.
(10) Where the type of
radiation emitted by a radioactive substance, irradiating apparatus or
electronic product is of such a nature that there is no suitable personal
monitoring device for measuring that type of radiation, the person in whose
name the radioactive substance, irradiating apparatus or electronic product is
registered shall —
(a)
immediately notify the Council; and
(b) make
such arrangements as the Council directs in writing for monitoring the
radiation.
(11) Without limiting
the operation of regulation 57, a person who contravenes this regulation
is liable to a minimum penalty of $100.
[Regulation 25 inserted: Gazette
11 Jun 1993 p. 2871‑3; amended: Gazette
22 Jul 1997 p. 3826.]