Section 42: Principal Responsibilities
121. The authorized person shall be responsible for workers who are engaged in activities in which they are or could be subject to occupational exposure in planned exposure situations, by ensur-ing:
(a) Protection of workers against occupational exposure;
(b) Compliance with relevant requirements of this regulation.
122. The authorized person shall ensure, for all workers engaged in activities in which they are or could be subject to occupational exposure, that:
(a) Relevant dose limits for occupational exposure are not exceeded;
(b) Protection and safety is optimized in accordance with the requirements of this regulation;
123. The authorized person shall ensure that workers exposed to radiation from sources within a prac-tice that is not required by or directly related to their work have the same level of protection against such exposure as members of the public.
124. Nothing in this Regulation shall be construed as relieving the authorized person from complying with applicable national and local laws and regulations governing hazards in the workplace.
125. The authorized person shall ensure compliance by workers with the requirements prescribed in this regulation.
126. The authorized person shall minimize the need to rely on administrative controls and personal protective equipment for protection and safety by providing well-engineered controls and satis-factory working conditions.
127. The authorized person shall ensure protection and safety in accordance with the following hierar-chy of preventive measures:
(a) Engineered controls;
(b) Administrative controls;
(c) Personal protective equipment.
Section 43: Management Requirements for the Protection of Workers, Apprentices, and Students
128. The authorized person shall adopt the necessary arrangements, within the management system, that ensure:
(a) Decisions related to measures for protection and safety are recorded and made available as specified by the NRRC;
(b) Policies, procedures and organizational arrangements for protection and safety are estab-lished for implementing the relevant requirements of this regulation, with priority given to design measures and technical measures for controlling occupational exposure;
(c) Suitable and adequate facilities, equipment and services for protection and safety are provided, the type and extent of which are commensurate with the expected likelihood and magnitude of occupational exposure;
(d) Arrangements are made to facilitate consultation of and cooperation with workers, through their representatives where appropriate, with regard to protection and safety on all measures necessary to achieve the effective application of these regulation;
(e) Necessary conditions for promoting safety culture are provided;
(f) Workers are involved, through their representatives where appropriate, in the optimiza-tion of protection and safety;
(g) Workers are informed that ensuring protection and safety is an integral part of a general occupational health and radiation protection program in which they have specific obliga-tions and responsibilities for their own protection and the protection of others against radiation exposure and for the safety of sources;
(h) Any work in which workers are or could be subject to occupational exposure is adequate-ly supervised and reasonable steps are taken to ensure that the rules, procedures, measures for protection and safety provisions are observed;
(i) Any report received from a worker that identifies circumstances that could affect compli-ance to this regulation are recorded and appropriate actions are take;
(j) All the information, procedures, instructions, warning signals and of that concern safety matters are managed or delivered in a language appropriated to the audience addressed.
Section 44: Controlling occupational exposure for outside workers
129. If workers are engaged in work that involves or that could involve a source that is not under the control of their employer, the authorized person responsible for the source and the employer shall cooperate to the extent necessary for compliance by both parties with the requirements of this regulation.
130. The authorized person shall ensure:
(a) The development and use of specific restrictions on exposure and other means of ensur-ing that the measures for protection and safety for workers who are engaged in work that involves or could involve a source that is not under the control of their employer are at least as good as those for employees of the authorized person;
(b) Availability of specific assessments and monitoring of the doses received by workers;
(c) A clear allocation and documentation of responsibilities of their employer and those of the authorized person for protection and safety.
131. In controlling occupational exposure for outside workers, the cooperation between the employer and the authorized person responsible for the source or for the exposure shall include:
(a) The provision on previous occupational exposure history of workers and any other neces-sary information from the employers, including from the self-employed individuals;
(b) The provision of appropriate information from the authorized user to the employer, in-cluding any available information relevant for compliance with the requirements of this regulation that the employer requests;
(c) The provision of both the worker and the employer with the relevant exposure records.
132. The authorized person responsible for the source shall include in its radiation protection program when pertinent, measures, specific safety arrangements and the administrative basis on the co-operation with employers that will lead the involvement of workers not employed by the author-ized person.
Section 45: Responsibilities of Workers
133. The workers shall be made liable for applying radiation protection and safety measures through ensuring:
(a) Compliance to any applicable rules and procedures for protection and safety as specified by the authorized person;
(b) The proper use of the provided monitoring equipment and personal protective equip-ment;
(c) Involvement with the authorized person with regard to protection and safety, and pro-grams for workers' health surveillance and programs for dose assessment;
(d) Provision to the authorized person of such information on their past and present work that is relevant for ensuring effective and comprehensive protection and safety for them-selves and others;
(e) Abstention from any willful action that could put themselves or others in situations that would not be in accordance with the requirements of this regulation;
(f) Acceptation of such information, instruction and training in protection and safety as will enable them to conduct their work in accordance with the requirements of this regula-tion.
Section 46: Classification of Areas
134. The authorized person shall ensure that arrangements in workplaces include a classification into controlled and supervised areas, based on an assessment of the expected annual doses, the probability and magnitude of potential exposures, and the type and extent of the procedures re-quired for protection and safety including any other requirement as determined by the NRRC.
135. The authorized person shall designate a controlled area in which specific measures for protection and safety are or could be required for:
(a) Controlling exposures in normal operation;
(b) Preventing the spread of contamination in normal operation;
(c) Preventing or limiting the likelihood and magnitude of potential exposures.
136. The authorized person shall designate a supervised area that is not already designated as a con-trolled area, but where occupational exposure conditions need to be kept under review even though specific protection measures and safety provisions are not normally needed.
137. The authorized person shall periodically review conditions to assess whether there is any need for changes to the boundaries of controlled and supervised areas.
Section 47: Requirements for Controlled Areas
138. The authorized person with respect to controlled areas shall:
(a) Determine the boundaries of any controlled area on the basis of the likelihood and mag-nitude of expected exposures and the type and extent of the procedures required for protection and safety;
(b) Delineate controlled areas by physical means or, where this is not reasonably practicable, by some other suitable means;
(c) Where a source is only intermittently brought into operation or energized or is moved from place to place, delineate an appropriate controlled area by means that are appro-priate under the prevailing circumstances and specify exposure times;
(d) Display a warning symbol, as prescribed by the NRRC, and display instructions at access points to and at appropriate locations within controlled areas;
(e) Establish measures for occupational protection and safety, including, as appropriate, physical measures to control the spread of contamination and local rules and procedures for controlled areas;
(f) Restrict access to controlled areas by means of administrative procedures, such as the use of work permission, and/ or physical barriers. The degree of restriction shall be commen-surate with the likelihood and magnitude of exposures;
(g) Provide, at entrances to the controlled areas:
(i) Personal protective equipment;
(ii) Equipment for individual monitoring and workplace monitoring;
(iii) Suitable storage for personal clothing.
(h) Provide, at exits from the controlled areas:
(i) Equipment for monitoring for contamination of skin and clothing;
(ii) Equipment for monitoring for contamination of any objects or material being re-moved from the area;
(iii) Washing or showering facilities and other personal decontamination facilities;
(iv) Suitable storage for contaminated personal protective equipment.
(i) Provide appropriate information, instruction and training for persons working in con-trolled areas.
Section 48: Requirements for Supervised Areas
139. The authorized person, taking into account the nature, likelihood and magnitude of exposures or contamination in the supervised areas shall:
(i) Delineate the supervised areas by appropriate means;
(ii) Display warning signs as prescribed by the NRRC, at access points to supervised areas;
(iii) Provide working instructions appropriate to the radiological risk associated with the sources and the operations involved.
Section 49: Local Rules and Procedures
140. The authorized person shall, in consultation with workers:
(a) Establish written local rules and procedures that are necessary for protection and safety for workers and other persons;
(b) Include in the local rules and procedures any relevant investigation level or authorized level, and the procedures to be followed if any such level is exceeded;
(c) Make the local rules and procedures and the measures for protection and safety known to those workers to whom they apply and to other persons who may be affected by them.
Section 50: Personal Protective Equipment
141. The authorized person shall provide the workers with suitable and adequate personal protective equipment that meets relevant standards or specifications prescribed by the NRRC.
142. The authorized person shall ensure that:
(a) Workers receive adequate instruction in the proper use of personal protective equip-ment, including testing for good fit;
(b) All personal protective equipment, including equipment for use in an emergency, is main-tained in proper condition and tested at regular intervals.
Section 51: Workplace Monitoring
143. The authorized person shall establish, maintain and keep under review a program for workplace monitoring.
144. The type and frequency of workplace monitoring shall be:
(a) Sufficient to enable:
(i) Evaluation of the radiological conditions in all workplaces;
(ii) Assessment of exposures in controlled areas and supervised areas;
(iii) Review of the classification of controlled areas and supervised areas.
(b) Based on dose rate, activity (A) concentration in air and surface contamination, and their expected fluctuations, and on the likelihood and magnitude of exposures in anticipated radiation safety deviations.
145. The authorized person shall maintain records of the findings of the workplace monitoring pro-gram and make the findings available to workers.
Section 52: Individual Monitoring and Assessment of Occupational Exposure
146. The authorized person shall be responsible for making arrangements for the assessment of the occupational exposure of workers based on individual monitoring.
147. The authorized person shall ensure that individual monitoring is performed, in a manner ade-quate and feasible, for any worker who normally works in a controlled area, or who occasionally works in a controlled area and may receive a significant dose from occupational exposure.
148. For a worker who regularly works in a supervised area or who enters a controlled area only occa-sionally, the occupational exposure shall be assessed on the basis of the results of workplace monitoring or individual monitoring.
149. In cases where the individual monitoring is required or recommended, the type of dosimetry method to be used and the frequency of measurements shall be commensurate with the nature and expected level of exposure, as well as, the likelihood and magnitude of potential exposure.
150. The individual monitoring shall be performed by a dosimetry service that operates under a quality management system, and is recognized by the NRRC.
151. In cases where individual monitoring is not inappropriate, inadequate, or not feasible, the indi-vidual dose assessment shall be based on any of the following tools or a combination of them:
(a) Individual measurements made on other exposed workers,
(b) Workplace monitoring and information on the locations and durations of exposure of the worker,
(c) Applying calculation methods previously approved by the NRRC.
152. For a worker who could be subject to exposure due to contamination, the authorized person shall arrange for appropriate monitoring to the extent necessary to demonstrate the effectiveness of the measures for protection and safety and, where appropriate, to assess intakes of radionu-clides and the committed effective doses.
Section 53: Records of Occupational Exposure
153. The authorized person shall maintain records of occupational exposure for every worker for whom assessment of occupational exposure is required as prescribed in Section 52.
154. The authorized person shall maintain records of occupational exposure during and after the worker's working life, at least until the former worker attains or would have attained the age of 75 years, and for not less than 30 years after cessation of the work or for the period that will be determined by the NRRC in which the worker was subject to occupational exposure.
155. Records of occupational exposure managed by the authorized person shall include:
(a) Information on the practice or exposure situation and the characteristics of the exposure, including the tasks of the worker;
(b) Data on the employer when the authorized person does not employ the worker;
(c) Information on dose assessments, estimated exposures and intakes, at or above the rele-vant recording levels specified by the NRRC that applies accepted physical quantities and units;
(d) Information and data upon which the dose assessments were based and references to reports of any relevant investigations on radiation safety deviations;
(e) Records of any assessment of doses, exposures and intakes due to actions taken in an emergency or due to accidents or other incidents, which shall be distinguished from dos-es, exposures and intakes due to normal conditions of work and which shall include ref-erences to reports of any relevant investigations.
156. The authorized person that ceases to conduct activities in which workers are subject to occupa-tional exposure, shall make arrangements for the retention of workers' records of occupational exposure by the NRRC and by relevant employer or other authorized person.
157. The authorized person shall implement the necessary arrangements to ensure the submission of relevant individual occupational exposure data to the centralized national database established by the NRRC.
Section 54: Access to Records of Occupational Exposure and Reporting of Dosimetry Results
158. The authorized person shall make data contained in the records of occupational exposure availa-ble to:
(a) The concerned worker;
(b) The NRRC;
(c) The relevant employer;
(d) The physician responsible for the health surveillance of the worker;
(e) The new employer when worker changes employment.
159. In addition to the data registered in the records of occupational exposure, the authorized person, upon request, shall provide workers with the results of the direct measurements or the work-place monitoring results which may have been used in estimating their doses.
160. The authorized person shall inform the worker of any exposure exceeding the dose constraints.
161. In the case of accidental exposure, the authorized person shall communicate the results of indi-vidual monitoring and dose assessments to the concerned worker and the NRRC without delay.
162. The authorized person shall give due care and attention to maintaining the confidentiality of rec-ords.
Section 55: Workers' Health Surveillance for Radiation Exposure
163. The authorized person, in accordance with the requirements set by the NRRC, shall make ar-rangements for appropriate health surveillance.
164. The authorized person shall ensure that the workers' health surveillance program is based on the general principle of occupational health and provides:
(a) A medical examination prior to employment to determine the worker's fitness for a post for which the worker is being considered;
(b) Periodic reviews of health at least once (1) every three (3) years, in order to determine whether the workers remain fit to perform their duties.
165. If one or more workers are to be engaged in work in which they are or could be exposed to radia-tion from a source that is not under the control of their employer, the authorized person respon-sible for the source shall, as a precondition for the engagement of such workers, check that work-er concerned has been passed as medically fit for the activities to be assigned and make with the employer any special arrangements for workers' health surveillance that are needed to comply with the requirements set by the NRRC.
166. As part of the workers' health surveillance arrangements, the authorized person shall:
(a) Provide the organization responsible for the health surveillance, upon request, with do-simetry and operational information on the concerned workers that may contribute to support the medical examination and further evaluation.
(b) Record the information delivered by the health surveillance program on pre-employment, periodic and termination examination, as well as those resulting from any special assess-ments.
(c) Maintain medical records during and after the worker's working life, at least until the former worker attains or would have attained the age of 75 years, and for not less than 30 years after cessation of the work in which the worker was subject to occupational ex-posure.
Section 56: Special Health Surveillance
167. The authorized person shall ensure that special health surveillance is performed in each case where any of the dose limits for occupational exposure has been exceeded.
168. In the case referred to in above Section 55, the physician responsible for workers' health surveil-lance shall decide on:
(a) Necessary action for the health protection of the exposed individual, such as further ex-aminations, decontamination, urgent treatment or other action identified by it;
(b) Subsequent exposure conditions in which the worker can continue to work.
169. The authorized person shall ensure that recommendations raised by the physician responsible for workers' health surveillance are properly implemented.
Section 57: Information, Instruction, and Training
170. The authorized person shall:
(a) Provide all workers with:
(i) Information on health risks due to their occupational exposure in normal opera-tion anticipated operational occurrences and accident conditions;
(ii) Training and periodic retraining in protection and safety;
(iii) Instruction on radiation protection procedures and precautions connected with the operational and working conditions of both the practice in general and each type of workstation or work to which they may be assigned;
(iv) Information and instruction on the relevant parts of the emergency response plans formation on the significance of their actions for protection and safety.
(b) Provide those workers who could be involved in or affected by the response to an emer-gency with appropriate information on the health risks their intervention might involve and on the precautionary measures to be taken in such an event, and adequate instruc-tion and training and periodic retraining, for protection and safety;
(c) Maintain records of the training provided to individual workers.
171. The authorized person shall ensure that actions providing workers with information, instruction, and training in protection and safety are:
(d) Conducted in compliance with specific requirements issued by the NRRC on its content and scope;
(e) Managed through a formal training program;
(f) Properly recorded.
Section 58: Conditions of Service
172. The conditions of service of workers shall be independent of whether they are or could be subject to occupational exposure. Special compensatory arrangements or preferential consideration with respect to salary, special insurance coverage, working hours, length of vacation, additional holi-days or retirement benefits shall neither be granted nor be used as substitutes for measures for protection and safety.
173. The authorized person shall make all reasonable efforts to provide workers with suitable alterna-tive employment in circumstances for which it has been determined, either by the NRRC or in the framework of the program for workers' health surveillance in accordance with the requirements of this regulation, that workers, for health reasons, may no longer continue in employment in which they are or could be subject to occupational exposure.
174. The authorized person shall not terminate an employment on the basis of the worker being ex-posed to a radiation dose exceeding the dose limit for occupational exposure.
Section 59: Age Limits for Occupational Exposure and Special Arrangements for Persons Under 18 Years of Age
175. The authorized person shall ensure that no person under the age of 16 years is or could be sub-ject to occupational exposure.
176. The authorized person shall ensure that persons under the age of 18 years are allowed access to a controlled area only under the supervision and only for the purpose of training for employment in which they are or could be subject to occupational exposure or for the purpose of studies in which sources are used unless determined otherwise by the NRRC.
Section 60: Protection of Pregnant and Breastfeeding Workers
177. The authorized person shall provide female workers who are liable to enter controlled areas or supervised areas or who may undertake emergency duties with appropriate information on:
(a) The risk to the embryo or fetus due to exposure of a pregnant woman;
(b) The importance for a female worker of notifying her authorized person as soon as possi-ble if she suspects that she is pregnant or if she is breast-feeding;
(c) The risk of health effects for a breastfed infant due to ingestion of radioactive substances.
178. Notification of the authorized person by a female worker if she suspects that she is pregnant or if she is breast-feeding shall not be considered a reason to exclude the female worker from work.
179. The employer of a female worker, who has been notified of her suspected pregnancy or that she is breast-feeding, shall adapt the working conditions in respect of occupational exposure so as to ensure that the embryo or fetus or the breastfed infant is afforded the same broad level of pro-tection as is required for members of the public.