What Does
Personal Monitoring Mean?
Personal monitoring for radiation exposure is an occupational requirement for all employees in the construction, shipping, transportation and other sectors, who regularly work with radioactive materials or with radiation emitting devices. Typically, Dosimeter badges are the equipment of choice for monitoring occupational exposure as they contain material that is sensitive to radiation and permits for monitoring exposure.
Personal monitoring is not necessary on workers, who are exposed mainly to low energy beta radiation such as 3H, 14C, 35S, 45Ca, and 63Ni. Based on guidelines from the Radiation Safety Committee, personal monitoring has to be conducted on high-risk individuals at their discretion.
Safeopedia Explains Personal Monitoring
Personal monitoring is carried out by employers to evaluate the level of exposure of their workers to hazardous materials in the workplace. It is a quantitative evaluation that consists of measuring the hazard through personal monitoring and/or sampling. The process relies on a reasonable determination of a worker exposure based on characteristics of the contaminant, which include toxicity, chemical properties, etc. as well as other contributing factors, such as proximity to the hazard, controls, and duration of exposure. All these findings are then used alongside the Radiation Safety Committee's official guidelines to determine the potential risks associated with worker exposures.
Personal monitoring is only necessary for workers and persons, who are exposed to medium and high levels of energy radiation in their environment.