Radiation Exposure 
and Monitoring
Units of Measurement
•	Rad (gray) Radiation absorbed dose  amount deposited in matter 					1rad *.01= 1 gray
•	Rem (sievert) Radiation equivalent man  used to express occupational exposure 		1rem * .01= 1 sv  
•	Roentgen (coulomb/kg)Unit of exposure in air 								  1R *(2.58*10 -4) = 1c/kg
Dosimeters
•	Types
•	OSL can measure doses as low as 1mrem, most accurate
•	Film badge has tiny film can not measure doses less than 10mrem , 
•	TLD can measure doses as low as 5mrem  and worn up to 3 months,
•	Pocket Dosimeters used in high exposure area measures mR, instantaneous reading and must be calibrated daily
Proper Use
•	Never share your badges or wear another person’s badges. Each badge is intended to be worn by only the designated person. 

•	Do not intentionally expose badges to radiation. Intentional tampering with badges is a very serious matter. 

•	No matter how curious you are, do not wear your badges when you receive a medical x-ray or other medical radiation treatment. Your badges are intended to document occupational dose, not medical dose. 

•	Wear at collar level outside apron. Pregnant tech wears additional badge at waist level

•	Do not leave in car, microwave, under X-ray table, on apron ect.
Monitoring Badge Storage

•	Store your badges in a safe place, at work rather than at home. Be sure to store badges away from sources of radiation. Be careful to consider all sources of radiation.. 
•	Store your badges away from sources of heat (some badges such as  TLDs show some sensitivity to environmental factors like heat). For example, badges left in cars over hot summer weekends may give false exposure readings. 

NCRP Recommendations for Personnel Monitoring (NCRP #116)

•	occupational exposure 5 rem /yr, 
•	public exposure .5 rem
•	embryo/fetal exposure pregnant tech .05 rem per month or .5 during pregnancy
•	ALARA and dose equivalent limits As low as reasonably achievable
•	evaluation and maintenance of personnel dosimetry records Regulations require that results be recorded and maintained for review.  History must transfer to employers.

Dosimetry Report
•	Participant number –unique number assigned by Landauer
•	Participant’s personal information consisting of name, ID number (social), birth date and sex.
•	Landauer dosimeter type according to monitoring needs (explanation on back of report)
•	The use or location on the body for which the dose is given is explained on the back of each report. “note” indicates an explanation for abnormalities  “assign” appears when more than one whole body is worn, is equal to the highest whole body dosimeter exposure, and is reported as dose record.

Dosimetry Report-con’t
•	Radiation type and in some cases energy of radiation contributing to whole body equivalent is explained on the back of each standard dosimetry report.
•	The dose equivalent columns reports the current and accumulated exposures for deep, lens of eye and shallow dose equivalents
•	DDE-deep dose equivalent
•	LDE- Eye dose equivalent
•	SDE- Shallow dose equivalent

Dosimetry Report-con’t
•	The number of times that a participant’s name appeared on a Landauer report during the current year
•	The date Landauer began keeping dosimeter records for a given participant on the account.
•	This is an example of what appears on your report when a dosimeter was not returned for processing for the wear period and you have elected to have Absentee Reporting apply for your account.
•	Absentee Reporting- is triggered when 80% of the accounts dosimeters for the wear period are reported.
•	Estimate Reporting- calculate an estimated dose for a missing dosimeter. It will be updated if the missing badge is returned.