Section 225.93. Personnel monitoring control

(a) The registrant or licensee may not permit an individual to act as a radiographer or as a radiographer’s assistant unless, at all times during radiographic operations, each individual wears a direct reading dosimeter and a personnel dosimeter that is processed and evaluated by an NVLAP processor.

(1) Personnel monitoring devices used to determine compliance with dose limits for the whole body shall be worn on the trunk of the body over the area most likely to receive exposure.

(2) This does not relieve the registrant or licensee from providing peripheral monitoring devices such as ring finger TLDs when appropriate.

(3) Each personnel monitoring device shall be assigned to and worn by only one individual.

(b) Film badges shall be replaced at intervals not to exceed 1 month. Other personnel dosimeters processed and evaluated by an accredited NVLAP processor shall be replaced at intervals not to exceed 3 months.

(c) Direct reading dosimeters shall meet the criteria as in ANSI N13.5-1972, ‘‘Performance Specifications for Direct Reading and Indirect Reading Pocket Dosimeters for X- and Gamma-Radiation’’ published in 1972, exclusive of subsequent amendments or additions.

(d) The use of DRDs is subject to the following requirements:

(1) DRDs shall have a range of zero to 51.6 µC/kg (200 mR) and shall be rezeroed at the start of each work shift.

(2) As a minimum, at the beginning and the end of each worker’s shift involving the use of a source of radiation, DRDs shall be read and the exposure values recorded.

(3) Direct reading dosimeters shall be checked for correct response to radiation at periods not to exceed 1 year. A dosimeter may not be used for personnel monitoring unless the response is accurate within +/- 20% of the true radiation exposure. Records of dosimeter response checks shall be maintained for inspection by the Department for 3 years.

(4) If an individual’s DRD indicates exposure that is ‘‘off-scale’’ beyond the range it can measure, industrial radiographic operations by that individual shall cease immediately and the individual’s personnel dosimeter shall be sent immediately for processing. The individual may not use any sources of radiation until the individual’s radiation dose has been determined.

(e) Data on personnel exposure reported or recorded from personnel monitoring devices shall be kept for inspection by the Department until the certificate of registration or license is terminated or until the Department authorizes their disposition, in writing, following a determination by the Department that the records contain inaccurate personnel monitoring information.