RADIATION SAFETY IN THE DEPARTMENTS; THE RSSO

RSSO refresher meeting 25.01.2012

J. Pedersen

M. Tavlet, T. Otto

Why was the RSSO created?

The concept of Radiation Safety Support Officers has been motivated by the following argument:

Radiation Protection and Radiation Safety are distinguished by the large number of rules and regulations, the expert knowledge often required and by the potential consequences of a possible radiation accident or incident.

A large number of radiation sources are present on the CERN premises, they are distributed over a wide area and they are handled by a large number of people.

Interventions in radiation areas are prepared in many different groups for various areas. All interventions in radiation areas must be prepared and optimised.

Rather than concentrating all tasks and duties in a single unit or group, radiation safety tasks and duties can be carried out more efficiently directly by those that manipulate radiation sources and prepare interventions.

DEFINITION of the Role of the RSSO

An RSSO is a safety linkman whose duties are related to the radiation safety of the activities, installations and areas under the responsibility of his group.

The RSSO contributes to improving and maintaining the radiation safety within the group by combining in depth knowledge of the group with detailed knowledge in matters of radiation safety and protection.

DEFINITION of the Role of the RSSO

The decision to appoint one or more RSSOs is the responsibility of the GL. It is recommended to appoint at least two RSSOs per group so that experience can be shared and a minimum level of continuity can be achieved in particular during the technical stops and annual shutdowns of the accelerators.

Candidate RSSOs are proposed by their GL.

Accountable to his GL, the RSSO maintains regular contacts with the RSO and other RSSOs in the departments in order to assure a homogeneous approach to radiation safety.

RSSO training, motivation The RSSO needs a certain level of knowledge

and competence in matters of radiation safety. A suitable course is the RPE course, given by

f. ex. Institut de radiophysique applique, IRA It may not be perfectly tailored to the RSSO

profile, but it assures an equal basis between machine and experiments.

It requires successful passage of an exam to obtain a diploma and thus leads to recognised competence.

RSSO Refresher Meeting, Motivation

Remind the RSSOs of the background Share experience Continuos improvement News Growth.

General Scope of work of the RSSO

Preparation of interventions, DIMR. The preparation is documented in the

DIMR. The RSSO shall support his colleagues

in setting up the DIMR. This is a support to the group. Individual

RSSOs will have their specific job scope.

Added Value of the RSSO

Return on interventions, lessons learned. Following the intervention the RSSO shall

ideally, together with the intervening colleagues, review the intervention.

Did it turn out as foreseen in the DIMR? If not, why not? Which are the lessons to

be learned? What can be improved? Network between the RSSOs, 1 + 1 > 2

The RSSO in the Organisation Hierarchy: Group leader

The RSSO is nominated by the group leader, reports to the group leader and works for the group

Support available in the safety unit or safety office of your department. In particular from the RSO.

And from your RSSO network…

Reporting lines

DSO

RSO

CSO

TSO

xSO

Section Leader

Group Leader

DepartmentLeader

Director

DirectorGeneral

RSSO

Spare slidesRSSO refresher

GENERAL TASKS OF AN RSSO

The general tasks of an RSSO fall into two major areas which are general radiation safety awareness and work preparation.

General radiation safety

Inform the members of their group on radiation safety and protections rules applicable in their area of activity and report on how these rules are implemented.

Participate in establishing procedures and emergency plans for the working areas and activities of the group where a relevant radiation risk is present.

Report on any modifications to activities, installations or areas under the responsibility of the group or activities in the group related to a project that may have an impact on radiological safety. This includes modifications of radiation shielding.

Participate in assessing the effects of introducing new or modified radiation sources before these sources are imported or put into service at CERN.

Actively participate in reviewing the radiation safety situation in the group.  

GENERAL TASKS OF AN RSSO

The general tasks of an RSSO fall into two major areas which are general radiation safety awareness and work preparation.

Work preparation tasks  The RSSO assists in the establishment of procedures for working in a radioactive

environment with the aim to optimise the collective dose received by the personnel.

Report well in advance on all planned works within the group that involve radiation sources, in particular for work that is planned for the accelerator shutdown

Participate in the ALARA process on the activities concerned with the installation, maintenance, repair and removal of equipment under the responsibility of the group. Assist in establishing and documenting the associated procedures.

Provide estimates of the amount of radioactive waste of all current and new activities, projects and experiments under the responsibility of the group. Report on the production of radioactive waste.

SPECIFIC TASKS OF AN RSSO

The specific tasks for an RSSO will depend on the activities, areas and installations for which his group has the responsibility and on the radiological risks that are associated with them.

The list of specific tasks (together with their priority) will be established for each group individually and will provide the basis of the RSSO mandate (see section 4.6). The list will be agreed upon by the GL, the RSO and a representative of the RP group. The DH will be informed via a memo stored in EDMS.

The specific tasks of an RSSO can be changed at any point in time on the request of the GL.

Upon request of the GL and following the explicit approval of the RP group leader, specific tasks in the field of Radiation Protection may be delegated to the RSSO. The delegation of Radiation Protection tasks is limited to areas outside the accelerator tunnels like workshops or laboratories. An example of such a task is conducting dose rate measurements of activated material present in a workshop.

The delegation of Radioprotection tasks will be documented by the Radiation Protection group and stored in EDMS. The document must be agreed upon by the GL, and the RSO. The RP group will in all cases remain responsible for all radioprotection tasks.

The RSO will provide assistance to the RSSO when performing his general and his specific tasks.