Individual monitoring of outside workers

The responsible party must ensure the protection of outside workers in the same way as for its own workers. The responsible party has the obligation to arrange monitoring of working conditions and the necessary individual monitoring, if such measures are not already implemented.

Outside workers include (Radiation Act, Section 37 a) workers of an outside undertaking and self-employed persons who participate in radiation work assigned by the responsible party without entering the service thereof.

Instructions for arranging individual monitoring

A nuclear power plant arranges individual monitoring of all persons who work at the plant. In other radiation work, the individual monitoring of an outside worker can be arranged by the responsible party or the employer, as mutually agreed.

Overall consideration of radiation work

When the same person works for several responsible parties in duties involving exposure to radiation, each responsible party is liable to ensure appropriate individual monitoring and medical surveillance. When evaluating a worker’s need for individual monitoring and medical surveillance, responsible parties must consider all radiation work for different responsible parties, including the type of work and total working hours.

The monitoring of radiation exposure and medical surveillance can be arranged by the employer of an outside worker. If no monitoring of radiation exposure and medical surveillance are arranged for outside workers, the responsible party must arrange them in the same way as for its own workers. However, no parallel individual monitoring should be arranged if an outside worker is already using a personal dosimeter.

When a person works for several responsible parties in duties involving exposure to radiation at different places of use of radiation, the worker’s own employer must, together with the worker and, as necessary, the other responsible parties, determine whether the worker is classified to radiation work category A or B. The worker’s individual monitoring and medical surveillance shall follow the radiation work category. (For individual monitoring, refer to Guide ST 7.1 and, for medical surveillance, refer to Guide ST 7.5.)

Only one dosimeter in use at a time

Where possible, a worker should wear one personal dosimeter in all the different places of use of radiation. The exposure of the worker must be estimated in advance, and investigation levels must be used for individual monitoring (Guide ST 7.1). If it is found that a worker’s radiation exposure primarily comes from one place of use of radiation, the worker can use one dosimeter in that location and wear another dosimeter in all other places of use of radiation.

Dose information must be available to the responsible parties and employer

The party that arranges individual monitoring must ensure that the monitoring results are made available to the worker’s employer as well as all the responsible parties for whom the person has worked in duties involving radiation exposure.

The employer and responsible parties concerned must agree in writing on the practices related to individual monitoring, medical surveillance, monitoring of working conditions and information transfer. Furthermore, they must agree on the investigation levels in individual monitoring as well as on tracking the results and the procedure in case the investigation levels are exceeded.