Nrc respiratory protection program

The amount of radioactive material, if not safely managed or securely protected would be likely to cause permanent injury to a person who handled it, or wher otherwise in contact with it, for more than a few minutes. It would probably be fatal to be close to this amount of unshielded material for a period of a few minutes to an hour.

The amount of radioactive material, if not safely managed or securely protected, could cause permanent injury to a person who handled it, or were otherwise in contact with it, for a short time minutes to hours. It could possibly be fatal to be close to this amount of unshielded radioactive material for a period of hours to days.

This amount of radioactive material, if not safely managed or securely protected, could cause permanent injury to a person who handled it, or were otherwise in contact with it, for some hours. It could possibly — although it is unlikely — be fatal to be close to this amount of unshielded radioactive material for a period of days to weeks. It is very unlikely that anyone would be permanently injured by this amount of radioactive material. However, this amount of unshielded radioactive material, if not safely managed or securely protected, could possibly — although it is unlikely — temporarily injure someone who handled it or were otherwise in contact with it, or who were close to it for a period of many weeks.

No one could be permanently injured by this amount of radioactive material. Types of Radiation Areas Radiation Area: an area, accessible to individuals, in which radiation levels could result in an individual receiving a dose equivalent in excess of 0.

High Radiation Area: an area, accessible to individuals, in which radiation levels from radiation sources external to the body could result in an individual receiving a dose equivalent in excess of 0. Very High Radiation Area: an area, accessible to individuals, in which radiation levels from radiation sources external to the body could result in an individual receiving an absorbed dose in excess of rads 5 grays in 1 hour at 1 meter from a radiation source or 1 meter from any surface that the radiation penetrates.

Radiation Protection Program Requirements Implement a radiation protection program commensurate with the scope of licensee activities Use procedures and engineering controls to achieve occupational and public doses which are As Low As is Reasonably Achievable ALARA At least annually review radiation protection policies Report events which exceed dose limits Restrict access to High and Very High Radiation Areas Manage individual respiratory protection equipment Secure stored materials Post caution and danger signs in radiation areas of all levels Label radiation sources and containers Inspect and survey packages containing radiation sources upon receipt Proper disposal of radiation materials Maintain records of radiation protection program Surveys Individual monitored doses both workers and public Planned exposures Received radiation sources Waste disposal Reporting of events which exceed dose limits.

Planned Special Exposures A licensee may authorize an adult worker to receive doses in addition to the annual dose limits provided that a number of conditions are met. Definitions Agreement State Any State with which have entered into agreements with NRC that give them [the states] the authority to license and inspect byproduct, source, or special nuclear materials used or possessed within their borders. Authorized User A physician, dentist, or podiatrist meeting certain educational criteria who is authorized to permit the medical use of byproduct material.

Written directives must contain the following: Procedure Written Directive Requirements Administration of greater than 1. Licensees must come back into compliance with the regulations or receive approval for an additional exemption period from the NRC before the end of each exemption period.

The NRC can only ensure an expedited review of exemption requests from the medical evaluation and fit-testing requirements where the licensee-specific processes discussed above include a provision for informing workers of the general risks of wearing respiratory protection e.

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To embed, copy and paste the code into your website or blog:. The responsibility for inspecting those rooms was delegated to the common service staff themselves. This approach does not meet legal requirements. The project team also developed an activity report template to help COSHs track their outstanding action items among other tools. We were advised that the next phase of the project will be to produce an upgraded minutes' tool that will automatically populate an action-items tracker as well as the Annual Workplace Committee Report.

Recommmendation 3 : As part of NRC's new HPP, the Director, Health and Safety, should ensure that all OSH related records including all preventive maintenance programs records are developed, stored and managed in an appropriate authorized NRC repository, such as DocZone , in accordance with established retention schedule. Recommmendation 5 : The Director, Health and Safety, should ensure that the monthly COSH inspections are performed based on annual COSH inspection plans to ensure that the entire workplaces are covered at least once over the calendar year.

We found that effective and efficient procedures for investigation and response to hazardous occurrences, including near misses, are established and carried out, however we were unable to find evidence, in all cases examined, of an assessment of the effectiveness of the corrective actions taken. The last annual report presented in July covered We also noted that NRC's OSH Advisors performed site visits and walkthroughs of the portfolio locations with a compliance based checklist.

The checklists focus on the three main areas from the LSAP: slip, trip and falls; material handling; and musculoskeletal injury. We were advised that the LSAP is the Corporate OSH Group's only NRC-wide initiative against which follow-ups are conducted to determine performance against a specific target of a 50 percent reduction of the three previously mentioned types of injuries, over a three-year period. Two years after implementing the LSAP, the Corporate OSH Group reported reductions in the number of slips, trips and falls, and musculoskeletal injury but an increase in injuries related to material handling.

With regards to compliance monitoring, we found that the Corporate OSH Group conducted compliance audits from up to in order to provide portfolios with an in-depth review of the OSH control framework. These compliance audits and follow-ups were suspended due to the cyber intrusion in summer because documentation was not accessible in the regions. The remaining audits that were initially planned prior to the cyber intrusion were completed in FY However, we found that the issues identified during the compliance audits have not been followed-up by the Corporate OSH Group and there is no plan to follow-up on the issues identified.

The Corporate OSH Group advised that they will reassess the compliance audit program over the next fiscal year. We found that opportunities exist to improve how NRC monitors and plans for OSH considerations risk and costs as part of projects and program activities, including OSH related to revenue and science projects and resulting facility costs.

At the time of the audit, modifications were being made to NRC's time reporting system to enable easier reporting of OSH related activities such as workplace inspections and participation in the local COSH.

However, we found that time spent on OSH related work, including the review of NRC investment plans to ensure OSH requirements have been given due considerations, laboratory preparatory work related revenue and science projects, along with prevention activities are not consistently monitored across NRC, either at the portfolio or corporate levels.

NRC requires that all hazardous situations and occurrences be reported, recorded and investigated in accordance with the requirements identified in the CLC Part II and associated regulations. We found that effective and efficient procedures for investigation and response to hazardous occurrences, including near misses, are established and carried out; however we were unable to find evidence in all cases examined of an assessment of the effectiveness of the corrective actions taken.

We also noted through interviews that certain portfolio locations did not report all categories of incidents to the Corporate OSH Group. For example, one portfolio location informed us that they only reported incidents that involved compensation. In addition, we examined a sample of the HOIRs that were provided by portfolio locations for completeness and accuracy. We found that 88 percent of the HOIR forms were consistently complete and filled out correctly with sufficient detail.

Root causes of hazardous occurrences were always followed-up on with planned corrective actions but we were unable to determine through the documentation obtained that the corrective actions indicated on the initial reports were always assessed for effectiveness.

Interviewees assured us that all incidents are investigated and that the appropriate corrective measures are put into place, acknowledging that there is room for improvement for recordkeeping on the implementation and tracking of corrective actions until their resolution within COSH meeting minutes. We were also advised that the portfolios generally discuss OSH incidents and resolutions throughout portfolio team meetings in order to share lessons learned and to increase OSH awareness.

The new electronic form provides additional guidance as to how to accurately categorize incidents when filling out an HOIR, and has now included workplace violence, formal internal health and safety complaints, as well as "good catches" as possible events to report.

Recommmendation 7 : The Director, Health and Safety, should ensure that follow-ups are conducted on all OSH incidents until their resolution and that complete documentation of the implementation of the corrective actions is retained according to appropriate record retention schedules. Recommmendation 8 : The Director, Health and Safety, should ensure that the portfolios report all categories of hazardous occurrence incidents by recording them in the electronic HOIR system on MyZone. As indicated in the scope section of this report, we examined linkages between OSH, environmental operations, and security.

Based on the interviews conducted, linkages between these three corporate functions are limited. Interviewees mentioned that communications between these functions and coordination could be improved as well as the clarification of their responsibilities when they intersect in situations such as emergency evacuation redacted information Footnote i. OSH policies, directives, standards and programs, and procedures are established, effectively communicated, maintained, and reviewed as necessary, with input from management, workers and worker representatives with due consideration of efficiency, legal and policy requirements.

Hazards and risks are identified and assessed on an ongoing basis and timely manner, and results of this process are used to set objectives and targets KPIs and to develop preventive and protective measures in an effective and efficient manner. Risk-based OSH objectives, targets KPIs and plans are established and implemented for relevant functions and levels within the organization. Preventive and protective measures are established to address identified hazards with due regard for level of risks, relevant legal and policy requirements, and recognized best practices.

OSH training activities are established and delivered to ensure that workers are competent to carry out their duties in a safe manner and are aware of OSH requirements, rights and responsibilities. Documents and records are created and maintained to support the effective and efficient management of OSH at NRC and to assess conformance with legal and policy requirements.

Committees are established and operate in an effective and efficient manner as per relevant legal and policy requirements. Effective and efficient procedures to monitor, measure, assess and report on NRC's OSH objectives, plans, programs and performance are established, implemented and maintained. Effective and efficient procedures for investigation and response to hazardous occurrences, including near misses, are established and carried out. Senior management reviews the organization's OSH management control framework and its implementation at planned intervals to ensure its continuing suitability, adequacy, and effectiveness.

There are significant opportunities for improvement. There are several opportunities for improvement. No areas for improvement were identified. The Policy also describes the roles and responsibilities of the Managers and Supervisors, employees, etc.

Since then, roles and responsibilities of the OSH Advisors changed from an Institute OSH expert that was in charge of the implementation and monitoring of the OSH program for a specific institute, to a corporate advisor that oversees, on average, two portfolios or locations without the responsibility for the implementation of the NRC OSH program. The corporate advisors are not necessarily physically located in the regions for which they are responsible.

Its mandate is to promote occupational safety and health at NRC through increased communication, consistent direction and cooperation among all portfolios, programs, and branches. The local Committees on Occupational Safety and Health COSH are the work place health and safety committees that were created in compliance with Section 1 of the CLC Part II, which requires employers to establish such committees for each workplace controlled by the employer where 20 or more employees are normally employed.

At a high level, the mandate of these workplace committees is to address health and safety matters that apply to individual workplaces. This organizational diagram presents the responsibility structure of the occupational safety and health at the NRC.

The second box from the top depicts NRC's Vice-Presidents who are responsible for overall occupational safety and health within their respective division. To the left of the Director of Occupational Safety and Health box, there is a box depicting the National Committee on Occupational Safety and Health NCOSH , which is a corporate health and safety policy committee that was created in compliance with sub-section The Canada Labour Code requires employers with more than employees to have such a committee.

Below and to the left of the Director Generals and General manager there is a box depicting the Occupational Divisional Leads, the Local Committees on Occupational Safety and Health COSHs , which are the work place health and safety committees that were created in compliance with Section 1 of the CLC Part II - which requires employers to establish such committees for each workplace controlled by the employer where 20 or more employees are normally employed. The last box from the top depicts NRC's employees, who are responsible for working in manner that avoids creating a safety and health hazard for themselves or others.

A key outcome from the tiger team was recommendations for changes to the roles and responsibilities for OSH management and the resource and organizational implications of such changes. Prior to taking any action, HRB will wait for the executive decision on the OSH Tiger Team report submission that details OSH delivery model options that meet the organizational needs and expectations identified through collaborative stakeholder sessions throughout NRC.

Develop and activate implementation plan for new delivery model working closely with stakeholders.