1. UK implementation of the BSS Directive
Wendy Bines
Health and Safety Executive
London
(3rd EC/ISOE Workshop, Portoroz, April 2002)

3. Legal interpretation in the UK
Strict literal interpretation
Courts have no scope for discretion, but guided by case law and precedence
Regulators need to build in qualifications such as:
Where appropriate
So far as is reasonably practicable

4. Specific features for discussion
Hierarchy of provisions
Reasonably practicable
IRR99: dose limits
IRR99: investigation levels
IRR99: criteria for recognition (dosimetry services and qualified experts)
Enforcement tools

5. Hierarchy of provisions
Regulations
Approved Code of Practice (ACOP)
Non-statutory guidance
ACOP:
Quasi-legal status
Practical advice on how to comply with the law
Guidance may illustrate good practice

6. Example
The Ionising Radiations Regulations 1999 (IRR99) regulation 11(1):
“Subject to paragraph (2) and to paragraph 5 of Schedule 4, every employer shall ensure that his employees and other persons who are within a class specified in Schedule 4 are not exposed to ionising radiation to an extent that any dose limit specified in Part 1 of that Schedule for such a class of person is exceeded in any calendar year.”

7. Example cont.
ACOP (for this regulation) – for the purpose of comparison with dose limits:
Assessments of effective and equivalent dose - use values and relationships in Annex II of the BSS Directive
Assessments of committed effective and equivalent dose - take account of likely 50 year accrued dose and attribute to calendar year of intake

8. Example cont.
ACOP cont. – for assessment of compliance with dose limits for the public:
Make realistic estimates of average effective (and, where relevant, equivalent) dose to representative members of appropriate reference group
For expected pathways of exposure

9. Example cont. Guidance, on:
Responsibility for ensuring compliance with dose limits (DLs)
Demonstrating compliance with DLs
Application of DLs to different classes of person
Assessing dose to the skin
Additional DL for women of reproductive capacity

10. Example cont. Disapplication of DLs for comforters and carers
DLs for members of the public: exposure arising from patients undergoing medical diagnosis or treatment
DLs for members of the public: other exposures
Overexposures

11. Reasonably practicable
UK equivalent of ‘reasonably achievable’ (ALARP rather than ALARA)
Computation between the degree of risk and the cost (money/time/trouble) of avoiding it
If gross disproportion between them, the risk being insignificant in relation to the cost - not reasonably practicable

12. IRR99: Investigation levels
To be carried out when, for the first time in a year, an employee’s dose reaches:
15 mSv; or
a lower level specified by the employer
Purpose: to trigger a review of working conditions, to ensure that exposure is being restricted so far as is reasonably practicable
Not a limit, but often treated as one

13. IRR99: dose limits Effective dose for an adult employee:
20 mSv in a calendar year
Where justified, for individual, identified, employees:
100 mSv in five years, subject to conditions including: consultation, information, prior notice to HSE, max. 50 mSv in a single year, investigation if 20 mSv exceeded in a year

14. IRR99: criteria for recognition
Approved Dosimetry Services (ADS): Requirements for the approval of dosimetry services under IRR99:
Part 1 – external
Part 2 – internal
Part 3 – coordination and record-keeping
Supplement – estimation of emergency exposures during intervention

15. IRR99: criteria for recognition
Qualified experts = radiation protection advisers under IRR99
HSE Statement on radiation protection advisers – criteria for recognition of core competence
Duty on employer to consult a suitable recognised radiation protection adviser

16. Enforcement tools
To encourage compliance under health and safety legislation, including IRR99, inspectors may:
Offer information and advice
Serve Improvement or Prohibition Notice
Issue formal caution
Prosecute

17. Central Index of Dose Information: trends data

18. Conclusion The (well-established) system works effectively
As shown by information from HSE's Central Index of Dose Information
But never room for complacency