X-ray Safety Discussion and Tour for Health Physicists April 1, 2016 Health Physics Society Spring Meeting Jerry Bai Environmental Administrator, Field Operations Bureau of Radiation Control Florida Department of Health 1
Field Operations has 37 staff 5 Regions 5 Managers 28 Inspectors 4 Support Staff 2
Telework Based out of their homes Fully equipped: Laptops Broadband Cell Phones Vehicle Field Operations vs. the Bureau office in Tallahassee 3
X-ray versus Radioactive Material (RAM) X-rays turn off, RAM does not Generally: RAM contaminates (mostly), X-rays do not X-rays are easy to dispose (mostly), RAM not so easy X-ray doses are far more acute than RAM doses 4
Acute Exposures Fortunately, most x-ray exposures are in fractions of a second But not all x-ray exposures are short 5
Respect the Beam Dental Intra-oral tube 70 kilo-voltage peak (kvp), 15 milli-amperes (ma), 19 pulses, @ 9 source to skin distance (SSD) 3.5 R/sec Or 210 R/min Or 12,600 R/hr Or 1,370 Curies (Ci) Iridium (Ir)192 @ 9 6
Respect the Beam Chiropractic Radiography Tube 80 kvp, 200mA, 100 milli-seconds (ms), @31 SSD 4.2 R/sec Or 252 R/min Or 15,120 R/hr Or 19,600 Ci of Ir192 @31 7
Volume of X-ray Machines ~54,000 x-ray tubes in Florida ~17,000 x-ray tubes inspected annually 8
X-ray Protection Minimize exposure time Maximize distance and shielding 9
Additional X-ray Protection Turn off Warning Labels and signs Visual and aural exposure warnings Exposure monitors Interrupts Detents Secured radiation area Operator training Machine maintenance Well designed 10
Types of x-ray machines Medical Non-medical 11
Tour of Ionizing Radiation Machines Safety through awareness and discussion Discussion focus on Operator Safety 12
Industrial Radiography Radiation Safety Officer (RSO) must have 1 year experience as a radiographer and 16 hours of RSO training Radiographers must be certified 6 month audit of radiographers 13
Industrial Radiography Maintain source log Maintain dosimetry log Designated, secured boundaries with warning signs Can continuously expose for long periods 14
Industrial Radiography Survey meters and surveys required Two-man crews in field Radiation badge, pocket dosimeter, and alarming ratemeters required 15
Industrial Radiography Shielded Room 16
Industrial CT Classified as Cabinet or Industrial Radiography 17
Irradiators Blood Food Sterilization 18
Gauges Used to measure density or spectrum 19
Deuterium-Tritium Neutron Generator Very powerful neutron generators Well logging Gauges 20
Bomb Unit Used by military and law enforcement 21
Cyclotron Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Activation (neutron) energies Installed in shielded vaults Requires cooldown before entering vault 22
Research Accelerators Universities Research Departments 23
Dryers Electron accelerator beams to dry 24
Ion Implanters Chip Manufacture 25
Handheld Analyzers X-ray gun Analyzes target through backscatter 26
Analyzers and Cabinets Usually, sealed with interrupts to prevent inadvertent exposure 27
Baggage X-ray Everywhere 28
Whole Body Security Scanners Airports Prisons 29
Bone Scanner Pencil beam Or Fan Beam Operator usually in room during scan 30
Medical X-Ray Note: Veterinary facilities utilize nearly all types of human use X-ray units 31
Bone Scanner - Extremity Small Portable 32
Intra-Oral Dental We ve all had this Most dental practices use digital receptors 33
Hand Held Dental Shield required Held at arm s length 34
Dental Multi Function Cephalometric Panograph 35
Mammography Food and Drug Administration, Mammography Quality Standards Act (MQSA) Inspections 36
Mammography Biopsy Stereotactic breast biopsy 37
Mobile Radiography Used for diagnostic x-ray 38
Radiographic and Fluoroscopy Rooms Radiology department Combination of Radiographic and Fluoroscopy in one room 39
Specials and Cath Labs Very busy Lots of customization 40
Cysto Rooms Urology Seed Implants 41
Mobile Fluoroscopy Surgery Pain clinics 42
Computed Tomography Conventional Perfusion studies CT Fluoroscopy 43
Mobile CT On wheels! 44
Vertical CT Patient stands 45
Superficial Therapy Use for treatment of skin cancer 46
Therapy Accelerator 6-21 Million electron volts (MeV) Used for treatment of cancer 47
Positioning Tubes Used to position accelerator therapy patients 48
Proton Accelerator Therapy Huge Very complex 49
CyberKnife Robotic Radiosurgery 50
Electronic Brachytherapy Disposable tubes 51
Contacts Jerry Bai 850-528-5967 X-ray Machine Program 904-278-5730 http://www.floridahealth.gov/environmental-health/radiationcontrol/index.html 52