International safety standards
International Radiation Safety Standards are developed by the IAEA under its mandate, in cooperation with a number of international organizations and based on scientific data provided by the United Nations Scientific Committee on Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) and radiation protection recommendation by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP). The International Basic Safety Standard (BSS) published in 1996 is the current standard. National authorities translate this into their national regulations. What is mandatory in countries are the national regulations. In Europe the European BSS is applied. Both International and European BSS are undergoing revision at this moment. This presentation will cover mechanism by which Standards are developed, salient features of the BSS and what changes are coming up. For example, some are: requirements for licensees to have medical physicists in different areas, in particular where higher radiation doses are imparted to patients; there are clarifications on the role of medical physicists; the use of Diagnostic Reference Levels (DRLs) is further strengthened; clarifications are being introduced to avoid low image quality; the concept of radiological audit has been introduced and the need for patient dose recording is emphasized. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
