§ 33-04 Radiation Protection Program.
RCNY § 33-04
DOC must develop, document and implement a radiation protection program commensurate with the scope and extent of operations and sufficient to ensure compliance with the provisions of this Chapter and applicable sections of 24 RCNY Health Code Article 175, or any successor regulation. DOC must follow ANSI Standard 43.17, ANSI Standard 42.47, and the requirements of this section to develop and implement an appropriate safety program for the use of body scanners in a correctional environment. DOC's radiation safety program must address and document each of the following aspects of such program: (a) Designate a Radiation Safety Officer (RSO) who must be a Qualified Physicist and who has the authority to ensure the implementation of the radiation protection program. The Radiation Safety Officer must report directly to the Radiation Safety Committee as defined in section (b) below.
(b)Provide for a Radiation Safety Committee to administer the radiation protection program. The radiation safety committee must include the DOC facility commander or a person with the authority to act on behalf of the facility commander, the Radiation Safety Officer, representation from all relevant DOC personnel within the facility where radiation sources are used, and a representative of the Qualified Physicist. The committee shall oversee all uses of body scanning equipment within the facility, review the activities of the Radiation Safety Officer, and review the radiation safety program at least annually and the administration of the required quality control testing described in subdivision (e) of this section. The report of DOC's annual review of the radiation safety program shall be retained in DOC's radiation safety manual.
(c)All documents pertaining to the Radiation Protection Program must be placed in the radiation safety manual, which must be made available for the Department to inspect at any time. Information in the radiation safety manual must include but not be limited to: (1) The radiation safety committee names along with all minutes of the meetings of this committee; (2) Name and contact information for the RSO, including appropriate information to contact the RSO immediately in case of an emergency; (3) Copies of all documents that were submitted to obtain a certificate of registration including all technical documents such as acceptance testing and commissioning report prepared by the Qualified Physicist; (4) All information as supplied by the body scanner manufacturer and all documents relating to either routine preventive maintenance and repair of the body scanner; (5) Documents pertaining to training of DOC personnel who operate the body scanners including the outline of the training, attendance sheet with date and signatures of attendees; and (6) The results of the decision to address individual monitoring needs for operators of body scanners pursuant to 24 RCNY Health Code § 175.03, or any successor regulation. If DOC decides not to procure individual monitoring badges for body scanner operators, DOC must obtain a report from DOC's qualified physicist to provide evidence that the requirements of 24 RCNY Health Code § 175.03, or any successor regulation, are satisfied and this report must be maintained in the radiation safety manual.
(7)Copies of all relevant ANSI standards and location of 24 RCNY Health Code Article 175, or any successor regulation.
(d)DOC must utilize ANSI Standard 42.47 to establish imaging tests to measure and assess the image resolution of the body scanner over time, which scanners are defined by ANSI Standard 42.47 as "whole body field of view". To do this, DOC must: (1) Utilize a phantom, as described in Section 5.4 et seq. of ANSI Standard 42.47, or an alternate imaging device approved by the Department, to conduct the following imaging tests as described in the following sections of that Standard: (A) the spatial resolution test as described in Section 5.5; (B) the wire detection test as described in Section 5.6; (C) the material detection on body test as described in Section 5.7; and (D) the penetration tests as described in Section 5.9.
(2)DOC must adopt the tolerances for the imaging tests described in paragraph (1) above as stated in ANSI Standard 42.47 Table 4 under the heading for "whole body field of view." (3) The imaging tests as described in paragraph (1) above must be conducted with the following frequency: (A) To assess image degradation with body mass, the penetration tests must be conducted quarterly for each body scanner; (B) The spatial resolution test, wire detection test, and material detection on body test must be conducted semiannually; and (C) All imaging tests must be evaluated after any software upgrade to the body scanner and after any repairs on the imaging chain, e.g., repairs done on the detector.
(4)The following documents must be maintained in the radiation safety manual: (A) The imaging tests, the frequency of such tests, and the title of the individual who will conduct the imaging tests; and (B) The results of all imaging tests conducted.
(e)A Qualified Physicist must conduct an annual evaluation and prepare a report on the body scanners to determine the reference effective dose for a typical scan. Any significant variations from manufacturer's specification or from previous reports must be investigated and a report of the discrepancy must be documented within 30 days. All reports created pursuant to this subdivision must be placed in the radiation safety manual.
(f)Radiation surveys must be conducted by a Qualified Physicist to determine radiation levels to workers, subjects, and the public in all areas around the body scanner to any location that the radiation level rate is equal or greater than 0.05 mrem in any hour under maximum workload conditions as defined in the radiation protection manual. A radiation protection survey must be conducted prior to initiating scanning of any individuals in the areas around a body scanner and: (1) After any maintenance that affects the radiation shielding, shutter mechanism, or x-ray production components; (2) After any incident that may have damaged the system in such a way that unintended radiation emission occurs; and (3) Upon installation of any new body scanner.
(g)DOC must follow the manufacturer's recommended preventive maintenance schedule and all service records of preventive maintenance must be documented and maintained in the radiation safety manual. (Added City Record 1/16/2019, eff. 2/15/2019)
