Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2005, published 95th ILC session (2006)

Radiation Protection Convention, 1960 (No. 115) - Jersey

1. The Committee notes the information contained in the Government’s report and the attached documentation.

2. Article 1 of the Convention. Giving effect to the Convention. The Committee notes with interest the adoption of the Approved Code of Practice for Work with Ionizing Radiation (ACoP) by the Employment and Social Security Department under article 10 of the Health and Safety at Work (Jersey) Law, 1989, which entered into force on 1 October 2002 and provides practical guidance on the application of the Law. It notes the Government’s statement that it was introduced after a period of consultations with the social partners, in accordance with the Convention.

3. Article 3, paragraph 2; Article 6, paragraph 2; and Article 8. Maximum permissible doses. The Committee notes with interest that, under section 1 of Appendix 3 of the ACoP, the average dose limit for workers of 18 years of age and above is 20 mSv per year, not to exceed a maximum of 50 mSv in any single year, that section 9 of Appendix 3, the dose limit for pregnant women after they have declared their pregnancy is 1 mSv for the remainder of the pregnancy and that the dose limit for non-radiation workers is 1 mSv (section 6 of Appendix 3), all in accordance with the Recommendation of 1990 by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP). With respect to trainees between the ages of 16 and 18, the Committee notes that the limit is an effective dose of 6 mSv per year.

4. Article 7, paragraph 2. Workers under the age of 16. With respect to the general prohibition of engaging workers under the age of 16 years in work involving ionizing radiations, as required by the Convention, the Committee notes that, under section 6 of Appendix 3 of the ACoP, the dose limit for these young workers is 1 mSv per year. It feels obliged to point out to the Government that, under the Convention, no worker under the age of 16 shall be engaged in work involving ionizing radiations. The Committee requests the Government to take appropriate action to ensure the full application of this Article and hopes that this will be undertaken in the very near future, and requests the Government to provide precise information in this respect in its next report.

5. Article 12. Medical surveillance. The Committee notes that, under section 87 of the ACoP, employees shall be subject to medical surveillance, in accordance with the Convention. It requests the Government to provide information in its next report on the periodicity of medical examination under section 89 of the ACoP.

6. Article 13. Emergency work. The Committee notes that, under sections 129 to 134, employers must prepare a written risk assessment and a contingency plan. The Committee asks the Government to specify the circumstances in which exceptional exposure of workers may be authorized. In this regard, it would draw the Government’s attention to the matters raised in item 35(c)(iii) of the conclusions of the Committee’s 1992 general observation under the Convention according to which a strict definition of circumstances in which exceptional exposure of workers, exceeding the normally tolerated dose limit, is to be allowed for immediate and urgent remedial work; that work must be strictly limited in scope and duration to what is required to meet an acute danger to life and health; exceptional exposure of workers is neither justified for the purpose of rescuing items of high material value, nor, more generally, because alternative techniques of intervention, which do not involve such exposure of workers, would involve excessive expenses.

7. Article 14. Alternative employment or other measures offered for maintaining income where continued assignment to work involving exposure to ionizing radiation is medically inadvisable. The Committee asks the Government to provide information in its next report of measures taken or envisaged to provide alternative employment for a worker whose exposure to radiation is medically inadvisable. In this context, the Committee wishes to draw the Government’s attention to paragraph 32 of the 1992 general observation under the Convention where it is indicated that every effort must be made to provide the workers concerned with suitable alternative employment, or to maintain their income through social security measures or otherwise, where continued assignment to work involving exposure to ionizing radiations is found to be medically inadvisable.

8. Parts III and V of the report form. The Committee notes the Government’s statement that the ACoP is administered by the Health and Safety Inspectorate of the Employment and Social Security Department and that, when necessary, advice and specialist support is provided by Specialist Radiation Inspectors of the UK Health and Safety Executive. It requests the Government to provide information in its next report on activities undertaken by the Health and Safety Inspectorate.