Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2011, published 101st ILC session (2012)

Radiation Protection Convention, 1960 (No. 115) - Azerbaijan (Ratification: 1992)

Legislation. The Committee notes the legislation appended to the report including the 1992 Sanitary and Epidemiological Wellbeing Act, the 1997 Radiation Safety Act, the 2002 Technical Safety Act, and the 2004 Expert Control Act which set out the legal base of safety of operations with sources of ionizing radiation and which are aimed at protecting workers from unnecessary exposure to radiation. The Committee also notes that, since 2001, Azerbaijan has become a full member of the IAEA and have accepted its requirements of the Basic Safety Standards. The Committee also notes the references made to guidance provided in the Radiation Safety Standards NRB 76/87 and the Basic Sanitary Rules of Working with Radioactive Substances and Other Sources of Ionizing Radiation OSP-72/87. The Committee notes that the information provided indicate that that effect is given to Articles 4, 7, 8 and 9 of the Convention.

Article 3 together with Articles 5 and 6 of the Convention. Effective protection of workers against ionising radiations; exposure of workers to the lowest practicable level of ionising radiation. The Committee notes that, according to information provided by the Government, section 9 of the Radiation Safety Act establishes that the permissible average annual dose for workers directly engaged in radiation work is 20 mSv or 1 Sv for a life period of 50 years. It also provides that if during five consecutive years the actual average annual dose does not exceed 20 mSv, the permissible average annual dose may reach 50 mSv in any single year. In this respect, the Committee requests the Government to clarify in which situations workers directly engaged in radiation work are allowed to be exposed to an average annual dose of ionising radiation of up to 50 mSv and how the requirement that over five consecutive years the average annual exposure dose should not exceed 20 mSv is maintained.

Article 11. Measurement of the level of the exposure of workers to ionising radiation and radioactive substances. The Committee notes that section 11 of the 1997 Radiation Safety Act provides that enterprises and organizations using sources of ionizing radiation shall carry out regular control in order to ensure safety in their use of radiation. According to section 14 of the Radiation Safety Act such enterprises and organizations must: plan for and implement safety measures including systematic monitoring of radiation levels in the premises of the enterprise and organization, at workplaces as well as of any radioactive waste; control of the doses of individual radiation exposures of workers and keep records thereof. The Committee also notes that the monitoring of the implementation of these safety measures is carried out by the State Agency for regulating the nuclear and radiological activity of the Ministry of emergency situations of Azerbaijan which was created with the President’s Decree No. 746 of 24 April 2008. The Committee requests the Government to indicate for how long records of measurements of individual exposures to radiation are kept since they permit to take into account the cumulative dose of radiation for employment purposes.

Article 12. Medical examinations of workers directly engaged in radiation work. The Committee notes the information that according to section 14 of the Radiation Safety Act employers of workers directly engaged in radiation work must carry out medical examinations of their workers before employment and at periodic intervals thereafter. Workers are entitled to be informed of the level of ionising radiation to which they are exposed at workplaces, and of the doses of individual exposure they have received. These obligations are also further detailed in section 3.14 of Basic Sanitary Rules OSP-72/87. The Committee requests the Government to provide further detailed information on what type of medical examinations of workers directly engaged in radiation work are carried out and how frequently such examinations are carried out.

Article 13. Emergency situations. The Committee notes the information provided regarding emergency situations including references to the Acts referenced above and sections 14, 20 and 21 of the Radiation Safety Act. The Committee notes that the protective measures required and the dose limits tolerated in emergency situations follow international recommendations as referred to paragraphs 21 and 23 of the Committee’s 1992 General Observation on the application of the Convention. However, the Committee also notes the absence of any information on the effect given to the recommendation that during accidents and emergency work 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 an excessive expense”. Against this background and the recommendation in paragraphs 22–23 of its 1992 General Observation, the Committee requests the Government to provide further details on measures provided for in situations of emergency.

Article 14. Alternative employment or other measures offered for maintaining income where continued assignment to work involving exposure is medically inadvisable. The Committee notes that according to section 3.15 of Basic Sanitary Rules OSP-72/87 if abnormalities are detected in workers’ state of health, which do not allow their continuation of work with sources of ionising radiations, the question of temporary or permanent transfer of these individuals into work not in contact with ionising radiations is individually decided in every case. Against this background the Committee would like to recall that this provision of the Convention also refers to situations before any illness or abnormalities may have been detected, such as when past exposure renders it medically inadvisable to expose workers to further radiation in course of their work. The Committee reiterates its request to the Government to provide further detailed information on measures taken to ensure that no worker shall be employed or shall continue to be employed in work by reason of which the worker could be the subject of exposure to ionising radiations contrary to qualified medical advice and that for such workers, every effort is made to provide them with suitable alternative employment or to offer them other means to maintain their income.