Responsibilities of the itinerant worker to

The employer and the management of the facility have expectations of the itinerant worker, exclusive of those for technically competent performance

an integral part of a programme for occupational health and safety for effective application of the standards as regards occupational health and safety.

The programme is developed for the benefit of each worker, and the active involvement of each worker in programme development and execution is relied upon to ensure that optimal results are achieved. In Requirement 22 of GSR Part 3 [1], the statement is made that: “Workers shall fulfil their obligations and carry out their duties for protection and safety.” A worker is to meet that requirement by:

(a) Providing to the employer (and registrant or licensee, where appropriate) information on work history relevant to developing an effective protection and safety programme for the worker (and others);

(b) Communicating perspectives on job specific radiation risks gained from education and training, and otherwise cooperating with regard to developing and executing an effective protection and safety programme;

(c) Following applicable rules and procedures for protection and safety, including the proper use of monitoring and personal protective equipment as described in those rules and procedures;

(d) Reporting to the supervisor identified circumstances jeopardizing protection and safety of the worker or others;

(e) Abstaining from any wilful action that could put the worker or others in situations not in compliance with the requirements for protection and safety.

One factor that is to be considered regarding an itinerant worker relates to which organization or person is the individual’s employer. Some itinerant workers are self-employed and for them the situation is clear — they are their own employer. For some other itinerant workers, they work for one employer (other than themselves). That situation is also clear, in that both the fulfilment of duties of the employer and also the official and estimated operational doses accrued in known exposure time frames at known sites can be tracked with some level of ease.

Of course, the greater the number of facilities at which exposure has been received and/or the more complex the work pattern (e.g. recurring exposures at multiple facilities on daily or weekly bases), the more attention needs to be given by the worker and the employer to ensuring adequate control of total accumulated dose across exposure time frames.

There are also some itinerant workers who work for more than one employer within a 12 month (or shorter) period, often at a succession of work locations. For a specified work assignment at a specific facility in an established

time frame, an itinerant worker is almost certainly working for one employer having a contract with the management of the facility.

A short time (e.g. a few days or weeks) later, that same itinerant worker may be working for a different employer, likely performing a similar work assignment but at a different facility. This leads to the need to take care in tracking the employer, correlated to a time frame (start and end dates) of work for that employer and correlated to a time frame (start and end dates) of exposure monitoring (records of official and any operational monitoring for specified time frames).

One other situation that is encountered is the itinerant worker who works for two employers at the same time. This may occur, for example, when an employee at a facility where they receive exposure takes a vacation and chooses to work during that vacation period for another employer (and receives exposure during that period).

The record keeping is to show the overlapping periods of employment, with the employer of record for a work assignment correlated with the location at which an exposure was received and the results of the individual monitoring for that itinerant worker for that applicable exposure period. The worker bears a responsibility to inform the current employer of the relevant employment and dose history, to assist the employer (and the worker) in complying with applicable regulations and industry standards.

Another factor for the worker to consider is that maintenance of an up to date, accurate individual dose record makes it easier for the worker to become and remain employed. To that end, the worker needs to proactively communicate with the employer and other relevant parties to ensure their needs for dose recording and reporting are being met for the current work assignment and for known upcoming work assignments.

The worker also needs to take care that the record system is of sufficient quality to leave no impression that any previous employment involving exposure to radiation has been omitted, as the related investigation may delay their employability for the contracted work about to be performed.

Sections 3.2–3.4 provide supplemental information regarding arrangements to be made when itinerant workers (self-employed persons or the employees of a contractor) carry out work at a facility in three categories of situation. It is difficult to state which of these situations is the most complex or has the highest likelihood of resulting in a worker receiving unnecessary exposure.

In two of the situations, one of the principal parties (the facility management or contractor) may have little in-house knowledge or experience dealing with radiation protection and safety. In the third situation, both parties may have knowledge and experience with protection and safety, but coordination

that is: “Safety in these operations depends, in part, on cooperation between those responsible for radiation protection at the facility and those performing services” [3], in many cases using itinerant workers.

3.2. OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURES ARISING FROM THE USE OF