Report a radiation incident

You have a responsibility to use a radiation source safely and in accordance with the radiation management plan relevant to that particular source.

Occasionally something will occur that results in an unplanned exposure to radiation. This is called as a radiation incident.

Defining a radiation incident

A radiation incident defined in the National Directory for Radiation Protection (2nd Edition, 2021) (NDRP) as:

Any unintended or ill-advised event when using ionising radiation apparatus, specified types of non-ionising radiation apparatus or radioactive substances, which results in, or has the potential to result in, an exposure to radiation to any person or the environment, outside the range of that normally expected for a particular practice, including events resulting from operator error, equipment failure, or the failure of management systems that warranted investigation.

A list of the types of incident which should be reported for each type of radiation practice is in Schedule 4 of the NDRP.

Report an incident

If there has been a radiation incident, you must report it to the Health Protection Service (HPS).  Use the radiation incident report form.

HPS will review the incident report and, where necessary, the incident will be reported to the Australian Radiation Incident Register (ARIR), which is administered by Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency. You are not able to report the radiation incident directly to the ARIR.

Every radiation incident can be used as a learning opportunity to make improvements to radiation safety. All incidents should be reported to the us for subsequent reporting to the ARIR, if appropriate.

There is no threshold for reporting and no distinction between major and minor incidents at the initial reporting stage.