ARPANSA - Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency

This Page:

• History of the Australian Radiation Incident Register (ARIR)
• Objectives of the ARIR
• Incident Reporting and Privacy
• Types of Incidents Reported to the ARIR
• The Radiation Health Committee
• Database Development
• Publishing and Reporting Information from the ARIR
• Future Development of the ARIR
• Annual Summary Reports

History of the Australian Radiation Incident Register (ARIR)

The Australian Radiation Incident Register (ARIR) was originally established by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) at its seventy third session in October 1971. The NHMRC requested that the then Commonwealth Radiation Laboratory, later to become the Australian Radiation Laboratory and then ARPANSA, maintain the ARIR. Reports of incidents to the register were voluntary and were usually provided by Commonwealth, State and Territory radiation protection authorities, either directly or at meetings of the Radiation Health Committee or Radiation Protection Panel.

Objectives of the ARIR

The objectives of the ARIR are:

• To highlight, for radiation protection authorities and users of ionizing radiation and non-ionizing radiation, specific sources, causes or procedures which give rise to a potential hazard;
• To act as a national focus for information on ionizing radiation incidents and accidents;
• Through appropriate publications, to provide feedback and guidance to users of radiation on preventing or limiting the consequences of radiation accidents; and
• To provide useful data and reports to regulatory bodies, and other advisory responsibilities.

Incident Reporting and Privacy

Radiation incident reports are compiled to produce annual summary reports. These reports include summaries of the most frequent incident categories, descriptions of all radiation incidents that occurred in the period, and where available, lessons learnt. Information provided in incident reports is kept in strict compliance with the Privacy Act 1988.

Incident and accident reporting for ARPANSA licence holders - see Incident and Accident Reporting.

Types of Incidents Reported to the ARIR

The National Directory for Radiation Protection (NDRP) includes a National Incident Reporting Framework (Schedule 13) to identify the types of incidents to be reported to the ARIR. The Register currently includes reports of incidents in 31 categories:

Borehole Logging	Nuclear Medicine
Cabinet X-ray	Portable Density Moisture Gauge
Consumer Products	Radiation Gauge
Contamination	Radiofrequency
Deliberate or Malevolent Act	Radiotherapy
Dental	Sources Found
Diagnostic Radiology	Sources Lost
External Exposure	Static Eliminator
High Recorded Dose	Theft of Sources
Industrial Linac	Transport
Industrial Radiography	Ultraviolet
Irradiator	Unauthorised Disposal of Sources
Laboratory	Unauthorised Possession of Source
Laser	X-ray Analysis
Luminising/Luminous Device	XRF Source
Mining

Radiation Health Committee

The Radiation Health Committee has reviewed proposals for the development of the Register, provided advice on the types of incidents that should be reported to the Register, and provided comments on the reporting format and the communication plan.

Database Development

ARPANSA identified the need to review and enhance the operation of the register. The ARPANSA Standards Development and Committee Support Section now manages the register. The register files have been reviewed and a computer database of incident reports has been created using Microsoft Access.

Publishing and Reporting Information from the ARIR

A communication plan has been developed to ensure that the ARIR meets its stated objectives. It is intended to utilise the ARIR to raise awareness of radiation incidents and their causes by:

• Placing annual summary reports of radiation incidents on ARPANSA's web site.
• Providing the Radiation Health Committee with an Annual Summary Reports of radiation incidents.
• Presenting papers or posters on a regular basis to professional associations and college conferences.
• Preparing reports in the form of letters, articles and papers for specific target groups, such as professional associations and colleges, with information relevant to the particular profession that could be included in their professional journal or newsletter. These reports would be prepared from time to time to highlight any trends in ARIR data that were relevant to a particular profession. The existence of ARPANSA's web site would also be highlighted in the reports.
• Considering the use of Media releases to accompany the release of reports, as appropriate.

Information from the ARIR will also be used to report to international organisations where appropriate, such as the IAEA/WHO Severe Accidents database, and to provide incident summaries to meetings of the WHO's Radiation Emergency Medical Preparedness and Assistance Network (REMPAN).

Requests for information on the ARIR should be forwarded to secretariat@arpansa.gov.au.

Future Development of the ARIR

It is intended to include information on post-incident follow-up and lessons learnt in future annual summary reports of radiation incidents.

Annual Summary Reports

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