ARPANSA - Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency

Analysis of Breaches - June 2009 to August 2010

Since June 2009, the CEO of ARPANSA has declared 40 breaches of the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Act 1998 (the Act) committed by 14 different licence holders.

Of the 40 breaches, four were reported by the licence holder under regulation 45; the remainder were identified by compliance monitoring activities such as inspection and review of quarterly reports.

There were three breaches of section 30(2) of the Act for failing to comply with conditions of a facility licence; six breaches of section 31(1) of the Act for dealing with controlled apparatus or controlled material without a source licence (or exemption); and 31 breaches of section 31(2) of the Act for failing to comply with conditions of a source licence.  The following table gives a more detailed breakdown.

Type of breach and number of occurrences

Type of breach	No. of occurrences
Failing to keep up-to-date accurate source inventory  (LC1)	5
Failing to submit quarterly report within the required time period (LC2)	10
Failing to comply with work practices (LC5)	2
Failing to comply with codes and standards (LC6)	5
Dealing with controlled apparatus/controlled material without a licence	6
Disposal of controlled apparatus/controlled material without prior approval (regulation 53)	3
Failing to meet comply with plans and arrangements (regulation 49)	3
Failing to review plans and arrangements and tell CEO (regulation 50)	2
Failing to comply with a speciallicence condition	1
Exceeding operating limits and conditions	2
Failing to take all reasonable steps to prevent breaches  (regulation 44)	1
TOTAL	40

In all cases, the CEO was satisfied with the corrective actions taken by the licence holder to prevent a similar breach and no enforcement action was pursued.  In accordance with sections 59(3) and 60(3) of the Act, all breaches were report to the Minister and the Parliament.

KEY MESSAGES TO LICENCE HOLDERS

1. Staff should be familiar with regulatory requirements. This applies not only to radiation workers but other staff with allied functions such as procurement and asset management.  Licence holders should consider regulatory compliance as part of staff induction and re-training.
   
   
2. Licence holders are reminded of the importance of checking the authorisations under their source or facility licence before acquiring additional sources.  For further guidance, licence holders should refer to REGULATORY GUIDE: Managing changes to the Source Inventory.
   
   
3. It is important to keep the source inventory up to date and accurate. Failure to do so indicates a failure of effective control of radiation sources and indicative of poor safety culture.
   
   
4. Failure to comply with documented work practices may indicate training or safety culture issues. Licence holders should ensure staff are retrained at appropriate intervals and work processes and procedures are regularly reviewed to ensure they reflect current practice.
   
   
5. Quarterly reporting is an important demonstration of compliance. Licence holders are to be commended for the significant decline in the number of late submissions.  Seven of the 10 reported breaches for late quarterly reports were for a single licence holder who has since surrendered their licence. 100% compliance was achieved in one of the quarters during the last 12 months.   
   
   
6. Compliance with regulation 53 is a licence condition. The primary purpose of this condition is to ensure that when controlled apparatus or controlled material leaves Commonwealth jurisdiction, it is either transferred to a party appropriately licensed in another jurisdiction or is safely destroyed. Disposal of controlled apparatus without prior approval is a common breach.  Licence holders should note that just because an apparatus becomes faulty does not render it beyond regulatory control.  Further guidance on disposal can be found in REGULATORY GUIDE: Disposing of controlled apparatus and controlled material.
   
   
7. Licence holders should ensure that staff are fully informed about the codes and standards relevant to the dealings authorised under the licence.  Staff should have ready access to codes and standards relevant to the duties they perform.  Self-audit against relevant codes and standards is recommended. 

September 2010

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