A merry wrap-up from PRMS
This year has been full of milestones—from launching the PRMS Portal and onboarding all customers to welcoming new team members who have kept things running smoothly for you.
We’ll be closed from 24 December to 2 January for the end-of-year shutdown. To keep your cycles on track, some of you may receive your next batch of monitors a few weeks earlier this year. If that’s you, keep them handy until it’s time to change them over. Please allow extra time for Australia Post to deliver during the peak Christmas period.
As we reflect on this year, thank you for your continued partnership and support. We’re looking forward to making 2026 our best year yet.
Wishing you a safe, festive holiday period and a prosperous new year!
Meet the team: A great mix of seasoned experts and new faces bringing fresh energy and a passion for helping customers to PRMS. From left to right: Warren—our Business Development Manager and dedicated leader of our customer service team, followed by Wendy, Fiona, Chris, Catherine, Kylie, and Bailey.
Warren loves chatting with customers, especially if you have really tricky questions, but please remember to email our friendly customer service team at prms@arpansa.gov.au for all routine enquiries and the fastest service.
Bringing you more improvements
We’ve been hard at work on a major new development—the PRMS Portal Application Programming Interface (API).
What does this mean for you?
The API will allow customers to securely transfer data from the PRMS portal to third-party software such as Historion, MyRSO, or any other application you use. This integration will:
- streamline workflows
- improve interoperability
- reduce manual data handling.
Historion will be the first software to integrate with the API.
If you’re a Historion customer, keep an eye out for details next year on how to request access.
Using other software?
We’d love to hear from you! Email us at prms@arpansa.gov.au to discuss API integration.
No stickers on monitors, please!
To keep our robotic unpacking machine running smoothly, please avoid placing stickers or labels on the monitors. Stickers and labels can interfere with the precision automated process that cuts through the thin plastic backing of the blister packaging around the monitor and can damage the equipment and the monitors.
Here’s what you can do:
- Write directly on the monitor blister pack with a permanent marker.
- Request free overlays from us—perfectly sized to protect names from rubbing off.
Thanks for helping us keep things efficient and hassle-free!
Poster alert: Make returns easy!
We’ve included a PDF poster in this newsletter to help staff responsible for monitor returns follow the correct procedure. Print it out and display it in the right spot for quick reference.
Why it matters
Following the correct returns procedure ensures:
- All monitors are returned together (including spares and controls).
- Return shipping is paid and packages are properly stamped and addressed to avoid delays and late fees.
- Portal updates are completed so your records stay accurate.
Want a laminated poster?
Email prms@arpansa.gov.au and we’ll include one free with your next batch of monitors.
Spotlight on the PRMS Portal: Self-service made easy
Say goodbye to back-and-forth emails! The PRMS Portal is your secure, 24/7 self-service hub for managing everyday tasks—anytime, anywhere. Here’s what you can do with just a few clicks:
- Update account details
Manage portal users and admins and keep contact details up to date. - Register and manage wearers
Register new wearers, remove existing ones, and update personal details with ease. - Reassign monitors and adjust wearing periods
A spare or any other monitor (except for a control) can be reassigned to a registered wearer, an unregistered wearer (for one-offs), an area monitor, or even an additional control. Has a monitor been used for a different period than originally specified? No worries—you can update the actual wearing period in the portal for a more accurate dose record. - Access dose reports
View and download all your reports (PDF or CSV) in a secure interface. - Place and track orders
Submit new orders and follow their progress. Order monitors by adding wearers to groups or request spares for unregistered wearers and area monitors. - Export data
Apply filters and export exactly what you need.
Why use the portal?
It’s fast, convenient, and secure—with multifactor authentication for peace of mind. Everything you need to manage your service is in one place, available 24/7.
Log in to the PRMS Portal today and simplify your workflow.
Pro tip:
Make sure you have at least two portal users or administrators (users that can approve access for other users) across all centres in your organisation. Having two ensures coverage if one is away.
Need to set up or reset your password?
Go to the login page, click Login, enter your email address, select Continue, then choose Forgot password? to get a new link.
Spring cleaning: Send back those old monitors!
Every year, thousands of monitors go missing—and that creates big problems! When monitors aren’t returned:
- Your staff will not get accurate results, which impacts safety and compliance.
- Our stock levels drop, making it slower to supply monitors to customers during busy periods.
- Monitors end up in landfill, adding unnecessary waste, often because people think they don’t need to return them after a long time.
Don’t stress if they’ve been sitting in a drawer for months (or years!)—we still want them back.
So, do a quick spring clean:
- Check drawers
- Empty lockers
- Shake out bags
If you find any monitors, return them together with your next batch of monitors. It’s easy and helps maintain stock while reducing waste.
Want to avoid lost monitors and late fees? Here are some practical tips:
Most monitors go missing when they’re taken offsite. To avoid this:
- Keep monitors at work when they’re not in use—and store them together with their control monitor.
- This ensures more accurate results, as both monitors will record the same background radiation, which is what we want.
- It also makes changeovers easier and faster.
There’s no single solution for every workplace, but the best storage spot is:
- Somewhere that records the natural background radiation of your location
- Easily accessible for staff
- Away from radiation sources
- Not inside a shielded container
Good examples include an office area or a staff room.
Our return address is:
ARPANSA
619 Lower Plenty Road
Yallambie VIC 3085
Understanding dose uncertainty
Every scientific measurement comes with a degree of uncertainty—and radiation dose measurements are no exception. Knowing this uncertainty helps us understand how confident we can be in the results.
For doses from our whole-body OSL monitors, PRMS reports a relative uncertainty of 50% with 95% confidence. This is based on our minimum reportable dose (MRD) of 0.05 mSv. But here’s the key: uncertainty changes with the level of occupational dose.
Why does uncertainty vary?
- At very low doses, uncertainty is high. That’s because these doses are tiny compared to background radiation your monitors pick up from natural sources. So, we’re statistically less confident in those results.
- At higher doses, uncertainty drops significantly, making us much more confident in the measurement.
Here’s how relative uncertainty changes across different occupational doses:
| Occupational dose (mSv) | Relative uncertainty (%) | Dose range (mSv) |
| 0.01 | 240 | –0.014 to 0.034 |
| 0.025 | 100 | 0 to 0.050 |
| 0.05 (our MRD) | 50 | 0.025 to 0.075 |
| 0.1 | 30 | 0.07 to 0.13 |
| 0.25 | 15 | 0.2125 to 0.2875 |
| 1 | 8 | 0.92 to 1.08 |
What does this mean?
- At 0.05 mSv (our MRD), uncertainty is 50%. We’re 95% confident your dose is between 0.025 and 0.075 mSv.
- At 1 mSv, uncertainty falls to just 8%. We’re 95% confident your dose is between 0.92 and 1.08 mSv.
Why not report doses below 0.05 mSv?
If we lowered the MRD to 0.01 mSv, uncertainty would skyrocket to 240%, meaning the range could include negative values (which aren’t possible). At such low doses, the result is statistically indistinguishable from zero.
Another reason we don’t report doses below this threshold is that they have no health significance for a typical wearing period. For perspective, a flight from Melbourne to London via Singapore exposes a person to about 0.07 mSv from cosmic radiation (ARPANSA’s Flying and health factsheet).
For this reason, we only report occupational doses ≥ 0.05 mSv.
Higher dose = higher confidence. Lower dose = more uncertainty.
