Each of the approximately 25,000 holders of licenses to possess radioactive materials must comply with the regulatory requirement to review the content and implementation of their radiation safety program on an annual basis, what we typically refer to as the annual audit. A good audit not only ensures compliance with a regulation but most importantly helps to establish that employees are provided a safe working environment via a Radiation Safety Program that complies with all applicable U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) or Agreement State regulations.
A typical (pre-pandemic) audit consists of three main tasks. Pre-audit, the auditor reviews several documents describing the clients’ radiation safety program. Basically, this allows the auditor to understand what the program consists of, providing a basis of comparison against the observations made during the audit activities. The actual on-site audit consists of three main activities – speaking to relevant employees (EHS staff, radioactive material users, etc.), review of radiation safety records, and walking around and observing things, especially in areas posted for licensed activities. Post on-site activities, the auditor prepares an audit report, summarizing the audit activities and findings, pointing out any areas of potential non-compliance, and providing suggestions for program improvement.
Obviously in the age of COVID-19, on-site audits have, for the most part, not been practical. Therefore, to help our clients maintain compliance with the audit requirement, NV5 has implemented a remote, virtual audit format which has been adopted by several of our clients.
NV5’s remote auditing service is a confidential process that provides a safe and effective way to evaluate a client’s radiation safety program.
During a remote audit:
- An NV5 auditor will conduct a video “kick-off” meeting to outline the process, objectives, and expectations.
- The auditor will work directly with the client’s Radiation Safety Officer to get the documents we need to review.
- The auditor will interview key staff and radioactive material users.
- We will perform video inspections if possible.
- We will wrap up the audit with a closing meeting to review our audit findings and recommendations.
- We’ll then submit final report which includes a list of recommendations for improving the client’s radiation safety program.
For more information about radiation safety program audits, please contact Alan Fellman via email or at 301.674.7447.