September 2009 Edition of OHS Canada magazine
Officials from the Radiation Safety Institute were recently interviewed for a major feature article which appears in the September 2009 edition of OHS Canada Magazine.
The story, by assistant editor Dan Birch, looks at the implications of “Exposure to Radiation and Health Outcomes” – a new review which recommends changing the dose limits meant to protect workers from radiation.
The review, conducted by Saskatoon-based researcher Mark Lemstra, and jointly commissioned by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses, is seeking lower dose limits for Canadians in the workplace.
The Institute’s President and CEO, Dr. Fergal Nolan and Dr. Richard Link, Chief Scientist, were asked to provide the Institute’s views on both the report and the issue of radiation safety in the workplace in general. Dr. Nolan described the circumstances in which the Institute was founded, particularly the incidence of lung cancer in uranium mine workers in the 1970s and 1980s in Elliot Lake, Ontario.
This was contrasted with today’s advanced state of safety in the uranium mines operated by Cameco Corporation and Areva Resources Canada in Northern Saskatchewan.
While acknowledging that most employers are making good progress, Dr. Nolan and Dr. Link both expressed concern with state of X-ray safety regulations in most provinces, particularly in Ontario. To read the full issue online, you must subscribe to OHS Canada Magazine. Please contact us directly to obtain a copy of this article.
