A root cause analysis of the high occupational doses of industrial radiographers in Iran

The Iran Nuclear Regulatory Authority has investigated overexposure cases in industrial radiography over a period of three years. Radiographers with thermoluminescence dosimeter (TLD) records of more than 4 mSv in any 2 month routine monitoring period were asked to fill in a questionnaire explaining their points of view of the reasons for such relatively high doses. The responses showed that more than 50% of the radiographers did not agree with their recorded TLD doses, although the majority of the alternative explanations were weak. The main causes of overexposures were found to be difficult working conditions and ignoring safety principles while accidents or device failures were a minor contribution. Also, there was poor correlation between the TLDs and direct reading dosimeters worn by the radiographers, indicating that personal monitoring instructions were not being implemented appropriately.