Annual whole-body occupational radiation exposure in the medical and industrial fields in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The monitoring of radiation workers’ (RWs) occupational doses resulting from working in different applications is essential to comply with the recommended dose limit (20 mSv) and to establish a reference level for the annual occupational dose. In this study, the thermoluminescent dosimeter (TLD) records of 58,156 RWs in the medical and industrial fields were collected and analysed to assess the annual occupational dose—in terms of mean annual effective dose (AMED). The RWs in the medical field included workers in diagnostic radiology (DR), nuclear medicine (NM), radiotherapy (RT), dentistry (Dent.), interventional radiology (IR), and operating rooms (OR). The RWs in the industrial field included road industry workers who used nuclear moisture density gauges (PCRI), workers in the phosphate mining industry (PMI), and workers in cyclotron facilities (CF). The AMED ± SD was 0.88 ± 0.56 mSv for DR, 1.22 ± 1.01 mSv for NM, 0.73 ± 0.49 mSv for RT, 0.78 ± 0.48 mSv for Dent., 0.89 ± 0.57 mSv for IR, 0.59 ± 0.45 mSv for OR, 0.80 ± 0.46 mSv for PCRI, 0.66 ± 0.45 mSv for PMI, and 1.60 ± 1.46 mSv for CF. The results showed significant differences in the AMEDs among the workers (p = 0.001). The highest AMEDs in the medical and industrial fields were those of NM and CF workers, respectively. However, the AMEDs for the RWs in both fields were below the annual recommended occupational dose limit and 72% were below the public dose limit (1 mSv).