The Ionising Radiation (Medical Exposure) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000

Duties of Employer

4.—(1) The employer shall ensure that written procedures for medical exposures including the procedures set out in Schedule 1 are in place and—

(a) shall take steps to ensure that they are complied with by the practitioner and operator; or

(b) where the employer is conncurrently practitioner or operator, he shall comply with these procedures himself.

(2) The employer shall ensure that written protocols are in place for every type of standard radiological practice for each equipment.

(3) The employer shall establish—

(a) recommendations concerning referral criteria for medical exposures including radiation doses, and shall ensure that these are available to the referrer;

(b) quality assurance programmes for standard operating procedures;

(c) diagnostic reference levels for radiodiagnostic examinations falling within regulation 3(a), (b), (c) and (e) having regard to European diagnostic reference levels where available;

(d) dose constraints for biomedical and medical research programmes falling within regulation 3(d) where no direct medical benefit for the individual is expected from the exposure.

(4) The employer shall take steps to ensure that every practitioner or operator engaged by the employer to carry out medical exposures or any practical aspect of such exposures—

(a) complies with the provisions of regulation 11(1); and

(b) undertakes continuing education and training after qualification including, in the case of clinical use of new techniques, training related to these techniques and the relevant radiation protection requirements; or

(c) where the employer is concurrently practitioner or operator, he shall himself ensure that he undertakes such continuing education and training as may be appropriate.

(5) Where the employer knows or has reason to believe that an incident has or may have occurred in which a person, while undergoing a medical exposure was, otherwise than as a result of a malfunction or defect in equipment, exposed to ionising radiation to an extent much greater than intended, he shall make an immediate preliminary investigation of the incident and, unless that investigation shows beyond a reasonable doubt that no such overexposure has occurred, he shall forthwith notify the appropriate authority and make or arrange for a detailed investigation of the circumstances of the exposure and an assessment of the dose received.

(6) The employer shall undertake appropriate reviews whenever diagnostic reference levels are consistently exceeded and ensure that corrective action is taken where appropriate.