CHAPTER VIOCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURES

Article 52Specially authorised exposures

1.

Member States may decide that in exceptional circumstances evaluated case by case, excluding emergencies, the competent authority may, where a specific operation so requires, authorise individual occupational exposures of identified workers exceeding the dose limits set out in Article 9, provided that such exposures are limited in time, confined to certain working areas and within the maximum exposure levels defined for the particular case by the competent authority. The following conditions shall be taken into account:

(a)

only category A workers as defined in Article 40 or spacecraft crew may be subject to such exposures;

(b)

apprentices, students, pregnant workers, and, if there is a risk of intake or bodily contamination, breastfeeding workers, are excluded from such exposures;

(c)

the undertaking justifies such exposures in advance and thoroughly discuss them with the workers, their representatives, the occupational health service and the radiation protection expert;

(d)

information about the risks involved and the precautions to be taken during the operation are provided to the relevant workers in advance;

(e)

the workers have consented;

(f)

all doses relating to such exposures are separately recorded in the medical record referred to in Article 48 and the individual record referred to in Article 43.

2.

The exceeding of dose limits as a result of specially authorised exposures shall not necessarily constitute a reason for excluding workers from their usual occupation or relocating them, without their agreement.

3.

Member States shall ensure that the exposure of spacecraft crew above the dose limits is managed as a specially authorised exposure.