Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2005, published 95th ILC session (2006)

Radiation Protection Convention, 1960 (No. 115) - United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (Ratification: 1962)

1. Further to its observation, the Committee requests the Government to provide additional information on the following points.

2. Article 8 of the Convention. Dose limits applied to workers not directly engaged in radiation work. The Committee notes with respect to Northern Ireland that, under paragraph 60 of the Approved Code of Practice (ACoP), the dose limit for workers not directly engaged in radiation work is 1 mSv a year, which is in accordance with the 1990 ICRP recommendation.

3. Articles 9 to 12. Appropriate warnings to indicate presence of hazards, notification, appropriate monitoring and medical surveillance. The Committee notes with respect to Northern Ireland that regulation 18(1) of IRR(NI) 2000 provides that employers shall ensure appropriate warnings to indicate the presence of hazards. It further notes that regulation 6 regulates notification, that regulations 19 and 21 of IRR(NI) 2000 provides for appropriate monitoring requests and that regulation 24 provides for medical examination, all in accordance with the Convention.

4. Article 14. Providing alternative employment or other measures offered for maintaining income where continued assignment to work involving exposure to ionizing radiation is medically inadvisable. The Committee notes that regulation 24(6) of IRR 99 applicable to Great Britain and regulation 24(6) of IRR(NI) 2000 applicable to Northern Ireland provide that an employer shall not permit a worker to continue to work with ionizing radiation where continued assignment to work involving exposure to ionizing radiation is found to be medically inadvisable. In this context, the Committee wishes to draw the Government’s attention to paragraph 32 of the 1992 general observation under the Convention where it is indicated that every effort must be made to provide the workers concerned with suitable alternative employment, or to maintain their income through social security measures or otherwise where continued assignment to work involving exposure to ionizing radiations is found to be medically inadvisable. In the light of the above indication, the Committee requests the Government to consider appropriate measures to ensure that, for such workers, every effort is made to provide them with suitable alternative employment or to offer them other means to maintain their income and requests the Government to provide information in this respect in its next report.

5. Article 15. Labour inspection. The Committee notes the Government’s statement that, with respect to Northern Ireland, the labour inspection service operates in a similar way to those in Great Britain. The Committee requests the Government to provide detailed information with its next report on a general appreciation of the manner in which the Convention is applied in the country including, for example, extracts from inspection reports and, if available, information on the number of workers covered by the legislation, disaggregated by sex if available, the number and nature of contraventions reported, the number and cause of accidents recorded and the measures taken to remedy them.