Radiation Safety Committee
100 Oak Creek Building, Corvallis, Oregon 97331-7404
541-737-2227
Minutes
Radiation Safety Committee
Meeting of September 24, 2013
Cascade Hall, 2:00pm-3:30pm
Members present:
Members absent:
Scott Menn (Chair), Rainier Farmer (Secretary), Rosita RodriguezProteau, Russell Turner, Tom Wolpert, Dan Kermoyan
Michael Freitag, Maret Traber, Angel White
Approval of Minutes
Minutes of the June meeting had been distributed to the committee for review prior to the
meeting.
Motion to approve as prepared was made by RP, seconded by RF. The motion passed 4-0,
with TW and DK abstaining.
Action Item updates
• Rainier: send a reminder to x-ray PDs about acquisition pre-approval and maintaining
machine use logs, and send information about X-ray refresher training. Status: still on
hold pending completion of refresher training. Dan Harlan is close to completion on the
training material.
• Rainier: benchmark veterinary x-ray student protocols with like institutions. Update: Like
OSU, most institutions handle student x-ray safety training within the veterinary student
curriculum.
• Rainier: Update the Radiation Safety Manual for the organizational structure changes, and
send an information bulletin to PDs recommending that the RSM be downloaded to a
local drive so that it is available if the network is down. Status: Still pending due to
workload and staffing issues.
• Rainier: benchmark staff training budgets with like institutions. Status: Still pending.
• Rainier: obtain additional information for the human use project, update the safety review
accordingly, and forward the updated application, draft RUA and safety review to the
RSC for electronic voting. Status: The Safety Review was completed and distributed with
the application prior to the meeting. Committee review is on the meeting agenda.
• Michael Freitag will confer with his department (Bio/Bio) about moving one of their
LSCs to Weniger, for access by CEOAS. MF informed Rainier that the LSC would not
be donated by Bio/Bio. Rainier indicated that Radiation Safety has an LSC in the waste
facility which might be loaned long term to CEOAS if they would hold the service
contract.
Information Sharing
• Rainier is in the process of checking references for the selected candidate to fill the
vacancy left by Mike Zittle.
• Rainier has scheduled a meeting with Glenn Ford (new VP of Finance and
Administration) to review his responsibilities with regard to the OSU radioactive
materials license.
Review of Authorizations and Amendments
The Executive Committee report was distributed prior to the meeting for review. Highlights
noted by Rainier:
• The large number of amendments processed was the result of a location change for a
Liquid Scintillation Counter used by numerous PIs.
• The new RUA for Olena Taratula (Pharmacy) is for a very small amount of depleted
uranium. She will be working in a lab already commissioned under Theresa Filtz.
• The new RUA for William Stubblefield is for storage of an LSC at a location not on the
OSU license. The source comes under the generally licensed material category, but
Rainier is verifying with the state agency that the location doesn’t have to be listed.
Motion to approve the Executive Committee actions was made by TW and seconded by RP.
The motion passed unanimously.
X-ray Program audit – Tom Wolpert
The audit report was distributed to the committee for review prior to the meeting.
Recommendations included:
• Pay the state registration fees for the x-ray machines from the Radiation Safety budget,
without chargeback to the PIs.
• Complete the online x-ray refresher training by December 31, 2013.
• Retrain purchasing staff to contact Radiation Safety before approving the purchase of any
x-ray machine.
Rainier noted that he has retrained PaCS personnel on the approval process, and is in the process
of retraining the business centers. He will also move forward with the recommendation for
central funding of the x-ray registration fees.
Inspection and Audit Program audit – Russ Turner
Russ informed the RSC that he completed the audit and found no problems. He will prepare and
distribute the written report.
New Auditor
Michael Freitag was appointed to perform the Waste Program audit.
Medical Facilities self-audit – Rainier Farmer
Rainier performed an audit of the medical facilities using ionizing radiation sources.
• The Valley Football Center was decommissioned since the last audit, and there are no
plans to install a radiography facility for Athletics.
• The Sept. 2012 machine calibration of the CPI large animal unit identified deficiencies.
The collimator was adjusted “in house” and passed inspection by Health Physics
Northwest.
• A C-arm fluoroscope was recently procured by VetMed without pre-approval by the RSC.
Refresher training with PaCS for pre-procurement approvals has been completed. Rainier
will also be training personnel involved in procurement at the Business Centers.
• The Information Bulletin for x-ray Program Directors is done and will be distributed once
the online refresher training is implemented.
• No significant changes have occurred in State/Federal rules applying to medical x-ray
facilities at OSU.
•
VetMed has been hiring only vet techs with Oregon licenses. This has reduced the
administrative load of verifying 20 hours of x-ray safety training.
ALARA Report
• No significant trends were found in the quarterly ALARA report on personnel exposures.
The increase in the number of individuals badged is primarily from x-ray machine users.
The highest doses continue to be found in VetMed.
• Scott indicated that exposure readings for Radiation Center personnel may be elevated
somewhat in fourth quarter due to scheduled reactor maintenance work.
Semi-annual Report
• Rainier summarized the waste figures on the semi-annual report, noting that no liquid
discharge via sewer release was included. Sewer release is normally done twice a year.
Liquid waste is being held in order to train the new RS staff member in the process.
Sewer release is normally done twice a year.
Motion to accept the semi-annual report was made by TW and seconded by RT. The
motion passed unanimously.
Human Use Study – D. Williams
The RUA application and safety review for a human use study was distributed to the RSC prior
to the meeting. Discussion points:
• The IRB had to disapprove the previous study application because it did not include
“investigational new drug” approval.
• Although complete data is needed from 75 subjects, 150 participants will be sought to
allow for attrition.
• Rainier will request an exemption from the state on the releases via urine and feces, as in
nuclear medicine.
• Procedures are required for the transport of the capsules from the preparation area to
where they will be administered to the study participants in Weniger 333. A leak-proof
secondary container is required.
• RP and TW requested more information on dose preparation. The protocols should
include details on the dilution of the working solution into what goes into the capsule.
The committee members agreed to table their decision pending additional information. Rainier
will follow up with the Program Director for the additional information and forward it to the
committee members. The committee will review and vote electronically.
Action Items
• Rainier: send a reminder to x-ray program directors about acquisition pre-approval and
maintaining machine use logs, and send information about x-ray refresher training.
• Rainier: Update the Radiation Safety Manual for the organizational structure changes, and
send an information bulletin to PDs recommending that the RSM be downloaded to a
local drive so that it is available if the network is down.
• Rainier: benchmark staff training budgets with like institutions.
• Rainier: request additional study information from David Williams.
Adjournment: 3:15pm
Next meeting: to be determined.
Rainier Farmer
cn=Rainier Farmer, o=Oregon State
University, ou=Environmental
Health and Safety,
[email protected]
du, c=US
2013.12.19 10:44:20 -08'00'
Rainier Farmer
Secretary
Distribution:
Committee members
R. Spinrad, VP for Research
D. Blake, Asst. VP Human Resources, Facilities, Risk Management, Public Safety/OSP
P. Hughes, Chief Risk Officer
G. Ford, VP for Finance and Administration