• Question: What precautions do you take to avoid being affected by the radiation?

    Asked by Alex to Clare, Glafkos, Paul, Samantha on 6 Mar 2015.
    • Photo: Samantha Terry

      Samantha Terry answered on 6 Mar 2015:

      Hi, great question! I have pictures on my profile of the lead shielding we need to use for shielding. I also wear dosimeters; one dangles from my lanyard which measures whole body dose; the other two I wear on my fingers which receive the most radiation dose as they are the closest to the source. In radiation you also work to minimize the time spent handling radioactivity and to maximize the distance between yourself and the source. You basically have to handle tweezers when possible to transport the radioactivity or carry it in really heavy lead pots.

    • Photo: anon

      anon answered on 6 Mar 2015:

      Time, distance and shielding. The only three things to remember.

      Keep your time minimal to radiation.

      Try and make a large distance between yourself and radiation.

      And when possible use shielding!.

      Easy to remember.

    • Photo: Paul Booker

      Paul Booker answered on 6 Mar 2015:

      As Sam and Pauline have said: time, distance and shielding!

      When dealing with radiation sources you can practice procedures without the radiation first, so when you do have a real source you’re confident about handling it and can reduce the time even more.

      In radiotherapy we put the machines in huge concrete bunkers (or underground) to protect people outside from the treatment.

      We also wear badges to measure the radiation dose we get, so if there is too much we can investigate. The levels I get are so low that it’s not worth worrying about, other things like going on a plane trip give me more radiation!

    • Photo: Glafkos Havariyoun

      Glafkos Havariyoun answered on 6 Mar 2015:

      When i talk to my little brother about radiation I always tell him to think about fire. What would you do if there was fire?

      1) Stay as far as you can: the further you are you feel less heat

      2) Spend as less time as you can near the fire : the less time you spend the less burns you will get basically

      3) Wear something that would protect you . Like a fire blanket but in this case a maybe a lead shield to try an stop the radiation from passing through!

    • Photo: Clare Devery

      Clare Devery answered on 6 Mar 2015:

      Great question! I don’t come into contact with harmful radiation normally – I work in MRI which uses non-ionising radiation. It’s the ionising stuff you want to be wary of. As the other said – time, distance and shielding are the magic words!

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