Information System on Occupational Exposure in Medicine, Industry and Research (ISEMIR)

History

The ISEMIR project was initiated by the IAEA in January 2009 to focus on very specific topical areas where occupational radiation protection for the workers is not trivial, and where there are still pending issues and gaps. The first two selected areas are:

• interventional cardiology.
• industrial radiography.

Working Groups were established for these areas, and 2009 – 2012 was a test period for ISEMIR.

Objectives

• To help to improve occupational radiation protection programmes in specific medical, research and industrial areas
• To facilitate the implementation of ALARA practices and effective exposure management
• To internationally benchmark specific tasks-related occupational exposures in order to identify good practices as well as gaps and
• To define follow-up actions to address identified gaps and disseminate lessons learnt
• To contribute to minimizing the likelihood of accidents, e.g. by identifying pre-cursors, user feedback and experience.

Management

The ISEMIR is coordinated by the IAEA assisted by an Advisory Group with representatives of international organisations such as UNSCEAR, EC, NEA/OECD as well as the five main world regions. For each topical area a working group is set up with experts covering that area in a comprehensive way (professions, type of radiation usages, geographical regions…)

Products

They will be defined progressively by the working groups and proposed to the Advisory Group and IAEA. One main objective is to set up an international database to be used by end-users as a tool for optimization of occupational radiation protection.