WAC 246-240-051   Authority and responsibilities for the radiation protection program.  (1) In addition to the radiation protection program requirements of WAC 246-221-005, a licensee's management shall approve in writing:

     (a) Requests for a license application, renewal, or amendment before submittal to the department;

     (b) Any individual before allowing that individual to work as an authorized user, authorized nuclear pharmacist, or authorized medical physicist; and

     (c) Radiation protection program changes that do not require a license amendment and are permitted under WAC 246-240-054;

     (2) A licensee's management shall appoint a radiation safety officer, who agrees, in writing, to be responsible for implementing the radiation protection program. The licensee, through the radiation safety officer, shall ensure that radiation safety activities are being performed in accordance with licensee-approved procedures and regulatory requirements.

     (3) For up to sixty days each year, a licensee may permit an authorized user or an individual qualified to be a radiation safety officer, under WAC 246-240-069 and 246-240-081, to function as a temporary radiation safety officer and to perform the functions of a radiation safety officer, under subsection (7) of this section, if the licensee takes the actions required in subsections (2), (5), (7), and (8) of this section and notifies the department in accordance with WAC 246-240-025.

     (4) A licensee may simultaneously appoint more than one temporary radiation safety officer under subsection (3) of this section, if needed to ensure that the licensee has a temporary radiation safety officer that satisfies the requirements to be a radiation safety officer for each of the different types of uses of radioactive material permitted by the license.

     (5) A licensee shall establish the authority, duties, and responsibilities of the radiation safety officer in writing.

     (6) Licensees that are authorized for two or more different types of use of radioactive material under WAC 246-240-201, 246-240-251, and/or 246-240-351, shall establish a radiation safety committee to oversee all uses of radioactive material permitted by the license. The committee must include an authorized user of each type of use permitted by the license, the radiation safety officer, a representative of the nursing service, and a representative of management who is neither an authorized user nor a radiation safety officer. The committee may include other members the licensee considers appropriate.

     (7) A licensee shall provide the radiation safety officer sufficient authority, organizational freedom, time, resources, and management prerogative, to:

     (a) Identify radiation safety problems;

     (b) Initiate, recommend, or provide corrective actions;

     (c) Stop unsafe operations; and

     (d) Verify implementation of corrective actions.

     (8) A licensee shall retain a record of actions taken under subsections (1), (2), and (5) of this section in accordance with WAC 246-240-551.



[Statutory Authority: RCW 70.98.050. 06-05-019, § 246-240-051, filed 2/6/06, effective 3/9/06.]