Monitoring: operation, organisation and obligations

Classification of exposed workers (Art. 66)

There are two categories of exposed workers:

1. Category A: exposed workers who are likely to receive an effective dose greater than 6 mSv a year, or an equivalent dose greater than 15 mSv a year, to the lens of the eye, or 150 mSv a year to the skin and extremities;
   
   
2. Category B: exposed workers who are not in category A, but who are likely to receive greater than one or other of the dose-exposure limits set for the general public.

The classification of outside workers is determined by the establishment where they are assigned to work, or by their employer, before they take on a job that is likely to lead to exposure, and is regularly reviewed based on the working conditions and depending on the results of medical monitoring.

The classification takes into account both normal exposure and potential exposure.

Individual monitoring of exposed workers (Art. 67)

All category A and category B workers are systematically monitoring based on individual measurements carried out by a dosimetry service.

During their work, they will wear a personal dosimeter appropriate to the types of radiation, provided by a dosimetry service, at their establishment's expense. The frequency of dosimetric evaluations must not exceed one month for category A workers, and three months for other workers.

If workers are likely to suffer contamination or incorporation or significant exposure of the lens of the eye or the extremities, an appropriate monitoring system must be put in place by the establishment.

Instead of individual monitoring, category B workers may be monitored, with the approval of the Radiation Protection Division (Division de la radioprotection), through workplace dosimetric monitoring, or another dose monitoring system that demonstrates that the dose limits for category B workers are respected, and that the worker's classification in this category is justified.

If individual measurements prove impossible to implement or inappropriate, individual monitoring is based on an estimation using individual measurements carried out on other exposed workers, the results of workplace monitoring, or calculation methods approved by the Radiation Protection Division of the Health Directorate (Direction de la santé).

If the radiological risk evaluation indicates that there is a risk that the dose limit associated with external exposure for a category A worker may be exceeded, the worker must also wear direct-reading and alarm dosimeters.

If a worker or member of the public is accidentally exposed, the establishment must evaluate the doses received and their distribution in the body. The results of this evaluation must be communicated to the Health Directorate's Radiation Protection Division within three working days.

Access to personal radiological monitoring results (Art. 69)

The establishment must ensure that the dosimetry service forwards the personal radiological monitoring results to the central dosimetry register maintained by the Health Directorate's Radiation Protection Division, within forty days of the end of the monitoring period.

The establishment must give workers access to their personal radiological monitoring results, or to the results of the measurements that may have been used to estimate these results, or to the results of the dose evaluations carried out using workplace monitoring, and must do so within the same time frame. In the case of external workers, the personal radiological monitoring results are given to the employer, who must give workers access them.

At least once a year, the central dosimetry register forwards category A workers' personal radiological monitoring results to the occupational physician responsible for medical monitoring of exposed workers, for interpretation of their effects on human health.

In the event of accidental or emergency exposure, the establishment must forward the exposed workers' dosimeters to the dosimetry service without undue delay. The dosimetry service will then forward the personal dosimetry results to the establishment within twenty-four hours. On receiving the results, the establishment must forward them, without undue delay, to the workers in question, the occupational physician responsible for the medical monitoring of exposed workers, the Health Directorate's Radiation Protection Division, the Health Directorate's Occupational Health Department (Division de la santé au travail), and the Inspectorate of Labour and Mines (Inspection du travail et des mines).

Medical monitoring of exposed workers in category A (Art. 70)

Medical monitoring of exposed workers in category A is the responsibility of the occupational physicians responsible for medical monitoring of exposed workers. The monitoring must be such that it permits the monitored workers' state of health, and particularly their ability to perform the tasks assigned to them, to be determined. To that end, the occupational physician has access to all of the relevant information they deem necessary, including the ambient conditions in workplaces.

Medical monitoring includes:

• a pre-employment medical examination, or a medical examination prior to classification as an exposed worker, in order to determine the worker's fitness to take up the position as an exposed worker for which they have applied;
• regular health check-ups – at least once a year – to determine whether workers are still fit to perform their duties. The nature of these examinations, which can be carried out as often as the occupational physician responsible for medical monitoring of exposed workers deems necessary, depends on the type of work and the state of health of the worker concerned.

The occupational physician responsible for medical monitoring of exposed workers may recommend that medical monitoring continue after the work has ended, for as long as they deem necessary to protect the health of the interested party.

The occupational physician responsible for medical monitoring of exposed workers may declare the worker:

• fit for work as an exposed worker;
• fit for work as an exposed worker under certain conditions; or
• unfit for work as an exposed worker.

No worker may be employed, for any length of time, in a specific post as a category A worker, or classified in this category, if the medical examinations conclude that they are unfit to occupy the post in question.

The costs associated with medical monitoring of exposed workers are borne by the establishment.