Routine compliance monitoring is scheduled by the Director for Radiation Safety (the Director) and conducted by enforcement officers appointed under the Radiation Safety Act 2016 (the Act). In most cases, compliance monitoring is conducted using announced, on-site, inspections.
Routine compliance monitoring is scheduled to monitor the source licence holder’s compliance with the radiation safety requirements at the location or place from which the management and control of radiation sources is authorised by the source licence. The radiation safety requirements are set out in section 5 (Interpretation) of the Act.
The table below indicates how the Director will schedule routine compliance monitoring for source licence holders.
The scheduling information provided in the table below does not prevent the Director for Radiation Safety from imposing higher or lower levels of compliance monitoring as a condition of a source licence under sections 19(2) and (3) of the Act [https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2016/0006/latest/DLM6339636.h....
The scheduling information provided in the table below does not prevent the Director from conducting unannounced compliance monitoring for the purposes of monitoring compliance with the radiation safety requirements.
The indication of compliance monitoring scheduling and the indication of practices or activities included in compliance monitoring categories in the table below is provided for guidance purposes only. A monitoring year is 1 July to 30 June.
| Category code | Compliance monitoring category | Indication of practices or activities that may be included in the compliance monitoring category | Indication of scheduling of routine compliance monitoring activity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medical 1A | Medical therapy | Medical therapy using irradiating apparatus. | Once in every monitoring year |
| Medical 2A | Medical diagnosis (excluding the use of radioactive material) |
Radiology using irradiating apparatus Image guided medical procedures using irradiating apparatus. |
Once in every two monitoring years |
| Medical 2B | Nuclear medicine |
Medical therapy using unsealed radioactive material Medical imaging (diagnosis or guided procedures) using unsealed radioactive material. |
Once every in two monitoring years |
| Medical 4A | Medical diagnosis (excluding interventional radiology, interventional cardiology, computed tomography, and the use of radioactive material) or dental diagnosis |
Medical diagnosis using plain radiography (X-ray only) Breast screening Dental diagnosis using CBCT. |
Once in every four monitoring years |
| Medical 5A | Dental diagnosis (excluding computed tomography) | Dental diagnosis (X-ray only). | Once in every five monitoring years |
| Medical 5B | Sentinel node biopsy, low-dose-rate brachytherapy, and bone densitometry |
Sentinel node biopsy Low-dose-rate brachytherapy Bone densitometry. |
Once in every five monitoring years |
| Non-medical 1A | Industrial radiography, the practice of X-ray irradiation, and any non-medical practice involving high-activity radioactive material |
Industrial radiography using radioactive material X-ray irradiation Blood irradiation Irradiation in research Any other use or manufacture (other than by cyclotron) of high-activity radioactive material. |
Once in every monitoring year |
| Non-medical 1B | Production of unsealed radioactive material using a cyclotron | Production of unsealed radioactive material using a cyclotron. | Once in every monitoring year |
| Non-medical 2A | Any non-medical practice involving irradiating apparatus or low activity radioactive material, or both (excluding industrial radiography using radioactive material, X-ray irradiation, and the production of unsealed radioactive material using a cyclotron) |
Industrial radiography using X-ray only Well-logging Any other practice, activity or manufacture (other than by cyclotron) of low-activity unsealed radioactive material (including for research, teaching, and of radioactive tracers). |
Once in every two monitoring years |
| Non-medical 3A | Any non-medical practice involving irradiating apparatus or low activity radioactive material that is sealed radioactive material, or both (excluding industrial radiography, X-ray irradiation, the production of unsealed radioactive material using a cyclotron, veterinary diagnosis or practice, well logging, and the use of particle accelerators) |
Human imaging for non-medical purposes Use or storage of fixed and portable nuclear gauges that contain sealed radioactive material Use or storage of gaseous tritium light sources Use or storage of low activity sources for installation and servicing, medical physics purposes and static elimination. |
Once in every three monitoring years |
| Non-medical 4A | Veterinary diagnosis (excluding the use of radioactive material) | Veterinary diagnosis using plain radiography (X-ray only). | Once in every four monitoring years |
| Non-medical 5A | Any non-medical practice involving irradiating apparatus (excluding industrial radiography, X-ray irradiation, veterinary diagnosis or practice, well logging, the use of particle accelerators, human imaging, and the use of pulse-generated portable security inspection systems) |
X-ray baggage inspection Use or storage of laboratory and precious metal analysis equipment (X-ray only) Use or storage of industrial measurement and monitoring equipment (X-ray only) Use or storage of DEXA equipment for non-patients Installation of irradiating apparatus. |
Once in every five monitoring years |