Abstract

Three male industrial radiographers, two aged 40 and one aged63, performed a routine inspection of an industrial radiographydevice (IRD). During the course of the inspection, they observedthat the radioactive source (a 93.4 curie iridium-192 source) hadincompletely retracted into the heavily shielded box. The expo-sure was reported to a Radiation Safety Officer who calculatedthe exposure as “18,000 roentgens to the hands and 8 roentgensto the whole body.” Based upon his recommendation, the threepatients presented to two local emergency departments (EDs)with a request for blood testing and initial evaluation. In the ED, all patients had normal physical exams with nor-mal complete blood counts. Medical personnel called the localPoison Control Center to learn if shaking the patients’ hands pro-duced exposure to radiation and whether any decontaminationwas needed. In addition, the Poison Control Center received callsfrom family members of the exposed patients and from the StateDepartment of Radiation Health.

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