Part 3: Case Study 2 - The Australian National Radiation Dose Register
In January 2016, our new Australian National Radiation Dose Register (ANRDR) system officially went live. The new system consists of a new server for data storage, a secure web portal for stakeholder data submissions and the web-based internal system administration component. This offers improved efficiency and increased flexibility for data management and interaction with our stakeholders.
After extensive stakeholder engagement, the ANRDR has now expanded beyond the uranium mining industry for which it was initially established, to cover occupationally exposed workers in the mineral sands industry and Commonwealth licence holders. The ANRDR team collaborated with organisations (CSIRO and Sibelco) who volunteered to represent their respective industries in a pilot phase of the expansion. The pilot was designed to test the technical capability of the ANRDR to accept data from new industries as well as working with regulatory bodies to introduce a framework for addressing privacy issues. This is a great achievement and an excellent example of collaboration between industry, regulators and ARPANSA.
The ANRDR will continue to engage with other organisations in these industries, as well as additional regulators, to encourage the establishment of a framework that will support industry participation in the ANRDR. This will bring Australia in line with international best practice for recording and managing occupational exposure records, and may act as a potential blueprint for further expansion of the ANRDR into the medical sector.
The ANRDR team takes a holistic approach to stakeholder engagement by providing a resource for support, advice and education on the ANRDR and other radiation protection matters.
Our existing worker outreach program has been enhanced to be more engaging for workers. The aim of this program is to raise awareness in the workplace of the existence of the ANRDR and to provide workers with important information such as why the Dose Register exists, how personal information is treated and how to obtain a personal dose history report. This will empower workers to periodically review their radiation dose histories and to be active in improving their work practices.
