Section 58 of the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Regulations 2018 requires licence holders to take all reasonably practicable steps to prevent incidents involving controlled materials, controlled apparatus or controlled facilities. If an incident happens, the licence holder must take all reasonably practicable steps to control the incident and minimise the consequences including injury to any person and impact on the environment, and to manage the notifiable incident in a way that facilitates investigation and learning.
A regulatory guide has been prepared to assist licence holders in their compliance. The guide sets out the requirements for licence holders on actions to be taken if a radiation incident occurs, when ARPANSA must be notified, and how to make such a notification.
If the incident is a ‘notifiable incident’ as defined in section 4 of the Regulations the licence holder must tell the CEO about it within 24 hours of it happening and provide a written report within 14 days.
A form is provided to report a notifiable incident.
Regulatory Guide: Radiation incidents:
see Regulatory guides
Reporting a notifiable incident:
see Regulatory forms
The CEO invites feedback on the usefulness of these documents. Comments can be sent to licenceadmin@arpansa.gov.au.
Information provided in accident reports is included in the Australian Radiation Incident Register (ARIR).
