Estimation of annual occupational effective doses from external ionising radiation at medical institutions in Kenya

Abstract

This study details the distribution and trends of doses from occupational radiation exposure among radiation workers from participating medical institutions in Kenya, where monthly dose measurements were collected for a period of one year (January to December 2007) using thermoluminescent dosimeters. A total of 367 medical radiation workers were monitored, comprising 27% radiologists, 2% oncologists, 4% dentists, 5% physicists, 45% technologists, 4% nurses, 3% film processor technicians, 4% auxiliary staff, and 5% radiology office staff. The average annual effective dose for all subjects ranged from 1.19 to 2.52 mSv. Among these workers, technologists received the largest annual effective dose. The study forms the initiation stage of wider, comprehensive and more frequent monitoring of occupational radiation exposures and long-term investigations into its accumulation patterns, which could form the basis of future records on the detrimental effects of radiation, characteristic of workers in the medical sector, and other co-factors in a developing country such as Kenya.