[F1SCHEDULE 2N.I.Radiation Emergencies and Notifiable Events

Textual Amendments

PART 1N.I.Radiation Emergencies

Interpretation of Part 1N.I.

1.—(1) In this Part of this Schedule—

“the 2017 Regulations” means the Ionising Radiations Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2017(1);

“dose consequences” means the consequences to an individual of being exposed to a specific quantity of ionising radiation as the result of a radiation emergency;

“duty holder” means—

(a)

a consignor; or

(b)

a carrier;

“emergency exposure” means an exposure to ionising radiation of an employee engaged in any activity of, or associated with, the response to a radiation emergency or potential radiation emergency in order—

(a)

to bring help to endangered persons;

(b)

to prevent exposure of a large number of persons; or

(c)

to save a valuable installation or goods;

whereby one of the individual dose limits referred to in regulation 12 of the 2017 Regulations could be exceeded;

“emergency services” means—

(a)

those police, fire and ambulance services that are likely to be required to respond to a radiation emergency; and

(b)

where appropriate, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency;

“emergency worker” means—

(a)

a member of the emergency services who has a defined role in an emergency plan;

(b)

a person employed, whether or not by a duty holder, to assist in the transition from emergency state; or

(c)

any other person or organisation that is identified in an emergency plan as having a role in providing assistance in the handling of a radiation emergency;

“escort commander” means a person who is responsible for the escort of a package;

“health authority” means the Regional Health and Social Care Board established under section 7 of the Health and Social Care (Reform) Act (Northern Ireland) 2009(2);

“ionising radiation” means the energy transferred in the form of particles or electromagnetic waves of a wavelength of 100 nanometres or less, or a frequency of 3 x 1015 hertz or more, capable of producing ions directly or indirectly;

“radiation emergency” means a non-routine situation or event arising during the carriage of class 7 goods that necessitates prompt action to mitigate the serious consequences—

(a)

of a hazard resulting from that situation or event;

(b)

of a perceived risk arising from such a hazard; or

(c)

to one or more of the following—

(i)

human life;

(ii)

health and safety;

(iii)

quality of life;

(iv)

property;

(v)

the environment;

(2) In this Part of this Schedule any reference to an effective dose means the sum of the effective dose to the whole body from external radiation and the committed effective dose from internal radiation.

(3) For the purposes of this Part of this Schedule, a person assists in the handling of a radiation emergency if the person takes any steps that it is reasonable to take in the prevailing circumstances to reduce or prevent exposure.

(4) For the purposes of sub-paragraph (3), “prevailing circumstances” include—

(a)the weather;

(b)the time at which the emergency occurred;

(c)the distribution of the local population;

(d)the nature and contents of the package involved in the emergency;

(e)the stability of the contents of that package;

(f)the local geography and ecology;

(g)any other hazards;

(h)the relative importance of the emergency in relation to other calls that are being made upon the emergency services.]