Radiation safety considerations for large, multi-user laboratories

Many research institutions are adding new laboratory space in the form of large, multi-user rooms with an open architecture. Unfortunately, many of the features that make such rooms attractive to researchers make them difficult to manage from a radiation safety perspective. In particular, coping with radiological incidents and enforcing radiation safety standards are difficult when several research teams share a common room. This paper discusses the problems noted in such laboratories at the University of Rochester and Yale University and describes the manner in which some of these problems have been addressed.