Optimization of radiation protection for the control of occupational exposure in Ghana

Investigation of the optimization of protection of occupational exposed workers (OEWs) in Ghana had been carried out on the three practices in the country, namely medical applications, industrial radioisotope applications and research and education from 2002 to 2007. Mean annual effective dose and collective effective dose were estimated from dosimetry records from the Radiation Protection Institute of those occupationally exposed from 2002 to 2007. The mean annual effective dose estimated for about 650 OEWs per year ranged from 0.42 to 0.68 mSv compared with a global value of 0.5 mSv estimated by the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR 2008 Report). This implies that efforts should still be made to institute as low as reasonably achievable culture in most practices in Ghana even though trend of doses incurred was low. The collective effective dose for this same period estimated ranged from 0.26 to 0.47 man Sv. A reference monetary value of the man sievert was estimated using the human capital approach for each year from 2002 to 2009; it ranged from 172 to 22 US $ per man Sv, which provided a basis for estimating the cost of averting a unit collective effective dose of 1 man Sv. This value could not be used for quantitative optimization since the range of mean annual effective dose estimated was below 1 mSv.