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The dangers of Radon and how Irish Industry must start to bear responsibility for it's employees
Up to 150,000 workers are at potential risk of developing fatal lung cancer as a result of exposure to dangerously high levels of radiation*, while a leading radon expert has cited ‘widespread confusion amongst employers’ regarding their legal requirements.
Donal Higgins, of Radon Laboratory Systems, estimates that, out of a workforce of 150,000 exposed to levels of radon in excess of the government’s required safety level of 400 Becquerels per cubic metre, over 1,000 workers will die prematurely from lung cancer as a direct result of exposure to radon in the workplace. According to Higgins, workers exposed to these elevated levels of radon—a natural radioactive gas classified as a Class A carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)—receiving radiation doses equivalent to 150 or more chest x-rays a year. As a result of mounting pressure, through investigation and questioning of the relevant authorities by Higgins, it has been revealed that there is a general duty for all employers to assess radon levels in the workplace.
A series of letters Higgins sent to senior figures in the Health and Safety Authority and the Department of the Environment and Local Government received responses that shed light on the regulations regarding radon, which could at best be described as confused. Replying to Higgins, Peter J Claffey, the Deputy Chief Inspector of the HSA states, ‘The Authority is of the opinion that control of exposure to Radon gas in the workplace falls within the provisions of the 1989 [Safety Health and Welfare at Work] Act and applies to all workplaces where there is a risk of injury from such exposure. A risk assessment will determine this’.
The onus Claffey places on risk assessment is reinforced in another letter to Higgins from Tom Beegan, CEO of the HSA, who stresses that ‘In relation to Radon, the risk of injury generated by exposure should be assessed. The risk is normally established by measuring Radon levels at a particular premises’.
Claffey further outlines the position for employers, saying that ‘If the presence of Radon gas is likely to occur in your workplace then you must assess the risk of injury from it’, a statement which demands further investigation.
‘Statements like this convince me that the lack of awareness, even on the behalf of some of the regulators, is alarming to say the least’, Higgins states. ‘Radon gas is present to some extent in (virtually?) every workplace in the country. Is Claffey inadvertently saying that every workplace in the country must be assessed?’
However, in spite of acknowledging that employers are obliged under the 1989 Act to assess radon levels, the HSA display a tendency to divert the issue from their own responsibility, a fact revealed in Beegan’s letter to Higgins:
While there is a general obligation on employers in relation to Radon under the 1989 Act, Radon is addressed more specifically in S.I. No. 125/2000, and this legislation comes within the remit of the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland. Realistically, all enforcement in relation to Radon legislation is a matter for R.P.I.I. although the Authority may intervene where it has been established that an unsafe place of work exists due to high levels of Radon.
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