Wearers

Wearer Pregnancy

The Wearer Pregnancy feature is available for any Wearers with a Sex of Female selected. The icon for Pregnancy records appears at the lower right corner of the Wearer Details page as shown below;

                                                   Female Sex selected

                                                                                                      Pregnancy Records Icon

Obligations for Occupational Pregnancy Exposure

In Australia the Commonwealth Government's primary authority on radiation protection and nuclear safety (ARPANSA) publishes Codes of Practice and Standards for Radiation Protection. 

(Refer to ARPANSA 2020, Code for Radiation Protection in Planned Exposure Situations, viewed 9^th March 2020, <https://www.arpansa.gov.au/regulation-and-licensing/regulatory-publications/radiation-protection-series/codes-and-standards>)

Under section 3.2 Requirements for Occupational Exposure of the Code for Radiation Protection in Planned Exposure Situations sub section 3.2.12 states that:

“The Responsible Person must ensure that when an occupationally exposed female has declared to the Responsible Person that she is pregnant or is breast-feeding, additional controls are considered to protect the embryo/foetus or breast-fed infant to a level similar to that provided for members of the public.”

Further, under Exposure Limits it is stated that:

“When a pregnancy is declared by an occupationally exposed female, the working conditions of that person should be such as to ensure that the additional dose to the embryo/foetus would not exceed about 1 mSv during the remainder of the pregnancy”.

Refer to ARPANSA 2020, Code for Radiation Protection in Planned Exposure Situations, viewed 9^th March 2020, https://www.arpansa.gov.au/sites/default/files/rps_c-1_rev_1.pdf, Page 19) Schedule A:

                                                                                                                                                  Pregnancy Occupational Dose Limit 

Historion, the RSO and Pregnancy Exposure

In support of the above obligations Historion provides RSOs with pregnancy data tool sets assisting in:

Formally recording Pregnancy and Breastfeeding Declaration Records from female Wearers.

Setting alert start-end date windows to check Doses during pregnancy and/or breastfeeding.

Setting Dose Alerts that pertain specifically to Pregnancy and Breastfeeding Doses

Separately collating Doses received whilst Pregnant and/or Breastfeeding

Reporting pregnancy data using comprehensive radiation exposure reports

Formally Recording Pregnancy and Breastfeeding Declaration Records from Female Wearers

The following steps are required to record Pregnancy and/or Breastfeeding Declarations for a Wearer:

1.Find and open the Wearer record (Wearer Details page) for the Wearer

2.Ensure that the Wearer’s Sex in the [Personal] tab is selected as Female above.

3.In the lower right corner of the Wearer Details page select the Pregnancy icon.

4.Add the required notification records using the Add Pregnancy Record button.

                  Pregnancy Notifications icon

After showing the Pregnancy Records page click the Add button at the lower right corner of the page:

       Add Pregnancy Notification

The Pregnancy Record Details page is displayed:

Setting alert start-end date windows to check Doses during Pregnancy and Breastfeeding

The date fields in the Pregnancy Declaration Record page are crucial in properly recording the date of the Declaration to the Organisation and the Alerts start and stop date window:

                Date of Pregnancy Declaration                                                               Start and Stop Alerts Date Window

The Date of Declaration of Pregnancy is the date the Wearer formally notified the Organisation of the fact of the Pregnancy. Ideally this will be in writing and a copy of the notification (such as a confidential email or letter) will be imported into Historion under the Wearer’s record.

The [Start Alerts Date] is recommended to be set to as close as possible to the known beginning of the pregnancy. In the example above the notification falls at the end of March and Alerts start at the start of the year 12 weeks earlier and not from the Date of Declaration of Pregnancy. This is to ensure:

Any exposure shown in the Wearer’s Dose Readings from the start of pregnancy is detected.

Any inaccuracy in reporting of pregnancy commencement is minimised.

The [Stop Alerts Date] is recommended to be 12 months after the [Start Alerts Date]. This is to ensure:

Any Dose Readings that are late or reissued from the Provider are included in the Alert scan.

Any inaccuracy in reporting of the pregnancy time frames whilst at work is minimised

If the Wearer returns to work within 3 months after the pregnancy and breast feeds this will also be captured within the 12-month window. (Note that a separate record should be added to record breastfeeding if occurring at the place of occupation beyond the 12 months record.

Some Organisations use a formal template for the Pregnancy Declaration, on a corporate letterhead and with wording similar to that shown in the theoretical (only) Pregnancy Declaration template below:

Example (only) Pregnancy Declaration template:

The purpose of the Declaration is to provide an official record as at the date of Pregnancy notification.

The signed Declaration also reinforces the understanding and commitment of the Wearer, the RSO and the Organisation toward ensuring all required steps necessary are taken to protect the foetus from damaging exposure to radiation (in accordance with regulatory limits and guidelines) which otherwise might increase risks of childhood cancer, leukaemia and other foetal mortality or morbidity outcomes.

Setting Dose Alerts that pertain specifically to Pregnancy and/or Breastfeeding Doses

Does Alert Settings are covered in Chapter 4 under 4.15 Dose Alerts Settings. An additional example Dose Alert Setting is described here, for Pregnancy Dose monitoring purposes.

In the example below the Pregnancy Alert tick box is ticked. This means that the Alert Scanning that Historion executes will interact with the Pregnancy Notifications records that have Start and Stop Alert dates in place as described above. Any Dose Readings within the date window prescribed by the dates in the Start and Stop date fields will be examined in accordance with the limit and any other criteria specified, see below. The name of this type of Alert should include the word “Pregnancy”.

Note that the Dose Application Body Dose, combined with the Pregnancy Alert being ticked or the selection of the Dose Application Foetal Dose will result in the Pregnancy Alert icon showing for the Dose Alert Setting. Pregnancy Alert Icons are distinguishable from other Alert icons by the round circle in the centre of the icon for the person which is meant to signify the foetus.

                 Body Dose or Foetal Dose Selection              Pregnancy Alert Icon

                                                                                                                Zero Reading Threshold            Pregnancy Alert Tick Box
 

Body Dose Application Pregnancy Alert verses Foetal Dose Application Alert

The use of the [Pregnancy Alert] tick box in association with any of the Dose Applications listed creates a type of alert that, when executed and Dose Readings for the Wearer are scanned, checks for any Dose Readings that fall within any Pregnancy windows for the Wearer, that have been registered using the Pregnancy Notifications tool. Body dose is suggested for this purpose as it is the most common Dose Reading Type and most used to represent the dose to the individual.

Selecting the Foetal Dose Application creates a type of alert that will search all of the Wearer’s Dose Readings for Dose Readings that have been codified by the Dosimetry Provider as being the results of deliberate Foetal Monitoring using purpose-selected dosimeters positioned specifically for monitoring foetal exposure. If the Pregnancy Alert tick box is ticked the search will be restricted to only detect those Foetal Monitoring Dose Readings that were taken during a recorded Pregnancy Alert timeframe.

Zero Reading Threshold

A threshold value of zero reports any Readings with a value >0 taken during a Pregnancy timeframe.

Separately collating Doses received whilst pregnant and/or breastfeeding

Any Dose Readings that are detected as meeting the criteria for predetermined Alert Settings are shown in the Wearer’s Dose Alerts sub tab, within the Dosimetry tab of their Wearer Details page.

This includes Pregnancy Alerts which are identifiable by the Dose Alert Setting name as shown below:

Dose Alerts tab of under Dosimetry                Setting Name Identifying Pregnancy

Combining the labelling of the Dose Alert Setting with the Pregnancy tick box and a Dose threshold of zero micro sieverts ensures that any Dose Readings that have a positive value and were taken during a recorded Pregnancy Notification Alert time frame are collected under the Dose Alerts tab for the Wearer.

This allows easier separation, assessment and review of Dose Readings for Pregnant Wearers.

Reporting pregnancy data using comprehensive radiation exposure reports

The Wearer Letter feature includes a Detailed Radiation Exposure Report template. The template has within it an automatically populated Pregnancy Notifications section with details as shown below.

Additional reporting options are available in the System and Custom Reporting areas of Historion.

Wearer Pregnancy Futures

Add an Attachments tab to the Wearer Pregnancy Notification details page.

Add a Pregnancy Declaration template to the drop down list of templates (Females only).

Require Alert Start and Alert Stop time frame dates be entered.

Add more current and historical Wearer Pregnancy reports to the standard reports area.

Add targeted Wearer Pregnancy record sources and report type to new Custom Report Wizard.

Add a new Wearer Pregnancy dashboard to the Home page.

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