All medical offices that deal with X-Ray equipment may want to consider training a Medical Radiation Safety Officer (often known as an MRSO or sometimes RSO).

This person will be responsible for the management and safety processes of handling all medical devices that work with Radiation, in compliance with the OSHA standards of the medical practice.

There are many uses of Radiation in medicine. The most well known is using X-Rays (also called Radiographs) to see whether bones are broken, which is called radiology.

Within Radiology, there are specialized areas like Mammography, Computerized Tomography (CT scans), and nuclear medicine (the specialty where radioactive material is usually injected into the patient). Another area of x-ray use is called Cardiology—where special x-ray pictures are taken of the heart.

A Medical Radiation Safety Officer is responsible for ensuring safe use of this equipment, as well as keeping registration certificates current.

To qualify for the role, a Medical Radiation Safety Officer must meet the following general requirements:

– knowledge of potential radiation hazards and emergency precautions

– completed educational courses related to ionizing radiation safety, or a radiation safety officer course

– have experience in the use and familiarity of the type of equipment used

What are the responsibilities of a Medical Radiation Safety Officer?

As well as  being responsible for ensuring safe use of the equipment by medical teams, here are some of the core criteria that must be met:

– Establishing and overseeing operating and safety procedures that maintain radiation exposures as low as reasonably achievable ( sometimes abbreviated to ALARA).

– Ensuring that individual monitoring devices are properly used by occupationally-exposed personnel. Records must be kept of the monitoring results.

– Investigating and reporting each known or suspected case of radiation exposure to an individual or radiation level detected in excess of limits. This also includes taking steps to prevent its recurrence.

– Having a thorough knowledge of management policies and keeping physicians informed on a periodic basis of the performance of the radiation protection program.

– In emergency situations or unsafe conditions, assuming control and having the authority to institute corrective actions. This includes shut-down of operations when necessary.

– Ensuring that medical team members are adequately trained in the use and safety of using the Medical Radiation equipment.