Radon Risk
Assessments & Radon Monitoring
At Geo Pollution Technologies we are experienced in conducting radon risk assessments in line with Government advice and to satisfy the requirements of The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 & Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.
Radon is a colourless, odourless and radioactive gas which occurs naturally throughout the UK. Exposure to this radiation is a risk to health and has been proven to increase the risk of cancer, specifically lung cancer.
Every building contains radon but some areas of the UK are more likely to have higher radon levels than others. UKRadon state “Some buildings in "radon Affected Areas" have higher levels. Buildings in these areas should be tested for radon.”
The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 & Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 requires employers as far as reasonably practicable to ensure the health and safety of employees and other people who have access to their work environment. This includes a suitable and sufficient risk assessment, and taking appropriate action where necessary. Radon should be identified as a hazard if you have a workplace with one or more of the following circumstances:
If you an employer with a single location workplace you may wish to contact UKRadon yourself or CLICK HERE to view the Indicative Atlas of radon which can indicate if your workplace is in a radon Affected Area.
If you are an employer with employees spread out over a large number of locations e.g. Local Authorities, Health Boards we can undertake preliminary risk assessments of all locations in order to ascertain if any of your buildings are in radon Affected Areas. The report will detail the risk profile of each location and recommend which locations should be prioritised for monitoring based on the likelihood of them having elevated radon levels.
If radon is an identified hazard, the workplace should be tested. The amount and location of monitors you will need to deploy will depend upon your workplace.
It is essential to test different areas within the same buildings as radon levels can vary depending on factors such as usage and the amount of ventilation, samples should be taken in order to measure all of the different working environments around the building.
We can conduct site radon risk assessments of your property/properties in order to ascertain which areas should have monitors installed and how many monitors are required. This is particularly important for organisations with multiple sites as this process may be very arduous for one employee and if using multiple employees from different sites would mean training a large number of people in order to ensure the requirements are being implemented properly. Our site radon risk assessments offer 3rd party validation that radon monitoring is being conducted in line with the legislative requirements.
Once a decision has been made as to the quantity and location of radon monitors we can supply and deploy the radon monitors. All monitors will be clearly labelled and securely positioned in a suitable area. The area will be chosen to ensure they are unlikely to be moved, tampered with or cause a hindrance to employees, if monitors are moved the results may be invalidated.
All monitor positions are logged and recorded with photographic evidence. As far as possible all staff will be made aware of what the monitors are and instructed not to tamper with them. The monitors will be left in place for 3 months and then collected and sent off for analysis.
The results of the analysis will be presented in a report indexing the average radon concentration over the 3 month period for each location and highlighting any areas with elevated radon levels.
Where radon levels are satisfactory, the employer should keep a record of the results and review them approximately every ten years or if there are significant changes to the workplace structure or use.
However if the radon level exceeds 300 Bq m-³ in any area then further action will be required by the employer under the requirements of the Ionising Radiations Regulations 2017 (IRR17). A combination of the radon level, occupancy time and workplace type will determine what action is required.
“these Regulations shall apply to ……..any work (other than a practice) carried out in an atmosphere containing radon 222 gas at an annual average activity concentration in air exceeding 300 Bq m³.”
Ionising Radiations Regulations 2017 (IRR17)
“Every employer shall make a suitable and sufficient assessment of—
(a) the risks to the health and safety of his employees to which they are exposed whilst they are at work”
Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999