The Offshore Major Accident Regulator (OMAR) has issued an up-to-date version of Operations Notice 34 which includes reference to the Ionising Radiations Regulations 2017. The previous version, published in August 2017, referred to the 1999 version of the regulations.
The Ionising Radiations Regulations 2017 came into force on 1st January 2018. With regards to Industrial radiography this meant that there were changes to how Dutyholders undertaking this kind of work were to operate compared to the previous requirements of the 1999 regulations.
Regulation 7 of the Ionising Radiation Regulations 2017 (IRR17) requires employers who carry out industrial radiography to gain consent from the HSE. Once granted that consent is subject to conditions one of which is that:
– no site radiography will take place without the consent holder receiving at least seven days’ written notice from the client commissioning the site radiography work on each and every occasion the work is carried out, or written HSE agreement to waive this requirement
This condition is different as previously under the 1999 regulations Dutyholders used to have to contact HSE 7 days in advance to undertaking any radiography operations. Annex 1 to this Notice describes the notification requirements and indicates how they can be complied with for offshore site radiography, including repeat notifications, and notification of unforeseen and emergency work.
Source: OMAR.