ISO 15382:2015 PDF

Overview

ISO 15382:2015 - Radiological protection - Procedures for monitoring the dose to the lens of the eye, the skin and the extremities - provides practical, standardized procedures for individual dose monitoring in planned exposure situations. The standard defines when and how to monitor doses to the skin, extremities (hands, fingers, wrists, forearms, feet, ankles) and the lens of the eye, focusing on photon energies from 8 keV to 10 MeV and electrons/positrons from 60 keV to 10 MeV. It is intended to help organizations design monitoring programs that support compliance with national dose limits and international recommendations (ICRP/IAEA). Alpha and neutron fields are outside the scope.

Key topics and technical requirements

• Operational dose quantities: Guidance on the use of H(0.07) as the estimator for skin/extremity dose and H(3) for lens-of-eye dose; where appropriate, H(0.07) or H(10) may be used to estimate H(3) depending on the field.
• Decision criteria for monitoring: How to decide if individual dosimeters are needed based on the nature of exposure, workplace measurements, literature, simulations and confirmatory checks.
• Dosemeters - type, placement and frequency: Recommendations on dosemeter types, positioning on the body, technical specifications (Annex A) and frequency of monitoring to ensure accurate assessment of localized doses.
• Assessment methods: Different approaches for assessing and analysing skin, extremity, and lens doses, including treatment of uncertainties and monitoring periods.
• Special cases: Procedures for contamination, hot particles, airborne radioactivity and potential dosemeter contamination/corrections.
• Program design: Guidance for establishing a monitoring program to ensure compliance with dose limits and for documenting, analyzing and optimizing results.

Practical applications and users

ISO 15382:2015 is relevant to:

• Radiation protection officers and facility managers designing or auditing monitoring programs.
• Dosimetry services selecting and testing dosemeters and setting calibration/placement protocols.
• Regulatory bodies and employers implementing workplace monitoring policies.
• Medical professionals (interventional radiology, nuclear medicine) where eye-lens and extremity doses can be significant.
• Nuclear industry staff working with glove boxes, open sources, or contamination-prone operations.

Practical uses include selecting appropriate personal dosimeters, determining monitoring frequency and placement, estimating localized doses from workplace surveys or simulations, and ensuring compliance with ICRP dose limits (e.g., skin/extremity 500 mSv/year; lens ~20 mSv/year averaged over 5 years).

Related standards and references

Normative references and related documents cited include ICRP publications (103, 116, 118), ICRU 85, ISO/TS 18090-1 and IEC standards such as IEC 62387, IEC 60846-1 and IEC 61526. These provide complementary guidance on dose quantities, dosimetry instrumentation and calibration.