Print View Posted on: 19 October 2021
The incident occurred at a radio-pharmacy facility used to produce Technetium-99m doses for medical purposes. One operator received a needle stick injury during the drawing of radiopharmaceutical doses from Technetium-99m elute stock.Dose estimates have been made based upon assumptions that were judged as conservative based on operator recollection and skin doses were modelled using the VARSKIN code package.Based on the available information, the best-estimate equivalent dose to the skin of the operator’s hands was 850 mSv. According to the applicable legislation, the statutory limit for annual dose to extremities and skin is 500 mSv. The other operators present were trained to respond to such incidents and acted quickly to clean the contaminated area of the affected operator’s skin.The UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has investigated the incident and is content that appropriate action was taken to mitigate the consequences.