Health & Safety

RPO - Full responsibilities

  1. Acting as the point of contact within the University for the external Radiation Protection Adviser (RPA) for Medway and Avery Hill Campuses.
  2. Act with the delegated authority of the Faculty Operating Officers (FOOs) in matters of urgency and referring promptly to the FOO or University Health & Safety Unit and/or the RPA, any ionising radiation protection problems which cannot be resolved locally on a time scale commensurate with the risk.
  3. Acting as the point of contact within the University for Regulators relevant to ionising radiations compliance i.e. the Environment Agency (EA) and the Health and Safety Executive.
  4. Managing Environment Agency Permits including:
    • Oversight of applications for new or variations to existing EA Permits.
    • Manage the collation of waste records and make Pollution Inventory returns to EA on behalf of the University.
    • Advise on the use of Exemptions under the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2011.
    • Advise on routes of radioactive waste disposal.
  5. Monitoring site activity against Environment Agency Permit conditions; including:
    • Expert inspection and auditing of storage and disposal facilities.
    • Auditing holdings and usage records.
    • Auditing waste accumulation in stores.
    • Performing waste sampling when required by the Regulator.
    • Performing measurements to check radiation doses, dose rates and activity.
  6. Provide advice on procedures for disposal of radioactive waste via authorised contractors.
  7. Managing the security of radioactive sources according to current national requirements and carry out periodic security audits.
  8. Managing facility or site decommissioning.
  9. Applying and managing maintenance of a Best Practicable Means (BPM) culture in management and operations including:
    • Advising on design standards for laboratories and designation of areas.
    • Providing site specific information to the RPA
    • Contributing to the production of local rules and any local radiation safety policy.

Approved 31 January 2018