The Health and Safety Executive’s Field Operations Division has contacted CLEAPSS (and SSERC for Scotland) to explain it is undertaking a programme of inspections across England, Wales and Scotland to see how schools manage the safe use and storage of the radioactive sources used in science teaching. An inspection programme may come as a surprise to some when you consider the relatively low risk of these sources compared to those used in universities and hospitals. But low risk does not mean exemption from inspection.
The HSE has accepted our offer to provide their inspectors with an introduction to the importance of radioactive sources in practical science, and to explain the approach taken in CLEAPSS
Guide L93 on how to manage the sources safely and meet all the regulatory requirements.
You can read more about this on the HSE eBulletin page
here.
Ahead of the inspection programme, our advice for schools in England and Wales is to go through the checklist 16.1 in the latest edition of L93 and make sure they have the appropriate arrangements in place.
If you have any questions regarding this, if possible please email
science@cleapss.org.uk rather than calling the helpline, unless it is urgent, as we are in the middle of moving into our new offices at the moment.