Medical surveillance and return-to-work assessment for workers exposed to ionizing radiation: A case study

Abstract

A 44-year-old male employee of Indonesian nationality, working as a Radiologic Testing Technician at a petrochemical plant, was informed by the laboratory that his cumulative radiation exposure had reached 89,935 microsieverts in one month, which exceeded the legal limit. He then met with an occupational physician for health surveillance and a return-to-work assessment. From the history taking, physical examination, and laboratory tests, it was found that the nature of the work had appropriate radiation safety measures, and the potential for exposure to ionizing radiation was low. The root cause of the problem was due to an unintentional operational error. The employee did not exhibit any symptoms or abnormal laboratory results and was cleared to return to work in his original position. After a literature review, such cases were rarely found. Therefore, the authors report this case study to serve as a guideline for investigating the cause, conducting health surveillance for occupational exposure to ionizing radiation that exceeds legal limits, and implementing the application of a return-to-work assessment protocol.