Developing and implementing safety culture in the uses of radiation sources

This paper presents an approach to develop and implement safety culture in the uses of radiation sources in medicine, industry, agriculture, research and teaching, and makes reference to the experience gained by the industries where that culture has been developed and improved, i.e. the nuclear industry. Suggestions to assist progress toward safety culture are here described for regulators, organisations using those sources, and professional associations. Even though emphasis is given to small organisations or teams of workers, this approach may be also useful to greater organisations like industrial irradiation companies or governmental research laboratories. In each case, parties being the principal focus of the learning process toward a progressive safety culture should be identified. (author)