Skin Exposure: A Specific Problem In Occupational Monitoring

The paper deals with some problems related to the quantification of the skin exposure including some aspects associated with personal monitoring of extremities with special emphasis on the skin of hands and compliance with the relevant regulatory requirements and international standards. This is especially pertinent to the assessment of the equivalent dose of the skin of workers in nuclear medicine where handling of radiopharmaceutical during their preparation and administration may result in relatively high local doses characterized by considerable inhomogeneous distribution over the surface of the exposed skin. The use of current dose limits is scrutinized and a new approach aimed at the modification of the current limitation approach in order to ensure realistic protection of workers against both stochastic and deterministic effects is suggested. (author)