Quality assurance programme in the external dosimetry laboratory of the center for radiation protection of Cuba

Full text: The External Dosimetry Laboratory (LDE) of the Center for Radiation Protection and Hygiene (CPHR) is the central dosimetry service of the country, which assures the individual monitoring on a monthly basis of about 5500 workers in 1000 establishments and maintains the National Dose Registry System. A project for upgrading the personal dosimetry service was started in 2000. In March 2001 film dosimeters began to gradually replaced by TLDs, the latter becoming the only official dosimeter a year later. In order to maintain quality and ensure compliance with regulations and international recommendations, a quality assurance culture has been introduced into the laboratory and quality requirements have been developed and implemented in the daily work through the establishment of a quality assurance (QA) programme. The design of the QA programme is based on the criteria contained in the ISO, on the recommendations of the IEC, and IAEA, as well as on regulations of the National Accreditation Council. The present study deals with the structure of the Laboratory's QA programme and includes documentation, organizational and managerial aspects as well as the procedures that are implemented. The experience gained during the years of the use of the QA programme is also described. (author)