protection against radon at home and at work; recommendations of the Israel national advisory committee on radiation protection and their practical implementation

Existing legislation in Israel related to protection of the worker and the public from ionizing radiation excludes certain natural radiation sources from control by national authorities. Among these sources are radon and radon daughters. Employers are not required, by law to intervene in order to reduce radon levels in the working place, even when these levels exceed the action levels recommended by the ICRP or by the International Basic Safety Standards for protection Against Ionizing radiation. The Israel National Advisory Committee for radiation protection - INACRP (appointed by the Minister of the Environment and the Minister of Health) recommended, in 1993, to rectify this lack and proposed that the above two ministers issue guidelines for protecting the public and the worker from hazards of radon and radon daughters. The proposed guidelines are based on recent 1993 recommendations of the ICRP related to Radon at Home and at Work.The guidelines establish activity concentration levels, in homes and at work premises, above which remedial actions are recommended, and specify a time-table for these actions, depending on the extent to which the activity concentrations in the building exceed the remedial action levels specified. (authors)