Radiation Safety Officer Training

Radiation Safety Officer Training

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A wide range of industrial, academic and medical users attend this course including those from applications such as Biomedical, Industrial Gauge, Portable Gauge, Irradiation Facilities, X-ray Devices, Biotech, Security Screening, Uranium Mining, Animal Hospitals and many more. The course fee for each location is given on the page for that location. The course fee for the 5-day RSO course is generally $1,850.

Do you need only a refresher course? You may select any two days of the 5 day RSO course as a refresher course. The cost is the same as for our regularly scheduled Refresher course $875. Please call to register for this option.

If you would like to receive a course outline by fax, please call us or you may download the Outline in PDF format.

We often are asked if our RSO course is sufficient training to allow someone to become a Radiation Safety Officer. See the bottom of this page for more information on this subject. Another good source of information about training regulations is the Health Physics Society. Information is available at this link, in regard to training requirements.

The Radiation Safety Officer Training course will be given at several locations. The current locations are given below. We can also offer these courses at your site to fit your needs.

Continuing Education Units: Approved for Continuing Units by the American Academy of Health Physics (AAHP), The American Society of Radiologic Technologists (ASRT) and the American Board of Industrial Hygiene (ABIH). For the AAHP, the units granted are 32 C.E. Units, for the ASRT, it is 30.5 units and for the ABIH, it is 4.5 CM points. We will apply for Continuing Education Credits from other organizations if you will contact us at least 45 days prior to taking the course. Approval from other organizations is usually easy to get but some require that application be made prior to the course.

Online Course

Online Course (Click on link for dates and more details)

Southern States

Atlanta, Georgia (Click on link for dates and more details)

Nashville, Tennessee (Click on link for dates and more details)

Orlando, Florida (Click on link for dates and more details)

New Orleans, Louisiana (Click on link for dates and more details)

Central and Eastern States

Arlington, Texas (Click on link for dates and other details)

Columbus, Ohio (Click on link for more details)

Denver, Colorado (Click on link for more details)

Dulles, Virginia (Click on link for dates and more details)

Gaithersburg, Maryland (Click on link for dates and more details)

Kansas City, MO (Medical Emphasis) (Click on link for more details)

Stony Brook, New York (Click on link for more details)

Western States

Fremont, California (Click on link for dates and other details)

San Diego, California (Click on link for dates and other details)

Newport Beach, California (Click on link for dates and other details)

San Jose, California (Click on link for dates and other details)

Las Vegas, Nevada (Click on link for dates and other details)

Seattle, Washington (Click on link for dates and other details)

Course Details: Our Radiation Safety Officer Course is designed to provide the technical and practical information needed to prepare a person to be an effective radiation safety officer. It will also be useful as general introductory training for anyone who works with radioactive materials or who may be required to be an alternate radiation safety officer. Some prior knowledge of algebra and science is necessary to get the most benefit from the course.

Topics to be covered in our RSO course include atomic structure, properties of ionizing radiation, shielding, radiation and biological safety terms and units, biological effects of radiation exposure, radiation detection and measurement, state and federal regulations, dosimetry, emergency procedures, records/documentation and transportation regulations.

See what attendees say about our courses by clicking on: Attendee Evaluations

Registration Procedure: To register for any of these courses, we recommend using our online registration process to reduce errors and give you an immediate confirmation. Links to the online registration can be found on the specific pages for each course. You may also register by phone or fax by contacting us. Payment is not required at time of registration, although we prefer payment before the course begins. A registration form in PDF format is available here.

Attendees should register for the course as early as possible. We recommend registration at least 60 days before the start date of the course to insure that you will get your first choice of dates and location. However, we do not have a registration deadline, so even last minute registrations can sometimes be accepted. You may pay by credit card, check or wire transfer. Please arrange for payment or a purchase order to reach us 20 days before the start date of the course. If there is a need to pay after the 20 day deadline, please call us to make arrangements so that we know that payment is being processed.

Attendees will receive a confirmation of registration. If you think you are registered but have not received confirmation, please call us.

Cancellation/Refund Policy: We will refund the course fee, less a $50 cancellation fee, for cancellations received more than 14 days prior to the starting date of the course. The course fee for last minute cancellations can be applied to future courses.

Mentoring Program: Attendees who plan to become Radiation Safety Officers may want to consider our RSO Mentoring program. We can provide various types of assistance to new Radiation Safety Officers. For more information, see this link.

Is this course what I need to become a Radiation Safety Officer?

We are often asked a question similar to the following. “Does your Radiation Safety Officer course fulfill the training requirements of my state for becoming an RSO?” In many cases it will, but for reasons that will be explained below, there is no simple answer to this question.

The responsibilities of a Radiation Safety Officer vary enormously from very slight as in the case of a business with one or two sealed sources, to a hospital that uses x-rays and nuclear medicine for treatment of patients. Obviously the training requirements of the latter will be far greater than for the former. The best source of information about training requirements for a particular case will be the regulatory agency that oversees your organization. In general, the regulatory agencies look at education and experience as well as considering short training courses such as ours. Also, the training requirements are not entirely uniform in the different states. We are listing below some of the more common types of radiation safety officers and the typical requirements for each category. Remember though that your own education and experience plays an important role in whether or not your regulatory agency approves you as a radiation safety officer. Because the approval is very much on a case by case basis, we cannot offer an iron clad guarantee that our course will fulfill the requirements of your regulatory agency.

Radiation Safety Officer in industrial, academic, governmental and military settings. Our course is generally accepted and is appropriate training for many types of Radiation Safety Officers in industrial, academic, government and military settings. If your organization uses sealed sources for measurements or if you work in a laboratory setting, or if you regulate or supervise users of radioactive material, there is a good possibility that our 5 day course will be appropriate for your needs. It is always a good practice to consult your regulatory agency if you are taking the course to meet regulatory requirements.

Industrial Radiography. Our course is appropriate as training for Radiation Safety Officers in Industrial Radiography but it is not appropriate as initial training for users of Industrial Radiography equipment. This may seem to be conflicting advice but the initial training for radiographers involves training specific to the use of radiography which our course does not have. However the required training for Radiation Safety Officers in Industrial Radiography includes planning a radiation safety program and all the related details which are generally required of all radiation safety programs. The requirements of the federal regulations for various types of Radiation Safety Officers can be seen on the website of the Health Physics Society. The actual federal regulations tend to be written in confusing language but the requirements as restated by the Health Physics Society are more clearly written while at the same time accurately presenting the federal regulations.

Troxler Gauges- Our 5 day course is NOT suitable for initial training for Troxler gauges. The usual state and NRC requirements for Troxler and other brands of gauge users is one day of training specific to that brand of gauge.

Medical Radiation Safety Officers – The initial training requirements for medical radiation safety officers are much more extensive than any 40 hour course, so anyone wishing to become a medical RSO should carefully investigate the requirements of their regulatory agency. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has a rather complex set of requirements for medical Radiation Safety Officers and one way of meeting the requirements involves 200 hours of classroom instruction. Ultimately, your regulatory agency has the final word on approval of individuals to become Radiation Safety Officers. The usual procedure is that the organization holding the license must submit the name and qualifications of an incoming RSO for approval by the regulatory agency having authority in that state. This will either be a state agency or the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. A clear explanation of federal requirements can be found the Health Physics Society. Keep in mind that many states have their own regulations which may vary slightly from the federal regulations. If your state has its own regulations then you will be required to follow state law rather than federal law. In general though, state requirements will be almost identical to federal requirements.

It is also important to note that the federal government and most states do not review, approve or evaluate radiation safety courses. However, the state of New Mexico does have a approved list and our course has been approved by the State of New Mexico. Perhaps the best way to evaluate a Radiation Safety Officer course is to consider the qualifications of the instructors and also recommendations from those who have previously attended the course. Our instructors are well qualified and have either Certification as a Health Physicist or have an advanced degree in that or a closely related field. Nevada Technical Associates, Inc., has been offering this course for over 25 years. We are also one of the few providers of videos on the subject of radiation safety. You may want to review our list of videos, all recently produced.

We can also provide a price quote for onsite training.