Implementation of dose management system at radiation protection board of Ghana Atomic Energy Commission.

The dose management system (DMS) is a computer software developed by the International Atomic Energy Agency for managing data on occupational exposure to radiation sources and intake of radionuclides. It is an integrated system for the user-friendly storage, processing and control of all existing internal and external dosimetry data. The Radiation Protection Board (RPB) of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission has installed, customised, tested and using the DMS as a comprehensive DMS to improve personnel and area monitoring in the country. Personnel dose records from the RPBs database from 2000 to 2009 are grouped into medical, industrial and education/research sectors. The medical sector dominated the list of monitored institutions in the country over the 10-y period representing ∼87 %, while the industrial and education/research sectors represent ∼9 and ∼4 %, respectively. The number of monitored personnel in the same period follows a similar trend with medical, industrial and education/research sectors representing ∼74, ∼17 and ∼9 %, respectively. Analysis of dose data for 2009 showed that there was no instance of a dose above the annual dose limit of 20 mSv, however, 2.7 % of the exposed workers received individual annual doses >1 mSv. The highest recorded individual annual dose and total collective dose in all sectors were 4.73 mSv and 159.84 man Sv, respectively. Workers in the medical sector received higher individual doses than in the other two sectors, and average dose per exposed worker in all sectors is 0.25 mSv.