Radiation Protection Bureau, Health Canada, 775 Brookfield Road, Ottawa K1A 1C1, Canada.
J Radiol Prot. 2021 Feb 22;41(1). doi: 10.1088/1361-6498/abcae4.
Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas and presents everywhere on the Earth at varying concentration in workplaces and at homes. With Canadian labour statistics, time statistics and more than 7600 long-term radon measurements in workplaces, occupational radon exposure is evaluated for all 20 job categories based on North American Industry Classification System. Results are compared with residential radon exposure based on more than 22 000 long-term radon tests conducted in Canadian homes. The average annual effective dose due to radon exposure in workplaces is 0.21 mSv, which is lower than the average annual effective dose of 1.8 mSv from radon exposure at home by a factor of eight. Due to relatively higher radon concentration in residential homes and longer time spent indoors at home, exposure at home contributes to 90% of workers' total radon exposure (on average 1692 h in workplaces and 5852 h at homes). The analysis presented here is based on province-wide average radon exposures in various indoor and outdoor environments. Since the risk of developing lung cancer increases proportionally with increasing radon exposure, this evaluation indicates that on average reduction of radon levels in homes is very important and an effective way to reduce radon-induced lung cancers in Canada.
氡是一种天然存在的放射性气体，在工作场所和家庭中，以不同浓度存在于地球上的各个地方。利用加拿大劳动力统计数据、时间统计数据和超过 7600 次工作场所的长期氡测量数据，基于北美产业分类系统，对所有 20 个工作类别进行了职业氡暴露评估。结果与加拿大家庭进行的超过 22000 次长期氡测试得出的住宅氡暴露进行了比较。由于工作场所氡暴露的平均年有效剂量为 0.21 mSv，比家庭氡暴露的平均年有效剂量 1.8 mSv 低 8 倍。由于住宅中氡浓度相对较高，以及在家中室内停留时间较长，因此家庭暴露占工人总氡暴露的 90%（平均在工作场所暴露 1692 小时，在家中暴露 5852 小时）。这里呈现的分析基于全省各个室内和室外环境中的平均氡暴露。由于肺癌风险与氡暴露成正比增加，因此这一评估表明，降低家庭氡水平非常重要，这是加拿大减少氡诱发肺癌的有效途径。
