Sec.19-25d-5. Radiographic installation other than dental and veterinary medicine

(a) Equipment

(1) The tube housing shall be of diagnostic type.

(2) Diaphragms or cones capable of restricting the beam to the area of clinical interest shall be provided for collimating the useful beam and shall provide the same degree of protection as is required of the housing.

(3) (A) Except when contraindicated for a particular medical purpose, for equipment operating at seventy kvp and below, the total filtration permanently in the useful beam shall be equivalent to at least one and one-half mm of aluminum. This requirement may be assumed to have been met if the half-value layer is not less than one and one-half mm aluminum at normal operating voltages.

(B) Except when contraindicated for a particular medical purpose, for equipment capable of operating above seventy kvp, the total filtration permanently in the useful beam shall be equivalent to at least two and one-half value layer is not less than two and one-half mm aluminum at normal operating voltages.

(4) A device shall be provided to terminate the exposure after a preset time or exposure.

(5) A dead-man type of exposure switch shall be so arranged that it cannot be conveniently operated outside a shielded area. Exposure switches for "spot film" devices used in conjunction with fluoroscopic tables are excepted from this shielding requirement.

(b) Structural shielding

(1) All wall, floor and ceiling areas exposed to the useful beam shall have primary barriers. Primary barriers in walls shall extend to a minimum height of eighty-four inches above the floor.

(2) Secondary barriers shall be provided in all wall, floor and ceiling areas not having primary barriers or where the primary barrier requirements are lower than the secondary barrier requirements.

(3) The operator’s station at the control shall be behind a protective barrier, either in a separate room, in a protected booth, or behind a shield which will intercept the useful beam and any radiation which has been scattered only once.

(4) A window of lead-equivalent glass equal to that required by the adjacent barrier or a mirror system shall be provided large enough and so placed that the operator can see the patient without having to leave the protected area during exposure.

(c) Operating procedures

(1) No individual occupationally exposed to radiation shall be permitted to hold patients during exposures except during emergencies, nor shall any individual be regularly used for this service.

(2) Only individuals required for the radiographic procedure shall be in the radiographic room during exposure; and, except for the patient, no unprotected parts of their bodies shall be in the useful beam.

(3) The useful beam shall be restricted to an area of clinical interest.

(Effective October 1, 1982)