With a view to ensuring that the guidelines of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) and the Hazardous Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules are strictly implemented, a UGC expert committee has suggested the setting up of university committees to review safety in handling radioactive and other hazardous materials used by the institutions.
The University Safety Committee (USC) will ensure that the AERB Regulations and Hazardous Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules are strictly implemented, according to the panel that was constituted following the mishandling of Cobalt-60 isotope by Delhi University in April this year that led to the death of one person and injuries to 10 others.
The expert committee, which has presented its interim report to the University Grants Commission, has recommended the formation of an apex committee at the UGC level that would monitor safety committees at the university level. This committee will have experts from the fields of radiation safety, radioactive waste management and hazardous material management. The universities will have to send their annual reports on safety to the apex committee.
The UGC will also encourage the universities to promote refresher courses for staff members and students. The syllabus for new entrants must include such safety courses also, it has said. Depending on the usage of radio isotopes, hazardous chemicals and materials, the laboratories should prepare standard operating procedures (SOPs) which will have to be displayed prominently in English and vernacular languages in laboratories.
The UGC has been asked to ensure that reports in the prescribed format are obtained from every university and institution and are duly signed by the Vice-Chancellor or the head of the institution.
The expert committee has said that though it sought information on storage and handling of radioactive and hazardous substances used by students from 500 universities and institutions, only 21 bothered to respond. When its team visited three of the universities, much of the information they gave in the prescribed pro forma was inadequate. At one site, no information was provided about a laboratory irradiator that had not been used for more than 20 years. When the committee inspected this particular facility, it was inaccessible.
The medical use of radioactive substances and X-rays for diagnosis and treatment is extensive and fairly well established. However, in universities and other institutions of higher education and research, awareness of and adherence to regulations seems to be lacking, as has been observed in the recent casual disposal of Cobalt-60 isotope, says the report.
Chaired by Professor G.K. Rath, head of the Department of Radiation Oncology at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, the committee inspected the laboratories using radioactive and other hazardous materials in the Pune University, the University of Hyderabad and Osmania University, where it detected serious lacunae in storage and handling.
