Hazardous Substances Act, 1973 (Act No. 15 of 1973) Regulations Group I to IV Hazardous Substances Regulations Group IV Hazardous Substances Regulations relating to Group IV Hazardous Substances Chapter 1 : Definitions 1. Definitions

 

In these regulations "the Act" means the Hazardous Substances Act, 1973 (Act No. 15 of 1973), and an expression to which a meaning has been assigned in the Act shall have such meaning and, unless inconsistent with the context--

 

"acting radiation protection officer"

means a person appointed as such in terms of regulation 6;

 

"authority"

means a written authority referred to in section 3A of the Act;

 

"calendar year"

means a period from 1 January to 31 December;

 

"contamination"

means the contamination by any Group IV hazardous substance of any surface or any part of any object, material, liquid or gas;

 

"controlled area"

means any area—

 

"direct-reading dosimeter"

means a dosimeter from which the registered radiation dose may be read directly;

 

"dispose of"

in relation to a Group IV hazardous substance, includes sell or dump;

 

"dose"

in relation to ionising radiation, means any dose quantity or sum of dose quantities prescribed in Annexure 2;

 

"dosimetry service"

means a dosimetry service referred to in regulation 23;

 

"employee"

means a person in the employ of or in training with the holder of an authority who in the course of his employment or training with such holder carries out any of the activities referred to in section 3A(1) of the Act for which such authority was granted, or any action with regard to such activity, and includes an employee of a public conveyer;

 

"holder of an authority"

means any person in whose name an authority has been issued and is in force, and "holder" has a corresponding meaning;

 

"internal rules"

means the rules referred to in regulation 7;

 

"ionising radiation"

means electromagnetic or particle radiation capable of producing ions, directly or indirectly, while passing through matter, and "radiation" has a corresponding meaning;

 

"medical physicist"

means a person who is registered as such with the South African Medical and Dental Council and whose certificate of registration as a medical physicist has been endorsed by that Council to the effect that he is competent to practise as a radiation medical physicist;

 

"overexposure"

means any exposure of a person to ionising radiation to the extent that any dose limit prescribed in Annexure 2 relevant to that person is exceeded;

 

"particle radiation"

means the emission of nuclear particles;

 

"patient"

means a person who is or was exposed to ionising radiation for medical reasons;

 

"post"

means a post which has been specifically created, or an existing post, on the establishment referred to in regulation 6(1), and of which the duty sheet includes the duties of the radiation protection officer;

 

"public conveyer"

means any person, except a holder of an authority, who conveys a Group IV hazardous substance for or on behalf of another person, irrespective of whether or not such conveyance occurs for payment;

 

"radiation incident"

means a single event or series of events which occur during the use of a Group IV hazardous substance, and which result in the harmful or potentially harmful exposure of any person to ionising radiation as a direct result of the use of such substance;

 

"radiation protection"

means protection against ionising radiation;

 

"radiation protection officer"

means a person appointed as such in terms of regulation 6, and includes an acting radiation protection officer;

 

"registered radiation worker"

means any person who is potentially exposed through his occupation to more than three tenths of the occupational dose limit referred to in Annexure 2 and who is registered in terms of regulation 14 as a radiation worker, and "radiation worker" has a corresponding meaning;

 

"repair"

in relation to a sealed source or device containing a Group IV hazardous substance, means the performance of any work on such source or device, as the case may be, for the purpose of restoring the original function thereof, but does not include the modification of the sealed source or device;

 

"sealed source"

means a Group IV hazardous substance that is firmly bonded within solid inactive material or sealed in an inactive capsule of sufficient mechanical strength to exclude the possibility of contact with such substance and of the dispersion thereof into the environment under foreseeable conditions of use and wear; but this definition shall not apply where bonding or encapsulation is solely for the purpose of storage, transport or disposal;

 

"shielding"

means shielding against ionising radiation through the use of lead or other suitable material or through distance in such a manner that the exposure at any point on the external surface of such shielding or at the boundary of any boundary barrier surrounding any premises or device is such that it does not exceed the applicable maximum dose limits determined in Annexure 2;

 

"transport"

in relation to a Group IV hazardous substance, means carriage of that substance on a road or through any other public place (whether in a vehicle or not), or by rail, on an inland waterway, by sea or by air, and in the case of transport by vehicle such substance shall be deemed as being transported from the time that it is loaded onto the vehicle for the purpose of transporting it until it is unloaded from that vehicle, but such substance shall not be considered as being transported if—

 

"unsealed source"

means any Group IV hazardous substance that is not a sealed source; and

 

"wearing period"

means the period from the issuing of a personal dosimeter to an employee to the replacement thereof.