Kemerink and his colleagues calculated the total radiation dose workers were exposed to in his radiology department at the Maastricht Medical Center and what an average Dutch resident might receive at home, based on exposure to naturally occurring radiation sources, such as radon gas.

"Working in our X-ray department results in a reduction in the collective effective dose, not an increase," they wrote, citing the large decrease in radon "potentially achieved by the high ventilation rates common in hospitals."


In their study, the researchers assessed radon concentrations at the hospital over one year. They found that the concentrations were much less than in a typical Dutch home, resulting in a personal dose equivalent of around 0.3 mSv per year. A Dutch resident could expect to receive about 0.9 mSv per year at home, the researchers said.

This means the staff working in the hospital get a lower dose, provided X-ray-induced exposure is lower than 1.25 mSv per year, the researchers said, which it was for 131 out of 144 tested workers and for the whole group on average.

Because Netherlands has relatively low radon concentrations, the authors speculate that "even considerably higher reductions [of exposure at work] are possible in other countries."

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