EMF - Control of Electromagnetic Fields at Work Regulations (CEMFAW) 2016
Risk Assessments
The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require employers to carry out risk assessments covering all risks in the workplace. This includes the risks associated with MRI. The Control of Electromagnetic Fields at Work (CEMFAW) Regulations 2016 have recently reinforced this, requiring employers to assess exposure to electromagnetic fields and then assess the resulting risks to their staff. The BIR MR Safety Working Party has developed generic risk assessments to help sites with this task. They will need to be adapted to suit local circumstances, and some of them contain options which individual MRI facilities will need to choose between depending on local needs and preferences. Individual employing organisations will have their own risk assessment proformas, and sites will need to copy the text of the generic risk assessments into the appropriate local format. They will also need to complete the risk grading and risk reduction sections at the end of the forms, or their own local equivalents. It is recommended that the MR Responsible Person undertakes this task, supported by the MR Safety Expert.
The MR Safety Working Party includes representatives of all of the key professional bodies and societies relevant to MRI: the BIR itself, IPEM, RCR, SCoR, BAMRR, ISMRM together with representatives of government agencies such as the HSE, MHRA and PHE. The HSE is not in a position to endorse the risk assessments that have been developed, but has confirmed that they reflect the approach that HSE has taken to implementing the EU Physical Agents (EMF) Directive in British law in the form of the CEMFAW Regulations.
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