Price, T; Wamuziri, S and Gupta, N (2009) Magnet safety in magnetic resonance imaging suite construction. In: Dainty, A R J (ed.) Proceedings of 25th Annual ARCOM Conference, 7-9 September 2009, Nottingham, UK.
Abstract
This paper examines whether the parties concerned with the design and construction of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) suites adequately address the risks to construction staff from the presence of the static magnetic field of the magnet during the construction phase, and whether this hinders effective health and safety management on site. Concerns are raised about which party to the works is actually responsible for site access controls once the magnet has been energised and to where these controls should extend. Screening of operatives, the need for its documentation and the desirability of health surveillance for those operatives exposed to the static magnetic field of 0.5 mT and above is discussed. Evidence is presented of conflicting advice from the NHS regarding the designed position of the 0.5 mT footprint of the static magnetic field being retained within the MRI scanner room or allowed to pass to the technical room. There appears to be a contrast between operational MRI suite procedures and those at construction stage. This results in there being in a gap in knowledge needed for the efficient management of health and safety on site covering the period within the construction phase between magnet energisation and handover of the MRI suite to the Client for operational use.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | design management; health and safety; project management |
| Index terms: | presence, health and safety, operative, design and construction, health and safety management, site access control, design management, documentation, project management, construction phase, surveillance, screening, evidence |
| Subjects: | environmental science, contractual arrangements, practitioner, health safety and environment, evaluation and assessment methods, project delivery, monitoring and control systems, project management theory and practice, management, design process, professional development |
| Topics: | Health and Safety, Information Management, Roles and Professions, Design Practice, Research Practice, Governance, Sustainability, Project Management, Procurement, Human Resources |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here