Radonova UK’s Dr Maria Dugdale and CEO Karl Nilsson represented Radonova at the 22nd edition of the UK’s largest radon summit, organised annually by the UK Health Security Agency (formerly Public Health England).
This year’s event took place on 19 November and brought together stakeholders including scientists, academics and industry specialists to network and discover the latest radon updates and publications from the UK Health Security Agency. Invited speakers delivered on a range of topics including Dr Dugdale, who summarised the aims and successes of the recent UK Radon Awareness Week on behalf of the UK Radon Association, of which she is Chair.
Other highlights included a study by the UKHSA (“Long-term comparison and performance study of consumer grade electronic radon integrating monitors”, DOI link) concerning rising use of – and risks associated with – widely-available domestic digital radon monitoring devices. The study illustrated how, through rigorous testing in their calibration chambers, manufacturer’s claims that such units have no need for calibration (or are self-calibrating) can now be exposed as untrue, with one particular device registering a reading twice the level of that inside the chamber. Radonova is keen to highlight that this is very much not the case with its cutting-edge SPIRIT digital monitor, which is of course fully calibrated, ensuring measurement readings are of the highest precision and quality.
A recent UK case study was another strong topic of conversation at the event, with an industry mitigator detailing the challenges it encountered whilst trying to bring down radon levels at a UK boarding school, which was fined £50k in 2023 for exposing pupils and staff to high levels of radon gas. Whilst the remedial work is now complete, the question still remains: is follow-up testing still being carried out, and if so by what means? Use of the uncalibrated and uncertified digital devices detailed above to do so will not stand up in a court of law; as was highlighted, the Ionising Radiation Regulations requires an instrument to be calibrated.
However, the event also highlighted an exemplary case of radon proactivity: Maidstone & Tunbridge Wells NHS trust, which has set up an internal ‘radon group’ specifically to deal with workplace health and safety. The essential use of other radiation sources in patient care presents a significant complication which the group has worked hard to address, designing its own testing surveys to carefully manage risk assessments accordingly – no doubt something all present at the forum will have applauded.
