Developing the radiation protection safety culture in the UK healthcare sector

The radiation safety culture of any organisation is defined by the attitudes, behaviour and actions of its stakeholders towards radiation safety. It depends on all stakeholders at all levels within and outside the organisation. To achieve and maintain a good safety culture requires a comprehensive and sustained effort and integration of good working practices at all levels. Strong positive leadership by the management team is key, along with regular audit, inspection and review. The latter must be relevant to the work being undertaken and should be proportional to the level of risk and existing culture. Efforts to improve and maintain safety culture vary, but include: Promoting positive reinforcement by sustained and active management leadership; regular audits of compliance with regulations and sector best practice guidance; testing to ensure service standards are being consistently achieved and maintained; and methods for identifying and taking action to rectify problems with safety management systems. The International Radiation Protection Association (IRPA www.irpa.net/) has recognised that there is potential to improve how radiation safety challenges are addressed through the development or enhancement of a strong radiation safety culture in all sectors. In the UK, the desire to enhance radiation safety culture has been accompanied by an acknowledgement of the need for appropriate programmes and tools to assist with this. The Society for Radiological Protection (SRP) and its UK partner societies (figure 1) have established a number of sector-specific culture working groups – one of which relates to the healthcare sector – and the current status and early outcomes of their work will be reported at the 14th International Congress of IRPA in Cape Town in May 2016.