Timely Receipt of Bioassay Results

DOE-STD-1121-98

accuracy in these early assessments is much less than for the measurements which will be used for the

final dose assessment.

Provisions for assuring that a worker has received the appropriate in vivo measurements or has

provided the scheduled excreta sample should not be overlooked in designing a program. A reasonable

grace period is appropriate to deal with workers who forget to submit excreta samples or who are unable

to meet the schedule. For some routine sampling frequencies, a grace period of 30 or 60 days may be

appropriate. However, administrative actions (e.g., work restriction) may be appropriate for a worker

who is substantially overdue for measurement.

Ideally, results of new-hire or baseline measurements should be available before a worker

commences the work requiring the bioassay. This prevents loss of baseline information if a sample is lost

during analysis. However, loss during analysis tends to be a rare occurrence, and it is an acceptable

practice to begin work once the sample has been collected but prior to receipt of results.

Where air sample results form the basis for identifying intakes and making preliminary dose

assessments, some kind of initial results (e.g., gross alpha or gross beta concentration) should be available

within a few hours of obtaining the sample. This is particularly important for samples used to monitor for

unknown or changing work conditions. Routine air samples for well-established processes and facilities

may have longer turnaround times (e.g., as much as a few days), provided they are not the sole method of

detecting off-normal workplace conditions.