SC&A’s Evaluation of 

ORAUT-OTIB-0088, 

Revision 01, “External 

Dose Reconstruction”

Ron Buchanan, PhD, CHP

Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker 

Heath, Subcommittee for Procedure Reviews

November 3, 2021
ORAUT-OTIB-0088, revision 01, 

“External Dose Reconstruction”

◆ Revision 00 issued in 2018

◆ Revision 01 issued in 2019

– Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health tasked 

SC&A with review of revision 01 on March 15, 2021

– SC&A issued review of revision 01 on September 3, 

2021

◆ Revision 02 issued June 11, 2021

– SC&A not yet tasked to review revision 02

2
Purpose of OTIB-0088, revision 01

◆ To provide external dose reconstruction guidance 

using:

– OCAS-IG-001

– Approved technical information bulletins and site 

profiles

– ORAUT procedures

◆ For exposure to photons, neutrons, electrons, 

ambient dose, and x-rays

3
Outline of OTIB-0088, revision 01

◆ General approach to:

– External dosimetry records

– Occupational medical x-ray dose

– Incident investigation reports

– Types of external radiation exposures

– Conversion of external dose to organ dose

– Uncertainty

◆ Attachments

– Attachment A: Assigning missed dose

– Attachment B: Onsite ambient dose

– Attachment C: DOE adoption of ICRP Publication 60 neutron 

weighting factors by site

4
SC&A’s review of the approach used 

in OTIB-0088, revision 01

◆ SC&A evaluated NIOSH’s OTIB-0088 approach 

to assigning external dose and found it 

reasonable and useful

◆ SC&A had no findings or observations 

concerning the approach used in OTIB-0088

5
SC&A’s review of the methods used 

in OTIB-0088, revision 01

◆ SC&A concurs with NIOSH’s methods, equations, 

and recommendations in OTIB-0088 

◆ However, SC&A’s previous review (SC&A, 2019) of 

OTIB-0088, revision 00 (NIOSH, 2018), did have an 

observation concerning the lack of information in 

OTIB-0088, revision 00, if it is used to facilitate 

cancellation of ORAUT-PROC-0060, “Occupational 

Onsite Ambient Dose Reconstruction for DOE Sites,” 

revision 01 (NIOSH, 2006)

6
Observation1: Path forward for 

PROC-0060 data in OTIB-0088

◆ Observation 1 discussed during the Subcommittee 

for Procedure Reviews meeting of February 13, 2019 

(ABRWH, 2019, pp. 87–91) 

◆ The subcommittee closed SC&A’s (2019) 

observation 1 with the understanding that NIOSH 

would consider SC&A’s recommendation further and 

issue an email with a path forward

◆ SC&A is not aware of NIOSH issuing an email 

addressing SC&A’s concern with the cancellation of 

ORAUT-PROC-0060

7
SC&A’s review of the documentation 

used in OTIB-0088, revision 01

◆ SC&A evaluated documentation in OTIB-0088 

and found the previous calculational error in 

attachment A has been corrected in revision 01 

◆ However, SC&A did note several areas that 

would benefit from further clarification or 

explanation, which are listed as four observations 

as discussed in the following slides

8
Observation 2: Clarification of 

covered x-ray examinations

◆ The first paragraph of page 8 states:

– “Only doses that were received before the diagnosis of the 

primary cancer are included in the dose reconstruction.”

– “If the worker received medical X-ray examinations for 

occupational health screening and as a condition of 

employment at a covered site, dose reconstruction includes 

those doses.” 

◆ It would be clarifying if the statement included the 

fact that x-ray examinations that were performed for 

diagnostic or therapeutic reasons are excluded.

9
Observation 3: Unmonitored worker 

potential exposure

◆ Page 10 of OTIB-0088 states:

– “In general, it is expected that reconstructed dose to unmonitored 

workers will be less than dose to monitored workers.”

◆ This statement does not appear to be substantiated 

because it does not consider the fact that “unmonitored” 

workers also include workers whose records have been 

lost, destroyed, or are illegible.

◆ Some classes of workers had their radiation exposures 

controlled by their primary employer (e.g., subcontractor), 

who did not necessarily follow the same procedures as 

the prime contractors.

10
Observation 4: Use of multiple 

badge records

◆ Page 13 of OTIB-0088 states:

– “However, for cases in which multiple badges were issued for a 

particular monitoring period, only one zero measurement should 

be assigned per monitoring period.”

◆ While this policy may apply to multiple badges from the 

same facility worn during the same time period, there are 

instances where a worker may have worked at several 

facilities at a site and been issued different badges at 

each facility (e.g., Idaho National Laboratory). In those 

cases, all badge results should be analyzed.

11
Observation 5: Clarification of application 

of NCRP-to-ICRP correction factors

◆ Attachment C provides the dates that DOE sites switched 

to using the ICRP 60 neutron weighting factors 

◆ Need to include a statement that indicates that the 

NCRP-to-ICRP neutron correction factors need not be 

applied after the implementation of the ICRP 60 neutron 

weighting factors in the 2009–2011 timeframe 

◆ Not all site profiles instruct the dose reconstructor to not 

apply the NCRP-to-ICRP correction factors after the 

implementation date

12
Summary

◆ No findings

◆ Five observations to be addressed

13
Questions?

14
References

Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health. (2019). Subcommittee for 

Procedure Review Wednesday, February 13, 2019 [Transcript of teleconference 

meeting]. https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/ocas/pdfs/abrwh/2019/sctr021319-508.pdf

International Commission on Radiological Protection. (1991). 1990 

recommendations of the International Commission on Radiological Protection 

(Publication 60). Ann. ICRP 21(1-3).

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. (2006). Occupational 

onsite ambient dose reconstruction for DOE sites (ORAUT-PROC-0060, rev. 01). 

https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/ocas/pdfs/arch/orau/orauprocs/or-proc-60-r1.pdf

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. (2007). External dose 

reconstruction implementation guideline (OCAS-IG-001, rev. 3). SRDB Ref. 

ID 38864

15
References 2

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. (2018). External dose 

reconstruction (ORAUT-OTIB-0088, rev. 00). 

https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/ocas/pdfs/arch/tibs/or-t88-r0-508.pdf

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. (2019). External dose 

reconstruction (ORAUT-OTIB-0088, rev. 01). 

https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/ocas/pdfs/arch/tibs/or-t88-r1-508.pdf

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. (2021). External dose 

reconstruction (ORAUT-OTIB-0088, rev. 02). 

https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/ocas/pdfs/tibs/or-t88-r2-508.pdf

SC&A, Inc. (2019). SC&A’S evaluation of ORAUT-OTIB-0088, revision 00, 

“External dose reconstruction” (SCA-TR-2019-PR001, rev. 0). 

https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/ocas/pdfs/abrwh/scarpts/sca-tib88-010819-508.pdf

16