Why the radium wasn't found.
Although this search for lost radium tubes was conducted some forty years ago, the lessons deduced in this report are still relevant today. The origin of the loss and five stages of the search, which turned out to be unsuccessful, are described in detail. These included monitoring the hospital incinerator, its ash, residential pathways, the municipal rubbish tip, the hospital theatre and its drains, and the hospital environs. Incidentally, the searcher nearly became a victim of quicksand, and a false lead was attributed to the use of uranium coloring agent in the wall tiles of the hospital theatre. The deduced lessons include the necessity for users of sealed radioactive sources to have adequately trained staff; to follow an accredited code of practice; to have ready access to a radiation survey meter; to have a suitable storage safe and a meticulously maintained source register. Some advice is given about the conduct of a search and desirable personal attributes of a proficient searcher.
School of Safety Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. r.rosen@unsw.edu.au
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D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D018788:Radioactive Hazard Release; D011883:Radium
D011883:Radium