2. In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise Interpretation requires— “accident” means any unintended event, including operating errors, equipment failures and other mishaps, the consequences or potential consequences of which are not negligible; “activity” means an amount of radionuclide in a given energy state at a given time; “becquerel” means an activity of a quantity of radioactive material in which one nucleus decays per second; “brachytherapy” means a medical procedure performed by placing a radioactive material directly into, or on, the patient; “brachytherapy implant” means a radioactive material placed in a patient temporarily or permanently; “calibration” means a set of operations that establish, under specified conditions, the relationship between values of quantities indicated by a measuring instrument or measuring system, or values represented by a material measure or a reference material, and the corresponding values realised by measurement standards; “carer” means a person who willingly and voluntarily helps in the care, support and comfort of a patient undergoing radiological procedures for medical diagnosis or medical treatment; “compulsory standard” has the meaning assigned to the words in the Compulsory Standards Act, 2017; Act N.o 3 of 2017 “contamination” means the unintended or undesirable presence of, or the process giving rise to, radioactive substances on surfaces or within solids, liquids or gases; “controlled area” means an area in which specific protection measures and safety provisions are, or can be, required for controlling exposures or preventing the spread of contamination in normal working conditions, and preventing or limiting the extent of potential radiation exposure; 68 Statutory Instruments 19th January, 2024 “decontamination” means the complete or partial removal of contamination by a deliberate physical, chemical or biological process; “commissioning” means the process of systems and components of facilities and activities, which having been constructed, are made operational and verified to be in accordance with the design and to have met the required performance criteria; “diagnostic reference level” means a level used in medical imaging to indicate whether, in routine conditions, the dose to the patient or the amount of radio pharmaceuticals administered in a specified radiological procedure for medical imaging is unusually high or low for that procedure; “dose” means a measure of the energy deposited by radiation in a target or patient; “emergency” means a non routine situation or event that necessitates prompt action, primarily to mitigate a hazard or adverse consequences to human life, health, property and the environment; “external beam radiotherapy” means a radiation therapy that uses a machine to aim high energy rays at the cancer from outside of the body; “exposure” means the state or condition of being subject to irradiation; “external exposure” means exposure to radiation from a radioactive material or radiation emitting device outside the body; “health facility” has the meaning assigned to the words in the Health Professions Act, 2009; “health practitioner” has the meaning assigned to the words in the Health Professions Act, 2009; “high dose rate brachytherapy” means high dose rate brachytherapy techniques; “International Atomic Energy Agency” means an international organisation that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for a military purpose which entered into force on 29th July, 1957 and was ratified by Zambia on 8th January, 1969; Act No. 24 of 2009 Act No. 24 of 2009 19th January, 2024 Statutory Instruments 69 “investigation level” means the value of a quantity per unit area or volume at or above which an investigation would be conducted; “low dose rate brachytherapy” means performing a medical procedure by placing a low dose radioactive material directly into or on the patient; “maintenance” means the organised activity, both administrative and technical, of keeping structures, systems and components in good operating condition, including both preventive and corrective aspects; “medical exposure” means exposure incurred by a patient for the purposes of that patient’s own medical treatment or diagnostic examination; “medical physicist” means a person with specialist education and training in the concepts and techniques of applying physics in medicine and competent to practice independently in one or more of the subfields of medical physics; “medical radiological equipment” means radiological equipment used in a radiotherapy facility to perform radiotherapy procedures that delivers an exposure to an individual or directly controls or influences the extent of that exposure; “occupational exposure” means exposure of a worker incurred in the course of duty of that worker; “operator” means a person in charge of a radiotherapy facility; “public exposure” means exposure incurred by members of the public due to sources in planned exposure situations, emergency exposure situations and existing exposure situations, excluding any occupational exposure or medical exposure; “radiation monitoring” means the measurement of dose, dose rate or activity for reasons relating to the assessment or control of exposure to radiation or exposure due to radioactive substances, and the interpretation of the results; “radiation protection programme” means a program developed by a radiotherapy facility on radiation protection; “radiation therapy” means a branch of clinical medicine that uses ionising radiation for the treatment of a patient with cancer or other diseases; 70 Statutory Instruments 19th January, 2024 “radiation source” means anything that may cause radiation exposure by emitting ionising radiation or releasing radioactive substances or materials; “radioactive material” means a material designated by the Authority as being subject to regulatory control because of its radioactivity; “radioactive waste” means a material for which no further use is foreseen that contains, or is contaminated with, radionuclides at activity concentrations greater than clearance levels as determined by the Authority; “radiological procedure” means a medical imaging procedure or therapeutic procedure that involves ionising radiation delivered by a radiation generator, a device containing a sealed source or an unsealed source or by means of a radiopharmaceutical administered to a patient; “radiotherapy facility” means a health facility where radiation therapy is performed; “supervised area” means an area not designated as a controlled area but for which occupational exposure conditions are kept under review, and where specific protection measures or safety provisions are not usually required; “supporter” has the meaning assigned to the word in the Mental Health Act, 2019; “young person” has the meaning assigned to the words in the Constitution; “Zambia Bureau of Standards” means the Zambia Bureau of Standards established under the Standards Act, 2017; and “Zambia Compulsory Standards Agency” means the Zambia Compulsory Standards Agency established under the Compulsory Standards Act, 2017. Act No. 6 of 2019 Cap. 1 Act No. 4 of 2017 Act No. 3 of 2017 19th January, 2024 Statutory Instruments 71 PART II RADIATION PROTECTION MANAGEMENT
