Originally Posted by kbug43

I'm an engineer, not in the medical field, but I have to have annual radiation safety training simply to work in a materials characterization lab where there is a SEM and a real time x-ray inspection system. There is additional training to actually use the equipment. Our RSO (radiation safety officer) does monthly audits with the Geiger counter and the state comes in to inspect annually. We have an array of radiation monitors in the lab and those monitors are calibrated annually. The x-ray has interlocks and the SEM basically can't operate in an unsafe condition (it would burn out the filament). I worked in that lab while pregnant and neither I or my obstetrician had any concerns over radiation safety.

Do the TSOs at my local airport with the backscatter machines (which are virtually never used) have annual radiation safety training? Are they even capable of explaining the difference between ionizing and non-ionizing radiation? Do they have a radiation safety officer monitoring the equipment for their safety and that of the traveling public? How are these backscatter machines calibrated, how often, and by what lab?

I suspect I know the answers to these questions, and I don't like those answers. Privacy concerns aside, I will not use a device that emits ionizing radiation if it's not operated by a physician or a licensed radiology tech.