Workshop on the Prevention of Accidents and Incidents in Radiotherapy

Application Deadline for Nominee(s) of Invited IAEA Member States: 10 May 2018

Purpose

The purpose of this workshop is to:

• provide participants with the necessary knowledge and skill to identify and manage risk in radiotherapy,
• handle the documentation, reporting and reviewing of accidents and near incidents,
• develop procedures based on lessons learned,
• perform regular internal peer review and auditing of their own radiotherapy practices, and
• develop an implementation plan to support safe use of radiation in radiation oncology facilities.

Expected Outputs

Participants will be required to develop an implementation plan that can be used in their facilities to improve safety. Radiotherapy in these facilities should be safe, allowing patients to receive good quality and “accident free” treatments.

Background Information

Radiotherapy and brachytherapy have long been effective ways of treating cancer, but it is mandatory that these services be provided safely, considering the complexity of this high-technology treatment modality and the potential for serious consequences when something goes wrong. It is worth considering that there have been more deaths and early acute health effects due to radiation accidents in medical uses than due to any other source, including accidents at nuclear facilities.

While there is broad agreement by experts that radiotherapy is a very safe form of treatment, where more than 5 million treatments are delivered annually in the world, there is also recognition that accidents have happened and continue to happen. Strengthening safety in radiotherapy and brachytherapy is therefore essential. By preventing accidents and errors in radiotherapy, patients have a better chance to benefit from the use of radiation in medicine. Radiotherapy is complicated by the rapidly expanding technology used and there is a need to continue efforts to educate users in accident prevention.