Associate Safety Professional Practice Exam

In what unit are employee doses of radiation typically measured in the workplace?

1. Millisieverts

2. Reams

3. Rems

4. Grays

The correct answer is: Rems

Employee doses of radiation in the workplace are typically measured in rems, which quantify the biological effect of ionizing radiation on human tissue. The rem is an older unit that has been widely used in radiation protection to express effective dose, taking into account the type of radiation involved and its biological impact. While the rem is still recognized, it has largely been replaced by the millisievert (a subunit of the sievert) in many standards since the sievert is the SI unit for dose equivalence and is more commonly used in international contexts. Millisieverts are derived from the rem and are often utilized for easier measurement, particularly in scenarios involving low doses. The unit "rems" is tied closely to the historical context of radiation safety; hence, it’s essential for professionals in the field to understand its significance even as the industry moves towards more standardized units like sieverts. The other options do not fit as standard measurements for employee doses of radiation: reams is unrelated to radiation measurement, and grays measure the physical absorbed dose of radiation but do not account for biological effects, making them less applicable for assessing risk in workplace settings.