10.16.10 Performance Indicators
Performance indicators should combine leading measures of planned safety activity with lagging measures of events and failures. Examples include:
- completion of scheduled audits, inspections, control tests, and Plan reviews;
- completion and assessment of required training and competence;
- timely closure and effectiveness verification of corrective actions;
- instrument calibration, functional-check, and maintenance compliance;
- RF incidents, confirmed overexposures, control failures, and unauthorized access;
- alarms, near misses, hazard reports, and the quality and timeliness of reporting;
- completion of exposure reassessments and management-of-change reviews; and
- currency of controlled documents, source information, and review schedules.
Indicators require context. A low number of reported incidents or near misses does not by itself prove good performance and may indicate weak reporting. Trends should be interpreted with information about work volume, source risk, organizational change, audit depth, and reporting culture.
10.16.11 Summary
Auditing and continual improvement keep the RF safety program and its RF Radiation Safety Plans aligned with actual sources, work, access, and obligations. Audits should test both technical compliance and implementation of the management system, using competent and appropriately independent reviewers. Inspection, document review, consultation, corrective action, management review, and balanced performance indicators provide different evidence about effectiveness. Findings are complete only when actions are implemented, verified, and used to improve relevant Plans and organization-wide arrangements.