7.7.1 Medical Assessment
A confirmed or suspected occupational RF overexposure should be treated as an incident even when the exposed person has no immediate symptoms. The first priorities are to prevent further exposure, provide appropriate first aid, and obtain urgent medical assistance for burns, heat illness, ocular symptoms, loss of consciousness, significant neurological effects, breathing difficulty, or any other serious condition.
- Move the person away from the RF field, or de-energize the source where this can be done safely.
- Provide first aid and emergency care appropriate to any burns, heat illness, electric shock, fall, or other secondary injury.
- Arrange medical assessment as soon as practicable for a suspected or confirmed overexposure, including when initial symptoms are absent or minor.
- Give the clinician the best available exposure information, including frequency, waveform, duration, source and antenna details, body position, exposed region, measured or calculated field values, and the status of controls and protective equipment.
- Preserve instrument records, equipment settings, witness information, photographs, and other evidence needed to reconstruct the exposure.
- Report and investigate the incident in accordance with workplace, regulatory, and organizational requirements.
Warmth, erythema, pain, burns, heat-stress symptoms, tingling, involuntary muscle contraction, visual disturbance, and other neurological complaints may be relevant to an exposure event, but many are nonspecific. Their presence does not prove that RF exposure was the cause, and their absence does not prove that the applicable restriction was not exceeded. Diagnosis and follow-up should therefore be undertaken by a qualified health practitioner using both the clinical findings and a technically sound reconstruction of the exposure.
Some thermal injuries may not be immediately visible, and symptoms can develop or become clearer after the exposure has ended. Medical advice should therefore determine whether observation or follow-up is required. The site operator should support the assessment by providing accurate technical information rather than attempting to diagnose an RF injury from symptoms alone.
The incident investigation should determine whether an exposure restriction was exceeded, how the event occurred, whether the assessment contains significant uncertainty, and what controls are required to prevent recurrence. A moderate exceedance of a conservative exposure restriction does not automatically establish tissue injury, but it still requires an appropriate technical and organizational response.