Blog
Radioactive Materials Program: Easy Access in MetaField
May 06, 2020
Jim Murphy, CEO, STRATA, Inc. and Bob Tuttle, CEO of Agile Frameworks presented at the GBA 2019 Fall Conference. This post is an excerpt from Jim Murphy’s portion of the session titled “Delivering Real-Time Results—The Future of Laboratory Operations.”
When STRATA implemented the MetaField software platform, Murphy knew that there were other areas of their business where they could leverage the technology to help streamline company operations—beyond field data collection and laboratory testing. In a previous blog, Murphy described how STRATA uses MetaField for their Safety Program. In this post he outlines how they use it for their Radioactive Materials Program.
We are currently rolling out our radioactive materials program in MetaField because of the easy access. It’s simple to provide oversight to make sure that we maintain our six-month gauge inventory and complete annual audits. We also can check to make sure we complete leak tests.
Because we operate in multiple jurisdictions—in North Dakota, Washington, Wyoming, and Idaho—we uploaded the entire program into MetaField so it’s accessible to all of our offices. Instead of having paper copies around 10 offices where we might miss updating a copy, there’s only one digital copy to access. Everyone has access to the changes that we make.
We designed the program so that we can store the record of our six-month gauge inventories in MetaField. They system ties those records into all of the nuclear densometers records that are already in the MetaField database. With this data in MetaField, our corporate radiation safety officer can look at the office audits, the six-month inventories, the leak tests, and the calibrations. Using a computer or his phone, the corporate radiation safety officer can access all of this data at any time to make sure everything is up to date.
We do daily check out of densometers two ways. One is that we still maintain a written log in the offices. Secondly, you can record each gauge’s daily standard count in MetaField. The system logs the gauge used on every density test. MetaField tracks the gauges and records when someone goes out with a gauge on a project. MetaField locks down exactly when they were there, each of their standard calibrations, and if the gauge was within the manufacturer’s accepted tolerance. We haven’t fully perfected the radioactive materials program, but we're getting there.
In addition to tracking nuclear densometers’ calibration, you can store and manage calibration dates and results for all of your field and lab equipment in MetaField. You also can upload training and “how to” documentation for your field and lab staff. This will help you to properly communicate and make sure your staff have access to best practices when needed.
Read the posts in our series that outline how you can use MetaField for safety programs, quality management systems, and lab accreditation.