ALARA and Chemical Exposure: A Prudent Practice
ALARA (as low as reasonably achievable) is a risk management control developed by the Health Physics community in the early days of research on radioactive substances.
The dose response effect from exposure to radioactive materials was not well known, as evidenced by the fact that so many of the early researchers died of radiation poisoning. Even as knowledge concerning the health effects of ionizing radiation grew, specific dose response correlations remained uncertain. Consequently, the approach to keep all exposures to radiation as low as reasonably achievable seemed to be prudent. more
