Task Group 79
Effective Dose

The Task Group on Effective Dose will produce a report to provide guidance on when the quantity ‘effective dose’ can be used and when it should not. Experience has shown that ‘effective dose’, which has been defined and introduced by ICRP for risk management purposes, i.e. for risk limitation and optimization, is widely used in radiological protection and related fields beyond its original purpose, incorrectly in some cases. Useful guidance on restrictions on the use of the quantity is provided by Committee 2 in annex B to the main recommendations. This guidance needs to be further expanded, and proposals made for the control of exposures and risk management in situations where ‘effective dose’ should not be used. Specific advice on the use of dose coefficients may also be given.

An important focus of the report will be medical exposures. The use of ‘effective dose’ for patient exposures is problematic particularly when it is used to assess risk in specific individuals, including children. However, effective dose may be a useful tool for comparisons of, for example, different diagnostic examinations and interventional procedures, the use of different technologies for the same medical examinations, and the use of similar technologies and procedures in different hospitals and countries.