BIOLOGICALLY WEIGHTED PERSONAL UV DOSIMETRY

people are exposed to natural or artificial UV radiation in different ways: unintentionally or intentionally, at their workplace or in their spare time. To quantify the amount of individual UV exposure, a perso nal dosimetry is necessary. In research, polysurphone film (PSF) dosim eters are the most frequently used personal UV dosimeters. We use calc ulated weighting factors in the measurement processing of polysulphone him dosimeters. The special weighting factortransforms the dosimeter reading from an equivalent UV dose to the biologically effective UV do se. The factor depends on the investigated problem (action spectrum of the photobiological effect and spectral distribution of the incident UV source). the calibration of PSF was carried out once by a monochrom atic radiation (lambda = 295 nm). The equivalent dose readings are ava ilable from this calibration curve for any investigated question. A pr esented result of this method is the seasonal measurement of erythemal ly effective UV exposure by ambient solar radiation, and the individua l exposure level in a ''normal'' person concerning UV exposure and als o in groups with the risk of a lack of sunshine. Further applications are occupational measurements of the risk of health damage by UV radia tion ( with respect to the limit of the maximum permissible 8h-exposur e according to IRPA/INIRC-guidelines). We controlled the extent of UV exposure in workers welding workplaces. The biological weighting of PS F readings simplifies a routine use of PSF in personal UV monitoring t o investigators without the expending special measurement technology ( e.g. spectroradiometer).