PRESS STATEMENT BY THE MINISTER FOR NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT,

THE HON. K.E. NEWMAN, M.P. Â·

NEW APPOINTMENT TO AAEC SAFETY REVIEW COMMITTEE

Dr S.J. Krister, Commission,  Environmental and  Special Health Services, Health Commission of New South  Wales, has been appointed a member of the Australian.Atomic  Energy Commission Safety Review Committee for an initial

period of three years. .

Announcing the appointment to-day, the Minister for  National Development, Mr Kevin Newman,  said that an important  responsibility of the AAEC was to protect the health and -   safety of staff employed at its Research Establishment at  Lucas Heights, near Sydney.

"While the Commission has established and operates  a comprehensive safety system at Lucas Heights", Mr Newman  said, "it is conscious of the need to have its procedures and  Ã¢ÂÂ   facilities subjected to review and examination by an

independent body external to the Commission.

:  "To this end the AAEC Safety Review Committee was created in 1962 and since then has reviewed periodically the  health and safety standards adopted by the Commission -particularly in. the operation of its reactors and in the use  of radiation, radioactive substances and toxic materials.

.  "The Safety Review Committee undertakes such reviews  and examinations and reports on them to the Australian Atomic  Energy Commission."

Other members of the Safety Review Committee are  Mr D.J. Stevens,  former Director, Australian Radiation Laboratory  Commonwealth Department of Health, Melbourne (Chairman, Safety  Review Committee), Dr P.L.T. Ilbery, Medical Director, Cancer

Institute, Melbourne, and Mr J.A. Telford, Assistant General  Manager, the Broken Hill Proprietary Company Ltd., Newcastle.

The terms of reference of the AAEC Safety Review  Committee require the Committee to review periodically and  assess the effectiveness of the organisation,  standards and  procedures adopted by the AAEC to ensure the safety of operation  at its Research Establishment. The Committee reviews take into

account both radiological safety and general industrial safety  with respect to Commission Staff qt the Research Establishment  and with respect to any members of the public who could be

affected by operations at the Research Establishment.

CANBERRA 2 MARCH 1978

