The Health Protection Report (HPR) is a national weekly digest on infections and other health protection topics. Volume 13, issue 17, focusses on radon, the largest source of radiation exposure in the UK. Radon exposure is the second highest cause of lung cancer (after smoking) and a significant cause of lung cancer for non-smokers.
The report confirms that advice from PHE combined with the specific requirements outlined in Building Regulations since 1993 have led to a decrease in homes affected by radon.
Since 1993, new properties built in areas of the UK that exceed acceptable radon levels have been required to have suitable protection measures installed. The percentage of homes with radon protection that are above the Action Level of 200 becquerels per cubic metre (Bq pcm) is 12% compared with 32% in all properties built without protection in comparable areas.
Radon is created by the radioactive decay of uranium that occurs naturally in all rocks and soils. In modern offices and homes there can be insufficient ventilation to remove the risk of radon exposure and it can be breathed in. A report published by Public Health England estimated that radon is a cause in over 1,100 lung cancer deaths each year in the UK.
How can GGS help?
GGS is a member of the Radon Council, with it’s Technical Director, John Naylor, as it’s current vice-chair. We are committed to providing safe and discrete radon testing using state of the art technology.
Addressing radon is also important in the construction of new buildings. GGS carries out a unique radon monitoring services as an addition to its continuous ground-gas monitoring and risk assessment service and will provide professional mitigation and remediation advice.
If you require more information about our Radon services please contact us on 0161 232 7465.
The following pages include news articles, videos, guidance notes and white papers on a range of ground gas related topics which we hope you will find of interest. Please browse through but if you can’t find something on your particular issue of interest, we’d be very pleased to hear from you so we can put that right.
Video
GGS Webinar: Continuous Ground Gas Monitoring – Trust, Telemetry and Calibration
Catch up on this webinar with Simon Talbot exploring these issues and how they apply to continuous monitoring systems!
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