Radiation doses of radiation workers were moderate in 2025

Principal Advisor Maaret Lehtinen from the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) states that last year was usual in terms of occupational radiation exposure. Dose limits set for the occupational doses were not exceeded.

Highest doses from airline work

In radiation work, pilots and cabin crew form a group of their own. Their radiation doses mainly come from cosmic radiation from space. The total radiation dose of people who work in airplanes is higher than in any other worker group, and the radiation doses per worker are also the highest.

‘The higher and longer you fly, the bigger the radiation dose you get,’ Maaret Lehtinen says. The flight path and the activity of the sun, which varies in cycles of about 11 years, also have an impact on the level of cosmic radiation.

Last year, the annual doses that aircrew were exposed to was well below the limit values. 

This means that cosmic radiation has not had an adverse effect on the health of pilots or cabin crew. However, it is important that cosmic radiation is taken seriously. For example, airlines limit the flying hours of pregnant workers - one reason for which is cosmic radiation.

Health care workers exposed to low radiation doses

A large proportion of radiation workers work in health care, for example in examinations that utilise X-ray radiation or procedures that use radioactive substances. 

When using radiation in health care, it is important that the safety of both patients and workers is ensured. The safety aspect must also be taken into account when introducing new forms of treatment and technology.

‘The use of radiation and radioactive substances has increased in health care, but at the same time, exposure is being managed better with significant developments in technology and processes,’ says Maaret Lehtinen. “For example, the use of X‑ray radiation in healthcare resulted in a total exposure for all employees that was nearly the same as the exposure a patient receives from a single CT scan.”

Unlike for patients, radiation exposure for employees is purely harmful and is kept as low as possible. In contrast, patients are considered to benefit from the radiological examination performed on them, and the benefit is assessed to be greater than the risk caused by the radiation exposure.

Operators are obliged to protect their workers

The operator is always responsible for the radiation safety of employees, patients, and bystanders. Worker exposure to radiation is monitored using personal dosimeters, and the results are recorded in the Dose Register maintained by the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority. The operator must always notify the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority whenever dose limits are exceeded or other deviations in radiation safety occur.

Monitoring exposure conditions and personal monitoring of doses ensure that workers are not exposed more than planned and not more than the dose limits. In addition, the purpose of monitoring is to identify deviations in radiation safety and to improve radiation safety.

STUK updated the regulations on investigating occupational exposure, and the new regulations entered into force on 1 May 2026.

See the full regulations on the investigation, assessment, and monitoring of occupational exposure (STUK S/2/2026) and other STUK regulations here: https://stuk.fi/en/stuk-regulations