Background and Objectives: Biological effects of non-ionizing radiation on the body of living organisms have been studied by researchers in recent years. High Voltage medical equipments are one of the sources generating electromagnetic fields. The electromagnetic field intensity of the medical equipment installed at Hamadan hospitals and the potential hazards were investigated. The main purpose of this study was to determine the intensity of the electromagnetic field around high voltage power supplies in radiology ward of the Hamadan hospitals.
Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study and we investigated the electromagnetic fields intensity around high voltage power supplies at Hamadan hospital wards. All measurements were performed using a calibrated Tesla-meter (HI-3603). The measurements were conducted at a range of distances varying from 25 cm to 3 m around the supporting high voltage power supply.
Results: We found that the maximum intensity of the magnetic and electric fields at a distance of less than 1 m around the high voltage power supply was 29.625±5.738 mGauss and 25.17±0.92 V/m respectively, which is less than the safe amounts recommended by the ICNIRP for occupational exposure (5000 mG and 10000 V/m) and even for public exposure (1000 mG and and 5000 V/m). The minimum intensity of EM fields for a less than 3 m distance was found to be 0.1±0.005 mGauss, which relates to a CT-scanner system installed at Farshchian hospital. Among the whole equipments evaluated in the current survey, the most intense magnetic and electric field was found to be for imaging technician office, which was 3.050±0.004 mGauss and 128.88±0.05 V/m respectively; it is lower than the tolerances recommended by the ICNIRP.
Conclusion: According to our results, it seems that the EM field occupational exposure for radiation workers working at Hamadan hospitals does not exceed the tolerances recommended by the ICNIRP. Therefore, we did not find any issue related to the over-irradiation of non-ionizing among the radiologists studied. It is recommended that different brands of generators to be used in order to conduct a detailed and comprehensive study to compare the intensity of the electrical and magnetic fields.