How To Inspect Your Lead Apron
Keeping lead aprons in top condition throughout their lifespan is essential for lead apron safety and radiation safety in healthcare.
A study from Radiography Open stressed that damage like cracks, holes, or tears in protective garments may reduce their shielding capabilities. Regardless of whether the garment is constructed from lead or composite material, damage like frayed seams or worn-down Velcro can affect how aprons fit, leaving openings that expose the wearer to more harmful radiation.
Therefore, storing, inspecting, and maintaining them properly is crucial—remember that proper storage on an apron rack helps prevent creasing and premature wear.
How do inspections work? In this guide, we’ll explain how to inspect your lead apron to identify damage that signifies protective garments should be replaced or repaired. Keep reading to learn how to use this step to keep your healthcare team safe.
Why Is Lead Apron Inspection Important?
Research shows that healthcare facilities can have high rates of defective lead aprons when they aren’t inspected or cared for properly. For example, a study from the Journal of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology analyzed 85 lead aprons in a radiology department, finding that 68.2% were defective.
Another study from the Journal of Health Physics showed that defects can get out of hand quickly, with small tears increasing by up to 270% in 10 months.
Therefore, regular inspections are an important radiation safety measure to identify and repair small damage before it gets out of hand.
How To Inspect A Lead Apron
Healthcare facilities wondering how to check lead aprons for cracks or other damage should have them scanned using X-rays or fluoroscopy. A study in 2018 stressed the importance of regular radiographic scans throughout a lead apron’s lifespan since tiny cracks or pinholes may not be visible to the naked eye. Visual and tactile checks remain helpful: lay the garment flat, smooth out creases, and run your hands along the entire apron surface to feel for hidden bumps or holes.
Your team can also perform visual or tactile inspections, looking or feeling for noticeable damage that you should have repaired immediately. However, these don’t replace deeper X-ray scans that can identify a greater amount of damage.
What Are The Key Inspection Methods?
The 3 primary inspection methods are radiographic, visual, and tactile. Here’s how each one works:
Radiographic scans: When we perform annual radiographic inspections at RCS, each garment you send us undergoes an X-ray scan. We note any damage in accordance with our rejection criteria, perform necessary repairs, or safely dispose of aprons if they can’t be repaired. Then, we add the lead apron testing report to our RADCOMPLY™ software, so you have the information ready to ensure compliance.
Visual inspections: To begin a visual inspection, lay the apron on a flat surface and smooth out any creases. Your lead apron inspection checklist should include looking for any noticeable cracks, holes, tears, frayed seams, broken buckles, or worn velcro. We recommend performing visual inspections in conjunction with annual radiographic inspections, as it’s challenging to detect damage through the thick nylon exterior fabric.
Tactile inspections: You can perform a tactile inspection at the same time as a visual inspection. With the apron still lying flat, run your hands along the entire surface to feel for any bumps, cracks, holes, or frayed seams. We recommend performing tactile inspections in conjunction with annual radiographic inspections, as it’s challenging to detect damage through the thick nylon exterior fabric.
How Often Do Lead Aprons Need To Be Inspected?
We recommend performing an annual X-ray inspection of all lead aprons used at medical facilities. As mentioned, studies such as the one from the Journal of Health Physics show that damage to lead aprons can worsen rapidly. Therefore, it’s important to inspect them often enough to identify small damage, like tiny pinholes, before it becomes out of control.
You can also perform visual and tactile inspections more frequently, such as every few months, to locate any noticeable defects. However, remember that you can’t always see or feel early damage, so these don’t replace annual radiographic scans.
What Are The Criteria For Rejection?
A study titled Inspection of Lead Aprons: Criteria for Rejection by K. Lambert and T. McKeon established a stringent set of rejection criteria for lead aprons and other protective garments that we follow while performing inspections at RCS. Their findings suggested that garments should be replaced when:
The defects exceed 15 mm2 over crucial organs like the thyroid, breasts, or gonads.
The damage exceeds 670 mm2 along the seams, back, or overlapping areas.
The defects exceed 11 mm2 on thyroid shields.
Even during a careful visual or tactile inspection, you often can’t see or feel damage as small as 11 mm2. Therefore, performing radiographic scans is crucial to ensure the most accurate results for health and safety.
What Tools And Resources Support Lead Apron Tracking?
Keeping a lead apron inspection log is essential to ensure your garments are inspected on time, and making note of any areas that need extra attention.
Our RADCOMPLY™ inventory management software provides a lead apron tracking system that can help. It provides an organized overview of information, such as:
Inventory count
X-ray scans performed with information from scans
Cleaning dates with testing results
Repairs performed
Historical garment data
We integrate RADCOMPLY™ with each of our services to make managing garments much easier.
Conclusion: Ensuring Radiation Safety With Consistent Lead Apron Inspections
Keeping your lead aprons inspected and maintained is important to ensure they provide as much protection as possible for your healthcare staff. Remember that damage can progress quickly, so performing X-ray scans annually and maintaining a testing log are good practices to start following to prevent defects from getting out of control.
How We Can Help With Lead Apron Inspections And Maintenance At RCS
At Radiological Care Services (RCS), we provide detailed inspection and maintenance services for lead aprons and other protective garments. All our services follow guidelines from governing bodies to ensure compliance while operating efficiently to create a smooth process for medical facilities.
Our services include:
Inspections using X-ray scanning
Deep cleaning and disinfection
Garment repairs
Garment disposal
Inventory management with RADCOMPLY™
Ready to improve your protective garment inspection and maintenance system? Contact us today to learn more about how RCS can help.