| Description | Minutes of a committee established at the request of the Board of the Faculty of Medicine to act in an advisory capacity for the control and use of radioactive isotopes in the University and in the Teaching Hospital (the Queen Elizabeth Hospital)
The main function of the committee was to find out the extent of the use of radioactive isotopes in the research departments of the University and in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, including the nature and quantity of radioactive materials held, but it was also to be informed about precautions being taken to protect staff and to prevent contamination of buildings
At the first meeting of the committee, held on 4 August 1950, it was agreed that Heads of Departments which worked with radioactive isotopes should be asked to submit information about the nature and quantity of radioactive materials held and the purpose for which they were being used; and that the chair should communicate with the Board of Governors of the United Birmingham Hospitals to find out whether it would give authority for the committee to advise members of the research departments of the Teaching Hospital on matters associated with radioactive materials.
It was intended that the committee should meet once a term but in practice it appears that it met very occasionally, and there are no minutes of any meetings held in 1953 or 1954. Membership comprised academic staff in the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Science.
Minutes of the meeting held on 8 December 1950 include a synopsis of reports submitted by Heads of Departments giving details of radioactive isotopes in use. Minutes of the committee also contain information about efforts to gather information from other institutions about procedures in place to protect staff working with radioactive materials in the course of research. Further surveys of radioactive isotopes in use in the Teaching Hospital and in the Faculties of Science and Medicine are included for 1952 and 1955
Minutes of the meeting held on 19 December 1955 record that a survey of radioactive isotopes would be made on a two yearly basis, and that the committee would meet every two years if necessary. No further meetings of this Senate Standing Joint Committee exist, but is is likely that its main functions were continued by the Committee for the Control of Radiation Exposure which was established in 1958 (see UB/COM/73 for minutes) |