(a) For external dosimeter results that are incomplete due to historical record keeping practices, NIOSH will use commonly practiced techniques, such as those described in the NIOSH Research Issues Workshop, 2 to estimate the missing component of dose and to add this to the total dose estimate. For monitoring periods where external dosimetry data are missing from the records, NIOSH will estimate a claimant's dose based on interpolation, using available monitoring results from other time periods close to the period in question, or based on monitoring data on other workers engaged in similar tasks.

2 NIOSH [1995]. NIOSH research issues workshop: epidemiologic use of nondetectable values in radiation exposure measurements. Cincinnati, OH: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 224647 (NTIS—PB 95189601).

(b) NIOSH will review historical bioassay sample detection limits and monitoring frequencies to determine, when possible, the minimum detectable dose for routine internal dose monitoring programs. This “missed dose” will establish the upper limit of internal dose that a worker could have received for periods when bioassay sample analysis results were below the detection limit. Using ICRP biokinetic models, NIOSH will estimate the internal dose and include an associated uncertainty distribution.