The statutory role of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is to establish or adopt standards of safety for protection of health and minimization of danger to life and to provide for the application of these standards. The current International Basic Safety Standards for the Radiation Protection and Safety of Radiation Sources (BSS) [1] set requirements for achieving radiation protection of people and safety of radiation sources in all uses of ionizing radiation, including medical uses. The BSS specifically addresses the radiation protection in respect to medical exposure by establishing requirements on responsibilities, education and training of healthcare specialists, justification, optimisation and prevention of unintended and accidental medical exposure.

Avoiding unnecessary radiation exposure of patients, either due to lack of justification or lack of optimization, without hampering medical purposes is the goal of the IAEA’s work on the radiation protection of patients. Different approaches are used, in line with the International Action Plan for the radiological protection of patients, formulated in 2001. The actions for the next decade have been updated by the International Conference on Radiation Protection in Medicine - Setting the Scene for the Next Decade, organised by the IAEA and co-sponsored by the WHO in 2012, and formulated in the Bonn Call-for-Action [2]. The aims are to strengthen the radiation protection of patients and health workers overall; to attain the highest benefit with the least possible risk to all patients by the safe and appropriate use of ionizing radiation in medicine.