Radioactive material (RAM) orders must be placed through WorkDay. Your RAM Order must be submitted for Radiation Safety’s final approval by 10 AM on a business day to assure next business day delivery when applicable.
Only PIs (Principle Investigators) who are approved as Authorized Users by the WUSTL Radiation Safety Committee can receive and use specific types and quantities of radioactive materials in specific room numbers for which they are approved. So, it is best that someone trained to know the Authorized User’s approved radioactive materials and locations be the individual entering RAM Orders into WorkDay.
If you cannot find the information you are looking for in the sections below, please contact the Radiation Safety Office at 314-362-3476 or radsafety@wustl.edu.
For instructions on how to place a RAM order, please review the document Creating RAM Requisitions. A short presentation on how to place a RAM order is below.
Any changes that need to be made to a RAM order after it has been submitted and approved will need to be done via a “Change Order” in Workday. Change Orders must be processed by a Department Buyer. We ask that you email Radiation Safety (radsafety@wustl.edu) if you cancel your RAM Order or if you change the delivery date, total activity, or RAM location for the RAM Order. In your email, please provide us with the AU name and the purchase order number (PO). You do not have to notify Radiation Safety if your RAM Order change involves price or budget fund changes. If your change involves changing the AU or RAM isotope, we ask that you cancel the original RAM Order and start a new RAM Order.
If you notice you have entered incorrect information in Workday before you submit your requisition, you can go back and edit the item while it’s still in your cart. If you reach the final page of the order and then notice the mistakes you can click the 3 dots at the bottom and select Edit to go back and make changes. Your Department Buyer will review your order for accuracy before they approve it as well and may send the order back to you for correction and re-submission if they find errors. Radiation Safety will make a final review of your RAM Order, and if something is incorrect, your RAM Order may be denied.
If your RAM Order gets mistakenly placed in a manner outside of the approved procedures, your Authorized User will receive a violation on their radioactive material inspection and will be asked to document what happened, why it happened, and what corrective actions have been put in place to prevent it happening again. Repeat violations may lead to your Authorized User losing his/her approval to receive and use radioactive materials.
Ultimately, it is the Authorized User who is responsible for ensuring that RAM is properly ordered, received, used, stored and disposed within his or her authorization. This would include providing sufficient instruction and information to the administrator placing RAM orders. To assist in this, Radiation Safety has created a Radioactive Material Ordering sheet that can be completed by the person requesting the RAM and provided to the administrator placing the order. It is for your in-house use only – a copy does not have to be provided to Radiation Safety. It is not mandatory that this form be used. It is simply offered as a way for lab groups to ensure that the administrator has all the information needed to properly order RAM.
Most RAM Orders are shipped overnight by the next day following receipt of the RAM Order. If you ensure your department has completed all of its ordering approvals by 10 AM on business days for Radiation Safety’s final approval of RAM Orders to send the order to the vendor, then you can enter the next business day’s date. If you are ordering multiple delivery dates, each delivery must be entered on a separate line and each delivery date entered.
The RAM order surcharge is adjusted each year to reflect market changes. Rates are available through the links below.
Please open the package in a timely fashion (within a day or 2, at the latest) and keep the receipt. You should then follow this instructions in Section III of the receipt form. Wipe and meter survey the box and packing materials…dispose as radwaste if they are contaminated and notify Radiation Safety immediately. If they are not contaminated, remove or completely obliterate any “radiation” or “hazard” signs/symbols/wording before disposing in the regular trash. Wipe test the final vial to be sure it is not contaminated. Immediately complete the third section of the receipt, indicating that you’ve completed all the steps above. Your receipt now becomes the “accountability” form for that vial of material.
Please notify the Radiation Safety Office first to coordinate any intra-institution transfers. We must first verify and exchange licenses to ensure that the receiver and his/her institution is approved for the items being sent. Radiation Safety will package and send outgoing shipments, and should receive at our office all incoming shipments.