Representatives and senior officials of local businesses have raised several questions over their concerns regarding the safety of their employees, especially drivers, from radiation exposure from the container scanning equipment when it’s in operating at the main dock.

The private sector is also concerned over the safety of food items, from radiation exposure, after the containers go through the scanning process.

Radiation exposure concerns were raised during last Friday’s port users meeting before the M60 X-Ray Scanning equipment went live on Monday this week.

With many unclear and unanswered questions on radiation safety issues, one businesswoman asked if Customs had to start the container scanning operation on Monday, saying that “there are so many different questions without answers” over the food in containers going through the scanner as well as truck drivers being exposed to radiation.

Customs officials as well as Deputy Treasurer Keith Gebauer assured business representatives that the scanner is safe and tests had been carried out for several weeks. “We’ve done numerous tests” and it’s safe, Gebauer said, adding that this is not the first jurisdiction where the scanner has been tested and implemented.

Regarding the safety of truck drivers, Gebauer explained that the scanner process does not include the driver sitting in the truck’s cab. He said the scanner activates when the container — on the bed of the truck — goes under the scanner equipment.

The large scanner equipment is inside the “safety zone” area — 164 feet by 131 feet — marked by ‘red traffic cones’, inside the main dock, just few yards away from the guard gate at the entrance to the port.

Gebauer said Customs would have “Scanning Marshals” at the scanning points of the safety zone to queue up trucks for the process and ensure that everyone is cleared from the safety zone during activation.

However, several business representatives were not convinced with the safety of their workers, but Gebauer says there is literature on the radiation issue, and every business representative requested copies of it as well as new information on radiation safety.

StarKist Samoa official Taotasi Archie Soliai pointed to two safety issues and concerns that remain unclear and unaddressed.

For example, how long will it take for the radiation within the 'safety zone' to dissipate; and if trucks are lined up, will other drivers cued up be exposed.

The second safety concern:  the radiation within the containers — how long will the radiation stay inside; will the vendors be exposed when the container is opened; and will the products contained in the containers be safe?

Because these safety issues were not addressed, Taotasi along with other business officials recommended delaying the implementation of the scanner until a thorough test and analysis of these safety concerns is done so that the safety of workers is guaranteed.

Taotasi suggested a third party independent reviewer to conduct this analysis — besides the one that was done by Rapi-Scan, manufacturing of the container scanner.

Gebauer again assured port users that the scanner is safe, but would take Taotaasi’s suggestion of a third party review as a serious consideration.

Several senators also raised radiation concerns during a recent Senate Budget and Appropriation Committee hearing before then Chief of Customs Moetulu’i Sipili Fuiava, who stepped down on Mar. 28 to take up another post at Treasury Department. Senators grilled Moetulu’i on the safety of the scanner.

However, Moetulu’i in a calm manner, repeated himself several times, that there is no health affect from the scanner and no radiation goes out when the equipment is in operation adding that this particular equipment has already been tested and it’s safe.