Radiation Management Plans become mandatory from 1 September 2026
From 1 September 2026, every NSW dental practice with an X-ray machine must have a completed Radiation Management Plan. It is a condition of the practice’s radiation licence.
The plan is not sent to the EPA. It is prepared, signed off by the practice, kept where staff can read it, and produced if the EPA asks. A practice without one from that date is in breach of its licence.
What a Radiation Management Plan is
One document setting out how the practice keeps X-rays safe and lawful: who is responsible, which machines the practice holds, who may use them and under what supervision, how patients and staff are protected, what training staff complete, and what happens when something goes wrong. It must be available to everyone who works with or around the machines.
What changed
NSW rewrote its radiation rules in 2025. Since 1 December 2025, dentists and properly qualified dental assistants no longer need personal radiation licences for ordinary dental X-rays. The obligations moved to the practice: a management licence listing every machine, a current testing certificate for each one, verified qualifications for everyone who takes X-rays, a Quality Assurance Program, and, from 1 September 2026, the Radiation Management Plan that ties it together.
What your practice needs to do before 1 September
- Find the radiation management licence and check every machine is listed. Confirm the renewal date; it renews every year.
- Find the NSW Certificate of Compliance for each machine and note the expiry dates. Machines are retested at least every five years.
- Confirm who takes X-rays. Registered practitioners are covered by Ahpra registration. Dental assistants need the Certificate IV in Dental Assisting (HLT45021) with the three radiography units from an EPA approved provider. CBCT operators need a personal user licence with condition IA24.
- Complete the Radiation Management Plan and Quality Assurance Program with the practice’s details.
- Have the responsible person, usually the owner or a director, sign the plan off, and tell staff where it is kept.
The documents are already written
The Radiation Compliance Kit (NSW) contains a fill-in Radiation Management Plan and Quality Assurance Program written against the Protection from Harmful Radiation Regulation 2025, the Code for Radiation Protection in Dental Exposure (2025), and the EPA’s radiation standards. Every field needing the practice’s details is marked in yellow. Completing it is an afternoon’s work.
It is delivered as seven short lessons that walk through the steps above, each ending with an action, written for the person who runs the practice’s paperwork. No dental or legal background needed. The kit includes:
- Radiation Management Plan template
- Quality Assurance Program template
- One page Radiation Compliance Register, the practice’s tracking file
- Final checklist: every box ticked, the practice is compliant
Hand it to your practice manager or clinical coordinator and let them get on with it.
Staff training
Dental Radiation Safety Training (NSW) covers the staff training the plan requires. Each staff member completes it under their own login and earns their own certificate for the radiation folder.
Pricing
Until 1 September, the practice bundle is $199 including GST: the Radiation Compliance Kit (NSW) plus Dental Radiation Safety Training (NSW) for the whole team. The training is free. After 1 September the bundle is $299.