The Office for Nuclear Regulation has completed its transport compliance inspection of Isospeed7, rating the operation green in every area assessed. There is no certificate at the end of an ONR inspection. There is only the evidence, and the right to carry on.
Over 6 and 7 May 2026, the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) carried out an announced transport compliance inspection of Isospeed7. The inspection examined our arrangements for the carriage of Class 7 dangerous goods by road, in our duties as a carrier, and was assessed against the Carriage of Dangerous Goods Regulations 2009, ADR and the Ionising Radiations Regulations 2017.
Twelve areas were rated. All twelve were rated green.
What was assessed
The inspection was not a narrow document review. It covered carrier duties, management systems, training and competence, security, emergency and contingency planning and testing, incidents and reporting processes, in-transit storage and REPPIR, radiation risk assessment, the radiation protection programme, the radiation protection adviser function, dangerous goods safety advice, and vehicle equipment, placarding and markings.
Each of those twelve areas was rated green. Under ONR's rating system, green means no formal action, with relevant good practice generally met when measured against the appropriate benchmarks. A thirteenth area, package maintenance and operation, was not rated, as package design and maintenance fell outside the agreed scope of this inspection.
The inspector recorded numerous examples of relevant good practice across the areas examined. That judgement was reached through evidence we provided, through sampling of both our electronic management system and our paper records, and through our team demonstrating their competence and understanding of the requirements placed on carriers, consignors and consignees.
Why an ONR inspection carries weight
ONR is the UK's independent nuclear regulator for safety, security and safeguards. Most people associate it with power stations and licensed nuclear sites, and it does regulate the 36 licensed nuclear sites in Great Britain. But its remit extends onto the public road network. ONR is the competent authority for the transport of radioactive material, classified as Class 7 dangerous goods, by road, rail and inland waterway across Great Britain, a role held by its Transport Competent Authority team and supported by suitably qualified inspectors.
This is the part that is often misunderstood. An organisation moving radiopharmaceuticals on British roads is operating inside a regime overseen by the same regulator that oversees the nuclear industry itself. The standard does not scale down because the consignment is small, or because it is bound for a hospital rather than a reactor.
An ONR inspection is also not an accreditation exercise, and it is not a certificate that can be bought, framed and forgotten. It is an examination of whether an operator's arrangements actually meet the duties placed on them, tested against records, systems and people. Where they do not, the regulator has enforcement powers. That is the whole of the incentive.
What this means for our customers
Isospeed7 is a specialist Class 7 carrier. The material we move is predominantly short half-life medical isotope material destined for end users in nuclear medicine, where the delivery window and the integrity of the consignment are inseparable from the clinical outcome.
Organisations in that position are regularly required to account for their supply chain during their own audits and procurement processes. When the question turns to how radioactive material is moved, and to who independently checks that those arrangements are sound, an assurance from the carrier is not the strongest available answer. The regulator's own assessment is. That is what this inspection provides.
Compliance as an operational discipline
Regulatory compliance at Isospeed7 is not a department and it is not a document. It is how the operation is built. Driver training is maintained to a defined schedule. Vehicles are equipped and marked to current standards. Documentation, handover and chain of custody are recorded on every movement, not sampled after the fact.
The reason is simple. An inspection tests a system that is already running. It does not create one. Arrangements that only hold up on inspection days are not arrangements at all.
Working with Isospeed7
Isospeed7 has specialised in the secure transport of radiopharmaceuticals, dangerous goods and time-critical healthcare consignments since 2008. If you are reviewing your logistics arrangements for regulated or radioactive material, our team can talk you through how we work and what we can evidence.