The Body Scan is used where the surface contamination of persons has to be monitored for a limit value. This is the case at the exit of operational control areas, e.g. in nuclear facilities.

The measuring task of the personal contamination monitor is to prove the exceeding of the limit value of the surface contamination with a high statistical certainty. In the case of non-contaminated persons, however, no contamination alarm should be generated with high statistical certainty.