Question

What if a person held a radioactive element?

Answer 1

Depends on how radioactive
which kind of metal
and what you touched it with.

I once grabbed a chunk of copper that was hot to the touch from recently being used as a cyclotron target (Oops!)
with no apparent consequences
but if you touched a bit of polonium with your tongue it would likely prove fatal.

Hands are about the most radiation resistant body parts.