Is UVC Light Safe?

With serious breakout of coronavirus in many countries, an increasing number of people decide to apply uvc light in various kinds of fields. But is it safe for people?

This is an important issue. If used or implemented improperly, direct exposure to germicidal ultraviolet lighting may have a destructive effect on materials and people. Overexposure to UV-C light can harm humans in a variety of ways, such as eye and skin damage. It can also cause damage to materials such as rubber gaskets or plastic corrosion. It is precisely because of these potential negative effects of UV-C disinfection on lighting that it is essential that appropriate products are utilized in a variety of applications where they can provide benefits.

One of the easiest ways to avoid any type of skin or eye damage is to ensure that any UV-C lighting system under consideration includes some kind of reverse occupancy sensor to ensure that during the disinfection cycle, if someone enters the space, the device will not work. When used correctly, the UV-C system will provide sufficient bactericidal ultraviolet light to ensure the killing of pathogens, but not enough to cause damage to surfaces or materials.

Another way to prevent from uvc light damaging is replacing 265nm 275nm uvc light with 222nm far excimer lamp, which is safe for human disinfection.  

The deep UV wavelength of 200-280nm has germicidal effect and has been widely used in disinfection. However, UVC radiation is harmful to human skin because of its penetrating power. However, Kobe University and youzhiwang research found that in terms of the ability to eliminate bacteria on the skin, deep ultraviolet light with the wavelength of 222 nm and 254 nm has the same germicidal effect, and UVC radiation with the wavelength of 222 nm will not cause skin cancer. This is the first time in the world to prove that the direct and repeated irradiation of 222 nm deep ultraviolet with strong bactericidal effect will not cause skin cancer, indicating that the deep ultraviolet with a wavelength of 222 nm is safe for human eyes and skin. In view of this, this technology is expected to be widely used in medical institutions and daily life and other places of sterilization.