UV safety in cell culture hood - (Nov/19/2010 )

Hi, we have a few Nuaire Cellgard Class II biological safety cabinets in our lab, I was wondering if the glass panel in front of the cabinet protects the UV when the Ultraviolet Germicidal Light is on? The UV is often turned on in one hood while another person is working in the other hood, is this safe for the other person? Also, is it dangerous to view the blue light bulb when the Ultraviolet Germicidal Light is turned on, sometimes this happenes when I needed to double check if I have turned on the UV light before I leave.

Does anyone know the answer?

I wear PVC UV blocking safety glasses, its made of polycarbonate, not sure if this material will block UVC shortwave radation or 100% block all UV wavelenghts, I'm more worried about my eyes because I already have a poor vision.

Thanks

TTT

-TTT-

TTT on Fri Nov 19 09:23:05 2010 said:

Dear TTT,

Easy answer......do not use the UV. Most cabinet manufacturers have UV as an option. However msot will tell you that UV:-

Breeds bad practice i.e. normal cleaning with 1% Virkon and/or 70% IMS will remove all contaminants...workers who I have seen using UV do not then use Virkon/IMS.
UV bulbs need to be changed regularly i.e. as they age they become less and less effective.
UV degrades most types of plastic....so do not lea

-rhombus-

The glass is impermeable to UV (but not all glasses are, so don't use ordinary glass for looking at a UV source). However, listen to what Rhombus is saying, he really does know his stuff...

-bob1-

see

Meechan PJ, Wilson C. 2006. Use of Ultraviolet Lights in Biological Safety Cabinets: A Contrarian View. Applied Biosafety 11(4):222-227.

less seems to be known with confidence about this than I would have thought

-dtae-