EdSavoie
Well-Known Member
News Article
Thought this would be worthwhile to put up.
Those in attendance at an event in Hong Kong were left with skin and eye damage after (blame unclear) a contractor used UV-C band tubes.
The running theory is that someone unaware of the different UV bands selected the UV-C tubes because the lack of dark glass and phosphor makes an admittedly nice effect.
For those who are unaware, there are three main UV bands that lights come in.
UV-A : This is the kind you want. ("BLB") class tubes fall into this category, coated in black glass.
("BL") class tubes have white phosphor-coated glass, and intended to attract insects, though they can work for blacklight purposes...
UV-B : This is going into burn territory, please don't use these tubes. (Though it could be worse.)
Tanning bed lamps, despite producing 95% UV-A still pump out about 5% UV-B and thus should be avoided.
UV-C : Germicidal tubes.
Very bad, this is what the above linked event made the mistake of using.
Thought this would be worthwhile to put up.
Those in attendance at an event in Hong Kong were left with skin and eye damage after (blame unclear) a contractor used UV-C band tubes.
The running theory is that someone unaware of the different UV bands selected the UV-C tubes because the lack of dark glass and phosphor makes an admittedly nice effect.
For those who are unaware, there are three main UV bands that lights come in.
UV-A : This is the kind you want. ("BLB") class tubes fall into this category, coated in black glass.
("BL") class tubes have white phosphor-coated glass, and intended to attract insects, though they can work for blacklight purposes...
UV-B : This is going into burn territory, please don't use these tubes. (Though it could be worse.)
Tanning bed lamps, despite producing 95% UV-A still pump out about 5% UV-B and thus should be avoided.
UV-C : Germicidal tubes.
Very bad, this is what the above linked event made the mistake of using.