Standards Development

Scope

This document specifies safety requirements for germicidal UV handheld devices that:

- are held in the hand and intended to disinfect targeted surfaces at a close distance;

- intentionally emit UV radiation between 180 nm and 400 nm;

- are incorporating electric light or radiation sources on supply voltages up to and including 250 V AC
and or 250V DC.

This document in not applicable to:

- devices that completely contain the UV radiation during operation, like air cleaners, germicidal
cabinets and germicidal boxes;- devices that combine UV irradiance with chemicals and additives.

This document does not address requirements for performance and functional characteristics or for
preventing material degradation and material damage to the surroundings.

Purpose

The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly heightened interest in ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) as an important intervention strategy to disinfect air and surfaces.

Many handheld devices flood the market, but they may expose the user or any nearby person to unsafe levels of ultraviolet radiation and may cause injury to the skin and eyes.

However, for GUV handheld devices, no specific product standards exist yet. IEC/TC 34 has recognized this standardization gap and has started working on the development of required product standards to close this gap. This work has been allocated to the new TC 34 working 34/WG 23 “UV radiation for germicidal purposes”.

One of the standardization gaps identified for GUV handheld devices concerns specific safety measures related to human exposure to UV radiation and radiation induced ozone. This proposed new project will deliver a document addressing radiation safety.