NonioniZing

["Randy Ross" <RNROSS@BCSC02.GOV.BC.CA>]

To: RADSAFE --INTERNET radsafe@romulus.eh


Margaret. I'm glad to hear that you are thinking about non-ionizing. There are
definite hazards from University NIR. Sometimes the ionizing side gets all the
attention because there is more "fear" in ionizing radiation of any size and
activity then in a NIR hazard that can damage one instantly.

I did a survey of class IV lasers in a University and ...boy ... talk about
short change on common sense. I walked into a lab and since I don't trust the
researchers all that much and didn't want to "see" the laser beam in order to
find it (if you catch my meaning) after taking a few steps into the lab I asked
"Where is the laser?" The researcher and university safety officer looked
around and said well the laser is actually next door and we cut a hole in the
wall to get the beam in here for some experiments" he said pointing to a hole a
few meters from the door and on our left. At which point I looked down to seen
this lovely greeny-blue Ar color on my left pant leg.
So I would check out Class four lasers for sure.  In terms of electromagnetic
check it out by output power.  If the invention - that's the best word that I
 can come up with for the gadgets they create to experiment with - is a few
 watts then no problem.  If they are using hundreds or thousands of watts then
 find out what frequency it is and buy a good meter that will measure any
  leaking or stray fields and measure areas of person exposure and compare the
number to the IEEE standard.  The rest I wouldn't worry too much about except
maybe  UV sources.  Sometimes Labs use UV to kill germs and once I found a room
with two sets of lighting and two identical wall light switches.  Oneturned on
 the general lighting fluorescents and the other turned on UVB/C fluorescents.
 The UV fluorescents put out visible light as well so I asked them how do they
 know for sure which switch to turn on (this was a set-up question for my next
 question).  They said "Oh we all know which switch is which, we are very
 careful".  "OK," I said "and what about the cleaners that come in here at nigh
t?"  They hadn't given the cleaners a thought.So they labelled the switches.

Radiation Protection, Ministry of Health, British Columbia
The opinions and material above are solely those of the author.
This is a disclaimer for postings to bulletin boards, newsgroups
etc., on the internet.  Randy Ross, rnross@bcsc02.gov.bc.ca