A recent EPA study revealed that we spend an average of 87% of our time indoors, which can be troubling when you consider that you’ll be exposed to 2 to 5 times more pollutants indoors than you would be outdoors. It turns out that indoor air is just outdoor air combined with pollutants, trace chemicals, and other potentially harmful microbes. The result? Headaches, allergies, flu outbreaks, colds, eyes irritation, runny noses, scratchy throats, etc.

How best to battle these pollutants without negatively affecting your own health? The answer may surprise you: Ultraviolet radiation.

When it comes to disinfectant, one of the strongest protections that nature has to offer is ultraviolet light. Generated by the sun, ultraviolet radiation is a known natural disinfectant for air, water, and nonporous surfaces. UVC radiation has effectively been used for decades to reduce the spread of bacteria, such as tuberculosis. For this reason, UVC lamps are often called "germicidal" lamps, administered dry, producing no residue, and 99.9% effective at killing all germs, as well as inactivating the SARS-CoV-2 virus (the virus that causes COVID-19).

While prolonged, direct exposure to UVC light can cause temporary skin redness and eye irritation, UVC is completely safe when the eyes and skin are protected. One should always wear protective clothing, gloves, and eye protection when working with direct ultraviolet radiation. (However, when operating UVC it is best to hire professionals or be fully trained by one.)

UVC light is effective at cleaning surfaces that manual cleaning and other technology cannot reach–it deactivates the DNA of bacteria, virus and other pathogens and thus destroys their ability to multiply and cause disease. Specifically, UVC light causes damage to the nucleic acid of microorganisms by forming covalent bonds between certain adjacent bases in the DNA. The formation of such bonds prevents the DNA from being unzipped for replication, and the organism is unable to reproduce. In fact, when the organism tries to replicate, it dies.

In addition to its effect on the virus that causes COVID, UV light inactivates at least two other coronaviruses that are near-relatives of the COVID-19 virus: 1) SARS-CoV-1 and 2) MERS-CoV. (It’s important to point out that this inactivation has been demonstrated under controlled conditions in the laboratory.) The effectiveness of ultraviolet light in practice depends on factors such the exposure time and the ability of the light to reach the viruses in water, air, and in the folds and surfaces. Once sterilized, you can access any UVC-treated space immediately.

Other Benefits Of Uv C Light Disinfection

We have worked with many clients who use UV light disinfection for different reasons based on their individual industry’s needs. In general however, most of our corporate clients have found that UV disinfection light makes environments free from germs and bacteria, clearing the air of any contamination.

• In hospitals, laboratories, and other infected areas, UV light can destroy all harmful germs, bacteria in just a few seconds.
• UV light helps disinfect equipment like goggles, face safety shields, and glassware used in laboratories, and other stationary equipment like countertops, floors, and tables.
• In contrast to other processes like washing, bleaching, and sanitizing, UV light disinfection is simple and dry, leaving no moisture or residue behind.
• For those in the food and beverage industry, UV disinfection will be effective in food manufacturing facilities, disinfecting equipment like conveyor belts, which are difficult to clean through the work time.
• In hospitals, UV light disinfection is used to disinfect both patients as well as rooms. It kills approx 97.7 % of the pathogen in operating rooms. Additionally, pathogen like cryptosporidium and giardia are chlorine resistant and can be disinfected by UV light disinfection.
• UV light disinfection is chemical-free, non-toxic, environment friendly, and easy to handle.
• To break down toxic chemical combinations, UV can be used alone or with hydrogen peroxide while disinfecting.
• UV light disinfection has a low maintenance cost and is simple to implement, along with lower operating costs.
• The operational reliability of UV disinfection is high when compared to chemicals and also eco-friendly to health.

It is important to note however that there are also limitations to how effective UVC radiation can be at inactivating viruses, generally.

• Direct exposure: UVC radiation can only inactivate a virus if the virus is directly exposed to the radiation. Therefore, the inactivation of viruses on surfaces may not be effective due to blocking of the UV radiation by soil, such as dust, or other contaminants such as bodily fluids.
• Dose and duration: Many of the UVC sterilization lamps sold for home use are of low dose, so it may take longer exposure to a given surface area to potentially provide effective inactivation of a bacteria or virus.

In terms of areas best treated by ultraviolet light around your home, office or workplace setting, the most important surfaces include all high touch surfaces – including desktops, door handles, cell phones, light switches, sinks, toilets, laptops, tabletops, countertops, cabinets, refrigerators, and chairs.

Because of all these benefits, as well as others, LightRay UVC has integrated ultraviolet-C radiation into the equipment we sell and the services we provide to our clients. We have found UV light to be profoundly effective when it comes to infection control, as well as treating bacteria and viruses. UV room sterilizers like lamps can help make your surfaces and environments as clean as possible, bringing outdoor air cleanliness indoors to you.

LightRay UVC uses a variety of treatment options and equipment when it comes to our commercial cleaning services. Our UV C light sanitizers come in many sizes depending on the area needed to kill bacteria and viruses. Sterilization lamps can be handheld and scan a small area or as large as a UVC tower and placed in a room for 365 degree sanitization.