Testing Standard on Optical Hazards of LED Luminaries on Human Beings for India – A Review

The light sources of high power delivering high intensity is deemed to be harmful to the human skin and eye due to the components of the light exposure containing wavelengths in the ultraviolet (UV), Blue light (400-500 nm) and infrared (IR) regions of visible spectrum. Most of the LEDs contain blue light with peak wavelength of 455 nm which causes various hazards to the retina and skin which varies with the duration of exposure. This introductory paper provides an overall review of IS 16108 series of standards which provides the test procedures for evaluating the optical hazards of LED luminaries. Specifically, the standard defines exposure limits, references measurement techniques and the classification scheme for the evaluation and control of photobiological hazards from all electrically powered incoherent broadband sources of optical radiation, including LEDs (but excluding lasers), in the wavelength range from 200 nm through 3000 nm.