When you’re told to use LED grow lights for indoor plant growth and cultivation, you’ll hardly find any second thought that goes into details as to whether or not it’s worth an investment . Honestly, the level LED grow light technology has come is unbelievable–benefitting all kinds of indoor gardens and commercial plant setups.
And also, with the ability of the full spectrum LED grow lights for indoor plants to exactly mimic the sunlight, you’ll have access to the broad spectrum wavelengths, which means your plants can get exactly what they need for every stage of growth.
But even with all these benefits, one question still hits hard “Are LED grow light Harmful to Humans”
The short answer is, Not really, though there are scenarios when it could pose a health hazard, but as long as you’re in a safe zone, it won’t harm you, so no worries!
However, when it comes to your indoor garden space—even if you’re a small or large commercial grower—you should keep in mind that bringing that much sun indoors (so to speak) will affect you as much as it does your crop. So you better be smart and think ahead if you or your employees spend much time in grow spaces under these greenhouse grow lights.
This blog, therefore, brings out all vital information which you need to know in order to maximize this emerging technology while keeping your installations safe and sound.
How LED Grow Lights Work?
LEDs, short for Light Emitting Diodes, are an incredible feat of technology that makes indoor gardening easier than ever. These little powerhouses work to emit the right kind of wavelengths your plants need at different growth stages- whether it’s for sprouting leaves, blooming flowers, or ripening fruit.
Basically, they’ve completely flipped the script on indoor growing, offering a super energy-efficient alternative to sunlight. Think of LED grow light as a power solution that gives your plants the custom light recipe irrespective of the weather outside.
With these full spectrum LED grow lights, you can adjust lights to different colors from blue-red-UV and infrared (IR). Blue light works extremely well in the early stages, to promote strong growth and maintain tight leaf formation. Whereas red light comes into play in the process of flowering and fruiting, encouraging the formation of beautiful blooms.
The use of UV is actually to toughen the plants, and a little UV light can create some kind of challenge that would naturally occur outside. IR light is quite beneficial for flowering and during some growth stages when your plants desire a little stretching.
But What makes LED Grow Lights superior to the classic lighting such as Fluorescent And HID grow light? The answer is, LEDs are super energy -efficient for starters and also don’t produce nearly as much heat. While Most of the traditional lights illuminate in the complete spectrum, wasting a lot of energy while heating up your grow space.
So, With LED grow light , you’re able to dial in a gentle supply exactly what your crops desire and substantially mitigate the risk of heat damage. That’s the reason you find them everywhere, from teeny tiny indoor grow rooms all the way to heaven-size commercial operations because they lower electricity bills and keep your plants hopping happily along!
Potential Health Risks for Workers
When it comes to working with top rated LED grow Lights, it’s not always sunshine and roses. Commercial LED grow lights may pose some potential health risks, especially for workers who need to work under them for long. So, let ‘s learn about it.
- Blue Light Exposure
Firstly, there’s this harmfulness of prolonged blue Light exposure. Although we’ve learned that blue light works wonders for early plant growth, its over-the-limit exposure can actually become problematic for your team.
The science behind it is that blue light has relatively high energy proportions, meaning it consists of shorter wavelengths. Since it acts as a growth regulator for plants, it also carries the most harm. People working under blue LED lights have often reported risks of damaged cells and the potential for macular degeneration, essentially vision loss, ultimately makes the working pretty uncomfortable and tiring.
Plus, blue light can even mess up with the sleeping cycle. If your workers are working under them for a much longer time, the blue light can interfere with their circadian rhythms, making it harder for them to wind down at the end of the day.
In order to lessen the impact, employers must reduce the blue light schedule time when workers are most active in the grow room and may be encouraged to take periodic breaks.
Here, going with the Nanolux SN PRO LED full spectrum light source is a smart investment, because it offers you with 3 dimming modes features, allowing for precise control over light intensity. This way, you keep your plants happy without overloading your team with too much blue light.
- Ultraviolet (UV) Light:
Next up is the UV light, especially the UV-A and UV-B. If the workers are exposed continuously to these types of wavelengths, they become very harmful for workers. These light sources are highly associated with inducing problems such as harming skin, sunburning skins, leading to premature aging and increasing risk of some kinds of skin cancers, even bringing eye irritation.
Without taking measures to prevent such problems, like putting up those UV shields or keeping a decent distance –the harmful effects of UV can be cumulative over time, leading to significant health troubles.
Thus, the workers involved with working in LED grow rooms have to ensure that they’re well-equipped with proper protection such as UV blocking glasses or clothing while doing their jobs.
- Infrared (IR) Light:
Lastly, it’s the Infrared Light hazard, also known as IR. While it certainly helps plants grow, we also know that IR tends to produce a lot of heat. In industrial settings this can be a ‘double-edged sword’, as you get into something called light discomfort or thermal stresses which would be an irritant to workers near these lights.
Ideally, you should be monitoring temperatures and may need to take steps like adding fans, vents or breaks regularly if you want people in that space at all hours of a day to be able to focus without heating up.
Aside from which, businesses should also regularly point out to remind workers to drink plenty of fluids since being well-hydrated helps the body regulate its temperature better.
Mitigating the Risks in Commercial Operations
Although safety is necessary, protecting your workers from light exposure in commercial operations is a fact of life for horticulturists, but it can still be easy too! You just need to put some effective strategies in place that might be more realistic, such as safety for workers while they do their best work.
- First, consider installing UV and IR filtering shields in your grow room. These additions would act like sunscreen in blocking out all the harmful rays from damaging both your skin, as well as eyes and giving your workers a safe environment to work.
- Don’t overlook the importance of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Equipping your team with protective clothing, and eyewear is a must (as well as UV-Blocking glasses for long-term health). Because mind you, your clothing is most important so arm up your team with it as their shield from those rays running around while keeping your workers safe during their work with plants.
- Well, it’s always good to have breaks Right? To eliminate the prolonged exposure of UV and IR rays, have your workers implement a regular rest period. This way, not only you help them stay away for a breather but also aids in minimizing the light engagement and keeping their morale high and productivity flowing.
- And don’t forget the importance of regular maintenance and upkeep of LED grow lights. This means you need to watch out your grow light system carefully, so you can detect problems early and fix them from the bottom up before they become a snowball. As an added bonus, this proactive approach to safety will not only protect your employees but also aid in extending the life of your LED grow lights.
Safety Standards and Industry Regulations
While Safe LEDs are a good start to work around grow space lighting, it’s equally important to grip yourself with safety standards and industrial regulations. Here, you need to look down to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) key guidelines that’s all about keeping the employees safe, especially regarding exposure to potentially harmful light spectrums.
General Duty Clause: Employers must take all civil means to minimize hazards in the workplace that are known or could potentially kill an employee. This would involve evaluating the hazards posed by lighting systems, such as exposure to UV and blue light.
OSHA Standards for General Industry : Among other requirements, there are provisions for lighting in the workplace. All areas, including grow rooms must have sufficient lighting to allow for proper visibility and safe work conditions.
Eye and Face Protection: Employers must ensure appropriate eye and face protection is provided when employees are exposed to hazards causing an injury. These include sunglasses with UV protection for workers in areas that are heavily exposed to UV from LED grow lights.
Hazard Communication: Under H&S law, employers have to tell employees about the potentially dangerous chemicals they may be using during work; and that includes you warning your workers of any risks related to UV or blue light exposure. Confidential information, such as Safety Data Sheets must be maintained for hazardous materials.
Control of Hazardous Energy: For lighting systems that need to have maintenance carried out, employers must follow lockout/tag-out procedures when de-energizing the lights for proper repair.
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) : In addition, employers are required to assess the work place for any hazards that require PPE. This may include PPE such as UV rated goggles and worker clothing for those working in harmful light spectrums.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Guidelines: OSHA will obviously not do this, but employers should be familiar with the EPA regulations governing handling and disposal of hazardous waste; and remember lighting elements would seem to fit into this one too.
Training and Education: OSHA also emphasizes training employees on possible dangers in the workplace, including all harmful rays. The employers are to educate their employees on the possible hazards and ensure control measures in place for protecting your gem (employees).
Why Invest in Safe LED Grow Lights?
No matter if you are growing indoors, or maintaining a commercial growing setups, there are plenty of good reasons for why best LED grow lights safety come first such as safety to workers and help achieve more efficiency in plant growth performance. The benefits of investing in secure LED grow lights go beyond supporting the plants you are cultivating, but extend to your whole operation.
First off, let’s put some light on its health benefits. Safe LED grow lights, such as those offered by Nanolux, prevent the risks that are caused due to constant exposure of harmful wavelengths.
By Having them in your space, you not only provide a safer working space for your team but also protect your workforce against the chances of developing eye strain, skin damage or even heat stress.
Furthermore, workers who feel safe and secure are going to be more productive and engaged — which is better for business anyway.
However, that’s not all — commercial LED grow Lights also boost productivity. Rather than worrying about any potential health hazards, your team will be free to do what it does best — growing and caring for plants. Think of the energy, commitment and excitement in your workplace simply because you decided to invest wisely on their safety.
And when it comes to safer options, Nanolux is a name to remember. It systematically removed itself from this crowd, committed to advancing safer commercial crop production with commercially tailored LED grow lights. They have a range of products in compliance with safety standards set by the regulatory boards ensuring they provide a safe environment for their workers and you get high quality output. When you go with Nanolux, it is much more so than lights; it’s peace of mind.
Essentially, choosing to invest in secure LED grow lights is not only wise for your plants but it’s a step toward safety and well-being with commitment towards work efficiency. Enjoy the advantages of top-of-the-line LED grow lights and let Nanolux support you in creating a healthy, secure, prosperous environment for your plants. After all, the No. 1 rule in growing is safety.
Conclusion
So, it’s well-believed that LED grow lights have always been leaders for lighting technology and are praised for its cost saving, low energy consumption & productive plant performance. However, the recent buzz these days has been about their reported ill-effects on human health.
So the good reason is that, as long as you pay attention to your own safety at work, and adopt Nanolux LED grow lights, you can keep all skin and eye related issues out of danger and reap the benefit of this powerful lighting solution.
Prioritizing safety measures, like using lights with dimming options, scheduling breaks, and implementing proper exposure limits, you can make the working environment safe for your workers as well as thriving for your plants.
For more information on how Nanolux supports your indoor growing needs, check out their product lineup here.