In my current lab we have one cell culture room with 2 thermo biosafety cabinets facing each other. Some people in the lab just don't feel safe to use one hood if the other one has the UV light on, for sure with glass window closed. I contacted thermo to be sure that the glass does not allow UV come out of the cabinet, but my lab mates still feel unsafe. For me it is really weird to not be able to use UV to sterilize the cabinet before use it because of their concerns. Does anyone experienced something like this, how you deal with it and how you solve this?
I'm not a UV expert, but the UV sources in these hoods are designed to only sterilize the surfaces directly below them within the confines of the hood. So theoretically even with the glass opened, there should be minimal (really no) UV exposure unless your labmate were to place a part of their body inside the BSC with the UV light still on. I agree with you that it is weird, and even unsafe for the cell cultures, to not be able to use the UV to sterilize your hood prior to your use if someone else is in the room.
In many institutions UV lights in biosafety cabinets are banned, because they have caused burns. If they are correctly interlocked with the night door so the cabinet cannot be opened while UV is on, the UV spectrum is 100% blocked by the glass these concerns can be addressed. But to deliver the benefit, they meed to be monitored as the germicidal effect fades over time with the traditional low pressure mercury UV c lights.
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