Posted on 09/15/2005 6:50:46 AM PDT by rawhide
COLUMBIA, Tenn. — A malfunctioning light bulb in an elementary school gym exposed more than 100 people to short-wave radiation for an hour, sending 18 to the hospital with severe sunburns and swollen eyes.
The incident occurred during a 9/11 memorial service held Friday afternoon at the Baker Elementary School in Columbia. Attendees, many of whom were veterans, said that they started to feel symptoms soon after the event began.
"While I was sitting in the auditorium, my forehead started itching real bad," said Fred Young, 73. "When I got home I looked into the mirror and my face looked real red."
By Saturday morning, Maury Regional Hospital had treated nine patients suffering from unexpected sunburns and burning eyes. Dr. Michael Richardson, an emergency room doctor working Friday night, realized that they all attended the same event, but he could not immediately determine the cause of the symptoms.
Most of the patients were older adults who were sitting together under the broken lamp. No children were admitted to the hospital for exposure, according to Dr. David Turner, emergency room physician.
"The symptoms looked like problems that welders often come in with," said Turner.
After some research, Richardson decided the symptoms, similar to overexposure from a tanning bed, were produced by a radiation leak from a halide bulb. The bulbs, commonly used in gyms, are designed with a special membrane that blocks the UV rays, but occasionally these membranes can break or puncture....
(Excerpt) Read more at ajc.com ...
I wonder how often this happens...first I've ever heard of it.
Sunburn? From a lamp? In a school gym???? What's up with this? Can you say: "7 figure lawsuit"?
Odd. And a little creepy.
Thanks for posting. I have family in Columbia.
Something doens't sound right. I have been in tanning beds and you are within 6 to 8 inches of the bulbs. I would say 20+.
I find it hard to beleive that someone got sunburn from a single lamp that would be 8 to 10 feet overhead. Probably higher since this is in a gymn.
> ... the symptoms, similar to overexposure from a tanning
> bed, were produced by a radiation leak from a halide bulb.
Yet another reason to eschew halogen bulbs.
They also run extremely hot (fire hazard), and are not
especially energy efficient. After many of our fixtures
were subject to a recall, we switched from halogen to
fluorescent.
Burn your damn head right off.
I don't think so.
This strains the imagination.
Bulbs in gyms are typically quite high off the floor. And while they may be several hundred watts, it hard to believe they could induce noticeable burning - even after several hours.
Look how close you are to the bulbs in a tanning bed and how many of them there are.
I'm skeptical...
That must be some big lightbulb.
Yeah, sounds like a deathray or something used to keep fast food warm.
You type faster than me! (See #10 below)
Great minds think alike!
A "burning issue" ping.
Probably Bush's fault since he didn't have a plan in effect to prevent the unauthorized and devasting attack on people of pale color.
---Ultraviolet from Halogen Bulbs
There is some common concern about the ultraviolet output of halogen bulbs, since they operate at high filament temperatures and the bulbs are made of quartz instead of glass. However, the filament temperature of halogen bulbs rated to last 2,000 hours or more is only slightly greater than that of standard incandescent lamps, and the UV output is only slightly higher. Halogen fixtures typically have a glass or plastic shield to confine any possible bulb explosions, and these shields absorb the small traces of shortwave and mediumwave UV that gets through the quartz bulb.
Higher temperature photographic and projection bulbs are different. The much higher filament temperature of shorter life bulbs results in possibly significant hazardous UV. For maximum safety, use these bulbs in fixtures or equipment designed to take these bulbs, and in a manner consistent with the fixture or equipment instructions.---
http://members.misty.com/don/bulb1.html#huv
Wonder how many people it too to change the lightbulb?
And yet there were 18 people, all of whom attended the same event, who showed up with the very same sunburn-type symptoms.
Are you perhaps suggesting that they did some illicit welding instead?
I seriously doubt that this was a "halide bulb". More likely it is a mercury vapor lamp (like a high-intensity street light). If the outer glass shell breaks on one of those, they can emit LOTS of short-wavelength UV.
Yeap, 1000 watt metal halide.
The people were probably burned with UV-B rays. Sunburn is caused from UV-B exposure. Tanning beds produce UV-A rays which are less likely to burn you than UV-B. There are special UV-B booths that are used to treat patients with skin conditions like psoriasis. The exposure times are typically < 1 minute per treatment in those UV-B booths.
What about my favorite bulb, the MVR400U? It is a metal - halide type of bulb.
It said Halide not Halogen.
Well, I am obviously in over my head when it comes to lighting.
Metal halide lamps are similar to mercury vapor lamps, but instead of just mercury, they also contain sodium/scandium iodide and sometimes metals in the rare earth period combined with halogens in the halogen group of the periodic table. They are preferred over mercury vapor in areas where color rendition is important as they give a purer white light then mercury vapor, which tends towards the blue end of the electromagnetic spectrumIf damaged, I would think that metal halide lamps could emit excessive UV radiation similar to the mercury vapor lamps. It looks as if they operate by the same basic priciple, just with different materials that affect electrical efficiency and the spectrum of light.
"Can you say: "7 figure lawsuit"?"
What kind of idiot jury would give someone a million dollars for a sunburn?
I stand corrected. Here's another similar story.
http://www.mikeholt.com/mojonewsarchive/Safety-HTML/HTML/State-to-Warn-About-Halide-Light-Dangers~20050314.php
Aren't those bulbs designed to fail completely if the outer glass shell breaks?
"I'm skeptical..."
Should read: "I don't know much about thermal radiation..."
Uh, an American jury? Remember the spilled coffee at McDonalds? And a bad sunburn is a lot more serious than 2nd degree burns on your lap. :)
Slippery language. Sometimes the term "halide lamp" is used with "tungsten-halogen" bulbs, which still use a hot tungsten wire to get light emission, rather than an electrical arc discharge in the presence of volatile metal vapor like "mercury vapor" and "sodium vapor".
Evidently "halide lamp" in this case refers to the type you referenced--and is a discharge-type lamp.
Those aren't the same kind of bulbs.
"...the symptoms, similar to overexposure from a tanning bed, were produced by a radiation leak from a halide bulb."
Must have actually been a Halideburton bulb.....
I and my wife have noticed that when we walk into some of the big box stores we start feeling kind of weird and the only thing I could figure out was that it had something to do with the lights.
Many years ago I made the mistake of setting in a poker games at a wielding shop. There was a screen between the wielding and us – but the walls were painted white. I didn't notice a thing until the next morning when I woke up feeling like sand had been poured into my eye sockets.
Yes, Home Depot comes to my mind. The lights there are terrible and bad on your eyes.
Thoughts?
It seems like alot of people didn't read the article.
Here is some more info.
"A considerable number of persons were affected by ultraviolet radiation emitted from broken mercury vapour lamps at a public event at Katanning in April 1998.
Mercury vapour and metal halide lamps are used to illuminate sports stadiums, industrial, commercial and office buildings as well as roads, parking and public areas.
Mercury vapour and metal halide lamps are constructed as a two-jacketed device - an inner tube and an outer glass envelope. The inner tube contains the gas through which an electrical discharge is maintained. The discharge emits electromagnetic energy in the form of visible light, ultraviolet and infrared radiation. The inner tube is surrounded by a glass envelope, the inside of which is coated with a phosphor which emits a visible light. The outer envelope reduces shortwave ultraviolet radiation emitted from the inner tube. If the outer envelope is broken, the lamp will continue to burn emitting shortwave ultraviolet radiation of sufficient intensity to cause severe skin and eye burns. The fact that exposed persons may be unaware of damaged lamps makes these lamps particularly hazardous. "
"Should read: "I don't know much about thermal radiation..."
"THERMAL radiation" No, I guess I don't. Why don't you explain that term to me...
And then when you're done we can talk about UV radiation... like the article does.
I remember that feeling well. In the mid-60s, before lasers were commonly available, I was working on an optical device that required monochromatic light. Mercury lamps were the best source for a nice green band. I spent a day looking into this thing and wound up exactly as you describe. I guess nobody had told me any better. Fortunately I recovered in a day or two (lost much of my vision in the other eye due to a retinal vein occlusion sometime later though).
"Are you perhaps suggesting that they did some illicit welding instead?"
That's it!! :)
Actually, I know welding will give you a sunburn. I've already experiened it myself. But in that case my face and arms were no more than 2 feet from the arc, which burns at an extrememly high heat and sonsumes a lot of energy.
In open space, radiated energy (or anything else for that matter) decreases in intensity by the cube of the change in radius from the source. (I think).
That's what makes it seem fishy to me.
I've seen another post here though saying its happened elsewhere though, so who knows...
I hear a thundering of approaching lawyers...
It's a sunburn, nothing more.
These lamps, along with nearly all commonly available light sources produce UV radiation.
Rush was just talking about this
I thought they were all in New Orleans?
Ever wonder why stuff, book covers, photos, etc., fades in your office. Most lighting produces UV.
It sounds as if the inner shroud failed. It's not a common occured and there is not a shut down function associated with this.
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