Health and Safety
General standards, recommendations or guidelines
- ICNIRP 494-522; health physics 74 (4)
Guidelines for limiting exposure to time-varying electric, magnetic and electro-magnetic fields (up to 300 GHz)
This standard has the objective to establish guidelines for
limiting EMF exposure that will provide protection against known
adverse health effects. The document describes studies on both direct
and indirect effects of EMF. While direct effects result from direct
interaction of fields with the body, the indirect effects involve
interactions with an object at a different electric potential from the
body. The restrictions in these guidelines are only based on scientific
data. The currently available
knowledge indicates that these restrictions provide an adequate level
of protection from exposure to time-varying EMF. The standard presents
two classes of guidance:
-basic restrictions
-reference levels
Basic restrictions are restrictions on exposure to time-varying fields that are based directly on established health effects. Reference levels are provided for practical exposure assessment purposes. Some reference levels are derived from relevant basic restrictions using measurement and/or computational techniques, and some address perception and adverse indirect effects of exposure to EMF.
The compliance with the reference level will ensure the compliance with the relevant basic restriction. To test compliance with the relevant basic restriction is necessary whenever a reference level is exceeded. The guidelines written down in this standard do not directly address product performance standards, which are intended to limit EMF emissions under specified test conditions. Nor does the document deal with the techniques used to measure any of the physical quantities that characterise electric, magnetic, and electromagnetic fields. Furthermore, the compliance with the present guidelines may not necessarily preclude interference with, or effects on, medical devices such as metallic prostheses, cardiac pacemakers and defibrillators, and cochlear implants. Interference with pacemakers may occur at levels below the recommended reference levels.
EC legislation
- 1999/519/EC - Exposure of the general public to electromagnetic fields
This EC recommendation defines the limitation of exposure of the general public to electromagnetic fields in a frequency range from 0Hz to 300GHz. Currently there are no maximum values for the power flux density. All current limits are based on permanent control of new scientific knowledge or technical developments and include a security increase of at least factor ten. The conformity of a device with this regulation is controlled by the CE marking. A product can only be sold and operating if all applicable European regulations are fulfilled and an inspection of conformity is done.
- 2004/40/EC - Health and safety requirements regarding the exposure of workers to the risks arising from physical agents
The EC directive 2004/40/EC was published in April 2004. The directive defines the requirements for the protection of workers from the exposure of electromagnetic fields. The European Standards Development Organisation CENELEC was mandated by the European Commission to develop a standard with the title: “Assessment, measurement and calculations of human exposure at the workplace for persons bearing active implantable medical devices in electric, magnetic and electromagnetic fields with frequencies from 0 to 300GHz”.
- 2002/95/EC – RoHS
The Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS) 2002/95/EC was adopted in February 2003 by the European Union. This directive restricts the use of six hazardous materials in the manufacture of various types of electronic and electrical equipment. These materials are:
-ead
-mercury
-cadmium
-hexavalent chromium (chromium VI or Cr6+)
-polybrominated biphenyls (PBB)
-polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE)
To conform to the original version of the directive these materials in general have to be excluded. The problem was, that this demand can not be realised in the production. It would also not be possible to proof this in an analytic way. So the directive was changed in 2005 and limits for the number of each homogenous material in a product were defined.
The directive is closely linked with the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE) 2002/96/EC which sets collection, recycling and recovery targets for electrical goods.
Harmonised standards
- EN 50364 (EMF Assessment of EAS & RFID - Harmonised)
The standard EN 50364 is about electromagnetic fields, electromagnetic radiation, dose limits, physiological effects on the human body, radiation hazards, identification methods, frequencies, radiocommunication, and radio waves. It is a harmonised standard, which will be updated to use IEC62369 (EN62369) for assessment methods. It is currently in development phase.
- EN 50357 (EMF Assessment methods for EAS and RFID)
The standard EN50357 will be withdrawn. The IEC group PT62369
cares about EMF exposure, EAS and RFID. They want a globalisation of
EN50357. This contains the same methods and no limits and will not be
EU harmonised. It allows the assessment by field measurement, simple
modelling and complex system and body modelling. All these standards
are only about thermal effects. The influence on nerves and cells is
not considered.
- prEN 50XXX-1 (Monitoring and alarm receiving centre — Part 1: Requirements)
The standard prEN 50XXX-1 is currently under development. A
first draft of the standard is expected for October 2007.
It considers EMF assessment with respect to active implantable medical
devices in electric, magnetic and electromagnetic fields.
A good overview over existing national health and safety standards can
be found on the WHO webpage: www.who.int/en .
