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U.S. Department of Labor | ![]() |
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Occupational Safety & Health Administration |
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Standard Interpretations
01/19/2000 - Video Display Terminals (VDTs) and Radiation. |
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Standard Number: | 1910.1096 |
January 19, 2000 Ms. Darlene Dreamer Quality Administrative Assistant c/o Voss Industries, Inc. 2168 West 25th Street Cleveland, OH 44113 Dear Ms. Dreamer: Thank you for your December 10, 1999, letter addressed to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). You requested information regarding the potential health effects of very low radiation emission from computers. Computers, also referred to as video display terminals (VDTs), emit a radio frequency and an extremely low-frequency electromagnetic field, however there is no conclusive evidence that these low levels of radiation emitted from VDTs pose a health risk to VDT operators. OSHA does not currently have a standard relating to extra-low or very-low frequency emission of radiation. As you may know, the only OSHA health-related standard that currently addresses radiation is the Ionizing Radiation Standard, 29 CFR 1910.1096. It includes protection from suchradiation sources as x-rays, gamma rays, and other high speed atomic particles, which would not apply to your personal work environment. We have enclosed a copy of OSHA Publication No. 3092, Working Safely with Video Display Terminals [ 498 KB PDF ] for your review. If you wish to explore this topic further, you may contact OSHA's Technical Data Center at (202) 693-2350. Another resource that you may find useful is the National Institute forOccupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Their toll-free phone number is 1-800-35-NIOSH (1-800-356-4674). They publish a booklet similar to ours, NIOSH Publications on Video Display Terminals. We hope that this information is useful to you. Thank you for your interest in worker safety and health. If you have any further questions, please contact the [Office of Health Enforcement at (202) 693-2190]. Sincerely, Richard E. Fairfax, Director [Directorate of Enforcement Programs] [Corrected 6/2/2005] |
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