UV-C light in wet procedure rooms

[j2020]

I have a situation where a hospital wants to install UV-C lights in a wet procedure room on all 4 walls. According to NEC Article 410.10(A), all luminaires installed in wet locations shall be marked "suitable for wet locations".

NEC definition of a wet procedure location is "the area in a patient care space where a procedure in performed that is normally subject to wet conditions while patients are present, including standing fluids on the floor or drenching of the work area, either of which condition is intimate to the patient or staff".

Would Article 410.10(A) be applicable whereas the UV-C light fixtures need to be marked "suitable for wet locations"? According to Article 410.10(A) and the wet procedure room definition it appears that they do. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[d0nut]

You are mixing concepts. A wet procedure area does not mean that the whole room is a wet location. It just means that you need isolated power or GFCI for the receptacles serving the area.

Also, UV-C has some pretty significant issues with finish degradation and avoiding exposure to people. Make sure you clearly understand what the hospital wants to achieve with the lighting and how to implement the solution. Are they trying to disinfect surfaces or the air, for example. It could be that a near UV product would work better for their application.

 

[j2020]

Thank you for your reply. I understand now. The hospital is more concerned on disinfecting surfaces and not air. They do use those robot UV machines but wanted something fixed in the rooms. They understand about the finish degradation.