Whiteboard Projector Safety Concerns

Interactive whiteboards have been heralded as devices that will enhance education and be a major plank in the government's drive for new technology in schools.

Interactive whiteboards, now a common feature in UK schools, may pose a threat to the eyesight of teachers and children. A whistleblower from the whiteboard industry itself has pressed the authorities to investigate potential problems. Sam Livermore, owner of Croydon-based company Selectasize, has been struggling to persuade England's education department to put printed warnings alongside all screens because of the light projected onto them.

Documents from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), obtained by the BBC under the Freedom of Information Act, say users "should make sure that direct beam viewing of the optical output from this equipment is both controlled and restricted to no more than a few tens of seconds at a time."

They say the 'eye aversion response' - the dazzle effect - will be so strong that most people would not be able to view the beam for that long. But it is possible a viewer's peripheral retina could be overexposed even when they are not actually staring directly into the beam. "In such instances, no protective aversion response is evoked in viewers and so they won't know that they could be overexposing their eyes", the HSE documents say.

A report from the National Radiological Protection Board recognised this risk more than two years ago.

A straw poll conducted by Mike Harrison, an NUT rep in Wiltshire, found only a small number of teaching staff had been told how to use whiteboards safely. He said: "It's very difficult to avoid the beam because if you are standing in front and demonstrating a point to the class you immediately want to turn round to know that they are aware of what you are saying, rather than ducking out of the beam. You want to stay there and face the class."

A letter from the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta) admits that only a third of whiteboards have health and safety notices on them and says that its "current health and safety information does not address projectors."

One of the country's leading experts from City University's department of optometry and visual sciences, Dr Christopher Hull, said: "What little evidence we have indicates misuse of whiteboards is likely to cause only non-permanent changes. But, in the meantime, there is no reason not to put safety notices up."

Whiteboard use and installation advice

Advice to Schools from BECTU

Source: BBC News, TUC Risks

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