Indigo-Clean® Eclipses Dated UV Lighting with New Upper Air Disinfection Claim

 
October 19, 2021 (Kenosha, Wisconsin) -- They often go unnoticed in the perimeter of surgical suites and other healthcare spaces: decades-old ultraviolet lights, originally installed to kill the bacteria that causes tuberculosis. Their use was largely discontinued due to safety concerns for room occupants, as well as maintenance issues. Recently, there has been a resurgence of interest in using UV to kill pathogens, despite previous, documented concerns about its hazards. That’s why Indigo-Clean -- already proven to safely kill SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogens -- is offering a welcome and extremely effective disinfection alternative: 405nm visible light. 

Today, UV is primarily used in hospitals for surface disinfection, via portable devices that must operate while the room is unoccupied. With the onset of the pandemic, a number of lighting manufacturers began promoting UV for upper air disinfection in occupied spaces, while attempting to downplay unresolved safety and maintenance concerns. To be effective, UV require direct sightlines, which can be a significant challenge in ORs filled with beds and equipment. Indigo-Clean, which already provides whole-room disinfection, now also offers a compelling upper-air disinfection claim: it kills 90 percent of SARS-CoV-2 in just 2 hours at normal illuminance levels. Unlike UV, Indigo-Clean is safe for occupants and does not require direct line of sight to disinfect. Instead, the nature of the light allows it to reflect off surfaces to disinfect the many shadowed and hard-to-reach areas UV simply can’t touch. UV also requires specially trained technicians and frequent maintenance, neither of which apply to Indigo-Clean. 

According to the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), improperly deployed UV lighting can cause a number of health issues, including skin and eye burns. The 405nm wavelength used by Indigo-Clean is considered risk exempt, per the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Standard 62471, which evaluates the photobiological safety of lamps. The standard assigns specific risk levels to all forms of UV light, which means under certain circumstances, they can cause skin and eye irritation and/or damage. 

Cliff Yahnke, Ph.D., Chief Scientist and Head of Clinical Affairs at Kenall, summed up the benefits of Indigo-Clean: “Now that Indigo-Clean is scientifically validated by both the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City and the University of Tennessee to safely kill SARS-CoV-2 without damage to eyes, skin or materials, why risk using anything else? Indigo-Clean is cost effective as well as efficacious, paying for itself in just months by reducing surgical site infections and helping healthcare facilities provide a better standard of care.”   


About Indigo-Clean and Kenall 
Indigo-Clean is a registered trademark of Kenall Manufacturing Co., a Legrand company. Indigo-Clean is a patented technology that easily installs into overhead lighting to safely, automatically, and continuously disinfect the air, and hard and soft surfaces. 

Kenall was founded in Chicago, Illinois in 1963 and has built a reputation for durable lighting solutions of superior quality and exceptional value. Today, the company creates unique solutions for the healthcare, cleanroom/containment, food processing, transportation, high abuse, and correctional lighting markets. Kenall luminaires are designed in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and comply with the Buy American Act (manufactured in the United States with more than 50% of the component cost of US origin). 

About Legrand 
Legrand is the global specialist in electrical and digital building infrastructures. Its comprehensive offering of solutions for commercial, industrial, and residential markets makes it a benchmark for customers worldwide. The Group harnesses technological and societal trends with lasting impacts on buildings with the purpose of improving lives by transforming the spaces where people live, work and meet with electrical, digital infrastructures and connected solutions that are simple, innovative and sustainable. Drawing on an approach that involves all teams and stakeholders, Legrand is pursuing its strategy of profitable and sustainable growth driven by acquisitions and innovation, with a steady flow of new offerings—including Eliot connected products with enhanced value in use. Legrand reported sales of €6.1 billion in 2020. The company is listed on Euronext Paris and is notably a component stock of the CAC 40 and CAC 40 ESG indexes (ISIN code FR0010307819). https://legrandgroup.com 

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