How to create a safe classroom when using a projector
Projectors are an excellent resource for teachers and professors allowing them to present subject matter in new ways. While projectors are quite a flexible tool for education purposes but you’ll need to create a culture of eye safety in the classroom.
One of the key health and safety concerns about using projection equipment in the classroom is preventing unnecessary exposure to the extremely bright UV light that projectors give off.
Guidelines
By following these simple guidelines, you can ensure your classroom stays safe and avoids any potential for eye damage:
- Remind students not to stare directly into the beam of the projector.
- Remind students never to look directly into the projector lens.
- At a distance of 4 feet, the recommended exposure limit before eyesight strain or injuries is 20 seconds. Try to keep the amount of time spent inside the beam at a minimum.
- Encourage students to keep their back to the projector beam when working at any interactive board.
- Never turn to face the class when in the beam but step out of the beam to interact with the audience.
- If students spend a great deal of time in front the projector beam consider investing in a neutral density filter than allows for brightness adjustments.
- Supervise younger children at all times when the projector is being used.
- Close the windows blinds instead of increasing the projector brightness.
- Use a maximum of 1,500 ANSI lumens for your projector. This is adequate for most classroom environments.
- If possible, mount the projector onto the ceiling or some other inaccessible location so it’s hard to step into the beam or to look directly into the projector lens.
- Make sure the screen or whiteboard is the proper size for the classroom. A small board in a large classroom will make viewing text or other visual difficult in a large classroom. Increasing brightness is NOT the way to correct this problem.
- Post health and safety reminders in the classroom close to projectors to remind everyone of the rules for projection use.
- Keep a bit of ambient light in the room to prevent eyestrain for happening. A perfectly dark room with a large projected image can create eye fatigue.
