Assessment of safelight handling times in darkrooms: A novel paradigm

Safelight and film handling time measurements demonstrated that only three of the seven hospitals tested were operating under appropriate lighting conditions. The maximum mean film handling time noted was 28 s, indicating that a minimum safelight handling time of at least 30 s is needed in darkrooms. Working area light levels were found to have a significant relationship with safelight handling time and a working area light level of 1.8 lx should facilitate acceptable safelight handling times. The authors present the novel approach described in the work as an effective way of monitoring darkroom safelight conditions.