The International Ultraviolet Association (IUVA) has been the leading international voice to make the use of UV technology a leading technology for public health and environmental application for decades. Interest in germicidal ultraviolet (GUV) for reducing the risk of disease transmission in public spaces skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and IUVA was instrumental at providing essential community forums to encourage dialogue between all GUV stakeholders to spur communication and networking. IUVA is once again taking a leadership role of bringing the community together.

To further this effort, the IUVA and ASHRAE with GUV stakeholders are staging their first roadmapping workshop to identify the issues, objectives and plans needed to implement GUV in public spaces to combat disease transmission. This will be done in interactive, facilitated and web-enabled roundtable sessions joining international thought leaders and industry participants to distill the latest trends in infectious diseases, GUV technologies and healthcare needs looking ahead in the next ten years to make this possible.

Please come join us at ASHRAE Headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia for the in-person conferencing and virtual networking opportunities you’ve come to expect from IUVA events. This is a unique, once-in-a-decade opportunity to participate in this critical roadmapping workshop with your GUV peers in commercial companies of all sizes, academia, government and non-government organizations and be part of the future of GUV in public spaces.

The design, development and deployment of GUV sources, devices and applications for infection control and prevention are of great interest to the GUV industry and public health communities. However, coordinated and focused efforts with all stakeholders are needed for cohesive and strategic management of disease transmission and public private partnerships are essential. At this workshop, you will have the opportunity to provide input to a roadmap for developing and applying GUV to suppress disease transmission in public spaces, including the built environment and transportation, and to increase the adoption of GUV tools and technologies for better preparedness to manage the risks posed by disease transmission in public spaces.

This workshop welcomes all categories of GUV stakeholders across the globe that can contribute to the successful application of GUV in public spaces for better public health, and encourages attendance and input from:

• companies supporting GUV device manufacturing or technology development,
• users or procurers of GUV devices,
• researchers, administrators, and managers supporting standards development,
• public health and public policy professionals,
• researchers, engineers, scientists supporting GUV application development,
• government agencies supporting research or regulation
• organizations supporting regulatory frameworks for GUV products and applications
• young professionals supporting the GUV and public health or policy fields
• students in science, healthcare, analytical technologies, or public policy
• non-government organizations supporting public health, public policy, or indoor environmental justice

It all traces back to IUVA Americas 2022 in Cincinnati, where more than 260 attendees from over 15 countries participated in the International Ultraviolet Association (IUVA) America's 2022 Conference covering the gamut of topics in UV technology, research and applications to improve public health and the environment. The event concluded with the IUVA Healthcare Task Force leading a special interactive discussion on the latest trends in germicidal ultraviolet technologies (GUV) for healthcare, involving more than 80 attendees from the federal government, NGOs, academia and industry.

This truly ‘ground-breaking’ event constituted perhaps the greatest gathering of healthcare-focused GUV expertise in decades, knowledgeable about our many associations and their pivotal roles in developing and applying GUV to help our nation’s fight against this and future pandemics. The gravitas in the room was immense, the results profound, and it was readily felt, acknowledged and appreciated by all, especially our Federal representatives - they had never seen an industry come together like this before.

More than 170 goals and issues were identified across 14 broad categories for further discussion and resolution. Prioritization and resolution of these issues & goals through industry-consensus action plans was established as the next step. This workshop was designed with that objective in mind.

Workshop Background Files

• Item 1 - IUVA America 2022 Issues & Goals Evaluation
• Item 2 - IUVA America 2022 Issues & Goals - Wednesday Session Panelists
• Item 3 - IUVA America 2022 Issues & Goals Analysis-- Overall Summary
• Item 4 - IUVA America 2022 Issues & Goals Analysis-- Presentation Summary
• Item 5 - IUVA America 2022 Issues & Goals Analysis-- Full Detail

The following organizations (in alphabetical order) are actively partnering with IUVA in developing industry consensus standards so needed in advancing GUV, and for this, we in IUVA are most grateful. We want to acknowledge these contributions by offering the following brief synopsis of these essential efforts:

ASHRAE
Development of new and refinement of existing ANSI/ASHRAE standards related to airborne and surface antimicrobial efficacy measurements and related GUV applications. Also, many thanks to ASHRAE for hosting the Workshop at its World HQs, making it accessible and affordable to the wider GUV community.

HSI
Development of healthcare related ANSI standards for measuring antimicrobial efficacy and overall disinfection levels in healthcare facilities, for GUV and other technologies.

IES
Development of new and refinement of existing ANSI/IES standards on physics-related GUV measurement protocols for wavelength, intensity, irradiance, etc., for varying sources, luminaires, measurement devices, etc.

NALMCO
Development of a new standardized curriculum and certification protocols for GUV device maintenance staff, installation technicians and system designers in the field.

NEMA
Development of new ANSI GUV product labeling standards, to include a standardized method for publicly accessible reporting of additional essential information, not shown in the label.

NIST
Facilitation and coordination of GUV standards, conferences, publications and other collaborative initiatives between the GUV industry and our Federal counterparts.