Safety, Handling & Disposal

There are a few health and safety guidelines which you should follow during the installation, handling and disposal of lamps. Here are a number of steps to help ensure your health and safety:

1. It’s always important to handle lamps with caution. Suitable storage of lamps will reduce the possibility of glass breakage. In the case of a glass breakage you must remember the harmful substances that are occasionally present in certain lamps and must be dealt with accordingly. 

Incandescent lamps cause little or no threat but only that of the broken glass and can be disposed of as regular waste. However Fluorescent tubes and most discharge lamps such as SON and metal halide do hold potentially dangerous and harmful substances that need to be handled with care and disposed of using the regulations of your local waste authority. 

2. The removal and fitting of lamps are easy due to their fittings, giving you no reason to force them as this may lead to a breakage of glass. There are different types of fittings for each type of bulb, these are Push Fit, Twist Lock and Screw In.

3. During the operation of a lamp it is important to remember that they often get hot. This means that they will need to be installed in such a way to reduce the risk of personal injury and risk of fire.

There are a number of lamps that emit more energy than they do light and should never be placed near flammable materials. Manufacturer guidelines will be provided on the packaging of the lamps, abiding by these guidelines will help make sure you are taking appropriate health and safety precautions.

4. Pictograms are often found on the packaging lamps; some of these require little attention but should always be observed.

5. It is important to make sure you are installing the correct lamp for your fitting; many lamps will look similar but will not necessarily share the same heat characteristics that may have the potential to cause damage.

6. A lot of lamps hold gases that can either be more or less than the atmospheric pressure and may either explode or implode if the glass is damaged or broken. Breaking a lamp during the disposal is frowned upon unless wearing protective equipment.

7. You must always observe the maximum wattage and the bulb shape specified for the fitting. Without taking this into account you may be risking damage.