Health Canada's Radiofrequency Exposure Guidelines

Health Canada has updated its human exposure guidelines to radiofrequency electromagnetic energy. The current version of these exposure guidelines is specified in a document entitled: Limits of Human Exposure to Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Energy in the Frequency Range from 3 kHz to 300 GHz - Safety Code 6 (2009). This code is accompanied by the Technical Guide for Interpretation and Compliance Assessment of Health Canada's Radiofrequency Exposure Guidelines, to assist users in understanding and assessing the safety of electromagnetic exposures in working and living environments.

Safety Code 6 (2009)

The safety limits in this code are based on an ongoing review of published scientific studies, including both internal and external authoritative reviews of the scientific literature, as well as Health Canada's own research. This code is periodically revised to reflect new knowledge in the scientific literature. The current version of this code reflects the scientific literature published up to August 2009 and replaces the previous version published in 1999.

Errata - Section 2.3, page 19

"[...] Temperature increases in living tissue due to RF energy absorption follow a well-defined pattern with a time constant of approximately 6 minutes (thermal time constant), where 67% 63% of the steady state temperature increase occurs within 6 min. [...]"

To obtain an electronic copy of this document, please contact: publications@hc-sc.gc.ca

Technical Guide

This document contains technical information for guiding individuals or groups in their understanding of Health Canada's radiofrequency exposure guidelines, commonly known as Safety Code 6 (2009), and provides recommended best practices for ensuring compliance with the maximum exposure levels for controlled and uncontrolled environments. Information regarding survey methods and examples of calculations for the basis of assessing exposure levels are also provided.

To obtain an electronic copy of this document, please contact: publications@hc-sc.gc.ca