Reduce surgical site infection (SSI) risk.

Continuously disinfect bacteria in the OR using invisible light: pre-, intra-, and post-operatively.

Passive disinfection. No changes to surgical workflows.
80% more equivalent air changes over AORN guidelines.
Fully autonomous. No extra work for OR staff.
Silent and invisible. No impact on ambient sound or lighting.

Staff activity during surgery is the primary source of bacteria, which becomes airborne

Contamination comes from nearly every staff activity in the OR: changing gowns1 and gloves2, walking around3, shedding squames4, opening doors5, applying stockinettes6, etc. This bacteria becomes airborne and is a leading cause of Surgical Site Infections (SSIs)7.

These unavoidable activities necessitate disinfection during surgery, something that terminal cleaning alone cannot provide.

Removing surgical gloves
Donning surgical gowns
Merely walking around
Bacterial counts after a door opening
Zener
Reduction of aerosolized Staph aureus before
and after lamps are turned on9

Zener® continuously disinfects during surgery (and pre- and post-surgery, too)

Zener is a patented device, the size of a smoke alarm, that is ceiling-mounted  and can increase operating room (OR) air changes by 80%8.

Zener uses SafeRayTM light technology (222 nm far-UV) which has proven to be as effective as traditional UV light at disinfection, but is safe for human exposure. This unique differentiator allows Zener to provide high bactericidal efficacy pre-, intra-, and post-operatively.

Disinfecting during surgery with UV light has shown to reduce SSIs by 81% (average)

Until 2010’s, some facilities used traditional UV light (the harmful kind) in a similar manner i.e. in OR ceilings to disinfect during surgery.

With statistically significant reduction in SSIs, the efficacy was irrefutable:

68% reduction
St. Francis Hospital
Total hip and knee replacements.10
83% reduction
Brigham Hospital
Total hip replacements.11
92% reduction
Brigham Hospital
Total knee replacements.11
69% reduction
Brigham Hospital
Total elbow, shoulder, and ankle replacements.11
87% reduction
Mass. General Hospital
Craniotomies.12
93% reduction
Mass. General Hospital
Laminectomies.12
98% reduction
Duke University Hospital
Various.13
59% reduction
NE Deaconess Hospital
Thoracotomies.14

However, despite the high effectiveness, the practice did not become widely adopted due to safety concerns and staff injuries from the harmful UV.

CLINICAL CORRELATION

With SafeRay light’s safety differentiator and equivalent disinfection to traditional UV light8, the same application in OR ceilings during surgery is expected to offer similar SSI reduction (81% avg.) but without staff injuries.

St. Francis Hospital - Traditional UV light being used during surgery
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Common Questions

References

1 Bible, Jesse E et al. “Which regions of the operating gown should be considered most sterile?.” Clinical orthopaedics and related research vol. 467,3 (2009): 825-30. doi:10.1007/s11999-008-0341-1.
‍2 Kim, Katy et al. “Glove change to reduce the risk of surgical site infection or prosthetic joint infection in arthroplasty surgeries: a systematic review.” ANZ journal of surgery vol. 89,9 (2019): 1009-1015. doi:10.1111/ans.14936.
‍3 Sunagawa, S et al. “Airborne particle dispersion around the feet of surgical staff while walking in and out of a bio-clean operating theatre.” The Journal of hospital infection vol. 106,2 (2020): 318-324. doi:10.1016/j.jhin.2020.07.016.
‍4 Wernham, A G et al. “Effect of an exfoliating skincare regimen on the numbers of epithelial squames on the skin of operating theatre staff, studied by surface microscopy.” The Journal of hospital infection vol. 100,2 (2018): 190-194. doi:10.1016/j.jhin.2018.03.014.
‍5 Sadrizadeh, Sasan et al. “Airborne particle dispersion to an operating room environment during sliding and hinged door opening.” Journal of infection and public health vol. 11,5 (2018): 631-635. doi:10.1016/j.jiph.2018.02.007.
‍6 Noguchi, Chieko et al. “Factors contributing to airborne particle dispersal in the operating room.” BMC surgery vol. 17,1 78. 6 Jul. 2017, doi:10.1186/s12893-017-0275-1.
‍7 Gosden, P E et al. “Importance of air quality and related factors in the prevention of infection in orthopaedic implant surgery.” The Journal of hospital infection vol. 39,3 (1998): 173-80. doi:10.1016/s0195-6701(98)90255-9.
‍8 Zener’s third-party testing to standards ANSI/AHAM AC-5, ASHRAE 241, and FDA GLP. 23 Apr. 2025.
9 Eadie, Ewan et al. “Far-UVC (222 nm) efficiently inactivates an airborne pathogen in a room-sized chamber.” Scientific reports vol. 12,1 4373. 23 Mar. 2022, doi:10.1038/s41598-022-08462-z.
‍10 Ritter, Merrill A et al. “Ultraviolet lighting during orthopaedic surgery and the rate of infection.” The Journal of bone and joint surgery. American volume vol. 89,9 (2007): 1935-40. doi:10.2106/JBJS.F.01037.
‍11 Lowell, J D et al. “Ultraviolet radiation and reduction of deep wound infection following hip and knee arthroplasty.” Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences vol. 353 (1980): 285-93. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.1980.tb18931.x.
‍12 Wright, R. Lewis, and John F. Burke. “Effect of Ultraviolet Radiation on Post-operative Neurosurgical Sepsis.” Journal of Neurosurgery, vol. 31, no. 5, Nov. 1969, pp. 533–537. https://doi.org/10.3171/jns.1969.31.5.0533.
‍13 Hart, D. “Bactericidal ultraviolet radiation in the operating room. Twenty-nine-year study for control of infections.” Journal of the American Medical Association vol. 172 (1960): 1019-28. doi:10.1001/jama.1960.03020100027006.
‍14 Overholt, Richard H., and Reeve H. Betts. “A Comparative Report on Infection of Thoracoplasty Wounds: Experiences with Ultraviolet Irradiation of Operating Room Air.” Journal of Thoracic Surgery, vol. 9, no. 5, June 1940, pp. 520–529. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0096-5588(20)32260-1
15 Kapadia, Bhaveen H et al. “The economic impact of periprosthetic infections following total knee arthroplasty at a specialized tertiary-care center.” The Journal of arthroplasty vol. 29,5 (2014): 929-32. doi:10.1016/j.arth.2013.09.017.