When in doubt or dealing with health and safety matters, I strongly advice to avoid at all means opinions, rules of thumbs or any other common sense wisdom. Do not accept any advice which is not backup by an authoritative reference. Good practice in science and engineering mandates going in first place to the source of contrasted and accepted knowledge.
For this case, I refer you to the excellent ICNIRP (International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection) paper on the matter:
Guidelines on limits of exposure to incoherent UV ratiation between 180 and 400nm
The paper may be a little bit daunting for those lacking a little bit of background on optics and power calculation, however, it is very clear and well written.
Here follows a summary of my interpretation of these guidelines, for your specific case:
Finally:
- As indicated in the datasheet, the UV3TZ-390-15 LED will typically output 10mW @ 20mA with a 50% power angle of 15 degrees.
- If the LED source was Lambertian (120 degrees of 50% power angle), the peak irradiance (at 0 degrees, front view) would be the total emitted power divided by pi (3.1415...)
- However, accounting for the 15 degrees 50% power angle of the actual LED, we will apply an additional conversion factor, arriving to the peak irradiance:
$$
I_p = \frac{P_{tot}}{\pi} \frac{\sin^2\theta_1}{\sin^2\theta_2} = \frac{10\text{mW}}{\pi} \frac{\sin^2 (60^{\circ})}{\sin^2 (7.5^{\circ})} \approx 140 \frac{\text{mW}}{sr}
$$
Lets's calculate two cases:
The operator stares at the LED at 0 degrees (frontal view) at 1m of distance:
- At 1m, 1sr is 1m2, so that Ip = 140mW/m2 @ 1m.
- To reach the ICNIRP exposure, the operator will have to stare at the LED (at 1m) during,
$$
T_{\text{max}} = \frac{10\text{KJ}/\text{m}^2}{140\text{mW}/\text{m}^2} \approx 20\;\text{hours}
$$
The operator stares at the LED at 0 degrees (frontal view) at 10cm of distance:
- At 10cm, 1sr is 0.01m2, so tha Ip = 14W/m2 @ 10cm.
- To reach the ICNIRP exposure, the operator will have to stare at the LED (at 10cm) during,
$$
T_{\text{max}} = \frac{10\text{KJ}/\text{m}^2}{14\text{W}/\text{m}^2} \approx 12\;\text{minutes}
$$