Indicia reader safety

A method of scanning indicia where a primary light source 30 is activated to illuminate a primary indicia 3 on an item 2 and a secondary ultra-violet (UV) light source 40 is activated to illuminate a secondary-indicia 4 if the item's class matches at least one of the classes stored in a memory 60. The secondary ultra-violet (UV) light source may be deactivated upon detection of an exposure risk, such as detection of a human body part in the readers field of view. The primary light source may be a visible light source and the primary indicia may be visible under normal lighting conditions. The secondary indicia may visible when illuminated by the secondary UV light source but otherwise invisible. The primary indicia may be a barcode. The secondary indicia may be a security mark to prove the item's authenticity. The method may be used with an indicia reader 1 such as a hand-held imaging scanner or fixed-mount imaging scanner.