The Health Protection Agency (HPA) will carry out research into the use of wireless local area networks (WLANs), which are increasingly being used by companies.

This study will include measuring exposures from the Wi-Fi network, whereby people are exposed to the radio signals given off and absorb some of the energy that is transmitted.

Although the HPA believes that exposure levels are well below health guidelines, it still thinks that the area warrants further examination.

"There is no scientific evidence to date that WiFi and WLANs adversely affect the health of the general population," said the HPA's chief executive, Professor Pat Troop.

"Given this, there is no particular reason why schools and others should not continue to use WiFi or other wireless networks.

"However there has not been extensive research into what people's exposures actually are to this new technology and that is why we are initiating this new programme of research and analyses. We have good scientific reasons to expect the results to be reassuring and we will publish our findings."

These results will be published on the HPA's website and submitted for publication in scientific literature.

According to a recent survey by Connect, the two biggest IT headaches for businesses were 'everyday hassles with IT' (37 per cent) and 'security concerns' (32 per cent)