Laser safety for exhibitions and trade shows
A show floor is built in days and disappears just as quickly. The equipment is real. So are the hazards.
Exhibitors arrive with different equipment, different procedures and different assumptions about what they are allowed to do. Show management is answerable for all of them at once, in a hall full of people who are not wearing eyewear.
That is a safety program on a compressed timetable. It has to know what is coming before it arrives, confirm on the floor that what arrived is what was described, and leave a record of what was decided.
Before the show
Review what exhibitors intend to bring and how they intend to operate it, and settle as many questions as possible while the equipment is still in a crate at home. Show management gets visibility into what is coming. Exhibitors get expectations they can meet.
- Pre-show exhibitor review
- Exhibitor guidance and briefing material
- Remote pre-show meetings where a stand needs one
On the floor
Inspect the installations during setup. Compare what is physically on the stand with what was submitted. Verify the controls. Where something is wrong, work with the exhibitor to put it right rather than simply recording it, because a stand that cannot operate is a problem for everybody.
- Installation inspection
- Operational clearance
- On-floor laser safety officer support
- Corrective action coordination
Circumstances change mid-show. Somebody qualified has to be available to make the decision when they do.
After the show
The show ends and the hall is empty by Friday. What is left is the record.
- What was reviewed
- What was found
- What decisions were made, and by whom
- Corrective actions and how they were closed
- What to change before the next one
What a stand check covers
The same ground every time, so an exhibitor knows what is coming and show management knows what was looked at.
- Interlocks and lockouts secured, and tested rather than assumed
- Enclosure windows rated for what is behind them
- Beam containment for Class 3B and Class 4 inside a Class 1 enclosure
- No beams leaving the stand into open air or up into the rafters
- Attended operation, with the key out when nobody is there
- Handheld equipment operated to a stated protocol
- Fume extraction where the process produces any
- Gas and liquid supplies limited to what the day needs
- Plasma and secondary emission accounted for
- The setup period itself, when the hall is open and the guards are not on yet
Where we will be
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FABTECH Las Vegas 2026
Las Vegas
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Laser safety for the show floor: exhibitor review before the doors open, inspection and clearance during setup, and cover for the run of the show.
Start with the show
Tell us the hall, the dates and roughly what is being demonstrated. Half an hour is usually enough to say what the show needs and what it would involve.