Laser Safety
Laser safety programs, controls, procedures, training and LSO support, assessed against the standard that applies to your facility.
When people call us about this
What people usually describe on a first call:
- There is a laser safety officer on paper and no program behind the title.
- Classification, controls and signage do not match what is actually in the room.
- Training is happening and nothing records who was trained, on what, when.
- The people doing the work have real expertise and no framework holding it together.
What we provide
- Laser safety program development
- Program review and gap analysis
- Procedures and standard operating procedures
- Hazard review and control measure design
- Compliance documentation and record systems
- Laser safety training
- Laser safety officer support and training
- Program administration
Typical situations
The classes, and what each one means in a room
Classification is assigned by the manufacturer under the international standard and is the first thing a program is built on. In the United States, laser products are also regulated by the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health.
| Class | What it means |
|---|---|
| 1 | Safe under reasonably foreseeable use, including a fully enclosed higher-class laser whose enclosure is intact. |
| 1M | Safe unless someone looks into it with optics such as a loupe or an eyepiece. |
| 2 and 2M | Visible only, where the blink reflex is the protection. 2M adds the optics caveat. |
| 3R | Low risk in normal use, higher if someone deliberately stares into the beam. |
| 3B | Hazardous to the eye on direct or specular exposure. Controlled area, eyewear, interlocks, a trained operator. |
| 4 | The highest class. Hazardous to eye and skin, including from diffuse reflection, and a fire risk. Everything 3B requires, plus beam containment and a written program behind it. |
A program is not the class on the label. It is the controls that follow from it, the people trained to use them, and the records that show it happened.
How the work runs
We assess the facility against the standard that applies to it, which is a different document in a research lab, a manufacturing cell and an exhibition hall. That produces a gap analysis written to be read and acted on.
Then we write the program — classification, controls, procedures, training requirements and the records that prove it happened — and train the people who have to run it. A safety program nobody was trained on is documentation, not safety.
What you end up with
- A written program that matches the facility as it is now
- Controls documented with the reasoning behind them
- Training delivered and recorded in a form that survives scrutiny
- A revision process, so the program does not drift out of date again
- Someone internal who understands it well enough to own it
Written down
Take these with you
Reading
Is this what you are dealing with?
Describe it in your own words. We will tell you honestly whether it is something we should be doing.