Auto­mat­ic cut­ting laser in action

Laser safe­ty is a key tech­nol­o­gy in mod­ern man­u­fac­tur­ing process­es. Lasers are arguably one of the great­est inven­tions of the 20th cen­tu­ry. Once described as “a solu­tion in search of a prob­lem,” lasers are used in every aspect of life today, from sig­nalling, telecom­mu­ni­ca­tions, and range find­ing to sur­vey­ing, surgery, and test­ing. They come in picow­att to megawatt sizes and in infrared (IR), vis­i­ble, and ultra­vi­o­let (UV) varieties.

A welder uses a hand-held laser welding system to join two pieces of metal. The welder wears proper PPE, including a laser-rated welding helmet, fire-resistant coveralls, and heat-resistant leather gauntlets.
A welder using a hand-held laser welder

Hand-held laser weld­ing is a grow­ing appli­ca­tion for high-pow­ered lasers. It offers excel­lent weld qual­i­ty and the abil­i­ty to use laser weld­ing in dif­fi­cult-to-reach loca­tions. How­ev­er, it comes with sig­nif­i­cant risk, as the welder works with an open Class 4 beam. A sound laser safe­ty pro­gram, train­ing, and a laser-con­trolled area are required.

Whether you inte­grate lasers into equip­ment, build lasers from scratch, con­duct research, or use them in your dai­ly oper­a­tions, you need to be aware of the haz­ards spe­cif­ic to your laser and application.

How can we help you?

Laser Hazard Analysis

We offer indus­tri­al laser safe­ty analy­sis fol­low­ing ANSI Z136 or IEC 60825–1. You will receive a laser haz­ard analy­sis report that pro­vides key infor­ma­tion, such as the Nom­i­nal Opti­cal Haz­ard Dis­tance (NOHD), the Nom­i­nal Haz­ard Zone (NHZ), and the Opti­cal Den­si­ty (OD) for pro­tec­tive eyewear.

Laser Guarding

If you need assis­tance with safe­guard­ing, we can rec­om­mend the pro­tec­tive mea­sures need­ed to reduce the risk to you and your employees.

US FDA Center for Diseases and Radiological Health (CDRH) submissions

If you sell a laser prod­uct in the USA, we can help you pre­pare your ini­tial report to the FDA’s Cen­ter for Dis­eases and Radi­o­log­i­cal Health (CDRH). Every laser sold in the USA, from the small­est laser point­er to the mul­ti-megawatt lasers used in fusion reac­tor research, is required to have a CDRH filing.

Services we do not offer

We do not offer:

  • laser or opti­cal design services.
  • opti­cal test­ing ser­vices to char­ac­ter­ize a laser.
  • med­ical laser safe­ty evaluations.
  • laser safe­ty prod­ucts like eye­wear, tem­po­rary bar­ri­ers, etc. We can rec­om­mend sources for these products.
  • laser safe­ty training. 

Laser safe­ty train­ing is avail­able from:

https://canadianlasersafety.com

https://www.lia.org/training/non-medical/online-courses/laser-safety-officer-training-online

https://www.kenteklaserstore.com/laser-safety-training-courses

https://www.rli.com/training/online.aspx

We have no finan­cial rela­tion­ship with any of these vendors.

Laser Safety Regulations

Sev­er­al key reg­u­la­tions and stan­dards are in force today. In Cana­da, each province’s gen­er­al machin­ery safe­ty reg­u­la­tions require employ­ers to pro­tect work­ers from haz­ards cre­at­ed by their machines and process­es. Fed­er­al reg­u­la­tions place sim­i­lar require­ments on fed­er­al­ly reg­u­lat­ed busi­ness­es. Lasers are reg­u­lat­ed under the Radi­a­tion Emit­ting Devices Act and the Cana­da Occu­pa­tion­al Health and Safe­ty Reg­u­la­tions. Lasers must be report­ed to the Con­sumer and Clin­i­cal Radi­a­tion Pro­tec­tion Bureau.

In the USA, the FDA reg­u­lates lasers through the Cen­ter for Devices and Radi­o­log­i­cal Health (CDRH). Lasers and laser prod­ucts sold in the USA must be reg­is­tered with the CDRH and meet the OSHA safe­ty reg­u­la­tions. There are dif­fer­ent require­ments for med­ical and non-med­ical lasers.

In the EU, lasers are cov­ered under sev­er­al direc­tives, includ­ing the Machin­ery Direc­tive, 2006/42/EC, and the new EU Machin­ery Reg­u­la­tion, 2023/1230, the Low Volt­age Direc­tive 2014/35/EU, and the EMC Direc­tive 2014/30/EU.

Laser Safety Standards

Canada

In Cana­da, the stan­dard for laser safe­ty is CAN/CSA E60825‑1. For health­care appli­ca­tions, the stan­dard is CSA Z386, where the laser is used in a health­care facil­i­ty (e.g., a sur­gi­cal laser), and CAN/CSA-C22.2 NO. 60601–2‑22–01 for med­ical equip­ment appli­ca­tions. There are addi­tion­al stan­dards that per­tain to the elec­tri­cal shock and fire safe­ty of these prod­ucts as well.

USA

In the USA, the gen­er­al stan­dard for laser safe­ty is ANSI Z136.1. How­ev­er, ANSI Z136 has sev­er­al addi­tion­al parts that may apply to your application.

In addi­tion, NFPA 115 deals with fire pro­tec­tion in lasers and laser instal­la­tions. The CDRH also pub­lish­es a laser stan­dard, 21 CFR 1040.10. Lasers intend­ed for sale in the USA must meet the CDRH require­ments and be reg­is­tered with the CDRH before they can be sold.

For indus­tri­al appli­ca­tions, ANSI B11.21 applies to machin­ery incor­po­rat­ing lasers.

EU

The pri­ma­ry laser safe­ty stan­dard in the EU is EN IEC 60825–1, which is tech­ni­cal­ly iden­ti­cal to IEC 60825–1. How­ev­er, quite a few Type‑C stan­dards apply to par­tic­u­lar indus­tri­al laser appli­ca­tions. To apply the cor­rect laser safe­ty require­ments, con­sult the type‑C stan­dard for your equipment.