We take laser safety very seriousely: Section 7 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 ("HSWA") imposes a duty on every employee while at work: "(a) to take reasonable care for the health and safety of himself and of other persons who may be affected by his acts or omissions at work; ...". This section appears to be wide enough to cover a situation in which an employed scientist gives careless advice which affects the health and safety of his or her colleagues or other persons who are affected by it. Breach is punishable by a fine. To put this duty into perspective though it is important to recognise that it applies to every employee in the country in relation to their acts and omissions at work.

The University of Bath guidance for the users of lasers can be found here.

The laser safety signage door template can be downloaded from here.

Laser Safety Videos: (you can right-click and save the videos)

Laser Classification: a system of laser classification is used to indicate the potential risk of adverse health effects. The laser classification scheme is taken from BS EN 60825-1.

Class 1: laser products that are considered to be safe during normal operation including long term direct intrabeam viewing even when using optical viewing instruments.
Class 1M: safe for the naked eye under reasonably foreseeable conditions of operation but may present a hazard if magnifying optical instruments are used with them.

Class 2: a person receiving an eye exposure will be protected from injury by their own natural aversion response. However, repeated deliberate exposure to the laser beam may not be safe.
Class 2M: similar to a Class 2 laser product, however, they can be harmful to the eye if the beam is viewed using magnifying optical instruments or for long periods of time.

Class 3R: direct intrabeam viewing is potentially hazardous but the risk of injury is relatively low for short and unintentional exposure.
Class 3B: hazardous to the eye if direct intrabeam exposure occurs. Viewing specular and diffuse reflections is also not normally safe but they are generally safe to the skin.

Class 4: High power lasers for which direct beam and reflected beam viewing is always hazardous. Diffusely reflected beams should also be assumed to be hazardous.

© www.valev.org