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Safety
links and articles
For a broad overview of safe
laser show practices, ILDA's webpage
Laser Show Safety - Basic
Principles has
general guidelines. All ILDA
Members who do shows must affirm that they have read,
understand and acknowledge these basic principles.
Incident reports
In July 2008, eye injuries
were reported from lasers at the Aquamarine Open Air
Festival near Moscow, Russia. Subsequent analysis showed that a
pulsed laser had been illegally used to scan into the
audience. The laser show company was NOT an ILDA Member.
This type of laser is inherently more hazardous
than continuous-wave lasers. For this reason, ILDA Members
are required to affirm that they do not use pulsed lasers
for audience scanning. Details about the Aquamarine incident
are here.
In July 2009, eye injuries
were reported from lasers at the Tomorrowland Festival in
Boom, Belgium. An investigation showed that the injuries
were from laser pointers misused by persons in the audience.
The laser light show, which was produced by an ILDA Member,
was cleared in the incident. Calculations show that the
laser show
power was well below ILDA-recommended limits for
festival-type shows. Details about the Tomorrowland incident
are here.
Articles, papers,
and other documents
Audience
scanning
We have two
webpages for ILDA Members, with
instructions
for measuring beam irradiance, and with
tips for
audience scanning shows.
The following documents are
available for download. They may not be posted on your
website or reprinted without
written permission from ILDA
and/or the author(s).
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Scanning Audiences at Laser Shows: Theory, Practice and a
Proposal A 21-page paper by Patrick Murphy
and Greg Makhov, written in 2009, which describes audience
scanning, discusses the very low number of injury reports
and gives reasons why, and presents ILDA's proposal to
allow greater laser power in return for banning very high
power shows. A shorter version of this paper was presented
at the March 2009 International Laser Safety Conference.
You can also download the
audience scanning PowerPoint slides, which were used
in a presentation at ILSC 2009 to summarize the paper for
the assembled laser safety experts. (The slides have since
been updated to add news and correct minor typos. If you
need the exact ILSC 2009 slides, contact ILDA.)
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Audience
Scanning Guidelines,
a report issued by an international panel of experts
at the 1998 ILDA Conference, gives a good overview
of audience scanning issues and safety practices that laser
display companies should follow.
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Art
vs. Science This
article by Greg Makhov addresses several issues regarding
audience scanning, such as how laserists can accurately
determine the safety of the effect. This article is an excellent
introduction for the non-technical person, yet also contains
a wealth of hard data for professionals.
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Making
Shows Safe and Enjoyable
This article by William Benner provides detailed information
on how to measure audience scanning effects to make
sure international safety standards are met and audiences
experience an enjoyable show.
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Audience
Scanning in the USA: Where is It?
Audience scanning happens in Europe, Asia, and almost everywhere
except the USA. This Oct. 2000 article by David Lytle discusses the history
and future of audience scanning in America. (Note: In
2007, audience scanning using galvanometer scanners was allowed by
U.S. regulators under specified conditions. At least two different
companies received FDA/CDRH variances for audience scanning.
Therefore, there may be elements of this article which are out of
date.)
Lasers and
aviation safety
The following document is
available for download. It may not be posted on your
website or reprinted without
written permission from ILDA
and/or the author(s).
-
Lasers
and Aviation Safety A 17-page paper by
Patrick Murphy, describing the hazards to pilots, ways to
reduce the hazards, regulations, and a brief history of
laser/aviation incidents. An earlier version of this was presented at the March
2009 International Laser Safety Conference.
You can also download the
Lasers and Aviation Safety PowerPoint slides, which
were used in a presentation at ILSC 2009 to summarize the
paper for the assembled laser safety experts. (The slides
have since been updated to add news and correct minor
typos. If you need the exact ILSC 2009 slides, contact
ILDA.)
The following Aerospace
Standard (AS) and Aerospace Recommended Practice (ARP)
documents must be purchased from SAE Aerospace,
www.sae.org.
The price in March 2009 ranged from $48 to $61. In the past,
some of these ARPs have formed the basis for government
regulations in the U.S., Canada, and elsewhere. ILDA has a
copy of each publication for Members' reference, but cannot
distribute the full document.
- AS 4970, Human Factors
Considerations for Outdoor Laser Operations in the
Navigable Airspace. This became the basis for FAA
regulations. It provides a method for protecting navigable
airspace, and a procedure for outdoor laser users to seek
approval from regulatory agencies for operations of
various classes of laser devices.
- ARP 5290, Laser Beam
Divergence Measurements Techniques Comparison.
Compares the long focal length lens and small aperture
method, the two-point aperture method, the knife-edge
measurement method, and use of a beam profiler. The
two-point aperture methods was considered to be the
simplest, quickest and most practical technique.
- ARP 5293, Safety
Considerations for Lasers Projected in the Navigable
Airspace. For users of outdoor lasers.
- ARP 5535, Observers for
Laser Safety in the Navigable Airspace. Provides
guidance for optimal use of safety observers ("spotters")
during operation of a laser system. It also recommends
minimum requirements for a safety observer.
- ARP 5572, Control
Measures for Laser Safety in the Navigable Airspace.
Describes pros and cons of safety observers ("spotters")
and automated methods of aircraft detection and avoidance.
Includes radars (boresight, scanning and phased array),
FAA air traffic data, Radar Airspace Monitoring System
(RAMS), cameras, infrared cameras, Traffic Collision
Avoidance System (TCAS), and potential future technologies
such as GPS and multilateration.
Other
laser safety material
The following document must
be purchased from IEC's website (click on the link). For ILDA
Members, an earlier draft is
available here
for Members only
which gives a good background. The final version of IEC
60825-3 was changed, in part due to input from ILDA.
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IEC 60825-3, Safety of laser products part 3: Guidance
for laser displays. "This technical report ...
provides recommendations for safety for those laser
displays or demonstrations that are shows, artistic
displays, advertising or light sculptures, or museum
pieces used to demonstrate optical principles, etc."
ILDA has issued the following statement about the
document:
“IEC 60825-3 is a valuable
resource for anyone using lasers for display or
demonstration purposes. It represents the ‘best
practices’ of laser safety specialists from many
nations. While it does not supersede national or local
laws, it does provide a useful overview of the many
considerations necessary to produce a safe laser
display.
For those getting started with laser show safety, the
document is worth the approximate USD $85 cost (for PDF
version from
IEC’s webstore).
It is also especially helpful for those in countries
without significant laser safety laws or enforcement,
who want to follow well-established international safety
practices.”
The following documents are
available to ILDA Members only.
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SAE G-10T Minutes, August 11-15 2008 (for ILDA Members
only). This meeting of laser-aviation safety
experts contains descriptions of around 12 aircraft
illumination incidents, most in the January to July 2008
timeframe. The minutes also describe presentations given
by ILDA Executive Director Patrick Murphy to the group.
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SAE G-10T Minutes, August 13-17 2007
(for ILDA Members only). This meeting of
laser-aviation safety experts contains descriptions of around 13
aircraft illumination incidents, most in the April to August 2007
timeframe. The minutes also discuss a laser pointer bill in the U.S.
House of Representatives, and the latest FAA research using lasers
in a flight simulator.
NOTE: These are private documents for ILDA
Members' use only, and are not to be distributed outside of ILDA.
The following documents are
available for download. They may not be posted on your
website or reprinted without
written permission from ILDA
and/or the author(s).
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Hardware
Safety List
This informational ILDA document provides a summary
of the engineering and labeling requirements defined in
the IEC 60825-1 standard for laser products. Laser products
require certain built-in safety features, depending on the
class to which they have been assigned. This document
summarizes the required engineering features and product
labels.
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ETS-LDI Laser Exhibitor Guidelines This document is written
for exhibitors at the ETS-LDI trade show. It provides
an excellent overview of US rules applicable to using lasers
at trade shows and public events in general. It also
includes important information for non-US companies that
want to display products at US trade shows and/or import
products to the US.
Links to important laser safety webpages and websites
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www.LaserPointerSafety.com
A website co-sponsored by ILDA with information about laser pointer
safety, and especially, the hazards of pointing lasers towards
aircraft.
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Health
Protection Agency, Radiation Protection Division (HPA-RPD)
U.K.
public authority that works closely with laser display companies, venue
managers, promoters and regulators to ensure safe laser shows in the UK and
consistent standards worldwide.
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U.S. Food and Drug Administration - Center for Devices and Radiological Health
If you are performing lasers shows in the US or
selling laser display projectors, this is your source of information on US
regulations affecting laser displays. (The CDRH may change their webpage
addresses, so if the above link does not work, use Google to find the
official CDRH home page.)
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Rockwell Laser Industries: State Safety
Contacts
Laser displays in the US must also comply with the
regulations of state governments. Rockwell, which offers laser safety products
and training, has compiled a list of state government contacts.
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