Introduction to Laser Safety

Lasers are unique in their safety hazards, particularly to something you value highly - your vision. While the dangers of firearms and explosives are obvious to most people, often overlooked is the possibility that a stream of massless photons from a low power laser can cause instant, severe, and irreversible damage to vision or even total blindness. For high power lasers, there may be fire and other hazards as well. However many lasers - even small ones - may use potentially lethal voltages. There can be other dangers as well. It is highly recommended that users refer to the various laser safety Web sites to see how major institutions and regulatory organization deal with laser safety. It is possible to work with lasers safely and doesn't require rocket science - but it won't happen automatically.

WARNING: The information in this website should NOT be considered a substitute for a comprehensive course in laser safety. Casual reading and common sense precautions may be adequate when dealing with low power visible CW lasers but they are absolutely inadequate for anything above a few milliwatts and for invisible or pulsed lasers. If an accident means a beam in your eye, damage may very likely be irreversible, as in permanent. Some portion of vision in the affected eye(s) will be gone forever. Only classroom instruction with an associated hands-on laser lab can develop and enforce the required procedures and habits that will apply to a wide variety of laser equipment.

• You Only Received One Set of Eyeballs?
• Intensity of a 1 mW Laser versus the Sun
• Why a 1 mW Helium-Neon Laser Still Appears Bright a Mile Away
• Problems With Determining Safe Limits