Laser Laws

About thirty people were blinded at the Aquamarine Festival in Russia when a high-power laser was aimed at their faces in July 2008. A year later, at a similar event in Belgium, two people also reported eye injuries from a laser display.

Disturbingly, even after these high-profile incidents, some operators in the UK are still taking unnecessary risks with laser shows. Even apparently safe operations can fail in such a way as to cause unsafe exposure. It is pot luck whether someone ends up with an unsafe beam in their eye and how noticeable their injuries are.

Although most harmful sources of hazardous sources of light are well managed in the UK industry, the falling technology costs mean lasers are no longer exclusively the domain of prestige functions. The use of high-power devices for display purposes is now widespread.

A consultation document released by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) last month, the Control of Artificial Optical Radiation Regulations 2010, gives an insight into how the HSE intends to implement the Physical Agents (Artificial Optical Radiation) Directive 2006/25/EC as UK legislation. This shares similar objectives to its directives on noise and vibration and sets out minimum health and safety requirements for each EU member state to implement by April 2010.

Harm to eyes

In the UK these will become known as the Control of Artificial Optical Radiation at Work Regulations 2010. Their purpose is to protect workers against exposure to harmful artificial light, such as laser displays, including sources of ultraviolet, infrared, and visible light. Too much exposure to certain light sources can be harmful
to the eyes and the skin.

Organisations already have duties under existing health and safety law to protect workers against these hazards, and the new AOR regulations restate the requirement for risk assessment, taking steps to eliminate or reduce risks, providing necessary training, and where appropriate, health surveillance.

However, the regulations will also introduce the legal adoption of defined Exposure Limit Values (ELVs). These are based on scientific figures from the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection that have been widely used as guidance in recent years. The regulations will therefore confirm the levels of exposure that workers may be subject to.

In response to criticism that the directive is too complex and creates an unnecessary burden, the HSE argues that the regulations do not place any additional burden on business, and that vigorous assessment procedures are only required in a few circumstances where hazardous sources are being used.

Although the law is designed to protect against all sources of AOR, the HSE published draft guidance that makes it clear that businesses with these known safe sources will not have to take any special measures. The guide lists typical light sources that fall under this category.

Businesses identified as having sources that may be harmful include metalworking (welding), hot industries (furnaces), printing and motor vehicle repairs (UV curing), medical and cosmetic treatments, research and education, art and entertainment.

While most EHPs are unlikely to be responsible for enforcement in workplaces with intense light sources, an awareness of the law and its implementation will be useful.

In the entertainment sector EHPs are responsible for health and safety enforcement in nightclubs, theatre and concerts. These venues frequently make use of high-intensity lighting and laser lighting effects to enhance the performance or patron experience.

Laser effects have been used in this sector for several decades but, until recently, the cost and difficulties of setting up the equipment have prevented all but the most prestigious or highbudget events from using them. In recent years, a new range of low-cost devices that use a different method of creating the powerful laser light has opened up the market. It is now possible to obtain a Class 3B type device for less than £100, which is affordable to a modest mobile disco.

Class 3B and Class 4 laser products are the two most hazardous categories of laser product available, and can cause damage to eyesight and the skin. Class 4 devices are also a fire hazard.

When these products are used in industry, there are normally strict controls on how they are used, with full operator training and control measures such as safety interlocks on doors to protect other workers. Anyone buying one of the low-cost display lasers from the internet or a lighting supplier is rarely aware of the harm they can cause.

Lasers are used as lighting effects because the light they produce is able to maintain its concentration over long distances. It is this property that gives it the ability to create intensely vivid, almost 3D looking, mid-air structures of light. No alternative light source can replicate this type of effect.

The types of laser used in display applications are capable of causing damage to eyesight if too much laser light is able to penetrate the eye. The damage can be inflicted within a fraction of a second, and certainly in less time than it takes for the human eye to react to danger.

An eye injury can happen when Class 3B or Class 4 lasers are viewed directly, in other words, when a high-power laser effect is aimed directly into the faces of the people viewing it. Wellinformed venue operators and local authorities, which are aware of laser hazard potential tend to adopt the line that no laser light must be able to make contact with the faces of the people viewing it.

The HSE’s guidance document on using lasers for display purposes (HSG95) recommends such laser effects are kept to a minimum height of 3m at any place to which the audience has access. This is often at odds with laser show providers and organisers of events, who for aesthetic reasons like shining the laser effects directly into the faces of the audience.

Hazardous light

HSG95 should be the first point of reference when assessing laser displays. Although first published 14 years ago, HSG95 is still applicable today. The only thing that has changed significantly in this time is the method of producing the light. The light itself remains just as hazardous.

The British Standards Institute has also published specific guidance in the form of PD IEC/TR 60825-3:2008. Together these documents work well in assisting the assessment.

From personal experience, the extent to which EHPs get involved in overseeing laser safety venues varies considerably. In some cases there will be a strict requirement for laser safety as part of the venue’s entertainment’s licence, which may involve a discussion or site visit from the local authority. In other cases, the very mention of the word laser can draw blank expressions, with the environmental health and licensing departments having little or no involvement.

Laser show providers often find this inconsistent approach deeply frustrating. They are perplexed as to why the “rules” vary from one place to the next. With the technology becoming ever more accessible, and output powers increasing as costs fall, the popularity in using these devices is set to increase, as is the potential to cause injury if not used with care.

The introduction of the new AOR regulations provides an ideal opportunity for venues, operators, and those charged with enforcement, to review existing arrangements.

It also goes a long way in ensuring there is adequate protection to workers in venues where lasers are used for entertainment and better protection for members of the public.

James Stewart is an independent laser safety adviser.Email: james@lvrlimited.com Visit: www.lvrlimited.com