Guide to levels of competence required in laser safety

This Guide has been prepared in order to provide information and guidance to employers and employees in organisations in which lasers are used. It is supplementary to the safety requirements specified in the EN 60825 series of standards on laser safety. The Guide outlines procedures for the management of laser hazards and defines levels of competence for those who work with laser equipment or who have responsibility for laser safety.

Leitfaden für die erforderlichen Ausbildungslevel auf dem Gebiet Lasersicherheit

Recommandations pour les niveaux de compétence requis pour la sécurité des lasers

Vodilo za potrebne ravni pristojnosti, ki jih zahteva varnost laserjev

General Information

Status
Published
Publication Date
31-Dec-2005
Current Stage
6060 - National Implementation/Publication (Adopted Project)
Start Date
01-Jan-2006
Due Date
01-Jan-2006
Completion Date
01-Jan-2006

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SLOVENSKI SIST-TP CLC/TR 50448:2006

STANDARD
januar 2006
Vodilo za potrebne ravni pristojnosti, ki jih zahteva varnost laserjev
(istoveten CLC/TR 50448:2005)
Guide to levels of competence required in laser safety
ICS 13.280; 31.260 Referenčna številka
SIST-TP CLC/TR 50448:2006(en)
©  Standard je založil in izdal Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje ali kopiranje celote ali delov tega dokumenta ni dovoljeno

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TECHNICAL REPORT CLC/TR 50448
RAPPORT TECHNIQUE
TECHNISCHER BERICHT August 2005

ICS 31.260


English version



Guide to levels of competence required in laser safety


Recommandations pour les niveaux  Leitfaden für die erforderlichen
de compétence requis pour la sécurité Ausbildungslevel auf dem Gebiet
des lasers Lasersicherheit






This Technical Report was approved by CENELEC on 2005-01-08.

CENELEC members are the national electrotechnical committees of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech
Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia,
Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden,
Switzerland and United Kingdom.

CENELEC
European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization
Comité Européen de Normalisation Electrotechnique
Europäisches Komitee für Elektrotechnische Normung

Central Secretariat: rue de Stassart 35, B - 1050 Brussels


© 2005 CENELEC - All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved worldwide for CENELEC members.

Ref. No. CLC/TR 50448:2005 E

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CLC/TR 50448:2005 - 2 -
Foreword
This Technical Report was prepared by the Technical Committee CENELEC TC 76, Optical radiation
safety and laser equipment.
The text of the draft was submitted to the vote and was approved by CENELEC as CLC/TR 50448 on
2005-01-08.
__________

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1 Scope and object
1.1 Scope
This Guide has been prepared in order to provide information and guidance to employers and
employees in organisations in which lasers are used. It is supplementary to the safety requirements
specified in the EN 60825 series of standards on laser safety. The Guide outlines procedures for the
management of laser hazards and defines levels of competence for those who work with laser
equipment or who have responsibility for laser safety.
1.2 Object
The object of this Guide is to assist organisations in which lasers are used to adopt appropriate
organisational arrangements covering the implementation and maintenance of effective control
procedures as required by EN 60825-1 and by other standards in the EN 60825 series, and to ensure
that persons using, controlling, or working with laser equipment, and those having responsibility for
laser safety, have the necessary knowledge, understanding and ability to carry out their work without
placing themselves or others at any undue health risk.
The Guide defines the employer’s responsibility for laser safety, establishes a system of safety
management to meet the practical needs of organisations using lasers, and sets out minimum
standards of competence in order to help employers to determine the safety training needs of their
employees.
2 References
The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this document. For dated
references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced
document (including any amendments) applies.
EN 60825-1 Safety of laser products – Part 1: Equipment classification, requirements and user's
guide
EN 60825-2 Safety of laser products – Part 2: Safety of optical fibre communication systems
EN 60825-4 Safety of laser products – Part 4: Laser guards
IEC 60825-8 Safety of laser products – Part 8: Guidelines for the safe use of medical laser
equipment
IEC 60825-10 Safety of laser products – Part 10: Laser safety application guidelines and
explanatory notes
EN 60825-12 Safety of laser products – Part 12: Safety of free space optical communication
systems used for transmission of information
IEC 60825-14 Safety of laser products – Part 14: A user’s guide
EN 60601-2-22 Medical electrical equipment – Part 2: Particular requirements for the safety of
diagnostic and therapeutic laser equipment

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CLC/TR 50448:2005 - 4 -
3 Employer responsibilities
3.1 General
In any organisation in which lasers are in use, it is the employer’s responsibility to take all reasonable
steps to ensure that adequate safety controls are implemented and maintained, and that relevant
safety information and training is provided to their employees.
General information with regard to the potential hazards arising from the use of laser equipment
should be obtained in the first instance from the equipment supplier.
Suppliers of laser products have a duty to provide information to their customers on the safety of the
products supplied, and should also ensure that their customers are aware of the existence of relevant
safety standards and national regulations affecting the use of the products concerned.
Employees at all levels within organisations in which lasers are in use share responsibility for the
safety of themselves and of others, but the employer must ensure that effective organisational and
administrative safety arrangements are in place. Day-to-day implementation of these arrangements
may be delegated to others through the line management structure, but the employer retains overall
responsibility for ensuring that these arrangements remain adequate and that they are continuously in
operation.
3.2 Safety arrangements
The arrangements for safety shall cover the following:
– the identification of laser and related hazards and the assessment of health risks that may arise
from the laser equipment under all conditions of use, including
• installation and set-up,
• normal operation,
• maintenance,
• servicing and adjustment work,
• fault situations,
• foreseeable misuse,
• removal and disposal;
– the implementation, monitoring and review of appropriate control procedures to eliminate these
hazards or, where this is not practicable, to reduce the risk of harm to an acceptably low level;
– the provision of sufficient information, guidance, supervision and training to employees to ensure
that the laser equipment is used in accordance with the procedures established, and only used by
those who have an adequate knowledge and understanding of the hazards involved and of the
need for the control procedures which have been established.
The policies adopted to implement these arrangements for the management and control of laser
hazards should be documented and be made available to all employees who have any involvement
with laser equipment.
3.3 Safety controls
The use of engineering controls for the elimination of laser hazards and the protection of employees
should always be considered first. Where it is not feasible or reasonably practicable for such
measures to provide adequate protection, then safe systems of work must be developed and
implemented. If necessary, but only as a last resort where adequate protection cannot be provided by
other means, suitable personal protective equipment (PPE) shall be provided by the employer. Such
PPE may include, but is not limited to, laser protective eyewear. It is the employer’s responsibility to

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assess the suitability of PPE, to provide it to all employees and visitors who may be at risk, to maintain
it in good order, and to replace it whenever necessary. Adequate information, instruction and training
covering the proper use of PPE, its limitations, and the reporting of defects, damage or loss, shall be
given by the employer, who should take all reasonable steps to ensure the proper use of PPE.
4 Levels of competence
4.1 Laser Safety Officer
Every organisation within which laser equipment of Class 3B or Class 4 is in use should appoint an
internal Laser Safety Officer to take administrative responsibility on behalf of the employer for
overseeing laser safety. Certain Class 1 laser products that contain embedded Class 3B or Class 4
lasers may produce accessible emission under some conditions of use, e. g. during servicing, and
could therefore also necessitate the appointment of a Laser Safety Officer. The appointment of a
Laser Safety Officer is also recommended where Class 1M or Class 2M laser products generating
well-collimated beams are in use, and which could present a hazard if viewed through binoculars or
telescopes at a considerable distance from the laser.
The Laser Safety Officer should ensure that adequate controls for minimising health risks arising from
the use of laser equipment are in place, that regular monitoring of laser hazards and of the effective-
ness of control measures is carried out, and that records of such monitoring are maintained.
Overall responsibility for laser safety remains with the employer, who should ensure that the person
appointed as the Laser Safety Officer has the capability, knowledge and understanding, as well the
resources needed, to undertake these tasks effectively. Within the limits of the mandate from the
employer he bears the responsibility for the safety control actions both engineering and administrative.
Within large organisations having extensive laser use it can often be helpful to appoint area or
departmental laser sa
...

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