Procedure for the assessment of LASER Systems

The LASER system falls into class 3B or 4 and the beam is free (the LASER beam is mounted on a manually steerable handpiece; the manufacturer did not embed it into a housing; e.g. hand-held LASER handpieces as in an aesthetic or hospital setting, industrial LASERs that require the presence of the operator in the immediate proximity of the free beam).

The NOHD (Nominal Ocular Hazard Distance) is quite big and thus the LASER may pose a risk for everyone being in correspondence with the apertures of the environment nearest to the LASER.

In this case the operating environment shall satisfy at least the following requirements:

• each entrance shall be connected with the interlock system;
• outside each entrance there shall be an illuminated warning sign indicating when the LASER is in use;
• no reflecting surfaces shall be present in the environment;
• any apertures being located at a distance from the LASER lower than the NOHD shall be made in a way that resists radiation and not lets it leave the environment (see requirements for the LASER guards described later in the procedure).

If the LASER controlled area consists in a protective housing, this should enclose at best the source, in such a way that it is highly unlikely that operators at a distance lower than NHOD are exposed; for the material of the housing, refer, as above, to the requirements of the LASER guards described later in the procedure.

Proceed