National foreword

This Published Document reproduces verbatim IEC TR 60825‑14:2004.

The UK participation in its preparation was entrusted to Technical Committee EPL/76, Optical radiation safety and laser equipment, which has the responsibility to:

aid enquirers to understand the text;
present to the responsible international/European committee any enquiries on the interpretation, or proposals for change, and keep the UK interests informed;
monitor related international and European developments and promulgate them in the UK.

A list of organizations represented on this committee can be obtained on request to its committee manager.

Cross-references

The British Standards which implement international publications referred to in this document may be found in the BSI Catalogue under the section entitled “International Standards Correspondence Index”, or by using the “Search” facility of the BSI Electronic Catalogue or of British Standards Online.

This publication does not purport to include all the necessary provisions of a contract. Users are responsible for its correct application.

Compliance with a British Standard does not of itself confer immunity from legal obligations.

This Published Document was published under the authority of the Standards Policy and Strategy Committee on 30 April 2004

FOREWORD

1)	The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a worldwide organization for standardization comprising all national electrotechnical committees (IEC National Committees). The object of IEC is to promote international co-operation on all questions concerning standardization in the electrical and electronic fields. To this end and in addition to other activities, IEC publishes International Standards, Technical Specifications, Technical Reports, Publicly Available Specifications (PAS) and Guides (hereafter referred to as “IEC Publication(s)”). Their preparation is entrusted to technical committees; any IEC National Committee interested in the subject dealt with may participate in this preparatory work. International, governmental and non-governmental organizations liaising with the IEC also participate in this preparation. IEC collaborates closely with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in accordance with conditions determined by agreement between the two organizations.
2)	The formal decisions or agreements of IEC on technical matters express, as nearly as possible, an international consensus of opinion on the relevant subjects since each technical committee has representation from all interested IEC National Committees.
3)	IEC Publications have the form of recommendations for international use and are accepted by IEC National Committees in that sense. While all reasonable efforts are made to ensure that the technical content of IEC Publications is accurate, IEC cannot be held responsible for the way in which they are used or for any misinterpretation by any end user.
4)	In order to promote international uniformity, IEC National Committees undertake to apply IEC Publications transparently to the maximum extent possible in their national and regional publications. Any divergence between any IEC Publication and the corresponding national or regional publication shall be clearly indicated in the latter.
5)	IEC provides no marking procedure to indicate its approval and cannot be rendered responsible for any equipment declared to be in conformity with an IEC Publication.
6)	All users should ensure that they have the latest edition of this publication.
7)	No liability shall attach to IEC or its directors, employees, servants or agents including individual experts and members of its technical committees and IEC National Committees for any personal injury, property damage or other damage of any nature whatsoever, whether direct or indirect, or for costs (including legal fees) and expenses arising out of the publication, use of, or reliance upon, this IEC Publication or any other IEC Publications.
8)	Attention is drawn to the Normative references cited in this publication. Use of the referenced publications is indispensable for the correct application of this publication.
9)	Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this IEC Publication may be the subject of patent rights. IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.

The main task of IEC technical committees is to prepare International Standards. However, a technical committee may propose the publication of a technical report when it has collected data of a different kind from that which is normally published as an International Standard, for example "state of the art".

IEC 60825‑14, which is a technical report, has been prepared by IEC technical committee 76: Optical radiation safety and laser equipment.

The text of this technical report is based on the following documents:

Full information on the voting for the approval of this technical report can be found in the report on voting indicated in the above table.

This publication has been drafted in accordance with the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.

IEC consists of the following parts, under the general title Safety of laser products:

The committee has decided that the contents of this publication will remain unchanged until 2007. At this date, the publication will be

reconfirmed;
withdrawn;
replaced by a revised edition, or
amended.

INTRODUCTION

To help in the use of this technical report, an outline of the topics that are covered within it is given below. The topics are presented in the order in which they would normally be considered as part of a laser safety programme.

Safety responsibilities with regard to the operation of lasers and the need for appropriate training are covered in Clause 3.
The meaning of the laser product classes and the assessment of laser exposure are covered in Clause 4.
The determination of the maximum permissible exposure (MPE), and the concept of the hazard distance and hazard zone within which the MPE can be exceeded, are covered in Clause 5.
Associated laser hazards (that is, hazards other than those of eye or skin exposure to the emitted laser beam) are covered in Clause 6.
A three-stage process for evaluating risk (arising from both the laser radiation hazards discussed in Clauses 4 and 5, and the associated laser hazards discussed in Clause 6) is covered in Clause 7. These three stages are:
1. the identification of all potentially injurious situations,
2. the assessment of the risk arising from these situations and
3. the determination of the necessary protective measures.
The use of control measures for reducing the risk to an acceptable level is covered in Clause 8.
The need to ensure the continuation over time of safe laser operation is covered in Clause 9.
The reporting of laser-related hazardous incidents and the investigation of accidents is covered in Clause 10.
The role of medical surveillance (eye examinations) is covered in Clause 11.
Additional information on the use of interlock protection is given in Annex A.
Examples of laser safety calculations are given in Annex B.
An explanation of the biophysical effects of laser exposure to the eyes and skin is given in Annex C.

1 Scope and object

This technical report provides guidance on best practice in the safe use of laser products that conform to IEC 60825‑1. The terms "laser product" and "laser equipment" as used in this document also refer to any device, assembly or system, which is capable of emitting optical radiation produced by a process of stimulated emission. However, unlike IEC 60825‑1, this document does not cover light-emitting diodes (LEDs).

Class 1 laser products normally pose no hazard and Class 2 laser products present only a minimal hazard. With these products, it is normally sufficient to follow the warnings on the product labels and the manufacturer’s instructions for safe use. Further protective measures as described in this document should not be necessary.

This document emphasizes evaluation of the risk from higher power lasers, but the users of the lower power lasers may benefit from the information contained. See Table 1 for an overview.

This technical report can be applied to the use of any product that incorporates a laser, whether or not it is sold or offered for sale. Therefore, it applies to specially constructed lasers (including experimental and prototype systems).

This technical report is intended to help laser users and their employers to understand the general principles of safety management (Clause 3), to identify the hazards that may be present (Clauses 4 to 6), to assess the risks of harm that may arise (Clause 7), and to set up and maintain appropriate control measures (Clauses 8 to 11).

Laser control measures vary widely. They depend on the type of laser equipment in use, the task or process being performed, the environment in which the equipment is used and the personnel who may be at risk of harm. Specific requirements for certain laser applications is given in other documents in the IEC 60825 series (see the Foreword or bibliography for the titles of these documents).

The terms “reasonably foreseeable” and “reasonably foreseeably” are used in this document in relation to certain specific events, situations or conditions. It is the responsibility of the person using this document to determine what is “reasonably foreseeable” and what might occur “reasonably foreseeably”, and to be able to defend, on the basis of risk-assessment criteria, any such judgements that are made.

Reference is made in this document to laser “users”. This should be taken to include persons having responsibility for safety in addition to those who actually work with or operate laser equipment.

2 Terms and definitions

3 Administrative policies

3.1 Safety responsibilities

3.2 Competent persons

3.3 Laser Safety Officer

3.4 Information and training

4 Laser radiation hazards

4.1 Laser products

4.2 Exposure to laser radiation

4.3 Determining the level of laser exposure

5 Determining the maximum permissible exposure (MPE)

5.1 General remarks

5.2 Repetitively pulsed or modulated lasers

5.3 Multiple wavelengths

5.4 Extended source MPEs

5.5 Hazard distance and hazard area

6 Associated hazards

6.1 Additional health hazards

6.2 Hazards arising from the laser

6.3 Hazards arising from the environment

6.4 Control of associated hazards

7 Evaluating risk

7.1 Hazards and risks

7.2 Risk assessment: Stage 1 – Identifying potentially injurious situations.

7.3 Risk assessment: Stage 2 – Assessing risk for potentially injurious situations.

7.4 Risk assessment: Stage 3 — Selecting control measures

8 Control measures

8.1 General

8.2 Hazard reduction

8.3 Enclosing the hazard

8.4 Hazard mitigation

8.5 Equipment servicing

9 Maintenance of safe operation

10 Incident reporting and accident investigation

11 Medical surveillance

Bibliography

PD IEC TR 60825-14:2004

Safety of laser products - A user's guide

Published:

25 Feb 2004

Withdrawn:

7 Jul 2022