National foreword

This British Standard is the UK implementation of EN IEC 60825‑4:2024. It is identical to IEC 60825‑4:2022. It supersedes BS EN 60825‑4:2006+A2:2011, which will be withdrawn on 31 December 2027.

The UK participation in its preparation was entrusted to Technical Committee EPL/76, Optical radiation safety and laser equipment.

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

Contractual and legal considerations

This publication has been prepared in good faith, however no representation, warranty, assurance or undertaking (express or implied) is or will be made, and no responsibility or liability is or will be accepted by BSI in relation to the adequacy, accuracy, completeness or reasonableness of this publication. All and any such responsibility and liability is expressly disclaimed to the full extent permitted by the law.

This publication is provided as is, and is to be used at the recipient’s own risk.

The recipient is advised to consider seeking professional guidance with respect to its use of this publication.

This publication is not intended to constitute a contract. Users are responsible for its correct application.

This publication has been prepared under a mandate given to the European Standards Organizations by the European Commission and the European Free Trade Association. It is intended to support requirements of the EU legislation detailed in the European Foreword. A European Annex, usually Annex ZA or ZZ, describes how this publication relates to that EU legislation.

For the Great Britain market (England, Scotland and Wales), if UK Government has designated this publication for conformity with UKCA marking (or similar) legislation, it may contain an additional National Annex. Where such a National Annex exists, it shows the correlation between this publication and the relevant UK legislation. If there is no National Annex of this kind, the relevant Annex ZA or ZZ in the body of the European text will indicate the relationship to UK regulation applicable in Great Britain. References to EU legislation may need to be read in accordance with the UK designation and the applicable UK law. Further information on designated standards can be found at www.bsigroup.com/standardsandregulation.

For the Northern Ireland market, UK law will continue to implement relevant EU law subject to periodic confirmation. Therefore Annex ZA/ZZ in the European text, and references to EU legislation, are still valid for this market.

UK Government is responsible for legislation. For information on legislation and policies relating to that legislation, consult the relevant pages of www.gov.uk.

Compliance with a British Standard cannot confer immunity from legal obligations.

This British Standard was published under the authority of the Standards Policy and Strategy Committee on 31 December 2024.

FOREWORD

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.
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.
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.
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.
IEC itself does not provide any attestation of conformity. Independent certification bodies provide conformity assessment services and, in some areas, access to IEC marks of conformity. IEC is not responsible for any services carried out by independent certification bodies.
All users should ensure that they have the latest edition of this publication.
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.
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.
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.

IEC 60825‑4 has been prepared by IEC technical committee 76: Optical radiation safety and laser equipment. It is an International Standard.

This third edition cancels and replaces the second edition published in 2006, Amendment 1:2008 and Amendment 2:2011. This edition constitutes a technical revision.

This edition includes the following significant technical changes with respect to the previous edition:

Significant amendments have been included and this edition has been prepared for user convenience.

The text of this International Standard is based on the following documents:

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

The language used for the development of this International Standard is English.

This document was drafted in accordance with ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2, and developed in accordance with ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1 and ISO/IEC Directives, IEC Supplement, available at www.iec.ch/members_experts/refdocs. The main document types developed by IEC are described in greater detail at www.iec.ch/standardsdev/publications.

The committee has decided that the contents of this document will remain unchanged until the stability date indicated on the IEC website under webstore.iec.ch in the data related to the specific document. At this date, the document will be

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

IMPORTANT — The "colour inside" logo on the cover page of this document indicates that it contains colours which are considered to be useful for the correct understanding of its contents. Users should therefore print this document using a colour printer.

INTRODUCTION

At low levels of irradiance or radiant exposure, the selection of material and thickness for shielding against laser radiation is determined primarily by a need to provide sufficient optical attenuation. However, at higher levels, an additional consideration is the ability of the laser radiation to remove guard material – typically by melting, oxidation or ablation; processes that could lead to laser radiation penetrating a normally opaque material.

IEC 60825‑1 deals with basic issues concerning laser guards, including human access, interlocking and labelling, and gives general guidance on the design of protective housings and enclosures for high-power lasers.

Laser guards may also comply with standards for laser protective eyewear, but such compliance is not necessarily sufficient to satisfy the requirements of this document.

Where the term "irradiance" is used, the expression "irradiance or radiant exposure, as appropriate" is implied.

This European Standard was approved by CENELEC on 26 August 2022. CENELEC members are bound to comply with the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations which stipulate the conditions for giving this European Standard the status of a national standard without any alteration.

Up-to-date lists and bibliographical references concerning such national standards may be obtained on application to the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre or to any CENELEC member.

This European Standard exists in three official versions (English, French, German). A version in any other language made by translation under the responsibility of a CENELEC member into its own language and notified to the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre has the same status as the official versions.

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

European foreword

The text of document 76/704/FDIS, future edition 3 of IEC 60825‑4, prepared by TC 76 "Optical radiation safety and laser equipment" was submitted to the IEC-CENELEC parallel vote and approved by CENELEC as EN IEC 60825‑4:2024.

The following dates are fixed:

This document supersedes EN 60825‑4:2006 and all of its amendments and corrigenda (if any).

Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of patent rights. CENELEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.

This document has been prepared under a standardization request addressed to CENELEC by the European Commission. The Standing Committee of the EFTA States subsequently approves these requests for its Member States.

For the relationship with EU Legislation, see informative Annex ZZ, which is an integral part of this document.

Any feedback and questions on this document should be directed to the users’ national committee. A complete listing of these bodies can be found on the CENELEC website.

Endorsement notice

The text of the International Standard IEC 60825‑4:2022 was approved by CENELEC as a European Standard without any modification.

In the official version, for Bibliography, the following notes have to be added for the standard indicated:

1 Scope

This part of IEC 60825 specifies the requirements for laser guards, permanent and temporary (for example for service), that enclose the process zone of a laser processing machine, and specifications for proprietary laser guards.

This document applies to all component parts of a guard including clear (visibly transmitting) screens and viewing windows, panels, laser curtains and walls.

In addition, this document indicates

how to assess and specify the protective properties of a laser guard, and
how to select a laser guard.

NOTE Requirements for beam path components, beam stops and those other parts of a protective housing of a laser product which do not enclose the process zone are contained in IEC 60825‑1.

This document deals with protection against laser radiation only. Hazards from secondary radiation that may arise during material processing are not addressed.

2 Normative references

3 Terms and definitions

4 Requirements for laser guards

4.1 Requirement

4.2 Design requirements

4.3 Performance requirements

4.4 Validation

4.5 User information

5 Proprietary laser guards

5.1 General

5.2 Design requirements

5.3 Performance requirements

5.4 Specification requirements

5.5 Test requirements

5.6 Labelling requirements

5.7 User information

Bibliography

BS EN IEC 60825-4:2024

Safety of laser products - Laser guards

Current

Published:

31 Dec 2024