Foreword

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This document was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 172, Optics and photonics, Subcommittee SC 9, Laser and electro-optical systems, in collaboration with the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) Technical Committee CEN/TC 123, Lasers and photonics,in accordance with the Agreement on technical cooperation between ISO and CEN (Vienna Agreement) and with IEC/TC 76, Optical radiation safety and laser equipment.

This second edition cancels and replaces the first edition (ISO 11553-2:2007), which has been technically revised.

The main changes are as follows:

The document was changed to type-C standard;
added dates to references in the whole document and main body of the text;
several terms and definitions were modified or newly added;
the covered hazards as well as the requirements concerning the hazards were added in more detail;
Clause 4 was rewrote with new structure, the Table 1 was newly added, serving to list the significant hazards and hazardous situations;
Table 2 was newly added in Clause 4, serving to list the further hazards and hazardous situations;
Clause 5 was rewrote with new structure. Table 3 was newly added in Clause 5 to describe the work place safety for HLM;
Several subclauses of Clause 5 were rewrote with more detail;
Table 3 was modified in Clause 6.
Several subclauses of Clause 7 were added with more information;
several subclause headings were modified and several technical requirements were amended;
some of the lists were renumbered;
previous Annex B was deleted, and example of risk assessment for HLM was added as Annex B;
new Annex C, Annex D, Annex E, Annex F, Annex G and Annex H were added.

A list of all parts in the ISO 11553 series can be found on the ISO website/IEC website.

Any feedback or questions on this document should be directed to the user’s national standards body. A complete listing of these bodies can be found at www.iso.org/members.html.

Introduction

This document is a type-C standard as stated in ISO 12100:2010.

This document is of relevance particularly for the following stakeholder groups representing the market players with regards to machinery safety:

hand-held or hand-operated laser processing machines (HLMs) manufacturers (small, medium and large enterprises); including manufacturers of sub/part machines such as devices or devices assembly related to laser radiation, as well as system integrators (small, medium, and large enterprises);
NOTE Devices or device assemblies include, but are not limited to, those for: guiding; shaping, delivery, protective, locking, control, enabling, limiting, impeding, switching, exhaust, stop, loading/feeding, scanning and warning devices.
health and safety bodies (regulators, accident prevention organizations, market surveillance, etc.).

Others can be affected by the level of machinery safety achieved with the means of the document by the above-mentioned stakeholder groups:

machine users/employers (small, medium and large enterprises);
machine users/employees (e.g. trade unions, organizations for people with special needs);
service providers, e.g. for maintenance (small, medium and large enterprise);
consumers (in case of machinery intended for use by consumers);
bystanders.

The above-mentioned stakeholder groups have been given the possibility to participate in the drafting process of this document.

The machinery concerned and the extent to which hazards, hazardous situations or hazardous events are covered are indicated in the Scope of this document.

When requirements of this type-C standard are different from those which are stated in type-A or type-B standards, the requirements of this type-C standard take precedence over the requirements of the other standards for machines that have been designed and built according to the requirements of this type-C standard.

The purpose of this document is to prevent serious and irreversible injuries to persons and damage to property

by listing potential hazards generated by hand-held or hand-operated laser processing machines;
by describing the risk assessment procedure for all relevant hazards;
by specifying safety measures and verification procedures necessary for reducing the risk caused by specific hazardous conditions;
by providing references to pertinent standards;
by specifying the information which is to be supplied to the user so that they can establish proper procedures and precautions at the workplace.

1 Scope

This document deals with all significant hazards, hazardous situations or hazardous events relevant to hand-held or hand-operated laser processing machines (HLMs), when they are used as intended and under conditions of misuse which are reasonably foreseeable by the manufacturer. HLM is the machine, as defined in ISO 11553-1:2020, 3.7, in which laser radiation is generated, where the laser provides sufficient energy/power to cause a phase transition in a part of the workpiece and where the laser output or workpiece to be processed is guided manually or hand-held during the laser material processing.

This document defines general design requirements of HLM. HLM includes the laser device, beam-guiding device (e.g. mirror, fibre, lenses), beam-shaping device (e.g. telescope, focusing), and controls. The laser assembly as an integral part of the HLM or only the laser processing head is hand-held or hand-operated during the laser material processing.

This document does not apply

to laser processing machines which are remotely controlled by a manual controller (hand-operated controller), such as joy sticks, keyboard, etc., without touching a workpiece or a part mechanically connected with the laser material processing head by using the hand(s) of the operator (user)
to laser processing machines without a drive system which may not belong to machinery. And the laser processing apparatus without moving parts, which may not be considered as machinery in “Type C standard”.
- to medical or cosmetic applications for the treatment of living human or animal tissue;
- to weapon applications, (e.g. such as with regard to military applications, direct close combat.)

NOTE “hand-operated laser processing machine” is synonymous with “hand-guided laser processing machine” in this document. Hand-operated laser processing machines often use manual force reduction means such as wheels, supports, etc., for manual positioning of the laser processing heads or the workpieces.

It is applicable to HLMs using laser radiation to process materials.

The purpose of this document is to draw attention to the hazards related to HLMs and to prevent personal injury. Depending on the application and the location/operating conditions of HLMs, a number of different significant hazards can arise. This document describes both the areas of hazards analysis and risk assessment as well as protective measures.

Requirements dealing with noise as a hazard are covered by ISO 11553-3:2013.

This document does not apply to laser products or equipment manufactured solely or expressly for applications which are excluded from the Scope of ISO 11553-1:2020. This document is not applicable for HLMs which have been manufactured before the date of publication of this standard.

HLMs include the following types:

HLMs which are designed as all-in-one laser assembly including the beam delivery/forming(shaping) system and optional features such as gas nozzles, material (e.g. powder, wire) feed system;
HLMs where the relevant devices are connected by a beam guidance system (e.g. optical fibre) and power/control cables to an external laser assembly device and which includes only the beam delivery/forming(shaping) system and optional features such as gas nozzles, material (e.g. powder, wire) feed system;
laser processing machines where the workpiece is manually moved under/relative to the laser beam (see informative Annex A).

The intended use of HLMs covers both:

movement of elements or workpieces by hand to be processed under/relatively to stationary laser beams as shielded , and
movement of the laser processing head (beam shaping device) by hand to move laser beam(s) over or relative to elements or workpieces to be processed.

Laser processing machines, where laser processing is performed with hand-held or hand-operated workpieces outside the fixed (neither hand-held nor hand-operated by the operator or user) laser processing machines are out of the scope of this document. Such a fixed laser processing machine is to be covered by ISO 11553-1:2020.

HLMs are intended for the industrial use and can be only operated by trained and authorized personnel in indoor and/or outdoor environments/locations (e.g. cleaning of facades, statues).

2 Normative references

3 Terms and definitions

4 List of significant hazards

4.1 General

4.2 Main hazards

4.3 Significant hazards and hazardous situations covered by this document

4.4 Reasons of laser radiation hazards due to emission of unintended laser radiation or a misguided laser beam

4.5 Laser hazards regarding application

5 Safety requirements and risk reduction measures

5.1 General

5.2 Requirements related to mechanical hazards

5.3 Requirements related to electrical hazards

5.4 Requirements related to thermal hazards

5.5 Requirements related to incoherent radiation hazards

5.6 Requirements related to laser radiation hazards

5.7 Requirements related to control system

5.8 Requirements related to Hazards related to materials and substances

5.9 Requirements related to ergonomic hazards

5.10 Requirements related to Hazards from/to unauthorized or third parties

5.11 Requirements related to hazards caused by lack or inadequacy of visual or acoustic warning means

6 Verification of safety requirements and measures

6.1 General

6.2 Methods for verification and validation

6.3 Required verification and validation

6.4 Verification and validation of protective safeguards

7 Information for user

7.1 General

7.2 Instruction handbook/Manual

7.3 Verification and validation of protective measures

7.4 Information for use associated with the environment

8 Labelling

8.1 Information to be indicated in labels

8.2 Label styles

Bibliography