Laser Safety, 2nd Edition

5ANSI Safe Use of Lasers and Laser Safety

Ken Barat

Introduction

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) through the Z136 series has a number of laser safety standards, all geared toward users. Starting out with Z136.1 Safe Use of Lasers first issued in 1973 (at the request of the federal government), a number of additional Z136 application standards have been developed and issued. These include medical use of lasers and outdoor use. The ANSI standard Z136.8 entitled Safe Use of Lasers in Research, Development, or Testing is the most significant application standard for any facility where laser and product development is taking place.

The two most important items to remember are the following: first, these standards are suggested user ...