The Laser Safety Officer – Current and future regulations in Germany

Abstract

One of the main objects of the international standard IEC 60825-1 is to protect persons from laser radiation. In addition to engineering measures, the appointment of a Laser Safety Officer (LSO) is certainly one of the most important administrative measures as far as the safe use of lasers is concerned. It should be the Laser Safety Officer's duties to review several protective measures and designate the appropriate controls to be implemented.

Due to the associated increased risk, the LSO is recommended for operation of laser class 3B and 4 in most national regulations. In Germany the accident insurance regulations take precedence over recommendations in a technical standard, and the duties of an LSO have been mandatorily fixed for many years.

In principle the appointment of an LSO and his/her respective duties and responsibilities are a matter for national regulations and might therefore differ from country to country, being in some cases either more or less. Therefore, the Artificial Optical Radiation Directive 2006/25/EC will alter the current situation in the near future due to the fact that this directive has to be transposed into the national regulations of all 27 member states of the European Union. It will take into account the minimum health and safety requirements regarding the exposure of workers. Since the LSO is not even mentioned in the directive, the laser community has been worried that the approved functions of an LSO might be lost.

This fear seems to have been groundless especially in Germany, since the current draft of an ordinance on optical radiation at the workplace specifies the need for an LSO. The area of responsibility shall include, in addition to laser class 3B and 4, all other optical radiation sources with comparable hazard potential but because the respective duties are not yet clearly defined, there are somewhat conflicting opinions.

In the discussion, it is mainly the required degree of competence or expertise and the modalities of qualification and certification that are the points of concern. This is especially noteworthy because of the long-standing accident prevention regulations and evidently different views between the accident insurance and the Federal Ministry. In addition to the description of the various strategies, the pros and cons are critically described and challenged in order to preserve the existing high level of safety which is connected with the appointment of an LSO.