Laser safety

Laser safety in Australia is regulated by
AS-60825, “Safety of laser products”

As stated in AS-60825, hand held laser welders and cleaners are class 4 devices, meaning exposure to them can cause eye and skin damage. They can also start fires close to the laser handpiece where the intensity is high. DESPITE the videos you may see of people using them without eye protection, lasers MUST be treated with respect and the proper precautions must be taken. This is especially true because the laser light is invisible, so there is zero warning that laser light is present. Our laser welders focus the beam at the welding zone, and the beam then diverges, becoming less intense as it moves away from the welding handpiece.

Firstly we should explain where the legal requirements come from. From an Australian federal legislative framework and legal perspective Safe Work Australia (safeworkaustralia.gov.au) is the government body for workplace safety.

In addition, State Legislation is usually found in the published rules of each State Government’s OH&S (occupational health and safety) department. These rules require the company or owner to create a safe environment and avoid workers being exposed to injury.

Safe Work Australia prohibits Class 4 (and Class 3b) lasers for building and construction, because the environment is not controlled. However for detailed laser safety requirements, Safe Work Australian directs us to another government body, ARPANSA (Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Association). As of 5 July 2024, ARPANSA says “Lasers are classified according to the hazard associated with their emissions, as defined in the Australian/New Zealand Standard AS/NZS IEC 60825.1:2014 Safety of Laser Products Part 1: Equipment classification and requirements, AS/NZS IEC 60825.14:2011 Safety of Laser Products Part 14: A User’s guide.”

ARPANSA also says the following safety eyewear standards are to be followed:

“The Australian standard AS/NZS 1337.4:2011 Eye and face protection Part 4: Filters and eye protectors against laser radiation (laser eye-protectors) outlines appropriate eyewear requirements for protection when using lasers. The previously mentioned AS/NZS IEC 60825.14:2022 Safety of laser products Part 14: A User’s Guide (specifically Section 8.4.5 Personal Protection) also discusses the use of laser safety eyewear.”

NEW STANDARD AS 19818.1 vs AS1337.4 (EN207)

According to standards.org.au, in late 2023 AS19818.1 superseded the long standing AS1337.4 (which adopted the European Standard EN207). However as we discussed above, ARPANSA is still calling up AS 13374.4. Furthermore, when arranging third party certification of our laser welding helmet in 2023, a member of the EN 19818 committee advised that we test to EN 207.

In summary: Laser welding and cleaning eyewear should be compliant with AS/NZS 1337.4 which is equivalent to European standard EN207. AS19818.1 will take over gradually, and both are valid.

SAFETY OF MIG OR TIG ARC WELDING VS LASER

Laser and arc welding both have light-based dangers

Note that arc welders (MIG, TIG, etc.) also present significant hazards to users and bystanders. In comparison, fibre lasers produce less UV (ultraviolet, which is ionising radiation which means it causes cell and gene damage) than electric arc welders. However fibre lasers produce a far higher amount of near infrafed (invisible heat) light energy than arc welders. Both produce a very bright weld pool of hot, molten metal, so both need shaded lense filters to reduce the brightness, but lasers less so. Where an arc welder may need shade 12 to reduce the brightness to a comfortable level, a laser welder or cleaner only needs around shade 5 or 6.

Laser welders produce less fire and burn risk

When it comes to spatter and hot molten metal flying around, lasers are best by far. Lasers produce few if any sparks, and the sparks are small with very little energy. Anyone who has MIG or stick welded has been burned or had spatter fall in their boot and quickly burn into their skin. Not to mention the spatter that contributes to baldness by always managing to land on your scalp. Laser welding can produce small sparks, but far less than MIG or stick welders. Lasers also produce less bulk heat, so items are cooler to the touch. As such lasers present a much lower fire and burn hazard.

Laser welders produce less dangerous fumes than MIG or TIG

Laser welders are safer than arc welders when it comes to welding fumes. MIG and TIG produce harmful quantities of tiny airborne particles. These are inurious over time when inhaled, and the danger is becoming more well known. The most harmful types are Chrome and Nickel based from oxidation (the black stain on stainless steel when MIG or TIG welded), and the Chrome is often present as hexavalent chrome (Cr6+) which is a known carcinogen.

Laser welders are safer than arc welders because they input far less heat, as is demonstrated by many welds have no stain, and very small heat affected zones.

Laser welders use less chemicals than MIG or TIG

Due to the smaller heat input, many laser welds on stainless steel do not even require cleaning. In general, a yellow or straw colour on stainless steel is considered non corrosive and does not require cleaning. In contrast, most MIG and TIG welds will require pickling (which uses dangerous hydrofluoric acid) or at least TIG brushing which uses a milder acid. If the welds are ground or brush to remove stain, once again laser welding is safer because these processes also produce dust and the risk of personal injury.

Laser welders produce less stress and coronary artery disease

Stress is a killer. As a business owner in the manufacturing industry I can assure you a laser welder reduces management stress because:

(a) Laser welding can be done with less skilled workers. This saves on payroll, training, recruiting and headaches, particularly where good workers are hard to find and expensive to hire.

(b) Laser welding is much faster and requires less rework and finishing. This saves money and increases throughput which also means less overhead cost per job.

HOW TO REDUCE THE LASER SAFETY RISK?

Simply put, a protected area is required with signage and correctly rated laser glasses. A light safe enclosure with warning light and interlock on the door is required for complete compliance.

Fortunately laser light from our laser welders is focused, so it expands and weakens. The further away you are from the laser, the lower the light intensity. Laser intensity drops exponentially as you move away, but at closer distances such as a workshop anyone’s eyes could be damaged, even by reflections.

The Australian Standards AS60825.1 and .14 should be followed, but some practical things to factor into your safety plan are:

Anyone in the area must be using correctly rated laser eye protection. This means CE marking and D LB6 (or OD6) or higher for at least the range of wavelengths 1050-1090nm, or whatever wavelength your machine is rated at. Anyone within 6 metres of the welding must wear that eyewear and a laser welding helmet.
No one can be near the exit path of the laser (where a lot of the laser beam energy bounces off the surface at the same angle it hits the surface). Similar to a shooting range, never be out in front where the guns are pointed…
Use dull black surrounds and panelling to absorb the laser light and avoid reflections. Black powder coated aluminium is the best material for an enclosure, at least 1.5mm thick. Cement sheet is also OK. Other materials will work, but can be a fire risk in the worst case.
Avoid anyone walking in unaware. Use signage to AS1319.
If the room or door has windows, use approved laser rated viewing windows, ideally rated AB 6 to EN 12254, or D LB 6 or even OD6 or numerically higher. Place correctly rated glasses on the entry door for anyone about to enter the area, with signage.
Use bright work lighting. This makes it easy to see what you are welding, and keeps the iris small, in the “bright sunshine” mode which is how our eyes minimise damage naturally.
The molten welding pool is bright, and bright visible light can cause eye damage too. You will want to weld with an arc welding (Infrared blocking) filter shade around 4 or 5 and the glasses of point 1 for maximum safety.
Laser welders have a safety feature that only enables the laser to fire if the nozzle is in electrical contact with the sensing clamp (which is normally clipped to the steel welding table, or directly to the workpiece). If you lay the gun (welding head) on the metal workbench, or the gun can slip onto it, the gun is then enabled and could fire if it hits the trigger/s. This CAN happen, so please be sure to position the head on a non-conductive, non-slip surface, ideally leather or rubber, near but insulated from the welding table. And of course, don’t clip the sensing clamp to the welding head as that leaves the laser enabled.

Welding helmet strongly recommended

We feel naked with only glasses on, partly because reflections could bounce off your skin or behind, and partly because we haven’t yet run transmissibility tests on various glasses (look for that article soon). In fact, we like our eyes so much we use a laser welding helmet AND D LB6 or OD6 glasses. Weld Australia also recommends this, along with IPG and others. To pass the 5 second close distance high intensity exposure test of EN207, laser welding helmets must be rated at least D LB7 and usually D LB8, like our Gen 2 helmet. Most expensive european laser helmets such as Univet and Lasermet are only rated D LB6. The best laser welding helmets, such as ours and IPG’s, feature a reflective aluminium cover, which is not damaged by a direct reflection from a 2kW laser.

As with laser glasses, I don’t trust welding helmet specifications. Some time ago a big Australian arc welding helmet brand published great numbers for response time of their welding helmet, then acknowledged they were wrong (I was getting flashed when MIG welding and challenged them). However their marketing department did not change the great number when followed up… It seems they were trying to keep up with numbers the Chinese sellers were publishing. Buyer beware.

MIG welding spatter sparks flying

MIG welding produces large amounts of spatter and sparks. These are a fire and safety hazard. they also act as stress raisers, corrosion initiators and are cosmetic defects.

Laser welding Zincanneal no spatter square

Laser welding produces little, if any, spatter, and basically zero spatter when welding at the correct speed and parameters.

WHICH WELDING HELMETS ARE SUITABLE FOR LASER WELDING?

The vast majority of welding helmet manufacturers specifically state their products are NOT suitable for use with laser welders, including Miller, Lincoln, Unimig, Speedglas, etc. This is because they are not designed to withstand intense laser impacts, and not tested to laser safety standards.

When welding, we strongly recommend you wear both the rated laser glasses AND a welding helmet that has been tested as blocking 1070-1080nm (Near Infrared or IR) fibre laser light, such as the laser welding helmet from laser-welder.com.au

Our testing has shown other helmets’ inherent filtering (the silver reflective layers in the filter/lens) allow around 10 times as much infrared light to pass through as our Gen2 laser welding helmet. Fixed shade helmets are not great either, with our testing of a CIG fixed shade 9 filter (part number 453853) transmitting 37 time as much (!) IR through as our helmet. Also that solid glass lens quickly shattered during laser exposure testing, reducing protection to zero without warning.

Note that the LCD shutter (the bit that activates) is mainly for blocking visible light, so does not greatly affect the IR filtering.

HOW TO ADJUST A WELDING HELMET FOR LASER WELDING

Our Gen2 laser welding helmet has variable shade with an auto shutter filter. This is one of very few with this feature. The key benefit is you can adjust the shade to match the Visible Light Transmission (VLT) of the laser glasses you are wearing, which can vary a great deal. The helmet internal switch should be set to the 5-9 range, and you use the external knob on the LHS to adjust the brightness to suit your eyes/visibility. Its native shade is 4, but we suggest a shade around 5 depending on the VLT of the laser glasses you are using under the helmet and how bright the work lighting is.

The knob (LCD shutter setting for visible light transmission) does not really affect the UV or infrared protection. The protection is inherent in the silver coated layers in the filter, so you are protected from IR and UV to a large degree, even if the battery is flat. However the high brightness is not good for your eyes, so please adjust the LCD shutter to bring the brightness to a comfortable level where you can still see the weld in progress. Extra strong work lighting is recommended.

What laser safety glasses are required?

Laser safety glasses are critical to those using or exposed to the laser output and reflections. For use with high powered fibre lasers you really must wear a laser helmet over them. Even then, we recommend our glasses which are CE rated D LB 6 (DIR LB6 is also OK) at 1070nm wavelength (or whatever the actual output wavelength of your laser is). This basically means they only permit 1 millionth of light in that band to pass through. That is 0.0001 percent. In the USA OD ratings alone are allowed. Numerically higher ratings are better, unless the glasses are fake or wrongly marked, as many of the ones with uncertain pedigree are.

Goggles are a step up on glasses because they guarantee no laser light can come in from behind the glasses. However they are bulky and you may need to adjust the helmet forward.

Laser safety eyewear in Australia is governed by AS1337.4 which adopts the European EN207 standard to specify performance requirements, test methods, marking requirements, selection and use of personal eye-protectors against laser radiation in the spectral range 180nm to 1000 micrometres.

In general, Australia follows European safety standards.

Don’t Use

1. Do not use glasses from other lasers

CO2 lasers are a totally different wavelength, and are usually blocked by generic safety glasses. BUT those glasses DO NOT block fibre lasers at all. You must check the wavelength of your laser and make sure your glasses are suitable.

2. Do not use Aliexpress or ebay generic laser glasses

Substitution is a problem in China (read up on powdered baby formula substitution in China) and polymers that block 1064nm are very expensive so it would be tempting to substitute it with coloured acrylic… Don’t risk it!!

3. Do not use IPL glasses or LASER ENHANCEMENT

IPL glasses (intense pulsed light) only block a small amount of laser light, so are NOT safe.

Laser enhancement glasses are use for building surveying lasers and are NOT of protective value for us.

Quality laser glasses are marked accordingly.

Look for laser eyewear meeting EN207. EN 207 marks the the laser resistance or penetration rating as “LB”. OD or Optical Density ratings are better known, so we mark them as well. HOWEVER, LB ratings matter more, as they rate the lens for higher powered penetration. A lens could have high OD from a thin film that burns away quickly when struck directly, so would have a low LB rating. LB, OD and the wavelength range are marked on the lens. You are looking for D LB6 or numerically higher. The bigger the number the more laser light they block out), and wavelength covering 1060-1085nm at least. Some rely on the coating, so if the coating is damaged do not use them.

Close up view of protection ratings on green fibre laser glasses

Close up of laser glass ratings on green laser glasses

Laser glass ratings to EN207 AS1337.4

markings on laser glasses explained

Laser protective glasses markings are broken into ranges. This is because the minerals that absorb or reflect the laser radiation only do so for certain wavelength ranges. For fibre laser welding the wavelength range of interest is usually 1060 to-1090nm, and the glasses will have a “D LBx” marking, or “ODx” In the green glasses above we find the range “800-1100nm” which covers our wavelength range. DIR LB6 is the EN207 (AS1337.4) protection rating. D means constant wave, and our laser welders are constant wave, so the glasses provide the D LB6 minimum rating we want. They should also have a CE marking.

If the glasses have a range like “800-1100nm” with OD6 that means the glasses are US or ANSI standard, with “Optical Density” of 6. By definition, OD6 attenuates that wavelength by a factor of 10 to the power of 6 (one million). If used in the USA they should also have a “VLT” marking. OD6 is basically equivalent to D LB6, but OD ratings only cover low powered reflection, not the high powered penetration test of EN207.

Glasses to the new standard AS19818.1 (EN19818-1) considers both ways of measuring and marking.

WHICH LASER SAFETY GLASSES ARE NOT SAFE?

We recently ran tests on 12 pairs of laser safety glasses and goggles, 3 automatic welding helmets, a fixed welding filter and a laser safety viewing window. This was done using a 1064nm fibre laser, and a very sensitive laser power meter reading from 0.01mW up to 200mW. We will publish the results soon, but the most critical and urgent finding is that the cheap glasses from ebay, Amazon, etc. that promise to cover every wavelength (which is impossible because they would also block visible light, and you couldn’t see through them!) DO NOT block fibre lasers. This is outrageous, but the only solution is to be well informed and buy carefully. As they say in racing, if you have a $10 head you buy a $10 helmet. The BAD glasses are shown below, with the red and blue lenses being totally unaffected by the laser. The green lense versions had a tiny heat mark on the lenses, so they absorbed a tiny amount of infra-red, but basically nothing.

Laser safety glasses that do not protect the user

All of these ebay and Amazon glasses do not block fibre lasers

Test results will be published soon

Which brands of laser safety glasses are SAfe?

Laser-Welder have not tested these brands of laser safety eyewear, but all are reputable and likely to be safe when correctly selected for wavelength and optical density: NoIR, Laservision, Yamamoto, Thorlabs, Glendale/Sperian, Offenhaeuser + Berger, Kentek. In the US we recommend Innovative Laser Safety, which we have tested.

Several other brands exist, and correctly specified eyewear from a large US or European specialist should be OK. Australian sellers (not ebay or Amazon) who state that their products are suitable for your application and provide them with the “CE marking should be safe. The marking should be “D LB6” or “DIR LB6” or numerically higher, in a range that covers 1080nm at least.

Green fibre laser welder glasses

Laser safety in Australia is regulated byAS-60825, “Safety of laser products”