Lasers and Health and Safety Requirements

[rth_discos]

Hi

I see a lot of people talking about which lasers look great, and they seem very popular with mobile discos, but reading the health and safety requirements around them, I wanted to check I was understanding them correctly before buying one (as I feel it looks amazing as a ceiling decoration).

So the key point I can see is that a laser should be mounted 3 metres off the ground. However, the average mobile disco lighting stand seems to reach 2.5 metres.

So what are people doing with lasers? Or have I mis-understood the health and safety guidelines.

I have no plans to scan the audience with the laser - purely to use it to decorate the ceiling at venues.

So any guidance you have would be great. I want to ensure I do it right, as I'd hate for something to go wrong, and to find I hadn't adhered to health and safety guidelines. Just saying "it'll be OK" isn't my way of doing things!

[Shaun]

Firstly, welcome to the forum. :)

Secondly, kudos for taking a safe approach where lasers are concerned. One of the forum members who does a lot of laser shows posted a helpful post a while back with some web links to laser safety. I've posted the link to his post below...

http://www.forum.mobilediscodirectory.co.uk/showthread.php?39659-Laser-crowd-scanning&p=619231&viewfull=1#post619231

[rth_discos]

Shaun,

Thank you for your reply. I hope I can add some useful contributions to the forum myself to help other people.

I do fear there are too many requirements around lasers, which whilst it seems is highly unlikely to cause any issues, only requires that one time for there to be an issue - and I would hate for it to invalidate any public liability insurance.

As mentioned, ideally I'd like to use a laser to create a great look on the ceiling. Are there any low-cost led based lights that would create a similar effect that you can recommend?

Thank you

[Nakatomi]

Yet another nail in their coffin for me. I HATE them. Don't get me wrong though.. a good laser scanner drawing shapes & animations can be awesome, and I LOVE open beam effects in a foggy club but all these little dotty scanner things at every disco from Lands End to John O Groats? Blah.

[Shaun]

Shaun,

Thank you for your reply. I hope I can add some useful contributions to the forum myself to help other people.

I do fear there are too many requirements around lasers, which whilst it seems is highly unlikely to cause any issues, only requires that one time for there to be an issue - and I would hate for it to invalidate any public liability insurance.

As mentioned, ideally I'd like to use a laser to create a great look on the ceiling. Are there any low-cost led based lights that would create a similar effect that you can recommend?

Thank you

I'm no expert on Lasers, but for the most part 'diffraction' lasers are presumed to be safer, and are the preferred laser effect for pointing towards ceilings as they provide quite a large coverage.

[mattydj50]

There are different "classes" of laser too. I believe (but don't quote me as I don't have the references with me) that Class 4 lasers are the most naughty whereas class 1 is pretty safe (just don't stare into it).

[rth_discos]

I'm no expert on Lasers, but for the most part 'diffraction' lasers are presumed to be safer, and are the preferred laser effect for pointing towards ceilings as they provide quite a large coverage.

This is exactly the problem I have - presumed isn't a very good defence to have!! It just takes that one occasion...!

[Shaun]

This is exactly the problem I have - presumed isn't a very good defence to have!! It just takes that one occasion...!

I completely agree.

That said, if you have taking the steps to risk assess and have ensured that the beams are out of line of sight (i.e. Mounting the fixture high, and ensuring that all beams are above eye-level) then the risk assessment could be a valid defence?? Unfortunately there's no clear cut answer with lasers. It comes down assessing the situation and taking the steps to ensure they're used safely. It's just a pity that a lot of DJs use them scanning the audience without a care in the world.