Product Code: ILSC2009_804

Laser Safety Training in a Large University
Authors:
Sandu Sonoc, University of Toronto; Toronto ON Canada
Presented at ILSC 2009

University of Toronto has over 230 class 3B and class 4 lasers and laser systems. Few hundreds users work with open beam on daily basis. Due to the large turnover at the university we have to train every year more than 100 new users.

The new user training has two parts. First part consists of six hours in class including presentations, discussions and calculations followed by a short video and a test. The second part is a follow-up in the laser laboratory. During the follow-up we discussed the results of the test ensuring 100% understanding of the test questions, laser experiment setting, calculation for OD required for their lasers, engineering, administrative and procedural controls needed to be put in place. An important part of the laser safety training is to teach students to write the standard operating procedure for their experiment. This SOP is verified by the LSO and approved by the principal investigator.

Starting with 2008 on line refresher was introduced for users trained more than three years ago.

In this paper I will present the content of the training, few examples of the test questions and methods used during the training.