Product Code: JLA_19_1_46

Authors:
Robert J. Thomas
Benjamin A. Rockwell
Air Force Research Laboratory, Brooks AFB, Texas 78235-5128

Wesley J. Marshall
USACHPPM, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland 21010-5403

Robert C. Aldrich
Mary F. Gorschboth
Sheldon A. Zimmerman
Dahlgren Division, Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren, Virginia 22448-5100

R. James Rockwell
Rockwell Laser Industries, Cincinnati, Ohio 45243

The current national consensus standard for laser safety in the United States is the American National Standard for Safe Use of Lasers (ANSI Z136.1). The most recent standard, Z136.1-2000, incorporates a wealth of recent bioeffects data and established a number of new maximum permissible exposure (MPE) limits for laser safety. The standard also includes recent procedures for the computation of MPE values from large or extended diffusely scattering sources, which must be understood by health physicists, laser safety officers, and others in the field of occupational safety. Here we present the fourth in a series of tutorial articles, written to clarify laser safety analysis procedures under this standard, with an emphasis on the MPE computation methods related to extended sources, and the determination of nominal hazard zones.