‘Service’ may be defined as those operations generally carried out by specialist personnel often employed by manufacturers or their authorized representatives.
The risk of injury is higher during service activities and it is not only the service engineer who is at risk of injury. Yet many organizations do not have a strategy for dealing effectively with external contractors coming onto site, nor do they have the necessary safety screens and other hardware elements needed to isolate the service activity and thereby protect then staff.
These shortcomings are often compounded by the poor example that some service engineers provide to users of how to conduct open-beam work safely in a factory environment. Common faults include a lack of control of errant laser beams and a failure to use protective laser eyewear.
With the aid of case studies we will set out what we believe are the key elements of laser safety documentation and hardware for service operations including practical procedures before and after servicing. We will also address the confused situation regarding the design and specification of safety screens.