Laser eye protection – The European experience Available to Purchase

European product standards for laser eye protection, EN 207 (1) and EN 208 (2), have existed for a number of years and are used to determine the compliance of the protection with the European Directive on Personal Protective Equipment, signified by the use of the CE mark. Under these two standards the level of protection at a given wavelength is indicated by means of a scale number, and not simply by the actual optical density. This takes into account the ability of the protection to withstand direct exposure to laser radiation, but is based on a number of specific assumptions and uses a much-simplified form of MPEs. While this leads to a straightforward means of codifying eye protection it can also, in particular circumstances, require the use of protection that is far from ideal.