The University of Toronto has over 230 class 3B and class 4 lasers and laser systems. A few hundred users work with open beam on a 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. The 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 discuss the results of the test to ensure 100% understanding of the test questions, laser experiment setting; calculation for OD required for their lasers, engineering, administrative and procedural controls that need 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, an on-line refresher course was introduced for users who were trained more than three years ago.
In this paper, the content of training is presented, together with methods used during the training.