LIA provides laser safety training and resources.
Press Release Summary:
Laser Institute of America offers complete line of online and classroom-based laser safety training courses based on ANSI Z136 standards for personnel in research, industrial, and medical laser facilities. Classroom-based courses include: Industrial Laser Safety Officer, Medical Laser Safety Officer, Laser Safety Officer, and Laser Safety with Hazard Analysis. To complement online training courses, Evaluator system provides reliable way to double-check laser safety calculations.
Original Press Release:
Ensure Your Facility's Safety - LIA Provides all of Your Laser Safety Training and Resources
The Laser Institute of America (LIA) has been delivering quality, trusted laser safety training for over 40 years. Training is an integral tool for the safe use of lasers and laser equipment used in manufacturing, medicine and research today. As secretariat of the ANSI Z136 series of laser safety standards, the foundation of laser safety programs nationwide, the LIA has assisted laser users in developing and implementing safety programs worldwide.
The LIA is committed to keeping the workplace safe from hazards associated with lasers. Therefore, LIA offers a complete line of laser safety training courses for personnel in research, industrial and medical laser facilities and trains more laser safety officers (LSOs) than any other organization in the world. All of LIA's courses are based on the ANSI Z136 standards.
LIA's classroom-based courses include: Industrial Laser Safety Officer, Medical Laser Safety Officer, Laser Safety Officer and Laser Safety with Hazard Analysis. For dates and locations of courses offered, visit our website at http://www.lia.org/education/calendar.
LSO Online Meets Canadian Regulations
LIA offers a complete line of online courses for personnel in research, industrial and medical laser facilities. In fact, LIA's leading LSO online course now includes Canadian laser regulations. Noticing a significant rise in attendees signing up from Canada for the online Laser Safety Officer Training course, LIA Education Director Gus Anibarro responded quickly to address their specific requirements.
Among the key differences between U.S. and Canadian regulations, he says, is the Radiation Emitting Devices Act (REDA), which emerged from Canada's Department of Justice in 1985. "It is their version of our Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH), where our government regulates laser manufacturers," Anibarro notes. "It regulates laser products that are sold in Canada. REDA applies to manufacturers, distributors, people who lease lasers and those who import lasers, including laser scanners and lasers for demonstration."
The EVALUATOR
As a complement to all of its online training courses, LIA, in 2010, introduced the Evaluator, the industry's first web-based laser safety hazard analysis system that utilizes an innovative delivery system to provide a new and improved user experience for laser safety officers of all skill levels. This system provides a reliable way to easily double-check laser safety calculations. It is based on the ANSI Z136.1 American National Standard for Safe Use of Lasers and will perform repeated calculations of maximum permissible exposure (MPE), optical density (OD), nominal ocular hazard distance (NOHD), nominal hazard zone (NHZ) and laser hazard classification.
Benefits of the Evaluator include being able to change laser settings by easily switching between CW, single pulse or repetitively pulsed lasers as well as adjusting the beam profile. You have the ability to save reports, view graphs and make suggestions for new features, as well as experiment with various laser, eyewear or barrier combinations with enhanced interactive graphic displays.
Out of the Classroom
In addition to classroom-based and online courses, LIA also offers training through instructional videos, publications, onsite training and more.
LIA has assembled the expert knowledge of leading certified medical laser safety officers in a new book, CMLSOs' Best Practices in Medical Laser Safety. The book compiles the latest knowledge on establishing a medical laser safety program, including laser safety regulations, how to control and evaluate such programs and the duties of medical laser safety officers (MLSOs).
The 11-chapter book focuses on topics such as initial MLSO duties and responsibilities, beam and non-beam hazards and factors that determine laser-tissue interaction. The book's contributors also address the importance of safety audits once a laser safety program has been established. Packed with useful figures and tables, the book includes samples of a medical laser safety inspection checklist, a laser inventory sheet, a laser procedure record and laser safety audit forms. This book's publication coincides with the release of the newly-revised ANSI Z136.3 Safe Use of Lasers in Health Care standard.
Training Videos
LIA training videos and CD-ROMs provide a cost-efficient and effective education tool and serve as an excellent resource for laser safety officers. Two are of particular note, one for all medical personnel and one for industrial facilities.
FOCAL POINTS - Interactive Training for Medical Laser Safety, an interactive CD-ROM, offers a user-friendly training program that medical laser safety officers can use to train their staff on the basics of laser physics, potential hazards and control methods and differences in laser systems. The ANSI Z136.3 Safe Use of Lasers in Health Care standard, as well as the Joint Commission and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), require training for personnel as a component of any laser safety program.
Mastering Light DVD - An Introduction to Laser Safety, serves as an excellent resource for laser safety officers who are tasked with one of the most significant responsibilities in the organization-training new employees and keeping the team updated on current safety issues and practices. This DVD training option is easy to administer in the workplace. Written and produced by LIA, Mastering Light fulfills both the ANSI Z136.1 Safe Use of Lasers and OSHA training requirements for employees working with or around Class 3B or Class 4 lasers and laser systems. Presented in an easy-to-understand format, the 23-minute DVD covers the basic fundamentals of laser safety including beam hazards, control measures, bioeffects, classifications, non-beam hazards and more.
Don't settle for less, come to the leading laser safety source and get your laser safety training from your society, Laser Institute of America, publisher of the ANSI Z136 series of laser safety standards. Afterall, LIA is the international society dedicated to fostering lasers, laser applications and laser safety worldwide.
