Laser Safety videos from Harvard
Posted by Judy Breck on January 14, 2008
There is a collection of detailed safety information on the Harvard School of Engineering & Applied Sciences, Physics Department, and Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences Safety Committee Homepage. People who are responsible for or work in school laboratories can learn many safety subjects in the topics available there.
An example of the thoroughgoing safety training is the group of 3 Laser Safety Videos on the Laser Safety page. The videos are detailed lectures by Professor Eric Mazur of the Harvard Physics Department. Dr. Mazur carefully explains a variety of dangers from laser beams, principally to human eyes. He discusses how the eye actually can look at a laser so that the focusing optics of the eye direct the beam into the eyeball and on to the retina. Lasers can also damage eyes even when they bounce into them as reflections. One his charts in the video lists these rules:
Wear safety glasses !
Post signs
Terminate all beams
Never defeat interlocks
Don’t underestimate reflections
Young generations live in an environment of dangers for which our bodies are not prepared biologically, and for which we do not have natural awareness and defenses. For anyone who will study or teach in the sciences, taking the time to watch these videos is a very good way to avoid harm in the future.
