Laser Safety Officer Training

I’ve been working with terrifyingly dangerous coherent light sources for 30 years now and I’ve been an institutional or departmental laser safety officer as a part of a couple of previous positions. I spent the last two days retraining to do this with a postdoc (who is destined for greatness) for our school and college until someone more senior — and responsible — takes over.

Pupil damage example, but our laser, at 10.6µm is more likely to start a fire than vaporise tissue. I actually want to cook something with it when it gets decommissioned in a few weeks.

I’m always uncomfortable with this sort of admin position. “Health and Safety” has very little to do with actual health and safety; on the contrary, it is about mitigating liability and protecting the institution.

The calculations were fun. They’re like a puzzle but there are also multiple paths to the same solution. Frustrating, I reckon, for scientists but the kind of no-real-answer abominations that give old school engineers like me massive erections. Or, THAT could just be a springback from the side effects of the meds I’m coming off of.