How to Choose Laser Safety Products for Industrial Use?
The Key Is Not "Certified" It's "Truly Protective"!
As the laser industry continues to grow rapidly, a lack of understanding of laser safety standards has led dangerous misconceptions-such blindly pursuing to as "CE certified" marked products or simply choosing the "lowest price". These practices pose serious safety risks to end-users and the entire industry.
Some manufacturers claim their laser protection products are "CE certified" based on EN12254 test reports. However, EN12254 is not necessarily applicable to high-power industrial laser. EN12254 was developed by CEN/TC85, Eye Protection (secretariat: AFNOR, France) and is a device standard. It's important to verify whether the issuing body is actually qualified to certify devices under this category.
1. Power Threshold Limitations:
EN12254 clearly states that it applies only to low-power lasers with average power < 100W, or single pulse energy < 30J. This means EN12254 has power threshold limitations and is not suitable for high-power applications such as laser welding, cleaning, cutting, or cladding, where lasers typically range from several hundred to several thousand watts. DIN EN 12254:2012-04 EN 12254:2010-AC 2011 (E) : This European Standard specifies functional requirements and a product labelling applicable to temporary and permanent passive guards (in the following called screens) for protection against laser radiation. This standard includes test methods for testing functional performance and the specification of the user documentation to be supplied with the product.
The screens are designed to protect the user from
unintentional exposure to direct and/or diffuse laser radiation
a time-Iimited exposure to laser radiation, based on the functional requirements determined by risk assessment
This European Standard applies to supervised screens for installations in working places at which laser radiation up to a maximum mean power of 10 or single pulse energy of 30 J occurs within the spectral range between 180 nm (0.18 µm) and 10 6nm (1.000 µm).
This European Standard (EN12254) applies to the protection against laser radiation only. This standard does not apply to other hazards including hazards from secondary radiation that can arise during, for example, material processing
This European Standard gives guidance on how to select such screens:
Laser enclosures and housings that are supplied as part of the laser product or are supplied to be fitted to a Laser system to form a laser product (according to EN 60825-1) are not considered to be within the scope of the standard.
Taking a manufacturer's EN12254 test report as an example: This test report states that, according to the EN12254 standard, in the 1050-1400 nm wavelength range, the protection level is D AB5.
Referring to the standard table, the irradiance is 2.5 × 100 W/m2. When converted, this equals 2.5 W/mm2. During actual testing, however, the power applied to the surface of the protective curtain was only about 2 W (the test report indicates the actual applied power was 2.35 W). It is not difficult to see that the safety capability of this curtain is only equivalent to that of a basic product and is seriously misaligned with the demands of industrial applications.
