Question: In your use with lasers, do you feel safe using them. If not please explain why

Rebecca Ingle answered on 16 Nov 2014:

When we design laser experiments, we try to set them up in the most user friendly, safest way possible (e.g. no beams firing across areas where you walk through, keeping the beam at one height throughout the experiment, enclosing the beam in tubes whenever you can.)

I’m very used to work with lasers so I tend to feel relatively safe when working with them but it’s really important not to be complacent. Also, there are a few jobs, such as opening up and aligning the high power lasers, that still make me a bit nervous just because if you get your hand in the beam you’re going to get some nasty burns and you’d be blinded if the beam went in your eye. Electric shocks are another big risk with lasers as they use so much electricity and I’ve certainly heard of a few laser systems managing to catch on fire as well…