Tag Archives: ILSC 2017

ILSC 2017 Gathers the World’s Medical & Industrial Laser Safety Professionals

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Written By: Jamie King 

Laser Institute of America’s (LIA) International Laser Safety Conference (ILSC®) was held from March 20-23, 2017 at the Sheraton Atlanta Airport in Atlanta, Georgia.

With over 200 laser safety professionals from around the world attending, medical and industrial workers from novice to expert discussed everything from laser generated air pollution to non ionizing radiation. Held concurrently with a full week of meetings by laser standards committees and punctuated by a host of networking events, ILSC 2017 deftly balanced technical and practical information through over 80 presentations and plenaries.

Pre-Conference Highlights

The day before the official kickoff of the conference, the Accredited Standards Committee (ASC) Z136 assembled to receive updates from the subcommittee chairs and to discuss the future move to vertical/horizontal standards. Robert Thomas, the ASC Z136 chair, thanked the attendees for their diligent and focused work as a committee. The ILSC Welcome Reception was held on the evening before the conference started in the Sheraton Atlanta Solarium. Designed as a destination to meet with friends and acquaintances, safety professionals from around the globe reconnected.

Opening Plenary Focuses on Outside Interests

The Opening Plenary began in the International Ballroom where Conference Chair John O’Hagan of the Public Health England welcomed two invited speakers. Laser Safety Scientific Session (LSSS) Chair Karl Schulmeister of Seibersdorf Laboratories, Medical Practical Applications Seminar (MPAS) co-chairs Kay Ball of Otterbein University, Vangie Dennis of Emory Healthcare, Patti Owens of AestheticMed Consulting International, Leslie Pollard of Southwest Innovative Solutions, Inc., Technical Practical Applications Seminar (TPAS) co-chairs Jamie King of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and Eddie Ciprazo of University of California, Berkeley were also acknowledged for their efforts.

The first presenter, Professor Jacques Abramowicz, discussed the need for an international standard on non-ionizing safety. He stated, “There is no framework and there are gaps in a lack of consistency. There are recommendations, but no standard.” Professor Abramowicz also discussed infrasound, a phenomenon for which there is limited information. He said, “People who think that they may have seen a ghost, may actually be experiencing results of infrasound effects.” In further emphasizing the need for medical standards, he proclaimed that, “Ultrasounds of babies can be performed by non-qualified or certified people and no regulation on ultrasound to do body sculpting and liposuction exists.” Jeffrey Luttrull, M.D. finished up the plenary session with a talk about how lasers are the future of blindness prevention. He stated that, “Up until April 2000 they damaged the retina to treat it. Photocoagulation is found to not be a treatment. Once you take retinal damage away, it is like pushing the reset button.”

From Bioeffects Research to Consumer Products

The Laser Safety Scientific Session (LSSS), chaired by Karl Schulmeister of Seiberdorf Laboratories, provided an assortment of presentations from all fields of laser safety, from safety management programs and the design of products, to bioeffects research to probabilistic risk assessment. As the week progressed, LSSS moved away from the biological arena and into consumer products. Issues covered ranged from Laser Illuminated Light Sources to LEDs. Most of the attention, however, was directed at Class 3R and laser pointers. One talk hinted at the FDA’s proposed change to regulations. Laser pointers less than 610nm would be deemed “defective”. This would inevitably eliminate the use of the green laser pointer from consumer use.

New and Innovative Medical Laser Practices

The Medical Practical Applications Seminar (MPAS) ran from March 20-21. The two-day seminar is designed for medical laser safety professionals who work in operating rooms, surgical centers, aesthetic clinics and medical spas. This year’s focus was biological topics. Co-Chair Vangie Dennis welcomed attendees and discussed the latest insights in plume hazards. Fellow Co-Chair Kay Ball explored hazards, odors, and particulate matter present in plume and named the standards from AORN, ALSMS, OSHA, & LIA and recommendations to reduce plume in the operating room.

Attendees were reminded about the need to evaluate facility policies and standard operational procedures and guidelines and adapt to the new upcoming changes ahead. She went on to say, “Situational awareness is now a risk assessment. Smoke is a hazard when it becomes a plume.” Moving from plumes, Julie Smith and Lois McIntosh showed the before and after pictures of burn victims with the use of laser treatments to even out skin tones and diminish the grafting skin elevation. Edwin Barry covered the use of high intensity laser therapy as an alternative to opioid prescription drugs and gave viable examples of laser treatment for humans and dogs for back pain and accidents. During LSSS, Jack Lund explained how in 1973 there were wavelength dependent MPEs based on a limited number of lasers available. Adam Boretsky described how high intensity lasers are expanding rapidly and how the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) could procure a new femtosecond laser. They are performing testing on synthetic tissues with the ability to vary pigments. He went on to explain that, “Ultrafast lasers pose risk to the skin and cornea and their work is helping to develop future standards.” Plans include the investigation of nonlinear interactions with tissue and to characterize tissue breakdown.

From Basic Optics to Cutting Edge Technologies

The Technical Practical Applications Seminar (TPAS) was themed, “Back to the Basics.” Eddie Ciprazo led the session with, “So You are the LSO, Now What?” which discussed mastering the challenges that LSOs face today. Following his presentation were talks on splitting up the standard operating procedure into more manageable documents, setting up a laser lab, and automating laser safety programs. Josh Hadler presented his studies of ultrafast pulse laser safety eyewear concluding, “With all of the variables involved, you just may have to test the laser eyewear with your laser to ensure it provides the protection needed.” After this, there were talks on outdoor and high-powered laser operations.The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) discussed what laser professionals need to know and where to find it on their website, followed by a panel session open forum.

Sponsor Reception Highlights

During the Sponsor Reception, laser safety professionals seized the opportunity to explore what new products are available and to allow relationships to be forged between customer and vendor. Platinum sponsors Rockwell Laser Industries and Honeywell were joined by other industry-leading sponsors including ASC Z136, BEAMSTOP’R Laser Barriers, Inc., Buffalo Filter, Engility, Innovative Optics, Inc., Kentek Corporation, Laser Safety Systems, Laservision USA, Lighting Systems Design, Inc., NoIR LaserShields, Ophir-Spiricon LLC, and RT Technologies.

Awards Luncheon & Certification Appreciation Banquet

The ILSC 2017 Awards Luncheon & Certification Banquet recognized top professionals and organizations in laser safety. Bob Thomas of the U.S. Air Force Research Lab (AFRLB) presented the R. James Rockwell Educational Achievement Award to John O’Hagan and the George M. Wilkening Award to Wesley J. Marshall.

The Board of Laser Safety (BLS) Illumination Award was created to recognize an institution, company or organization that directly employs a certified laser safety officer and provides encouragement and support for employee participation within the laser safety community and/or has made outstanding contributions to the field of laser safety. Mount Sinai Health System was recognized this year with employee Jacob Kamen accepting the accolade. “The Mount Sinai Health System is very proud to be a recipient of the BLS Illumination Award. This award validates Mount Sinai has been a significant supporter of laser safety education,” Kamen said.

ILSC will return to Orlando March 18–21, 2019 at the Embassy Suites® Lake Buena Vista South. Check the ILSC website at lia.org/ILSC for updates. If you are interested in joining the ILSC program committee, email ILSC@lia.org. Visit our website www.lia.org/conferences to stay informed on other LIA conferences coming up in 2017.

Evolving Laser Safety Classification Concepts & New Products

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By Karl Schulmeister

The classification of lasers by the product’s manufacturer – from Class 1 to Class 4 – is a valuable means to provide the end user with simplified information about the potential hazards to the eye and skin.

The concept of product classification can be considered a success story. Developed in the USA by the CDRH in the 1970s, it has been accepted internationally for more than 30 years, based on the standard IEC 60825-1. While the basic system of classification has remained unchanged since its inception, some adjustments were necessary over the years and will also be necessary for the future, when reacting to new types of lasers and scientific data on injury thresholds.

For a few years, diffractive optical elements (DOE) and microscanners have driven a large group of new products; mainly gesture controls and 3D cameras for consumer electronics (see Image 1), but also scanned lidars for machine vision and autonomous cars, as well as pico-projector scanners. For these new products, the combination of factors results in challenges for product safety and standardization. They are not intended as specialized professional products, such as lidars have been for the military, but are for consumer use. Therefore, in practice, they would need to be Class 1, Class 2 or Class 3R devices (depending on the wavelength range and country) but at the same time, for a satisfying performance in terms of detection distances, emission levels need to be relatively high. Because of the diverging or scanned nature of the emission, these systems suffer particularly from the conservative combination of classification rules of a 7-mm diameter pupil, an assumed exposure distance of 10 cm from the DOE or from the scanning mirror, together with an assumed accommodation to the apparent source at such short distance. While laser safety classification was always historically on the conservative side, it might be possible in the future to consider that the combination of those three exposure conditions is not only highly unlikely, but there are also reflexes (the near triad of accommodation) that result in pupil constriction when accommodating to a close target.

Defining measurement (pupil) diameters smaller than 7 mm for very close distances and as function of accommodation target might be a possible relaxation for future amendments, but would make the analysis even more complex. Also, possibly, emission limits can be raised somewhat in the higher nanosecond and lower microsecond regime, which is a task for the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection, ICNIRP to which the IEC refers for bio-effects committee work. Particularly for a change in the emission limits the general “predicament” exists that the injury thresholds depend in a very complex manner on wavelength, pulse duration and retinal spot size. When emission limits for products (or exposure limits for the eye) are to be made to reflect the thresholds more accurately to reduce needlessly large safety margins, it automatically makes the limits more complex since simple limits by default would be, for many scenarios, over-restrictive. One exception in the 2014 IEC and ANSI revision applied to small retinal sources, where it was possible to greatly simplify the analysis of pulsed emission by setting the multiple pulse correction factor CP (or C5) to unity, at the same time permitting significantly higher emission levels as compared to earlier editions. On the other hand, in the same revisions, the analysis of extended retinal images became more complex by permitting significantly higher emission levels for devices in the range of the lower “safe” classes.

Besides possible adjustments in the emission limits, two concepts based on engineering safety features are currently in development in the responsible standardization committee at IEC to permit higher emission levels for divergent or scanned systems – but still achieve classification as “safe” class, such as Class 1 for IR and Class 2 for visible emission.

The first is a virtual protective housing (VPH) where the emission is automatically reduced when an object enters the VPH. In such a device, one or more sensors monitor the protected volume. Outside of the protected volume, the emission needs to be below the limits for the class that is to be achieved, such as Class 1. When the VPH is free of relevant objects, the emission level within that volume can be higher: as long as human access to this radiation is prevented by the system, it is not relevant for product classification. The sensor system thus establishes a virtual protective housing instead of a real one, and defines what is referred to as the “closest point of human access”.

The second type of engineering measure to raise permitted emission levels applies to lasers mounted on vehicles and other moving platforms. When the vehicle is stationary, only normal emission levels are permitted. When the vehicle is at a certain speed, it can be assumed that another vehicle that is driving at the same speed will do so with a minimum distance. Thus the speed of the platform is the basis to define the closest point of human access that is to be considered for classification, which can, for instance, be 1 or 2 meters from the car with the laser.

Both types of engineering features have the advantage that the emission is tested against permitted levels at farther distances than usual, resulting in significant increases of the permitted emission level for diverging or scanned emission. While the IEC standard can already be interpreted in a way as to permit classification on engineering features that prevent human access, in order to assure international standardized testing conditions, it is necessary to update the IEC standard and provide specific performance requirements. For instance, for the virtual protective housing, it will be necessary to define probes used to test if the emission is reduced when an object enters the VPH. For the “moving platform” concept, it will be necessary to define the measurement distance as function of vehicle speed, as well as additional requirements to prevent that people on or in the vehicle have access to hazardous levels of laser radiation, such as when the laser is mounted on the roof of the car and there is a sunroof, or people on a pickup truck’s bed. A virtual protective housing might be needed to prevent access for these cases and to ensure that the concept of “moving platform” is internationally accepted for formal product classification. After all, it needs to be appreciated that classification of products following IEC 60825-1, as a basic principle, can only rely on engineering performance of the device and cannot depend on proper installation or behavior of the user.

**Several of the issues discussed in this article were also topics of ILSC 2017 papers, including the history of CDRH and IEC standards in invited presentations by Jerome Dennis and David Sliney, respectively, as well as the moving platform concept. The 2014 updates of IEC and ANSI standards were discussed in earlier ILSC papers.

Karl Schulmeister was project leader for the 3rd Edition of IEC 60825-1 and is a consultant on laser product safety at Seibersdorf Laboratories in Austria. For more information,
visit http://laser-led-lamp-safety.seibersdorf-laboratories.at.

Laser Safety in Entertainment Applications

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By James Stewart, CLSO

High power lasers are routinely used in entertainment environments as a special lighting effect. Historically such lasers could only be used in situations where the budget, infrastructure, (namely power supply and cooling), and space permitted.

In recent years, however, these barriers have disappeared with the proliferation of low-cost solid-state laser light sources that now dominate this sector. This has created new opportunities in how the effects are being used, as well as who is able to now use them.

Business is healthy for the specialist laser effects providers that typically supply lasers for events and music performance tours, using output powers ranging from 1W through to 40W CW, with not a drop of water or three-phase in sight. Dramatic reductions in the purchase cost, physical size, and power supply requirements have influenced how the effects are used. Ten years ago, a typical music concert touring application would employ a single digit number of laser effects projectors, with output powers ranging from 3W to 10W. The same types of installation in 2017 are typically using 30 to 40 fixtures, with a range of output powers up to 30W or more. The greater number of lasers being used on single installations has increased the need for better awareness of the exposure risk, and

The greater number of lasers being used on single installations has increased the need for better awareness of the exposure risk, and requirement for a robust installation protocol. In a change to earlier practice where a dedicated laser operator and control system were used to operate the laser effects, many of the latest generation laser lighting effects are designed to operate directly from the same control systems as normal stage lighting effects. This has benefits from a creative perspective, in that that a lighting designer no longer needs to interface through a third party dedicated laser system operator. But the downside is that the lighting designer may not necessarily be familiar with the risks in using Class 4 laser products.

A lack of familiarity of exposure risk also exists for another new group of users, which with laser projectors costing only a few hundred dollars, and being widely available online through disco / stage lighting distributors, can install laser effects in small venues and for mobile discotheques. At the budget end of the market are multicolour laser effects projectors that produce moving beams and pre-programmed animated graphics and text. These devices typically output 1W – 2W, and operate automatically in sound-to-light mode.

Exposure potential from laser lighting effects can be considered when the characteristics of how the effects are produced is understood. The majority of lighting effects created at laser installations are through movement of two mirrors placed orthogonally, so as to move the beam freely about an imaginary x and y-axis. The maximum extent of beam deflection is typically between 50° – 60° optical.  In practice this leads to typical scan across-the-pupil exposure durations of a few µs to several hundred milliseconds, depending on the content material. Stationary beam creation is also possible if the control signal is held constant, or fails.

The other popular method of creating laser effects is achieved by passing a laser beam through a transmissive diffractive optical element (DOE), (also referred to as a diffraction grating), that splits and deflects the beam creating arrays of lesser-powered beams creating a geometric pattern. The DOE is normally attached to a motorized substrate, typically able to rotate from stationary through to 10rpm – 20rpm. The characteristics of the DOE determine the visual appearance of the laser effect produced. The time it takes a diffracted beam to scan across-the-pupil distance typically varies from a few milliseconds to being stationary.

The majority of exposures occur in the millisecond and microsecond domain, meaning for MPE comparison radiant exposure expressed in J·m-2 is used, however, for the purposes of risk assessment, it is more convenient to consider the exposure having been converted to a peak irradiance.

The hazard distance (NOHD) of most lasers used for lightshow applications normally exceeds the length of the working, (and viewing), space they are being used at. Table 1 shows the NOHD, along with the irradiance at five distances that may be representative for four typical laser output powers used in this sector. For each distance, a 0.25s and 1ms dose are considered, to give an indication of how many times in excess of the MPE such an exposure may be at that distance.

 

Laser Power 3 10 20 30 W
NOHD 387 707 1,000 1,225 m
Exposure Distance 5m Irradiance 60 199 398 597 kW·m-2
250ms dose 2,345 7,815 15,630 23,446 Excess
1ms dose 590 1,966 3,931 5,896 Excess
10m Irradiance 23 75 151 226 kW·m-2
250ms dose 888 2,960 5,919 8,879 Excess
1ms dose 223 744 1,489 2,232 Excess
30m Irradiance 4 12 23 35 kW·m-2
250ms dose 138 459 919 1,378 Excess
1ms dose 35 116 231 347 Excess
50m Irradiance 1.4 5 9 14 kW·m-2
250ms dose 54 178 356 534 Excess
1ms dose 14 45 90 134 Excess
100m Irradiance 0.4 1.2 2.4 3.6 kW·m-2
250ms dose 14 47 94 141 Excess
1ms dose 3.6 12 24 36 Excess

 

Table 1  A comparison of exposure potential of four laser output powers typically used in lightshow applications

The figures in Table 1 demonstrate how the irradiance present at the exposure distances is significantly higher than the 25W·m-2 and 101W·m-2 MPE limits (0.25s and 1ms respectively). Areas within several metres of the source are particularly high risk exceeding the MPE by several hundred, if not, thousand times, depending upon the laser power and duration. Such viewing conditions could occur for lasers positioned on, or directed at the stage from the vicinity during a poorly managed performance or rehearsal. It is also possible that the exposure could occur when the scanning position of the lasers are being lined up during the installation phase, where a stage may be occupied by technicians and crew unaware of the exposure risk.

With laser effects capable of producing exposures with peak irradiances of several kW·m-2 over a considerable distance from the source, controls are necessary to limit exposure to levels considered safe for viewing. In the first instance, the user and those sharing the environment lasers are being used in, need some appreciation of the risk and what precautions should be typically adopted. As with most projects, spending time at the early stages of development helps to identify and address issues that could become more significant if left unchecked. In an ideal world, the laser provider would be contacted early on in a production’s development, be provided with a full brief from the client, and full information about the rest of the production’s implementation. It is recognised that events rarely function like this, which is no fault of the laser provider, but instead the nature of the sector. This means the successful laser provider has to remain alert, and often has to anticipate factors that could affect safe laser use. Even the best planned productions can be dynamic environments with tweaks and changes happening right up to the last moment. Basic rules however help to keep a laser install on track and minimise the risk to workers and audience alike. At no point should users neglect the fact that laser lighting effects are a special effect, and should be regarded as such, needing appropriate precaution to be taken for their safe use.

Presently, two major standards organisations have working groups producing specific guidance for this sector. ANSI through Z136.10 – Safe Use of Lasers in Entertainment, Displays and Exhibitions (currently under development), and IEC through IEC/TR 60825-3 – Guidance for Laser Displays and Shows, will each address the issues that have become apparent as laser light show technology has become more accessible, and is being used in ways that would have just a few years ago been impractical. It is hoped that when the new guidance is available that it will provide end users and safety advisers alike with an authoritative reference to best practice for this application of lasers.

James Stewart works for LVR Optical, based in the UK, as laser safety practitioner with a keen interest and experience in managing entertainment applications using lasers. He is the project lead for IEC/TR 60825-3.

***

Interested in Laser Safety? To learn more about Laser Institute of America’s International Laser Safety Conference, visit the conference website. 

 

Board of Laser Safety (BLS) Illumination Award Recognizes Mount Sinai Health System at ILSC 2017

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The new award recognizes an institution, company, or organization that directly employs a certified Laser Safety Officer & makes outstanding contributions to the laser safety community

ORLANDO, FL (PRWEB) MAY 11, 2017

The Board of Laser Safety (BLS) is proud to announce the first recipient of the BLS Illumination Award, Mount Sinai Health System. The award was presented at the BLS CLSO & CMLSO Appreciation Reception during the 2017 International Laser Safety Conference on March 20 at the Sheraton Atlanta Airport in Atlanta, GA.

Laser Institute of America’s (LIA) International Laser Safety Conference (ILSC®), held biennially, gathers hundreds of laser safety professionals from around the world to discuss the latest topics in medical and industrial laser safety.

The BLS Illumination Award has been created to recognize an institution, company or organization that directly employs a certified laser safety officer and provides encouragement and support for employee participation within the laser safety community and/or has made outstanding contributions to the field of laser safety.

Jacob Kamen, who received the award at ILSC 2017 on behalf of his employer, Mount Sinai Health System, said it validates all the effort and energy Mount Sinai has put into its Laser Safety Program over the past 7 years.

“The Mount Sinai Health System is very proud to be a recipient of the BLS Illumination Award. This award validates Mount Sinai has been a significant supporter of laser safety education,” Kamen said.

Partnering with Laser Institute of America to host New York City’s first-ever LIA MLSO course in 2015, Mount Sinai Health System has advanced its education goal further. Mount Sinai was also the first institution to sponsor the BLS certified medical laser safety officer (CMLSO) examination in New York City. Presently, Mount Sinai boasts three CMLSOs on staff. The Laser Safety Program has recently expanded to 8 hospitals that incorporate the Mount Sinai Health System.

Additionally, Mount Sinai has supplemented their online training by creating multiple laser safety training courses covering a variety of clinical and research areas. These courses have been used by more than 5,000 staff members throughout the entire Mount Sinai Health System.

“Mount Sinai hopes that this award will provide encouragement for other hospitals to follow the path and create a safe laser environment for employee and patients,” Kamen added.

Barbara Sams, Executive Director of BLS, says, “We were honored to be able to present the inaugural BLS Illumination Award to Mount Sinai at ILSC 2017. We feel it is important to recognize the employer who has the vision to see the significance of investing in its personnel and challenges its staff to seek knowledge through various channels of continuing education.”

Due to its popularity and success at ILSC 2017, BLS is now calling on all CLSOs and CMLSOs who would like their employer to be considered for the next award. To nominate your company/employer, please review the criteria and download the Nomination and Supporter forms, complete with submission instructions, from the BLS website. Nominations can also be submitted directly to Barbara Sams, Executive Director, at bls(at)lasersafety.org.

The Board of Laser Safety (BLS) is a non-profit organization affiliated with Laser Institute of America (LIA) and dedicated to the improvement in the practice of laser safety by providing opportunities for the education, assessment and recognition of laser safety professionals. To learn more about BLS and their certification opportunities for medical and non-medical laser safety professionals, please visit http://www.lasersafety.org.

The Laser Institute of America (LIA) supports the BLS’ mission by offering laser safety training for both LSOs and MLSOs. As the professional society for laser applications and safety, LIA is dedicated to serving the industrial, medical, research and government communities worldwide. For more information on the LIA, visit http://www.lia.org or call 1-800-34-LASER today.

Laser Institute of America’s 2017 International Laser Safety Conference (ILSC®) Gathers 200 Safety Professionals From Around the World

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The biennial conference’s presentations and discussions were aimed at advancing laser safety & ranged from laser generated air pollution to body sculpting & liposuction

ORLANDO, FL – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Laser Institute of America (LIA)’s International Laser Safety Conference (ILSC®) was held March 20-23, 2017 at the Sheraton Atlanta Airport in Atlanta, Georgia. With over 200 laser safety professionals from around the world assembled, medical and industrial discussions included a large range of topics from non-ionizing radiation sources to laser generated air contaminants.

In arguing the need for uniform non-ionizing radiation safety standards, speaker Jacques Abramowicz noted, “…ultrasounds of babies can be performed by non-qualified/non-certified individuals, as can body sculpting and liposuction.”

Jeffrey Luttrull, M.D. completed the plenary session, declaring, “…the retina does not have to be damaged to treat it. Once you take retinal damage away, it is like pushing the reset button.”

Major American and European research laboratories provided results of studies on the bioeffects of both ultra short pulse lasers and varying wavelengths to the skin and eyes. As technologies advance and more lasers become available for research, the maximum permissible exposure (MPE) limits will evolve for years to come.

In a clear indication that the case is not closed on the Class 3R laser, there were several views presented from the history of the classification. Presentations included proposed changes of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations related to laser pointers and the dangers they may present.

The Medical Practical Applications Seminar (MPAS) concentrated on the handling of smoke and plumes. There were also presentations on the use of lasers to help burn victims and for the treatment of acute and chronic pains. Laser use in veterinary medicine was also a hot topic. Notably, representatives from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) were present at ILSC to answer questions in a panel discussion for the first time.

Because of the recent influx of first-time participants, the Technical Practical Applications Seminar (TPAS) refocused on the basics of laser safety. Co-chairs, Eddie Ciprazo and Jamie King, bookended the session with So you are the LSO – Now What? and Resources for the LSO. At the end of the seminar, attendees received the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Laser Lessons Learned Newsletter booklet, which is loaded with laser safety information.

In addition, the ILSC 2017 program featured a sponsor reception, display area, numerous networking opportunities, and a laser safety awards luncheon, which highlighted and recognized R. James Rockwell Jr. Award winner John O’Hagan and George M. Wilkening Award winner Wesley J. Marshall.

“In addition to our outstanding educational program at each biennial ILSC, we are pleased to recognize outstanding international laser safety leaders and their companies,” said LIA Marketing Director Jim Naugle.

For more information about ILSC 2017 and LIA’s commitment to laser safety, please visit: https://www.lia.org/conferences/ilsc.

About Laser Institute of America

Laser Institute of America (LIA) is the professional society for laser applications and safety serving the industrial, educational, medical, research and government communities throughout the world since 1968. http://www.lia.org, 13501 Ingenuity Drive, Ste 128, Orlando, FL 32826, +1.407.380.1553.

ILSC 2017 MPAS Attendees

ILSC 2017 General Chair John O’Hagan with MPAS Chairs

ILSC 2017 General Chair John O’Hagan with TPAS Seminar Co-Chairs Eddie Ciprazo and Jamie King.