Bringing together more than 200 laser safety professionals from around the world, the Laser Institute of America’s International Laser Safety Conference (ILSC®) touched on pressing medical and industrial hazards — as well as safety in unique environments like the Arctic and even outer space.
Held March 23-26 in Albuquerque, N.M., ILSC 2015 illuminated issues with “lasers of immense peak powers, hand-held laser devices with power that cannot have been imagined a decade ago, and ever-expanding applications of the laser,” noted LIA President Robert Thomas of the Air Force Research Laboratory.
Major U.S. facilities like Sandia National Laboratories and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory shared insights into safety issues surrounding the use of multiple lasers. At Sandia, keynote presenter Bill Seng noted that many of the lab’s more than 1,400 lasers —running the gamut from UV to visible to IR to white-light devices — are employed on aircraft, ships and even in the back of a van to detect potential airborne toxins.
