Beam me up, Scotty: How laser beams affect your health

The world watched in awe as Captain Kirk commanded, "Beam me up, Scotty," way back then. We’ve come a long way since the 1960s and laser beams, or high-intensity beams of light generated from a laser, are no longer sci-fi TV fantasies. They are a common part of 21st century life, found in supermarkets, on building sites and in medical laboratories. Lasers serve many useful purposes, but they can also be dangerous to human health.

LASER

Laser is an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. It’s the name given to devices that produce high-intensity light beams or laser beams.

Lasers are used for many purposes. In the medical field, they help doctors to diagnose and treat some conditions – for example, they can be used to burn away damaged tissues in skin cancer. Surveyors use lasers to make accurate measurements, and lasers are used in the construction industry for precision cutting of steel and metal.

Laser can even be found at the local grocery store checkout. That little red beam of light that shines onto the bar code of your milk and bread and scans their prices into the cash register? You guessed it: it’s a laser.

While lasers are put to good use in many professions, they also pose health risks.

Ultra-violet

Like the rays of the sun, laser light beams contain UV rays. Different types of lasers produce different intensity beams of light and different concentrations of UV rays. The health risks vary depending on the type of laser being used.

You can breathe a sigh of relief and rest assured that your next trip to the supermarket is unlikely to harm your health (at least not with respect to laser exposure). Lasers in supermarket scanners and other day-to-day uses are low-intensity light beams that don’t pose risks to human health.

On the other hand, high-intensity beams, such as those used in medicine to burn off damaged cells, are associated with many health risks if the people using them do not take precautions. High-intensity lasers burn skin, even if the skin and laser beam are only in contact for a fraction of a second. They can also cause skin cancer and eye damage.

For this reason, only trained professionals like doctors should use high-intensity laser beams. There are laws in Australia which regulate the use of lasers, including who can use them and safety measures to take when using a laser. They are designed to protect the health of people working with lasers. The key safety measures are wearing protecting clothing and eye wear to prevent exposure.

Know the risks, and if you work with lasers, know your rights as an employee and how to protect yourself.