Options to Manage the Health and Safety Risks from High-power Laser Pointers
2012
Consultation paper
Citation: Ministry of Health. 2012. Options to Manage the Health and Safety Risks from High-Power Laser Pointers: Consultation paper. Wellington: Ministry of Health.
Published in November 2012 by the
Ministry of Health
PO Box 5013, Wellington 6145, New Zealand
ISBN 978-0-478-40213-1 (online)
HP 5586
This document is available at
Not Government Policy. Intended for public consultation purposes only.
Contents
Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: Background
2.1Types of laser pointers
2.2Safety risks from high-power laser pointers
2.3Availability and current controls
2.4Uses of high-power laser pointers
Part 3: Potential new controls on high-power laser pointers
3.1What are the new controls intended to achieve?
3.2What types of laser pointers are covered by the proposals?
3.3What options have been identified?
3.4Other laws
3.5Member’s Bill on laser pointers – a ‘possession’ offence
Part 4: The Ministry’s preferred approach
Part 5: A summary of the likely impacts of each option
Part 6: Your feedback
How to make a submission
Questions
List of Tables
Table 1:Relationship between laser pointer power and health risk
Table 2:Laser incidents reported to the Civil Aviation Authority
Options to manage the health and safety risks from high-power laser pointers1
Not Government Policy. Intended for public consultation purposes only.
Part 1: Introduction
Hand-held laser pointers have been sold for many years. The first pointers were expensive and of sufficiently lowpower that they did not pose any serious risk. In the past five years, however, much more powerful laser pointers have become readily available. These more powerful pointers have a far greater potential to harm the user and others. For example, people have been shining them at aircraft and other vehicles.
This paper seeks feedback on possible new controls to manage the health and safety risks from high-power, hand-held laser pointers.
The proposals do not extend to all lasers, or even to all types of laser pointers. They apply only to the higher-power classes of laser pointers.
No decisions have been made on the options described in Part 3 of this paper and this paper does not reflect formal Government policy.
Part 2: Background
Laser pointers emit a tightly focused beam of light that can be concentrated onto a very small area even over long distances. The total power in the beam may be low (a few milliwatts, mW) but it can be focused into a small spot of very high intensity.
2.1Types of laser pointers
There is a joint Australia/New Zealand Standard for lasers (which includes laser pointers).[1] It defines classes for lasers depending on their potential to cause injury and sets out manufacturing and labelling requirements for each class of laser.A second Standard[2] provides a user’s guide for the safe use of lasers.
The Laser Standard is voluntary. It is not compulsory for lasers manufactured or sold in New Zealand to comply with it.
As a basic guide, laser pointers can be classified in terms of their risk as follows(Table1).
Table 1: Relationship between laser pointer power and health risk
Laser pointer output power / Classification / Health risk posedUp to and including 1 milliwatt / 1 or 2 / Low risk
Greater than 1 and up to to 5 milliwatts / 3R / Low risk
Greater than 5 and up to 500 milliwatts / 3B / Risk of eye damage
Greater than 500 milliwatts / 4 / Can burn skin or damage eyes
2.2Safety risks from high-power laser pointers
Generally the risks associated with the use of lasers pointers up to and including Class 3R are low. The power output and wavelength are such that the human eye blink and aversion reflexes are enough to protect the retina from permanent damage.
In contrast, beams from Class 3B and Class 4 lasers pose a significant risk of eye damage from even momentary exposures. Class 4 lasers can also burn skin and may pose a fire hazard if shone on some objects. Apart from the direct risks of exposure of eyes to Class 3B and Class 4 lasers, there are also indirect risks associated with the malicious use of laser pointers.For example, a driver or pilot could be targeted with a beam.
Although the beam intensity drops below harmful levels at a distance of a few tens or hundreds of metres, it is still bright enough to dazzle and cause temporary flash blindness. Distracting or dazzling a pilot in this way is a serious aviation safety risk, particularly during critical phases of flight such as take-off and landing when the pilot’s concentration must be at its highest. Car drivers and ship crews are also at risk.Even Class 3R lasers can dazzle and distract but over shorter distances than higher-power lasers.
The most serious consequence from the misuse of a high-power laser pointer is that a person could cause a plane crash involving hundreds of people.While hard to quantify, the likelihood of this kind of event is probably low. However, the number of laser strikes reported to the Civil Aviation Authority involving high-power laser pointers is growing by about 20 additional incidents every year (see Table 2).
Arguably the most likely risk of harm is from people playing around with the more powerful lasers and inadvertently shining them at their own or other people’s eyes, and causing injuries without fully understanding the danger or risks involved.
Incidents of misuse of high-power laser pointers
Over the past decade, there has been increasing concern about accidental injury and the hazards posed by malicious use.
According to Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) records from 30 June 2001 to 31 May 2012, in all 131 claims were lodged for injury in relation to laser pointers. Of this total, 100 were awarded compensation. The total cost of the 100 accepted claims was minimal – around $9,438. More injuries may be sustained but not captured by ACC data. In a serious incident in Auckland in August 2011, an 11-year-old suffered damage to one eye after shining a laser pointer at a mirror. Overseas, there are medical reports of serious eye damage caused by careless use of high-power laser pointers.
The number of reported incidents of aircraft being targeted by laser pointers in New Zealand airspace is increasing. This trend is indicated by the number of laser incident reports received by the Civil Aviation Authority from 2007 to 2012 (see Table 2).
Table 2:Laser incidents reported to the Civil Aviation Authority
Year / Number of incidents2007 / 23
2008 / 52
2009 / 56
2010 / 78
2011 / 100
2012 / 44(up to June 2012)
The New Zealand Defence Force advises that its aircraft have encountered 15 flight safety events involving lasers since 2005 (the most recent being in July 2012).
Motor vehicles and vessels (such as the Interislander ferry) have also been targeted. So far, ACC has received no claims of injury arising from traffic accidents that have been associated with high-power laser pointers.
2.3Availability and current controls
Historically, only low-power laser pointers have been readily available to the public. Through technological advances over recent years, higher-risk laser pointers (eg, Class3B and Class 4) are now cheap and easy to obtain. They are freely available on internet auction websites and, when sold, often:
- arenot classified according to the Laser Standard (or any other appropriate standard)
- arenot sold with any warning labels or have inadequate labelling
- do not comply with the manufacturing requirements of the Laser Standard
- do not come with a user guide explaining their safe use.
There are no controls relating to the importation, sale and supply of high-power laser pointers in New Zealand.
Malicious use can be prosecuted by the New Zealand Police if the offender can be identified. Police can use powers under the Crimes Act 1961 or Civil Aviation Act 1990. They have secured successful prosecutions for a small number of laser incidents (less than 5 percent of aviation incidents to date) as well as a few prosecutions involving other types of transport.
However, because incidents involving malicious use are brief and take place in darkness, it is very difficult to observe and apprehend perpetrators. There are then difficulties proving that a particular person was the user in question. Powers available under current legislation do not prevent incidents in the first place.
A number of other countries have introduced controls on the sale and supply of laser pointers. In Australia, controls were introduced under the Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations 1956. These regulations make it a requirement that any person seeking to import a hand-held laser into Australia must have written permission from the Minister of Home Affairs or an authorised person prior to the arrival of goods in Australia. Each state or territory then sets its own requirements, which are administered by its police force.
In the United Kingdom, advice from the Health Protection Agency that lasers above Class 2 should not be generally available to the public has been used to support the prosecution of suppliers of laser pointers. The Health and Safety Executive has convinced major British-based internet suppliers to remove high-power laser pointers from their sites, but it cannot control availability from overseas websites.
In the United States of America, lasers are required by law to meet minimum safety requirements. These requirements are similar to those in the voluntary Australia/New Zealand Standard.In addition, the World Health Organization recommends that the:
sale of laser products to the general public should be restricted to Class 1 or Class2 devices and should be sold with sufficient accompanying information to enable the user to operate the product in a safe manner. Laser pointers higher than Class 2 are considered too powerful for general use as laser pointers and present unacceptable risk in the hands of consumers because they may cause eye injury.
2.4Uses of high-power laser pointers
There are a number of uses for Class 3B and Class 4 lasers, but very few of them require these lasers to be held in the hand like a pointer.
One of the few specific applications for Class 3B laser pointers is as a demonstration aid for astronomers who use devices with powers of around 50mW to point out objects in the night sky. Other users are university or industrial researchers. The User Guide recommends onlyusing lasers up to Class 2 as pointers indoors, and these lasers are quite adequate for this purpose.
Part 3: Potential new controls on high-power laser pointers
3.1What are the new controls intended to achieve?
The objective of the proposed new controls is to ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect the health and safety of the public from high-power laser pointers. Controls need to:
- protect people from harm both throughinadvertent or accidental use and through the malicioususe of such laser pointers
- be risk-based, justified, fit for purpose, and consistent with good international practice
- still enable the sale of high-power laser pointers with reasonable checks and balances on supply to prevent/reduce health and safety concerns
- not impose any unnecessary or unjustified compliance costs, or unnecessarily restrict access to products unless there is good reason.
3.2What types of laser pointers are covered by the proposals?
The proposals in this paper are only intended to cover the high-powered, and higher-risk, laser pointers. They do not cover low-risk laser pointers.
The Ministry is keen to hear feedback on what the cut-off power threshold should be. We suggest it should be limited to laser pointers with a rated output power of either:
- greater than 1mW (Classes 3R, 3B, or 4), or
- greater than 5mW (Classes 3B or 4).
To avoid capturing other laser pointers (or more sophisticated lasers that are not the problem here), devices will also need to:
- produce a coherent beam of optical radiation (a laser beam) of low divergence
- be battery powered
- be conveniently used while held in the hand.
3.3What options have been identified?
Government agencies have identified the following potential options to achieve the objective stated in section 3.1. The options are not mutually exclusive – several options or a combination of options could be implemented. While no decisions have been made, at this stage the Ministry’s preferred approach is described in Part 4 below.
Option 1: Retain the current voluntary controls
Under the current approach, all types of laser pointers can be imported and sold without any regulatory restrictions.
Option 2: Bolster the current voluntary controls
Option 2 would involve bolstering the current non-regulatory approach by raising awareness of the risks of high-power laser pointers with importers, sellers and the wider public. This could be done by a programme of communicating with stakeholders, promoting voluntary compliance with the Laser Standard, making media announcements and publishing guidelines. Another initiative would be to ask vendors to request that their manufacturers/suppliers provide warning labels and product safety information with their products.
The intent of such initiatives would be to encourage the sale and purchase of low-power laser pointers (eg, Classes 1, 2 and possibly 3R) and to educate the public on the potential dangers from the unsafe use of high-power lasers.
Option 3: A Customs Prohibition Order
A Customs Prohibition Order, similar to the order that currently restricts the importation of knuckledusters and flick knives,[3] could control the importation of high-power laser pointers at the border.
Such an Order can be made by the Governor-General under the Customs and Excise Act 1996 if it can be demonstrated that it is in the ‘public interest’ to do so. An Order could prohibit the importation of high-power laser pointers unless an authority it names (eg, a Minister or a senior official of the department responsible for the control) has issued an approval to import.
A Prohibition Order would be enforced by the New Zealand Customs Service at the border, but another government agency would have to be designated as the ‘competent authority’ for the controls including managing the policy issues and operating any ‘licence/approval to import’ regime. The competent authority would need to be readily available for Customs to consult with if it is in doubt as to whether any given import consignment is covered by the Order.
Prohibition Orders are not a guarantee that all imports of high-power laser pointers will be identified and intercepted at the border. Their effectiveness will depend on a range of factors such as how many are imported, how packages are labelled and how many packages are inspected. As such, a Prohibition Order should not been seen as a total solution in its own right. In addition, it only lasts for three years, but can be extended.
Options 4.1–4.4:New regulations made under the Health Act 1956
Import controls would not manage the risks from high-power laser pointers already in the country. Regulations under the Health Act 1956 appear to be the simplest regulatory option to achieve this. Proposals would seek to reduce the risk of harm from both accidentaland malicious exposures.
Section 119(d) of the Health Act 1956 allows regulations to be made that provide for:
The prohibition, restriction, or regulation, of the use, sale, or supply of any apparatus or equipment which may emit electromagnetic radiation (other than Xrays or gamma rays), and the licensing or registration of persons, premises, or things in relation to any such use, sale, or supply.
Under this section a number of new controls on high-power laser pointers could be introduced. Possible options are summarised below.
Option 4.1: Restricting the supply of high-power laser pointers to certain users
Under this option, the sale and supply of high-power lasers pointers could be restricted to defined categories of ‘authorised users’. For example, such users could include astronomers or researchers or other classes of people who can justify why they require a high-power laser for a purpose that a lower-power laser pointer cannot achieve.
The intent would be to protect the health and safety of users and the wider public from the accidental or malicious use of such laser pointers, but doing so in a way that is reasonable and efficient to implement and does not unreasonably interfere with people’s access to products.
This could be achieved in a number of ways. New regulations (made under the Health Act 1956) could specifically list the categories of such users, although that would run the risk of unintentionally omitting classes of people. Another option is to develop a set of criteria that must be met before a person can purchase a high-power laser pointer.
Such criteria could include, for example, that a prospective purchaser must be able to: