• Safety is vital

  • Safety is vital


Members agree to safe and legal shows


All ILDA Members must affirm that they have read, understand and acknowledge ILDA’s document Basic Principles of Lasershow Safety.

These principles state that the Member is ultimately responsible for the laser safety. He or she will follow safety standards and guidelines. Deliberate audience scanning will not be done without special knowledge and measuring instruments, and will be done only with legal permission. Finally, the Member will not illuminate aircraft.


Be sure your shows are safe and legal


If you hire laser companies for your events, be sure they have the proper national, state/provincial and local approvals. This can be complex. Too often, low-budget or unprofessional companies do illegal laser shows using incorrect or nonexistent approvals.

ILDA Members are required to perform legal shows with approved equipment, in a safe manner.

While ILDA does not monitor Members’ shows, if there is a safety concern, anyone can file an Ethics Complaint against a member. We have removed Members in the past who violated basic safety laws.


ILDA resources for safe shows


     • All Members have FREE online access to SKYZAN™ laser safety software. This $299 program developed by Rockwell Laser Industries calculates eye and skin hazards, plus FAA visual interference distances. (Thank you to Roberta McHatton of Laser Safety Services for sponsoring this for the Nov 2019-Nov 2023 period.)

     • ILDA offers a Laser Safety Officer course for U.S. laser lightshows. As of May 2023, 321 persons have successfully passed ILDA's LSO test and have received a Certificate of Completion.

     • ILDA Members receive a discount on the ANSI Z136 series of laser safety standards. This includes the Z136.1 (general), Z136.4 (measurement procedures) and Z136.6 (outdoor laser safety). These standards are widely used by regulators and laser safety officers.

     • ILDA hosts the website LasershowSafety.info. This is a one-stop source for links and articles about laser show safety.

     • ILDA has information about the safety of laser shows, and especially about safe audience scanning.

     • ILDA has written a 31-page scientific paper with details about “Scanning Audiences at Laser Shows.” It discusses the very low number of claimed injuries from CW lightshow lasers, and explores reasons why.

     • As of May 2023, ILDA is working on a draft standard for laser show safety. More information is on the Category A Laser Show Standard page.



For more information, visit our other ILDA websites:

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ILDAmember.com: Membership database and event management, including joining ILDA
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LasershowSafety.info: Information about safe laser shows, including laws, regulations, checklists, and more

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