What topics LSOs and operators should know

These are the topics that participants in the March 2025 harmonization meetings felt were the "basics" for laser show LSOs to know.

The full March 6, 2025 draft document is here. This is a summary of the general areas covered.

• Laser Fundamentals: How lasers work, how laser light is generated, and how it differs from conventional light. Point sources vs. extended sources. Understanding the significance of physical characteristics such as power, divergence, irradiance, mode of operation (continuous wave vs. pulsed), etc. How these affect safety considerations.

• Hazards & Bioeffects: Dangers of laser light to eyes and skin, including continuous wave and pulsed lasers. Discuss UV, and IR lasers if these are in use (usually not for laser entertainment and display).

• Laser Types & Classifications: Characteristics of lasers used in entertainment and trade shows. Classification system (Classes, MPE, NOHD). Aided vs. unaided view.

• Historical Context: Overview of past laser show injuries and incidents involving technicians and audiences.

• Safety Calculations: Introduction to laser safety formulas. (MPE, intrabeam and diffuse NOHD). How to use laser safety-specific calculators.

• Control Measures: Introduction and detailed guidance on laser safety controls, recognition of failures, and handling reflections.

• Operational Safety: Written procedures, checklists for installation and performances, and adjusting hardware/software safely. Does not need to be specific to any particular hardware or software.

• Show-Specific Considerations: Fire hazards, protecting equipment (cameras, projectors, lights). Outdoor laser show regulation overview. (A more Advanced course is advised if the LSO will be designing or supervising unterminated beams outdoors that enter into airspace and, in the U.S., require FAA review and non-objection.)

• General Event Safety: Non-beam hazards such as electrical or mechanical risks, and reference to broader event safety guidelines from eventsafetyalliance.org.

• Roles & Responsibilities: Expectations, authority, communication, and how to report and record incidents and unsafe situations.

• Regulatory Requirements: Overview of national, state, and local laser laws and regulations, including examples from restrictive states like NY, AZ, TX, and IL.

• FDA Forms and Compliance (U.S.): Information about FDA show-related forms such as variance applications, Laser Light Show Reports, and Annual Reports; emphasis on forms relevant to laser show producers, not hardware (laser/laser system) manufacturers.

• Standards and Risk Management: Introduction to key safety standards (ANSI, IEC) and when risk assessments may be used instead of traditional controls.

• Special Hazards and Practices: Dangers of audience scanning and use of high-powered lasers (>30W), including fire risk and exposure limits; note that Advanced training is required for these areas.

These are the topics that participants in the March 2025 harmonization meetings felt were the "basics" for Lasershow Operators to know.

NOTE: FDA variances require that “all laser light shows shall be under the direct and personal control of trained, competent operator(s).” FDA does not further specify the type or nature of training. This does not have to be formal, classroom-type training with a test and a certificate. In many cases, the LSO may provide simple training to the Laser Operator on the hazards of lasers (“a direct beam could burn your eye or skin”) and about safe operation (“monitor the beams at all times; if they go into these unsafe areas, immediately e-stop the lasers”).

The full March 6, 2025 draft document is here. This is a summary of the general areas covered if a more formal course is desired:

• Laser Fundamentals: Why laser light is more hazardous than conventional light.

• Hazards & Bioeffects: Dangers of laser light to eyes and skin, focusing on continuous wave lasers. If pulsed, UV, or IR lasers are in use, also discuss their hazards and bioeffects.

• Laser Types & Classifications: Brief characteristics of lasers used in entertainment and classification system. Does not need to be in depth about MPE, NOHD and laser Classes.

• Historical Context: Brief overview of past laser show injuries and incidents involving technicians and audiences.

• Safety Calculations: Understanding irradiance significance (more relevant to injury potential than just laser output power). Do not need to teach MPE/NOHD calculations.

• Control Measures: Introduction and detailed guidance on laser safety controls, recognition of failures, and handling reflections.

• Operational Safety: Written procedures, checklists for installation and performances, and safely adjusting hardware/software.

• Show-Specific Considerations: Fire hazards, protecting equipment (cameras, projectors, lights). Outdoor laser show regulations and aircraft avoidance.

• General Event Safety: Non-beam hazards like electrical or mechanical risks, and reference to broader event safety guidelines from eventsafetyalliance.org.

• Roles & Responsibilities: Expectations, authority, communication, and how to report and record incidents and unsafe situations.

• Regulatory Requirements: Brief overview of national, state, and local laser laws that the Laser Operator must follow.

• Special Hazards and Practices: Dangers of audience scanning and of high-powered lasers (>30W), including fire risk and exposure limits; note that Advanced training is required for these areas.

These are the Advanced topics that participants in the March 2025 harmonization meetings felt were suitable for LSOs working with special hazards or practices. An LSO who has taken only the basic course should be aware of when they need to take an Advanced course (or consult with a more experienced LSO in the topic area).

The Advanced topics do not have to be taught in separate courses. One or more could be included in a basic course. But if so, test questions on the topic(s) must be included during testing. Assuming they pass the test, also print on the student's course completion certificate what Advanced topics were covered. This way, the certificate itself states what extra topics the student learned.

The full March 6, 2025 draft document is here. This is a summary of the general areas covered.

• Outdoor Laser Shows: For unterminated shows. Would include guidance on how to fill out forms for countries such as the U.S. with requirements (e.g., FAA forms).

• How to use Laser Power and Irradiance Meters for Laser Light Shows

• Audience Scanning for Show Design: Intended for LSOs

• Audience Scanning for Show Operation: Intended for Laser Operators. Must include the material in the Laser Power Meter advanced course. The two Audience Scanning courses may be combined into one which goes over both topics.

• Hands-On Training for Laser Light Shows: This is intended primarily for Laser Operators though LSOs may want to know the material as well. There may be two levels of this course, a basic and a more advanced version; this has not yet been discussed in the harmonization group.

• Risk Assessments for Laser Light Shows

• Pulsed Laser Safety for Laser Light Shows: For persons using pulsed lasers

• IR and UV Laser Safety for Laser Light Shows: For persons using IR and/or UV lasers for light show and display purposes

• ILDA Category A Shows: For persons who want to do simple shows that conform to ILDA's Category A Laser Show Standard. Note that if a person wants to ONLY design simple Cat A shows (<6 watts etc.) they can take this course instead of the basic Laser Safety Officer course which will have many more details they would not need.

The participants in the March 2025 harmonization meetings came to a consensus that a refresher course should be required every five years. The course should include any new technologies, procedures, regulations, etc. It does not have to be as costly or long as the original course.

One participant noted that the newest ANSI Z136.1 standard makes refresher training a required "shall" rather than the previously-optional "should". One reason for this was that CLSOs and CMLSOs were upset because if refresher training was "should", their employer would not pay for them to take the courses required to keep up their CLSO/CMLSO certifications. Persons in other safety fields were paid to attend conferences, take refresher courses, etc. to keep up their certifications. So the Z136.1 was changed to make it easier to request payment from employers.

As of July 2025, ILDA is not aware of any such laser light show refresher courses, nor any requirement from an LSO course that a person re-take the course periodically. (The Board of Laser Safety does have a Certification Maintenance system requiring a certain number of points every 3 years to maintain CLSO or CMLSO status.)

ILDA and one of the attending companies had previously (prior to March 2025) talked with the Laser Institute of America about the Board of Laser Safety co-developing a “Certified Lasershow Laser Safety Officer” course and test. This would be similar to the existing BLS CLSO for general laser safety and the CMLSO for medical laser safety. These require Certification Maintenance such as attending laser safety conferences.

Also, note that these would be “Certified” LSOs. ILDA recommends that the laser safety courses described above on this webpage NOT not be called “Certified" and students should NOT receive a "Certificate of Certification" meaning that the course provider stands behind the student as legally certifying they have knowledge. Instead, ILDA recommends “Certificate of Attendance” or similar nomenclature just to say that people have taken the course and passed a test.

The course information elsewhere on this page is NOT focused on BLS-type Certified LSOs, but on harmonizing regular laser safety officers for lightshows.

Before the March 2025 harmonization meetings, Patrick Murphy of ILDA prepared a 31-page document titled "Information relating to laser light show safety requirements, including Laser Safety Officer training." The idea was to provide background information, which could be useful for the meeting participants' discussion, on the following topics: (All links as of July 2025 and subject to change by the hosting website.)

General lasershow safety, and Laser Safety Officer, requirements
• FDA variance form 3147 training requirements
• ANSI Z136.1 "Safe Use of Lasers" training requirements
• ANSI Z136.6 "Safe Use of Lasers Outdoors" training requirements
• ANSI Z136.10 "Safe Use of Lasers in Entertainment, Displays, and Trade Shows" education and training requirements (from the March 2021 draft - Z136.10 is in draft and is not a standard or publicly available as of summer 2025)
• Arizona R9-7-1434 Laser Safety Officer requirements
• ILDA Category A Laser Show Standard Class 3B and 4 training topics
• UK LSO requirements information from LVR Optical's website
• OStrV and TROS (Germany) information from Laserworld Academy's website

Certified Laser Safety Officer (CLSO) requirements
• Board of Laser Safety CLSO requirements and eligibility

Selected lasershow-related safety courses
• ILDA Laser Safety Officer for Lasershows and Cat A Shows
• Other ILDA laser safety courses including Cat A only LSO, Lasershow Operator, Audience Scanning Safety, Lasershow Safety Inspector, Laser Safety Officer for Supervising Illinois Laser Shows
• Laser Safety Services LLC (Roberta McHatton)
• LVR Optical (James Stewart)
• ER Productions
• Laserworld Academy
• LaserLightAcademy.com

Selected laser safety courses (non-lasershow, for comparison)
• LaserSafetyCertification.com
• TexasLasers.com

Other resources
• PLASA Safety of Display Lasers

Questions and comments from Patrick Murphy

Comments from Casey Stack

During the second harmonization meeting, a spreadsheet was distributed of potential subjects to be taught to lightshow LSOs and operators. This helped guide the final, tentative list of LSO and operator topics listed elsewhere on this webpage. Some topics were not decided, so reference to the spreadsheet may be useful for in-depth analysis of laser show topic coverage requirements.

About the spreadsheet

The spreadsheet was broken into topic areas such as "Laser Characteristics", "Bioeffects", "Laser Safety Concepts and Calculations", etc.

For each area there was one or more detailed topics like "Basic bioeffects", "IR and UV bioeffects", and "History of laser show injuries."

For each topic, meeting participants were asked to rank these from 0 to 4. Zero meaning "not required" and four meaning "Essential, required, go in-depth". The ranking was done first for LSOs, and then for operators. E.g., how important was it that an LSO or an operator be required to know this. The final spreadsheet averaged the rankings of the participants.

Another column asked if the topic should be taught in an advanced course instead, meaning that the subject was not required for basic lightshow LSOs or operators.

Finally, there was a column for notes, and side notes about the general discussion, zoning and beam maps, and hands-on training.

Here are the first two topic areas of the spreadsheet: