A procedure for multiple-pulse maximum permissible exposure determination under the Z136.1-2000 American National Standard for Safe Use of Lasers

The current national consensus standard for laser safety in the United Stat es is the American National Standard for Safe Use of Lasers (ANSI Z136.1). Over the past few years, a comprehensive rewrite of this standard has been conducted. The updated version of the standard (Z136.1-2000) incorporates a wealth of new bioeffects data and establishes a number of new maximum perm issible exposure (MPE) limits for laser safety. The updated standard also i ncludes new procedures for the computation of MPE values, which must be und erstood by health physicists, laser safety officers, and others in the fiel d of occupational safety. Here we present the first in a series of tutorial articles to clarify laser safety analysis procedures under this new standa rd. This article deals with the proper application of three rules for deter mining the appropriate MPE values for repetitively pulsed lasers or repeate d exposures from laser beams. (C) 2001 Laser Institute of America.