Volume 9 - Issue 2

Message from the Director

With another successful International Laser Safety Conference (ILSC) completed – where does the time go? – we look forward to summer’s approach.
Before we head out on vacation, before we start preparing for the school year ahead, I would like to thank you for your participation at ILSC and offer a recap for those who were not in
attendance.

First, some statistics:

• 43 percent of ASC Z136 members in attendance at their annual meeting are certified laser safety officers (see below for overview)
• Over 25 percent of conference attendees were CLSOs and CMLSOs
• CMLSOs Vangie Dennis and Leslie Pollard co-chaired the Medical Practical Applications Seminar (MPAS)
• CLSO Tom Lieb chaired the Technical Practical Applications Seminar (TPAS)
• 10 of the 16 MPAS presentations were given by CMLSOs
• 7 of the 15 TPAS presentations were given by CLSOs
• 21 percent of the Laser Safety Scientific Sessions (LSSS) presentations were given by certified laser safety officers
• Two new sponsors to ILSC were directly connected to BLS and certification, Boeing and Laser Compliance

Annual Meeting Overview
With 42 members and 8 observers in attendance, the annual meeting of Accredited Standards Committee (ASC) Z136 took place on March 22, 2015 in conjunction with the International Laser Safety
Conference (ILSC®) in Albuquerque, NM.

Opening the meeting, Barbara Sams, LIA Director of Standards Development announced the appointment of Jeffrey Pfoutz as ASC Z136 Secretary, and the reappointments of Robert Thomas and Sheldon
Zimmerman as Chair and Vice-Chair, respectively. Following approval of the agenda and previous year’s minutes, Dr. Thomas presented the report of the Administrative Committee (ADCOM), which included
the yearly activities of ASC Z136 consensus body balloting, announcement of subcommittee chairs and membership changes (see LIA Today, Vol 23, No 2, Mar/Apr2015). It was noted that the ASC Z136
Procedures would need to be revised this calendar year to comply with ANSI’s Essential Requirements by incorporating an antitrust policy statement. The ADCOM portion of the meeting closed with
an overview of the previous day’s subcommittee chairs and officers meeting.

Committee members then participated in a lengthy, but very necessary discussion pertaining to which information would remain within the ANSI Z136.1, parent document of the series. The consensus of
the standards subcommittee members charged with revising the Z136.1 was that the document should remain the major resource for laser safety information it currently contains and the vertical
standards should be for specific applications. The initial question called was, “should the vertical standards be standalone documents?” For clarification, one member asked whether all vertical
standards would be published without Maximum Permissible Exposure (MPE) tables, i.e., should the MPE limits be contained in the Z136.1 standard and only referenced in the vertical standards.
Conversely, specific control measures need to be contained in the applicable vertical standard. Consideration was given to applications not covered by vertical standards, redundancy, broken
references due to [lack of] publication synchronization, and financial implications. A revised motion with more detail as to how to proceed was brought to vote and passed unanimously.

Status reports were presented for each standards and technical subcommittee, concluding with an update on the work of the Editorial Working Group (EWG). An action derived from the 2014 annual
meeting, ASC Z136 conventions now include a final review of the working examples appendix by technical subcommittee 7 (Analysis & Applications) concurrent with the final EWG review of a document
prior to publication. Both groups are nearing review completion of the Z136.6 standard for safe use lasers outdoors.

For additional information on the activities of ASC Z136 or if you are interested in membership on the committee or any of its subcommittees, please visit www.z136.org or contact Barbara Sams at bsams@lia.org

Last week marked the halfway point for the second offering of the Bowen EHS® Laser Safety Officer Online Review Course. We are happy to report that things are going very
well. We have a diverse group of clients participating, including two who are located internationally, allowing us to have a wide range of perspective on the topics being discussed. Although not
everyone is able to attend the live lectures, participation in the course remains active through the use of the Course Q&A Forum.

As with most certification exams, there can be several topics that can be very challenging. For most LSOs, the biggest challenge is mastering the laser safety calculations. That’s why, we feel the #1
benefit of the Bowen EHS® Online Review Course versus an in-person workshop is the fact that you can download and review the recorded lectures at any time. This comes in especially handy if you miss
a key point or want to re-watch a calculation explanation. For MPE, NOHD, NHZ, and laser eyewear calculations, this can be an invaluable resource to gaining confidence in the material.

The next Bowen EHS® Laser Safety Officer Online Review Course will take place in Spring 2016. All lectures are presented LIVE in real-time so participants can ask questions during class. Even if you
are already a CLSO, you can earn credit toward your recertification. Our online course is approved for 4 BLS CM Points and 32 CECs from the AAHP. We also offer FREE exam prep questions for the
Certified Laser Safety Officer Exam. Questions are emailed weekly with the solution and explanation available through the Bowen EHS® Member Center. Visit our website, www.BowenEHS.com, to sign up.

Bowen EHS is proud to be a supporter of the Board of Laser Safety.

Did you know you can now access the LIA products developed as an OSHA Alliance Participant on the OSHA website? These fact sheets are free to download and are handy laser safety training tools for the LSO.

ASC Z136 has its own website for members to view information pertinent to their area of practice or subcommittee activities, as well as general committee notices.
Not a member? Many of its pages are available for public viewing! If you are interested in participating on a subcommittee, this is the place to apply! Remember active participation in a laser safety
standards or regulations committee external of your organization will earn you 1 CM point annually.

ASC Z136 members – remember to check into your account on the website at least once a year to confirm or update contact information. This will keep your account active.