EU643 Safety in the Industrial Application of Lasers: Results of the UK program

The EUREKA 643 project “Safety in the Industrial Application of Lasers” was one of the biggest European collaborative projects in the field of lasers, involving approximately 100 companies across Europe. The UK program, which ran from April 1992 to April 1996, was the largest and most diverse of the national programs. Topics addressed in the program covered safety and performance standards; risk assessment; training and education; machine control; radiation measurement and calculation; free space and fiber optic delivery; safety enclosures; fume extraction, treatment, sampling, and analysis. An appraisal of the program is given, together with a summary of technical achievements and other highlights of the program. The likely long term impact of this major European effort is assessed, in particular its success in addressing the concerns of industrial users considering exploiting laser technology for materials processing.