International Electrotechnical Commission

Safety of laser products   Part 12: Safety of free space optical communication systems used for transmission of information - Edition 1.0
 N 60825-12

Annotation

This part of IEC 60825 provides requirements and specific guidance for the manufacture and safe use of laser products and systems used for point-to-point or point-to-multipoint free space optical data transmission. This standard only addresses the open beam portion of the system. If portions of the equipment or system incorporate optical fibre that extends from the confinements of the enclosure(s), the manufacturing and safety requirements under IEC 60825-1 apply to those portions only. This standard does not apply to systems designed for purposes of transmitting optical power for applications such as material processing or medical treatment. This standard also does not apply to the use of systems in explosive atmospheres.

Throughout this part of IEC 60825, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are included whenever the word “laser” is used.

The objective of this part of IEC 60825 is to:

• provide information to protect people from potentially hazardous optical radiation produced by free space optical communication systems (FSOCS) by specifying engineering controls and requirements, administrative controls and work practices according to the degree of the hazard;

• specify requirements for manufacturing, installation, service and operating organisations in order to establish procedures and provide written information so that proper precautions can be adopted.

Because of the nature of FSOCS, also known as optical wireless or free-air information transmission systems, care must be taken in their manufacture as well as their installation, operation, maintenance and service to assure the safe deployment and use of these systems. This standard places the responsibility for certain product safety requirements, as well as requirements for providing appropriate information on how to use these systems safely, on the manufacturer of the system and/or transmitters. It places the responsibility for the safe deployment and use of these systems on the installer and/or operating organisation. It places the responsibility for adherence to safety instructions during installation and service operations on the installation and service organisations as appropriate, and during operation and maintenance functions on the operating organisation. It is recognised that the user of this standard may fall into one or more of the categories of manufacturer, installer, service organisation and/or operating organisation as mentioned above.