Laser Safety Requirements & Standards
All facilities and clinicians utilizing Class 3 Lasers (Therapeutic / Photobiomodulation Lasers) or Class 4 Lasers (which can ablate or remove tissue) are required at a minimum to comply with their country's national laser safety standards. These standards are established by nationally recognized and accredited Standards Development Organizations (SDOs), which formulate consensus-driven requirements to ensure the safe and effective application of various technologies in healthcare and other sectors. SDOs are comprised of experts, clinicians, technical specialists, and governmental agencies with expertise in that specific field. SDOs collaborate with regulatory agencies to develop mandated standards for education, training, utilization, maintenance, and supervision required for each technology.
In North America the SDOs creating the standards for laser utilization in healthcare are the CSA Group (formerly the Canadian Standards Association) in Canada and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) in the United States.
It is strongly suggested that all Canadian practices that are utilizing Class 3 Lasers (Therapeutic Lasers / Photobiomodulation Lasers) or Class 4 Lasers (which can ablate or remove tissue) or is looking into incorporating laser technology into their practices purchase the Canadian National Standard CSA Z7001:24 Safe use of energy-based medical and surgical devices in health care, from the CSA Group (formerly Canadian Standards Association) website. Click on the button below to access the CSA Group website.