Where are Class IIIa Lasers used?
Class IIIa lasers has been used in construction, agriculture, maintenance, mining and surveying as well as other industries since the mid 60’s.

They are basically alignment and elevation control devices used in a wide variety of applications such as:

• Storm drain and sanitary sewer pipe control
• Earthmoving elevation control
• Highway paint striping guidance
• Tunneling and mining line and grade control
• Offshore dredging centerline control
• All phases of general construction such as setting concrete, vertical control of buildings, drop ceiling and computer floor installation, fire nozzle cut-off elevation, interior wall layout, partition squaring.

Wing plow guidance for snow plows

• Automatic elevation control of heavy construction equipment
• Conveyor and overhead crane rail alignment
• Boring machine control under roads and highways
• Basically, if something has to be level, plumb square or aligned, Class IIIa lasers are used.

What Kind of Power does the Class IIIa Laser use?
The power of a laser is measured in milliwatts (mw) with 5 being the maximum allowable in a general population environment. This is determined by measuring the intensity of the laser spot through a 7mm aperture at the laser source— just outside of the output window and then again anywhere along the laser path. The 7mm aperture is used because that is the maximum amount that the eye can absorb regardless of the beam diameter.

What about the color of the Laser?
The color of the laser is measured in nanometers (nm) and has nothing to do with power--it only pertains to where it
falls in the color scale. The most common visual color used in class IIIa lasers falls in the red spectrum, primarily because of low cost to manufacture. The GL3000C series guidance lasers use 532nm green because it is five to seven times more visible to the eye than red for the same amount of power. Green, however is much more expensive to produce. It also requires massive electronics in that the manufacturer is required to keep the laser running to within 1/30th of one degree of its set point regardless of ambient temperature.

What governing body regulates safety compliance?
The GL3000C series lasers are all Class IIIa CDRH compliant. In the United States, the manufacturing of lasers is controlled by the government agency CDRH (Center for Devices and Radiological Health).

In Canada, these products are covered under the “RADIATION EMITTING DEVICES ACT” (RED) Chapter R-1:2001.
The GLC3000 is compliant under both the US 21 CFR as well as in all of Canada under IEC-60825.

The use of the laser and the field compliance to safety by the end user is governed by the “Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety” (CCOS)

How do you become CCOS compliant?
To be OSHA and CCOS compliant a warning is placed on the truck near the location of the laser and each person responsible for the operation of the laser must have a signed and dated “operator card” in their possession.

These are provided in each owner’s manual that ships with each laser. Operators should read and understand
the laser safety section of the owner’s manual with the emphasis being not intentionally aiming the laser spot in the direction of people. It is a bright light and should not be stared directly into. Incidental viewing is not a problem.

*To our knowledge there has not been a single reported incidence of eye damage caused by a Class IIIa laser since their inception in the 1960’s.