The user wants to implement a zoned approach to laser safety in a high school makerspace, using OSHA hazard zone calculations to determine which areas require safety glasses. They are seeking reliable sources to support this idea and want to avoid requiring everyone in the 2300 square foot room to wear safety glasses when the xTool P2S with riser is in use.
We're looking to add an xTool p2s with riser to a high school makerspace. There's some issues I'm trying to get a better handle on as we plan this out. **Issue 1: Eye safety** On the riser, the p2s is considered a class 4 laser due to the gaps and diffused light. Obviously, the simplest thing to do is to always require safety glasses when it's in use (OD 6+, \~10600 nm range). That said, the makerspace is 2300 square feet and contains a wide assortment of equipment, including a computer "lab" (in quotes, because it's one big open space, no walls, etc). There's concern about safety glass fatigue, with this everyone in the room needs to wear glasses rule when the p2s is on (currently, the room is split into two zones; "normal" safety glasses have to be worn in the one zone that contains our tools/equipment). I see that OSHA has some hazard zone calculations, as an example, diffusion from a 50 watt CO2 laser has a hazard zone of \~1.3 feet, seeming to suggest we might be able to not make everyone in this 2300 square foot room (it's essentially split into the tool/build zone on one side, and the lab, basic tinkering zone on the other side, with the planned placement of the p2s in a corner of the tool/build zone), and instead take a zoned approach, ie: everyone in the yellow build zone has to wear safety glasses, but people on the other side of the room, ie: computer lab side, don't. That said, trying to find reliable sources that would support this idea has been difficult, and it's unclear if that's simply because the internet doesn't do nuance or not. For what it's worth, various AI models definitely don't support this approach, though their reasoning tends to be due to the real world not generally being comparable to the "perfect" lab settings OSHA utilizes when coming up with their tables. Longer term, we're also looking into some form of laser safety curtain system, on a track, where we could enclose that corner of the room when the laser is in use. Thoughts? (I do feel like I might be going overboard, based on conversations in this and other laser cutter forums, but since I'm working with high school students, I would like to be above board in terms of safety; I don't want any potential discussions here to be taken as a judgement of how people might be utilizing a p2s in their homes/small businesses.) **Issue 2: Venting** The maker space is fully enclosed with no ways to vent outdoors. I've seen the xTool SafetyPro AP2 air purifier in person, and was impressed. I felt it was much better than the air filter Glowforge uses (we have a Glowforge, btw). I'm genuinely tempted to get one for our existing Glowforge, seperately (I kind of think the Glowforge branded filter is somewhat garbage). That said, the p2s it was connected to was not on a riser. From what I'm reading, and just obvious common sense since the p2s is considered a class 4 laser on the riser, there's gaps that aren't there when the p2s isn't on a riser. How effective is the AP2 when the riser is used? Would we need an additional portable air filter in the vicinity? There seems to be a wide gap between what some users have posted in this sub-reddit and what xTool claims in their official knowledgebases on this subject. I will note that we wouldn't be doing acrylic in the p2s. That would continue to be done in our Glowforge. The p2s is going to be primarily for things that take advantage of the increased z-axis and rotary that the existing Glowforge is not capable of handling.