Ma Xinqiang, chairman of Huagong Technology and deputy to the National People’s Congress, recently accepted an interview with reporters and put forward suggestions for promoting the high-quality development of my country’s laser equipment industry.
Ma Xinqiang said that laser technology is widely used in the development of the national economy, involving industrial manufacturing, communications, information processing, medical and health care, energy conservation and environmental protection, aerospace and other fields, and is a key supporting technology for the development of high-end precision manufacturing. In 2022, the total sales of my country’s laser equipment market will account for 61.4% of the global laser equipment market sales revenue. It is estimated that the sales of my country’s laser equipment market will reach 92.8 billion yuan in 2023, a year-on-year increase of 6.7%.
my country has become the largest industrial laser market in the world so far. By the end of 2022, there will be more than 200 laser companies above designated size in China, the total number of laser processing equipment companies will exceed 1,000, and the number of laser industry employees will exceed hundreds of thousands. However, laser safety accidents have occurred frequently in recent years, mainly including: retinal burns, eye lesions, skin burns, fires, photochemical reaction hazards, toxic dust hazards, and electric shocks. According to relevant data statistics, the biggest damage caused by laser to the human body is the eyes, and the consequences of laser damage to the human eye are irreversible, followed by the skin, which accounts for 80% of the damage.
At the level of laws and regulations, the United Nations issued the Protocol on the Prohibition of Blinding Laser Weapons. As of February 2011, 99 countries/regions including the United States have signed this agreement. The United States has the “Center for Equipment and Radiological Health (CDRH)”, “Laser Product Import Warning Order 95-04″, Canada has the “Radiation Emission Equipment Act”, and the United Kingdom has the “General Product Safety Regulations 2005″, etc., but my country has no laser safety relevant administrative regulations. In addition, developed countries such as Europe and the United States require laser practitioners to receive laser safety training every two years. my country’s “People’s Republic of China Vocational Education Law” stipulates that workers engaged in technical jobs recruited by enterprises must undergo safety production education and technical training before taking up their jobs. However, there is no laser safety officer post in China, and many laser companies have not established a laser safety responsibility system, and often neglect the training of personal protection.
At the standard level, my country released the recommended standard of “Optical Radiation Safety Laser Specifications” in 2012. Ten years later, the mandatory standard was proposed and managed by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and entrusted to the National Technical Committee on Optical Radiation Safety and Laser Equipment Standardization for implementation. , has completed the standard consultation draft. After the introduction of the mandatory standard, there are no relevant administrative regulations on laser safety, no supervision and inspection and administrative law enforcement, and it is difficult to implement the mandatory standard requirements. At the same time, although the newly revised “Standardization Law of the People’s Republic of China” in 2018 has strengthened the unified management of mandatory standards, so far only the State Administration for Market Regulation has issued the “Mandatory National Standard Management Measures” to stipulate the procedure for formulating mandatory standards , implementation and supervision, but because it is a departmental regulation, its legal effect is limited.
In addition, at the regulatory level, laser equipment, especially high-power laser equipment, is not included in the national and local key industrial product regulatory catalogs.
Ma Xinqiang said that as laser equipment continues to move towards the 10,000-watt level and above, as the number of laser equipment manufacturers, laser products, and laser equipment users will increase, the number of laser safety accidents will gradually increase. The safe use of this beam of light is crucial to both laser companies and application companies. Safety is the bottom line for the high-quality development of the laser industry. It is urgent to improve laser safety legislation, administrative law enforcement, and create a safe laser application environment.
He suggested that the State Council should promulgate relevant management measures for the formulation of mandatory standards as soon as possible, clarifying the scope of mandatory standards, formulation procedures, implementation and supervision, etc., to provide legal support for the effective implementation of mandatory standards.
Secondly, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the State Administration for Market Regulation and other relevant departments fully negotiated to issue national mandatory standards for optical radiation safety as soon as possible. Law enforcement, and the establishment of a statistical analysis and reporting system for the implementation of standards, strengthening the real-time feedback and continuous improvement of regulatory implementation and standards.
Third, strengthen the construction of the laser safety standardization talent team, increase the publicity and implementation of mandatory standards from the government to the association to the enterprise, and improve the management support system.
Finally, combined with the legislative practice of European and American countries, relevant administrative regulations such as the “Laser Product Safety Regulations” have been promulgated to clarify the safety obligations of manufacturing companies and application companies, and provide guidance and constraints for the compliance construction of laser companies and laser application companies.
Post time: Mar-07-2023