LASER SHOW INCIDENTS AND ACCIDENTS
ILDA makes a distinction between incidents occurring to laser show technical staff, which usually happen very close to the laser during operation, service or maintenance, and incidents occurring to the public including audience and performers, which usually happen much farther from the laser aperture where the beam irradiance tends to be lower.
As of 2018, ILDA estimates that very conservatively 150 million people have attended audience scanning laser shows, with 15 billion times that laser light has actually entered their eyes. From this, there have been a literal handful of documented injuries from continuous wave lasers — the type that should be used for any audience scanning.
Unfortunately, there have been around 60 or so injuries, in four separate incidents, that were caused by pulsed lasers being illegally aimed into an audience.
Pulsed lasers emit light in short, powerful bursts, as opposed to continuous wave lasers where light "leaks out" from between two mirrors.
Because of the danger of pulsed lasers, the International Laser Display Association says these should NEVER be used for audience scanning.
- There is no central database for incidents occurring to laser show technical staff. A few reports are in the Rockwell Laser Industries database, listed at the top of the Laser incident and accident sources page.
- There have been just a few documented injuries to audience members attending laser light shows; these are listed below.
VERY FEW REPORTED INJURIES
As of 2018, ILDA estimates that very conservatively 150 million people have attended audience scanning laser shows, with 15 billion times that laser light has actually entered their eyes. From this, there have been a literal handful of documented injuries from continuous wave lasers — the type that should be used for any audience scanning.
Unfortunately, there have been around 60 or so injuries, in four separate incidents, that were caused by pulsed lasers being illegally aimed into an audience.
MISUSED PULSED LASERS CAUSE THE MOST INJURIES
Pulsed lasers emit light in short, powerful bursts, as opposed to continuous wave lasers where light "leaks out" from between two mirrors.
- A continuous wave (CW) laser is as if someone puts their fist on your arm and steadily presses.
- A pulsed laser is as if the person pulls back and repeatedly hits your arm. It may be the same total energy as the continuous pressure but each pulse (fist hit) packs more "punch" and can do much more damage.
Because of the danger of pulsed lasers, the International Laser Display Association says these should NEVER be used for audience scanning.
LIST OF REPORTED LASER SHOW INJURIES
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Musician injured onstage, May 2022; CW laser
- On May 19 2022, the lead singer of Five Finger Death Punch, Ivan Moody, was struck in his right eye by a laser onstage. He went to the emergency room where he received an eyepatch. As of September 11 2022, the long-term outcome of Moody's injury is not known.
The injury occurred during an outdoor performance at Daytona International Speedway in Florida, during hot and humid weather.
Moody described the accident and its aftermath on his Instagram site: "During the set I got overheated, and I walked back and I passed out… I was grabbing towards Charlie's [the drummer's] kit. And the heat, it was exhausting. Charlie almost passed out too. I reached for a cymbal and I felt myself going under. And so I ran back. And I was okay. My guys helped me out."
"And as I'm coming back onstage, one of the lasers kicked backwards, 'cause I tripped basically over it, and it shot me in the eye. And these things are like… they basically have the power of a minor supernova; they're really bad. If you put your phone up to one of 'em, it'll actually black out your screen."
"So, anyway, I've gotta go back to Vegas [his home] and I've gotta see a real eye doctor. And hopefully it's okay. I can't see out of it right now. It's, like, have you ever stared at the sun or a lightbulb and you get that green light? It blackens it out. Imagine that times, like, a thousand. They thought my retina was separated; that's how bad it was."
"So when I go to Europe here in a couple of weeks, you all might be seeing me with a fucking patch on my eye."
(Note: He was not wearing a patch in videos of his first European tour performance on June 12 2022.)
Moody concluded: "Go ahead. Make fun. Don't care. But it is what it is. I had a blast. Like I said, I'm really sorry. I felt like I got exhausted. The weight of the humidity. 85 percent humidity in 90-degree weather, it takes a toll. And I saw a lot of you falling down. And when I went to the E.R., there were a lot of you there [being treated for heat exhaustion]."
Note: This is the only occurrence ILDA is aware of where a performer onstage was injured by laser light. If you know of any others, please contact ILDA. More information from Revolver Magazine and Blabbermouth. -
1 injured at Spanish nightclub, August 2014; possible pulsed laser
- In August 2014 a 29-year-old at a nightclub, "ZC", was exposed to a laser beam and lost sight in his left eye. He can no longer drive, and cannot do tasks that require visual acuity. He recently received a settlement of €80000 (USD $92,750).
It appears the laser used was originally for aiming in the sky, but was directed at a mirror ball which reflected the light into the audience. The laser may thus have been a pulsed laser.
There is an article about the case in original Spanish and in Google English translation, and a related article about laser show safety, also in Spanish and Google-translated English. -
35 injured at Russian rave, July 2008; pulsed laser
- Near Moscow in July 2008, 35 persons who attended the Aquamarine Open Air Festival went to hospitals and clinics complaining of problems with their eyes.
According to a Reuters story "Attendees said heavy rains forced organizers to erect massive tents for the all-night dance party, and lasers that normally illuminate upwards into the sky were instead partially refracted into the ravers’ eyes."
Video of the incident showed that pulsed lasers were being used. Nd:YAG lasers at the time were often used for sky beams but never should have been used for audience scanning.
At the time, Reuters quoted a treating ophthalmologist as saying "They all have retinal burns, scarring is visible on them. Loss of vision in individual cases is as high as 80 percent, and regaining it is already impossible."
However, a Russian laserist who spoke with the doctor who did the examinations told ILDA the doctor said “normal sight was restored in all but four of those injured.” The four have “spots or other noticeable injuries.”
ILDA has a page at its older website, created just after the Aquamarine incident, with additional details and links.
At the time, ILDA wrote: "First and foremost, our deepest thoughts and concerns go out to those who were injured…. It appears that the lasers at this event were being used irresponsibly, haphazardly, not in accordance with international safety standards, and potentially illegally." -
19 injured at Bulgarian disco, 1999; pulsed laser
- The following is from the Rockwell Laser Industries Laser Accident Database, case #5846:
Green and yellow laser beams partially blinded up to 19 youths in a Black Sea area disco. Doctors said the damage ranged from 10% to 50% blindness but were not sure whether it would be irreversible. Another 16 youths may also have suffered retinal burns. -
1996 study finds five claimed or actual eye injury incidents
- The following is from the Scanning Audiences at Laser Shows paper listed at the bottom of this page:
A 1996 study commissioned to look for audience scanning incidents found only five reported accidents (claimed or actual eye injury).
One was due to “deliberately staring” at a disco laser beam, three were of undetermined severity, and one had an unusual, short-lived effect (the person felt “a very strong brief pain in his entire body” when the beam hit, but later reported no vision loss or subsequent ill effects).
The study commented that although the number of reports was low, it “seems within the proper order of magnitude”. This was based in part on the fact that reported laser incidents in general are relatively rare. For example, the Rockwell Laser Industries online Laser Accident Database lists an average of 16 injurious laser beam incidents per year, for all laser activity worldwide.
The study analysis also discussed whether incidents and accidents are underreported:
“Some critics assume that most or all accidents and incidents would be covered up. However, it would seem difficult to hide every report, if significant numbers of audience members are being severely injured. Disco- or concert-goers hit by lasers, who experience significant vision loss, would be likely to contact someone -- venue operators, law enforcement, medical personnel, lawyers (even outside the litigious U.S.), government officials and regulators, laser operators and/ or the media. At least some of these reports should have filtered back to those interviewed in the study.
“If we have to venture a number for the underreporting rate, 90% seems supportable. One researcher claims only 10% of all laser accidents are reported.6 This is echoed by R. James Rockwell, who feels a 90% underreporting rate seems within the correct order of magnitude.”
If 9 out of 10 accidents do not become public, this means there were roughly 50 injuries in the study’s timespan of 1964-1996. Even this is a surprisingly low number, considering that over 50 million people viewed audience scanning shows during the same period.
It is also surprisingly low compared to injury rates for other entertainment-related activities. For example, amusement park ride incidents caused roughly 72,000 injuries and 44 fatalities over a single decade, in the U.S. alone.
Source of the 1996 study: Murphy, P. Is Deliberate Audience Scanning Unsafe? "Proceedings of the 1997 International Laser Safety Conference," Vol. 3, pp. 493-502. From the paper: “We hired a professional research firm, with ten years of experience. The firm's clients include National Geographic Society, Hughes Corporation, Citicorp, University of California, [and] Sony Pictures.... The firm searched for incidents and accidents from the following sources: Electronic and library search of medical, legal, safety databases; Incident lists from Rockwell Laser Industries and Greg Makhov; CDRH data for U.S. audience scanning; [and] Original research. The original research consisted of telephone and e-mail interviews with 24 regulators, laserists, and safety professionals in Australia, Canada, England, Germany, Malaysia, Mexico, South Africa, Taiwan and the U.S.” -
2 injured at Israeli club (year and laser type unknown)
- In Israel, two teenagers in a club were injured. (They may have been intentionally staring at the beam.) As a result of the accident, Israel now requires specific laser training for show operators.
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2 injured (by laser pointers) during Belgian festival, July 2009
- Two persons said they were injured by laser beams at the Tomorrowland electronic music dance festival, July 25-26 2009 in Boom, Belgium.
A 21-year-old woman filed a police complaint for eye damage "incurred after contact with laser light". A man also was examined with "central visibility to one eye lost"; this was "irreversible" according to the treating doctor, professor of ophthalmology Peter Stalmans of the University of Leuven as quoted in press reports.
Initial news reports on August 4 implied that the injuries were caused by lasers were from the extensive light show presented at the festival. However, authorities concluded on September 2 that the injuries were caused by misuse of laser pointers by people in the crowd.
The laser show was not found to be at fault. In fact, the mayor said that the Tomorrowland festival could return in 2010, with the same organizers and the same laser show producer.
ILDA has a page at its older website, created just after the Tomorrowland incident, with additional details and links.
At a laser show, but not caused by the laser show:
The list above is as of September 2022 and has all cases known to ILDA. Obviously this does not include any cases settled privately, out-of-court, etc. If you know of any actual or suspected injuries to audience members or performers from light show lasers, please contact ILDA.
The document below goes into much more detail about reasons why there are so few injury reports from light show lasers. It also lists sources for injury reports, as of 2009. If you are at all interested in laser show injuries, please review this paper.
Scanning Audiences at Laser Shows: Theory, Practice and a Proposal A 31-page paper by Patrick Murphy and Greg Makhov, written in 2009 and updated since then. It describes audience scanning, discusses the very low number of injury reports and gives reasons why. The paper also presents ILDA's proposal to allow slightly greater laser power at venues where patrons routinely are exposed to other, more serious and prevalent risks such as hearing loss, smoking, excessive alcohol use, etc.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The document below goes into much more detail about reasons why there are so few injury reports from light show lasers. It also lists sources for injury reports, as of 2009. If you are at all interested in laser show injuries, please review this paper.
Scanning Audiences at Laser Shows: Theory, Practice and a Proposal A 31-page paper by Patrick Murphy and Greg Makhov, written in 2009 and updated since then. It describes audience scanning, discusses the very low number of injury reports and gives reasons why. The paper also presents ILDA's proposal to allow slightly greater laser power at venues where patrons routinely are exposed to other, more serious and prevalent risks such as hearing loss, smoking, excessive alcohol use, etc.
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