Laser projectors: what the FDA's risk group labels tell you before you buy and set one up

Lasers are being used in projectors as an alternative to conventional lamps, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) notes, and that makes such projectors laser products under federal radiation safety rules. A guidance document the FDA issued in May 2019, Laser Notice No. 57, shapes much of what their labels and manuals say. It applies to projectors for cinemas and offices as well as homes, and reading the labels it asks for tells you where a projector can safely go, especially in a home with children.

How the FDA classifies projector lasers

The FDA sorts lasers into hazard classes I to IV, with subclasses IIa, IIIa and IIIb. A higher class means a more powerful laser, with a greater potential for serious injury if it is misused. Laser-illuminated projectors count as demonstration laser products, a category the rules define as laser products made, designed or promoted for demonstration, entertainment, advertising display or artistic composition. As such, they may not exceed the Class IIIa emission limits unless the FDA grants a variance.

A projector, though, sends out light from an extended source rather than a narrow beam. The FDA says these projectors' “uncollimated beams do not present the same hazards as other lasers,” and its 2019 policy lets makers rate them instead by the optical safety risk groups of IEC 62471-5, the International Electrotechnical Commission's standard for image projectors. That standard puts each projector in Risk Group 0, 1, 2 or 3: the higher the group, the greater the radiation output and the potential for serious harm from improper use.

For Risk Groups 0 to 2, the policy also asks makers to add three notices to the operation manual, which are worth reading before you install a projector:

• Supervise children, and never let them stare into the projector beam at any distance from the projector.
• Take care when using the remote control to start the projector while you are in front of the projection lens.
• Do not use optical aids, such as binoculars or telescopes, inside the beam.

The brightest Risk Group 2 projectors and children

The FDA singles out Risk Group 2 projectors whose output exceeds 60% of the group's accessible emission limit. For these, it asks makers to place an extra product warning, black text on an orange background, near the IEC “staring prohibited” symbol:

WARNING: MOUNT ABOVE THE HEADS OF CHILDREN

The installation instructions repeat the warning and recommend a ceiling mount, to place the projector above the eyes of children. The FDA explains why: these models need extra protection against exposures that could reasonably be expected if they were set on tabletops or mobile carts, and it recommends against installing them there because such places put the projection lens near children's eye height. The agency also notes that it has not recognized Class IIIa laser radiation as safe for use by children.

There is one alternative. The FDA does not object to a power-reduction sensor system, described in IEC 62471-5, being used on Risk Group 2 projectors in place of the extra warning label and instructions. It says such sensors “can be considered effective for reducing the risk of hazardous light exposure.”

Reading the certification label

Under the policy, a Risk Group 0, 1 or 2 projector carries a modified statement of compliance on its certification label. It says the projector complies with the FDA's laser rules, or with its performance standards for laser products, “except for conformance as a Risk Group” 0, 1 or 2 laser illuminated projector (LIP) as defined in IEC 62471-5, and refers readers to Laser Notice No. 57, dated May 8, 2019. The number in that statement is the one to note.

The lasers inside are a separate matter. The policy has makers certify the projector as a Class I laser product, or an IEC Class 1 laser product, with respect to its embedded phosphor-pump lasers. So the same projector can be described both as a Class 1 laser product and as a Risk Group 2 projector: the first refers to the lasers inside, the second to the light it projects.

Is the 2019 policy still current?

Yes. The FDA's guidance page, read on October 31, 2026, lists Laser Notice No. 57 as final guidance from May 2019, and a search of the Federal Register finds no later FDA notice on laser illuminated projectors. FDA guidance documents are recommendations rather than binding rules, but the FDA says it will not object to makers that follow this one selling Risk Group 0 to 2 projectors to the general public without a variance.

Before you buy or set one up

• Find the risk group on the certification label or in the manual before you decide where the projector will go.
• If a Risk Group 2 projector carries the orange warning to mount it above children's heads, plan for a ceiling mount, which the FDA recommends, rather than a tabletop or cart.
• Check whether the maker lists a power-reduction sensor system, which the FDA accepts on Risk Group 2 models instead of the extra warning.
• Treat a “Not for household use” marking as a sign that the projector is a Risk Group 3 product meant for venues such as cinemas.
• Read the manual's notices on children, the remote control and optical aids.

For the connections on a projector's spec sheet, our guide to HDMI 2.1 and eARC explains what to look for.