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Look at a bright enough 980 and you won't see anything else!

Very true. I find myself gently explaining laser safety way too often for comfort, even in lab environments. We don't have an intuitive understanding of the dangers. I my case, I knew the divergence and had calculated my expected wattage before taking a peek back downrange... but ya.

I knew someone that briefly turned on a laser engraver with their arm in it. Not sure of the wavelength, but she claimed to feel it go through and could smell burned flesh. It was fairly new tech at the time and the doctor couldn't tell her much. She had some mild tingling afterwards, but nothing major.

She didn't tell her boss because she had disabled the safety switch, for some reason that seemed good at the time.

Prob a CO2 laser, out at 10000nm. When discussing laser safety, the primary concern is eye damage. Burning flesh etc is bad, but that heals, and it takes way more energy. Eye damage is nearly instant, it does not heal, and lasers you can dig out of consumer electronics or buy >class 3b are hecka-capable of seriously injuring someone. Even the standard 3b lasers are no joke, and often output light outside the visible range in addition to the visible beam.

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