Whenever the Death Star is fired, there tends to be a shot where you see workers inside of the Death Star firing chambers. What I've always wondered is how these guys don't evaporate, get blinded, die of radiation poisoning or at least get third degree burns whenever the Death Star is fired. For a weapon capable of destroying planets, wouldn't standing next to one of these beams be deadly or at least incredibly dangerous?
This is what I'm referring to (notice the guys on the left?).
Let's start off by pointing out that the primary weapon the Death Star uses is the Superlaser. And it is exactly that- a laser. Now lasers of this magnitude were typically composed of superheated, energy rich gas (which then turns to plasma).
Now the biggest thing about plasma, is it is able to be contained by magnetic fields. You can see two green "barriers" around the actual laser (which flashes from red to green). The individual temperatures of the 8 lasers are probably negligible pre-combination, and as you have magnetic shielding to ensure no plasma escapes, and air itself is a remarkable insulant.
However, the light emitted would still probably rate in the levels capable of damaging the human eye. Hence the helmets (as @valorum said). Outside of that, no harmful radiation (to humans) would be emitted, unless you are within the magnetic containment during the firing process. Regardless, nobody has complained about adverse side effects from standing inside the laser containment during activation yet!
