Work Safely With Fiber Optics

Without a doubt, the most important part of any training program is the safety component. All activities can and should be carried out safely. Instructors who follow fiber optic installation training are responsible for including safety requirements. We need to know the rules, realize that they are for our protection and the protection of others and follow them. If we are injured, the following things can happen:

We will have compensation trying to support ourselves and our families with less money than we ask for;Compensation will pay us eight hours a day, but we can suffer 24 hours a day;

Countless employees who receive benefits at the same time can leave the employer out of business. For this reason, many small employers have lost their businesses.

In recent years, studies in the workplace have shown that employees who work in unsafe conditions are under stress and do not produce the quantity or quality of work they are capable of. In other words, it is a bad deal not to work safely. Safety does not cost money, it saves money. Furthermore, it is the right thing to do.

We owe it to ourselves, our families and our employers for not having an accident. Almost all accidents are preventable. If all team members are alert and alert to accidents and phone calls, they will learn to develop a safe work environment. Security is an operating cost that no company can do without.

With fiber optic installation work, there are many areas where safety must be considered. Let's take a look at three of the most important: bare glass fibers, high power light sources and methane gas and hydrogen sulphide.

Bare fibers can be as small as 125um, the size of a hair Fiberglass breaks and breaks in the same way as any piece of glass. When we break a bare fiber tip, we must have an adhesive pad to place the tip and a disposal container for the adhesive pads.

The phrase "manage your fiber ends" is important to remember and follow. We should be able to be responsible for all purposes, as required by some companies. Otherwise, we can find them in our hands, behind or perhaps in our eyes. They can enter the skin and artery and reach the heart or become infected somewhere along the way. If we have one in our eyes, we have big problems. A piece of wood that we can see and remove with tweezers and a metal tape can usually be removed with a magnet, but the fiberoptic is invisible and does not even appear on X-rays. Wear eye protection and manage your fibers. If you lose one eye, you may lose sight of the other because of a condition called "sympathetic reaction". Job opportunities for blind splicers are quite limited.

High power light sources are another cause of eye damage. There appears to be an effort in the industry to minimize the dangers of laser light. However, we must know the laser classes in the training programs and we must agree that none of them should be seen, especially the lasers of classes 3 and 4. The laser does not cause pain and the iris of the eye does not. voluntarily close, as in the most visible light.

Light is generally invisible light, which we cannot see, but it can burn our eyes if it is intense enough and causes permanent eye damage. To ensure that this does not happen, we must commit to the following:

Always consider that a broken fiber is alive and never notice the end of a fiber that may be alive;

Use a tester to find out if there is energy in the fiber;

Check that the microscope is equipped with a laser filter as a precaution.

Methane or hydrogen sulfide (H2S): sometimes we may have to check, install or repair a cable in a maintenance orifice or in some type of well. They are places where H2S, methane and other gases can accumulate and expel the breath. In Canada, we have two completely different sets of rules. One is for people who work under the Provincial Labor Code and the other is for people who work under the Federal Labor Code. Generally, a procedure requires the installation of a tripod above the maintenance hole to lift the worker in an emergency.

Many people died needlessly when they entered these areas and were overwhelmed with gas. A few simple rules to follow will prevent this:

Never enter these areas alone - have a friend on the surface;

Have a tester to test the type and quality of the air in the maintenance orifice, in the tank or before entering;

Make a good air purge in the area to ensure a good breathable air;

If, for some reason, you cannot, you must have a face mask and air supply;

Use a rescue anchor so that your friend can retrieve it, if necessary;

Be trained to know what to do to revive a person overloaded with gas;

A person overloaded with methane or H2S gas should be resuscitated in less than three minutes to avoid brain damage.

Make sure where you work. Don't take someone else's word ... check it for yourself. It's your life.

Read more: cable technician certification