Whilst it can be difficult to remember all of the many safety procedures and guidelines put in place by your employer or enforced by Health and Safety officers, following an easy to remember routine that encompasses all necessary procedures will allow you to work much more efficiently and safely, preventing any problems for yourself, your company or the client.

Working near electricity

Take the time to carry out a risk assessment of the area in which you’ll be working before you begin. Look out for any existing electrical cables and ensure that all power supply is turned off before you start your job, and will not be turned on again until you’ve finished what you’re doing. Ensure that the area where you’re working is safe, and mark out areas of danger for yourself and any colleagues. This includes watching out for overhead electrical wiring as well as anything underground that may be disturbed or moved by your work.

Clear your workspace

Clearing up as you work and leaving the area tidy once you’re done is the best way to avoid injury from trips and falls at work. Once tangled and disorganised, cables can be tricky little things and getting your foot caught or tripping over a loose wire can be a common cause of injury in the workplace. In addition, if a client you’ve been working for injures themselves as a result of your negligence, it can lead to trouble for the company you work for and in some cases – if correct company procedure wasn’t followed – the loss of your job or legal action in more serious cases.

Adhere to safety procedures

Depending on the materials you work with, certain procedures will be put in place for your own safety. For example, when working with fibre optics risks can be found both in the properties of the material and in the light they emit, so measures should be taken to prevent the damage they could potentially cause. When working with fibres, avoid looking directly into them unless you know that no source is being transmitted. As the light is infrared, it can’t be seen by the human eye and so you should always check for any live source with a power-metre. Working with fibre to create cables means that there is always the risk of scraps breaking off and landing in your eye, and so safety glasses should always be worn to avoid this issue. Equally, as the scraps can be very sharp, wear appropriate protective clothing to avoid contact with your skin and always dispose of waste fibre scraps in accordance with company procedure. As well as adopting the use of safety protocols for tasks specific to cable installation, it is also important to bear in mind more common safety procedures, such as being aware of the company’s emergency evacuation procedures in case of a fire and double-checking that any tools and equipment you’re using are in full working order. Although working in accordance with protocols might extend the process of your work, by ensuring that you’re following your company’s guidelines on safety you’re not only protecting yourself from danger, but your colleagues and clients too. For more information on health and safety in the workplace, visit www.hse.gov.uk

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HDMI Cables (High Definition Multimedia Interface)

Perhaps the most common way to connect your HD TV to devices like your Blu-ray player, HDMI cables deliver high quality audio and visual signals to your screen. The cable itself consists of four shielded twisted pair cables with an identical connector on either end. There are five different types of connector, each differing in size and power, but most TV models require a standard connector. Since the first use of the technology, the design of HDMI cables has been adapted to take into account the advances in technology in the years since its conception. For example, newer versions of the HDMI cable include features enabling 3D, an Ethernet data connection and an improved audio and visual capacity which improves the overall performance of the cable.

SCART Leads (Syndicat des Constructeurs d’Appareils Radiorécepteurs et Téléviseurs)

As the full form of the abbreviation suggests, the SCART lead originated in France and is used to connect audio visual equipment.  It carries analogue, standard definition content and for years was the most common method of doing so, widely used to connect equipment such as DVD players to TV systems. With the introduction of the HDMI cable however, which caters for the now more common digital high definition content, the SCART is becoming more and more obsolete. Since many televisions promise HD quality resolution, the HDMI cable is the best option to ensure this quality is met. The SCART lead has a single cable, which gathers all analogue signal and distributes it using a unique 21 pin connector. Most TVs will still have at least one SCART port, so perhaps use this to connect your DVD player and save the image quality of the HDMI cable for your Blu-ray player or HD games console.

Component and Composite video cables (AV)

Although both of these cable types are similar in terms of looks, they fulfil different purposes in terms of audio and visual connections. Component: A component cable consists of five cables. Three of them are for video (green, red and blue) and the other two are for audio purposes. They are more commonly used with HD TVs. Composite: Often called RGB cables (red, green, blue) a composite cable consists of three cables-one for video and two for audio. They are most commonly used to connect games consoles to your TV.

Digital Audio Output

Digital audio output (also known as SPD/IF) cables, are used to connect TVs to home-theatre and surround-sound systems because of the high quality audio signal they transmit. Nowadays, it’s more common to use a HDMI cable for this purpose though, as they carry both audio and visual digital signals through the one cable. But if your home cinema system doesn’t have a HDMI port, then the digital audio output cable is the one to use. Alternatively, if your requirements differ from the services the above mentioned cables provide, why not speak to the experts? Here at Custom Designed Cables we have over twenty years’ experience in providing the best custom cable design services in the UK, and can manufacture the perfect cables for your needs and budget.

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What is fibre optic?

Optical fibre is a flexible fibre made of glass or plastic strands that are only slightly thicker than human hair. Light passes through the fibre forming an electromagnetic wave which transmits the data across much longer distances, at higher bandwidths than wire cables. To put their power into perspective: a single fibre can carry in the region of 90,000 TV channels. There are two different kinds of fibre optic cable. The first, a single mode cable, is narrower in diameter meaning that the light passes through a much more concentrated space. This makes it more suitable for use in long distance data transmission, between countries and sometimes even continents. The second type, a multi-mode fibre, is wider in diameter meaning there is more space for the light within. As a result multi-mode cables are a much less precise, and therefore cheaper, option.

What are the benefits?

In the past, data connections have always been made through copper wiring that transferred the information through electricity. But today – although Ethernet and coaxial cables are still widely used in homes and by businesses – much of the core infrastructure of telecommunications (including the signals that carry the data underground, across cities and across the ocean) are usually always fibre optic. A huge advantage in the use of fibre optic over copper cables is that they are impervious to any electromagnetic interference. Where signals transmitted through metal wires might be affected by electrical activity, fibre optic cables can transmit this data across much longer distances with little interference and no loss of signal quality. This is a factor that makes fibre optic a popular choice for home and business use- it can offer an improved and so far unparalleled phone and television signal. Their immunity to environmental and electrical noise also make them much more ideal for use in variable environments such as in aeroplane engineering- where high signal quality is essential. As well as this, fibre optic cables are non-conductive, which makes them a good alternative for use in high electricity environments like power stations, or in structures which are prone to lightning strikes.

Is it the right solution for me?

Wire cables are still most commonly used for home and business use, and using fibre optics for data connection in smaller areas is still very much in development and usually a more expensive option. But homes and businesses running numerous electrical devices requiring high download speeds and uninterrupted signals would certainly benefit from this technology and the superior bandwidth and speed it promises.

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Atlantic cables

Submarine cables have connected Britain and the USA since the late 19th century but up until 1956 communication was still by Morse code. The first fibre optic cables were laid in 1988 which meant that overnight, a single cable was able to handle 2,500 trans-Atlantic calls at the same time. By the mid 90s, optical amplifiers were introduced and, as a result, a huge leap forward in capacity meant that the equivalent of 60 million calls could be handled at once. Today, with the latest cable, Apollo, the capacity is over 200 million and counting. Nine cables link New York and London, travelling 3,800 miles on the seabed from a spot on the coast near New York to another one on a north Cornish beach. The exact location of the cables is kept secret for fear of sabotage but next time you dig on a beach in Cornwall with your bucket and spade, be careful not to go much deeper than six feet in case you disrupt everyone’s internet connection!

Across the Channel

The first telegraph cable laid across the English Channel was in 1850 and consisted of a copper wire covered in gutta percha, 1/4 of an inch thick. Although the wire remained intact, the covering was destroyed within hours due to the sea rolling it against rocks on the sea bed. The following year, another telegraph cable was laid, four copper wires covered in gutta percha and then encased in galvanised iron. The cable measured 24 miles, weighed in at 180 tons and was towed across the Channel by tug. The cost of the cable was estimated to be around £20,000 and the entire operation cost the company £75,000. Despite a number of setbacks the cable was successful and in 1853 more cables were laid between the UK and Ireland, Holland, Belgium and Denmark.

Amazon

England’s football fans may have found the heat of Manaus as trying as watching their team take on Italy in the sweltering Amazonian city at the 2014 World Cup, but spare a thought for the men who faced all kinds of hardship, including stifling heat, to lay the first submarine cables connecting the port of Belem and the river city of Manaus in the late 1890s. At that time, Manaus was a boom town because of the rubber trade and as usual, it was commerce that was the driver behind the project which involved laying cable along the bed of the mighty Amazon river. Siemens Bros laid the cable for the Amazon Telegraph Company, using the CS Faraday. Despite an epic struggle, which included frequent breaks and faults in the line, being stranded on a sandbank for nine days, fighting currents and whirlpools, insects and the heat, the cable was eventually laid and Manaus was connected.

A holiday beach near you?

Next time you are sitting on one of these beaches along the west coast of Africa, you won’t notice it, but beneath your feet, fibre optic cables are pulsing with life. The Africa coast to Europe submarine cable follows the west coast for 17,000 km, with landing points that include, Cape Town, Swakopmund in Namibia, Accra in Ghana, Banjul in Gambia, Lagos in Nigeria, Tenerife in the Canary Islands and on to Penmarch in France.

Horse-drawn cable

Not everywhere in the world has superfast broadband connections, including some parts of the UK, and the feasibility of laying cable is still an issue in many places which are remote or inaccessible or where there is little existing infrastructure. The small community of Greensboro Bend in a mountainous part of Vermont in the US, has a Belgian draft horse to thank for being able to get a broadband connection. Fred and his handler have been helping telecommunication companies lay cable for over thirty years and can tow cable over ground where even the sturdiest all-terrain vehicles struggle. If you are ever in this part of Vermont and are browsing the internet, remember who to thank – Fred the ‘telephone horse’! For more information on our custom cable solutions, get in touch today.

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It’s costly to replace

Copper has a high market value, which makes it attractive to thieves. On the opposite side of the coin, it means that replacing stolen copper can be extremely expensive. Network Rail, one of the biggest victims of cable theft, suggests that the crime costs them well over £19m a year. While your cable collection will undoubtedly be smaller than that of Network Rail, the costs incurred in replacing cables damaged in removing copper can be extremely high.

It poses a massive risk to your workers

Copper is commonly used as the grounding element in multi-core cables, the part of the cable that protects anyone handling the cable from electrocution and even death. Without this element, your cables present a massive danger to anyone potentially handling them. You’ll need to deactivate the cables to ensure the safety of your staff, which means downtime and costly replacements. You might have also heard horror stories regarding the people who steal cables receiving an array of injuries and even being killed in the process of trying to steal copper.

What can you do about cable theft?

We’ve discussed cable theft and the actions you can take against it before, but there are a couple of other things to consider when protecting your cables.

Hide or disguise your cables

Most cable thefts occur at sites where cables are left exposed in the open air, meaning that a thief can walk in, cut the cable and take what they need with the minimal of effort. Hiding your cables in a place they can’t be seen (consider hiding them from aerial view too if possible, as thieves can use a tool like Google Maps to locate cables) or even burying them underground can make your site a lot less vulnerable to theft.

Log who has access to your site

It’s sad to think it possible, but quite a few copper thefts are ‘inside jobs’, i.e. carried out by people who work for an organisation. The best way to negate this threat is to make everyone accessing the site sign-in and sign-out. Also keep a register of who has keys to the site, and determine who gets key holder privileges carefully.

Consider changing to a copper alternative

This isn’t a cost-effective option for those who already have cables with copper in them unfortunately, but switching the build of your cable so that it includes a lower value material such as tinned copper can reduce your risk of theft. Some technology also weaves nylon into the copper wiring, which contaminates and spoils the copper when melted down. If you’re concerned about cable theft and want a high-quality, secure cable solution, get in touch with CDC today.  

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Underground cables vs. pylons

The arguments for underground cables in an area such as the Lake District National Park are compelling and would seem to offer the perfect compromise between transmitting power and retaining the natural beauty of the area. Underground cables essentially do the same job as pylons, with one fundamental difference; the cables are placed underground rather than above it. As a result, most people won’t even know the cables are there. In terms of performance, there is relatively little difference between the two methods. Unfortunately, the sheer amount of labour and the cost of the custom designed cables required for underground power mean that the price far outweighs that of erecting pylons. A study commissioned by the government suggests that underground cables cost ten times as much to install, a cost difference of between £10-24 million. Part of the reason for this huge cost difference is the labour required to lay the cables; the area needs to be excavated and cleared of any obstructions before an intensive laying process. Once covered again, maintenance of the cables becomes another issue. While a lot of construction firms will create dedicated points where over ground maintenance can be carried out, some errors will require the ground to be dug up again. Being situated underground doesn’t mean that the cables are entirely safe from damage either. A badly-planned construction project can lead to cables being severed by careless workers, cutting off power to thousands of homes and requiring a large maintenance job to repair.

The construction of underground cables

Underground cables operate in unique conditions, meaning that extra care has to be paid to the cable construction. Most underground cables will be multicore cables. The obvious danger to underground cables is the effects of ground water. To reduce these effects, a cable should be waterproof, utilising water proof conductors and cable jacketing. The cable jacket doesn’t just need to be waterproof either; it also needs to be damage proof. A sturdy cable jacket made from highly resistant materials should do the trick, although metal is occasionally used to further protect the cable from damage. For more information on underground cables and their uses, get in touch with the team at Custom Designed Cables.  

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