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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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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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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