Cable-recycling firm fined after workers suffer lead poisoning

An Edmonton, UK-based firm that recycles cable pleaded guilty to exposing workers to lead and has to pay approximately £75,000 in fines and costs. The government agency Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigated the recycler and described "an abysmal lack of care" at its facilities. The HSE is Britain's national regulator for workplace health and safety. It found that between October 2008 and July 2009 Metal and Waste Recycling significantly exposed more than 90 workers to lead when those workers stripped the lead-sheathed copper cable that came from British Telecom after the carrier upgraded to fiber-optic cabling. "HSE inspectors visited the site in April 2009 after an employee complained about insufficient protection when working with lead," the HSE said. "During the site visit, HSE found nothing had been done to reduce lead exposure, with inadequate ventilation, face masks or respiratory equipment available." Further, the HSE found, the recycler provided its workers with gloves but they carried out their duties wearing their own clothing, "potentially spreading lead to other people and their own homes," according to the agency. Blood testing on the workers revealed that 23 of them had significantly high levels of lead in their blood, the HSE said, adding that six had symptoms of lead poisoning and were treated at hospitals. Two required chelation therapy, the HSE added. Chris Tilley, an inspector with HSE, said the recycling company "failed to implement adequate control measures, carry out any health surveillance of their workers and provide adequate welfare facilities. "The company fell far short of its legal duties and exposed its employees to an unacceptable level of risk." Metal and Waste Recycling pled guilty in Westminster Magistrates Court on April 23. It was levied a fine of £49,500 and ordered to pay £25,483 in costs.

Elderly cable thieves shut down 46 oil wells in China

The next time you fill up your vehicle with fuel and are exasperated by the price per gallon, don't blame the big oil companies. Don't blame President Obama's stance on the Keystone Pipeline. Instead, blame two elderly Chinese men.

The Shanghai Daily has reported that the two residents of a nursing home in the east China province of Shandong shut down 46 oil wells when they stole electrical cable.

The story explains the two men, both 78 years old, have no income and make their living by selling waste and scrap. "They found an electric pole lying on the ground a few days ago and went back with pliers and a handsaw to cut the power cable from the pole to sell," the story says. However, when they cut the cable it "fell onto another electrical line and caused a short circle [sic], halting operation of the 46 oil wells" in the Shengli oil field.

The men reportedly were returned to their nursing home and will not face punishment.

You can read the full story on ShanghaiDaily.com here.

NASA details International Space Station cabling installation

How many times have you heard someone joke that the job of routing and installing cabling is "not rocket science"? Well, recently it was part of rocket science when a NASA commander routed and installed several new cables aboard the International Space Station.

In two recent updates of NASA's involvement in the ISS mission, the agency reported on the cabling-installation work that Commander Dan Burbank is carrying out aboard the mission.

On March 16, NASA reported that Commander Burbank "had most of his workday (~7 hours) dedicated to one part of major ISS outfitting: upgrading the ISS Ku-band system by routing and installing cabling for the HRCS (High Rate Communication System)." NASA further said the day's work "focused on the routing of four cables in the U.S. Lab Forward Endcone ... Four cables had to be installed today: one Ethernet cable from the Ku-CU (Ku-band Command Unit) to the JSL [Joint Station LAN], one AV-3 power jumper for the Ku-CU2, and two MDM (multiplexer/demultiplexer) 1553 data cable bundles ... Three more installation and cabling tasks will be scheduled at future dates."

On March 20, NASA's report stated, "After last week's routing and installing of cabling for the HRCS ... CDR Burbank had ~2 hours set aside to install a HRCAS AV-2 connector panel ... The panel carries 16 connector plugs, to which Dan mated 9 JSL Ethernet cables of the Ku-CU and 6 Payload Ethernet Hub Gateway 1/Automated Payload Switch data cables."

NASA explained the purpose for this cabling upgrade: "When fully installed and operational, HRCS will provide substantially faster uplink and downlink speeds, improved bandwidth, two extra space/ground voice loops, two extra video downlink channels, and contingency Ku Commanding capability. It will also allow additional data to be downlinked from the payload and command-and-control MDMs through Ku-band using the MDM Ethernet cables routed by the crew during the Enhanced Processor and Integrated Communications (EPIC) work completed earlier ..."

You can read the complete report from NASA on the ISS activities of March 16 here, and from March 20 here.

We are pursuing further information from NASA and hope to provide more detail on the cabling work being done on the International Space Station.

Kenya grapples with fiber cuts

The country of Kenya has been stung by the network architecture it has chosen for its national fiber-optic infrastructure.

Winfred Kagwe of news provider The Star has reported that the permanent secretary of Kenya's ministry of information and communications, Bitange Ndemo, is proposing changes to the way fiber-optic cabling systems are designed and administered in his country.

The catalyst for these proposed changes is a string of fiber cuts, the most recent of which "nearly [cut] off the entire country for two days," Kagwe reported. He further stated that Ndemo is proposing changes intended to reduce the incidence of outages when cuts happen.

The country has not implemented a ring architecture for its fiber-optic cabling system, leaving it prone to widespread outages like those it has experienced recently. Ndemo is quoted as saying, "Initially we thought everyone would behave, so we put all the cable in the one-line format; this is what is causing the outages."

Kagwe reports that experts are saying the financial loss suffered by the outages "runs into millions."

You can read Winfred Kagwe's full report here.

FOA open letter to President Obama encourages communications-systems investment

The Fiber Optic Association included as part of its February 2012 newsletter an open letter to President Barack Obama. The brief letter emphasizes the potential for job creation that can result from investment in communications infrastructure and Smart Grid technologies.

The letter reads, in part, "Your proposal to develop and deploy a nationwide wireless broadband public safety network could create an estimated 100,000 new jobs in ICT [information and communications technology] industries." Over time, the letter adds, such a network could produce a benefit of an estimated $4 billion to $8 billion per year. It adds that an investment of $3.4 billion as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (frequently referred to as "The Stimulus Act") intended for Smart Grid deployments "could produce 30,000 new jobs" and furthermore, could ultimately lead to economic benefits that range from $48 billion to $76 billion annually.

You can see the letter to President Obama and the FOA's complete February newsletter here.

(Note: Why is the FOA concerning itself with broadband wireless networks and the Smart Grid? As our sister brand Lightwave has pointed out, there's plenty of fiber in wireless backhaul and in Smart Grid infrastructures.)

Two-minute drill: Dropping cable down a wall

One of the videos that came out of the 2012 Cabling Icon contest could be used as a training aid for newcomers to the cabling-installation trade, as well as a refresher for some experienced installers.

In one round of the elimination tournament, contestants had two minutes to demonstrate their ability to drop a cable down a wall. Eventual contest winner Dan Dosch scored points in the contest as well as with commenters with his display. In just a little more than two minutes, Dosch used a stud finder to pinpoint the correct location for a mounting plate, cut a hole in the drywall, installed the mounting plate, cut a hole in the wall's top cap, installed a grommet in the hole, then dropped a Cat 6 cable down the wall and through the mounting plate.

All Cabling Icon contestant videos were posted to YouTube. You can watch Dosch's video here:





If you opt to view the video on YouTube rather than in this player, you may notice that the comments laud Dosch's practices. Specifically, one commenter noted the activity is "fully OSHA compliant," citing the use of a hard hat, safety glasses, safety cone, and appropriate ladder type for the job environment.

As the winner of the Cabling Icon contest, Dosch competed in the BICSI Cabling Skills Challenge, which was held as part of BICSI's 2012 Winter Conference. Also for his Cabling Icon victory, Dosch received a cash prize of $6,000, the Golden Punchdown award, and a leather vest with the Cabling Icon logo embroidered on it.

You can visit the Cabling Icon website here. Or, visit the page with all three wall-drop videos here.

What's wrong with LEED

You want to know what's wrong with the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program put forth by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC)? I'll tell you exactly what's wrong with it. You - the professionals who design and implement the structured cabling and wireless systems that are the central nervous systems of the business that actually gets done within buildings - are not part of the consideration for LEED certification. That's wrong, and it's what is wrong with LEED.

Over the past few years we have reported about the possibility of structured cabling systems, and the broader technologies they support, getting some consideration in the LEED process. It is evident that the possibility will not become a reality. Despite ongoing dialogue between the USGBC and organizations such as BICSI and others over the course of years, USGBC has shown no signs of including technology networks or network infrastructure in its evaluation of buildings seeking LEED certification.

Many of you who are cabling- and network-design professionals undoubtedly have lived the frustration of being left out of the LEED conversation. Your architectural and engineering colleagues have made decisions about a building's heating and cooling systems, windows, concrete foundation, carpet - even bicycle racks - based in some part on the extent to which these choices would affect the quest for LEED certification. Meanwhile, your efforts to design the most-efficient technology infrastructure possible have been all fine and good. But they haven't contributed a single point toward LEED. I shudder to consider that this fact of life may be affecting the funding of technology systems in new-construction projects that are gung-ho about achieving LEED certification, and align their construction budgets accordingly.

Now that I've vented for a few paragraphs, this green conundrum appears to have a silver lining. Recently I had the opportunity to learn about the rationale behind the creation of the Sustainable Technology Environments Program (STEP). Spearheaded by InfoComm, STEP is also being supported by BICSI, the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) and the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA). We've told you briefly about BICSI's and TIA's roles within STEP, including representation on the organization's board.

The primary reason for STEP being organized was ... well ... what I complained about earlier. Without a voice in the "green building" construction process, technology-based professions like yours have gone unrecognized for the extent to which your expertise helps a building achieve a certain level of sustainability.

STEP has a website, www.thestepfoundation.org, that no doubt will be fleshed out as the program develops further. Already on the site is a preliminary rating system, which you can check out here.

With a group like BICSI involved, I expect we'll see a comprehensive course of study developed for professionals who will implement the program. And with TIA, InfoComm and CompTIA also in leadership roles, I have to believe a set of clearly defined specifications will be coming as well.

Why the USGBC has chosen not to involve technology systems in its LEED program, I cannot say. It strikes me, though, that the components and systems that LEED considers are pretty much static once they are installed. Technology systems, on the other hand, are living, breathing, evolving ecosystems. (What, you don't think a technology system breathes? Next time you're in a telecom room, step behind the racks to the area of network-equipment exhaust. You tell me that's not the endless panting of a live, tired and overworked beast of burden.) Perhaps that fact has had something to do with the USGBC's inaction.

So while STEP will not be part of the USGBC's LEED, it will be - in my opinion - a bona fide program that quantifies how "green" a building's technology systems are. And there is no better group to administer it than those who have put the program together.