(bgi) - To carry out mounting and repair work at transmitting stations for radio, television, telecommunication and mobile phones, workers might have to stay in the immediate vicinity of live antennas, i.e. in high-frequency electromagnetic fields. In these cases exposure limits are often exceeded. It is generally difficult or even impossible to provide adequate technical or organisational protection against this type of radiation.
Workers are therefore obliged to use personal protective equipment. In the endeavour to specify requirements for such protective equipment, a project was conducted by the Berufsgenossenschaftliches Institut für Arbeitssicherheit - BIA with financial support from the Bundesanstalt für Arbeitsschutz und Arbeitsmedizin (BAuA).
Contents and results of the project are described in the research report Fb 809 "Test criteria for personal protective equipment against high-frequency electromagnetic fields" published by the Bundesanstalt für Arbeitsschutz und Arbeitsmedizin. The report is available from Wirtschaftsverlag NW, Bürgermeister-Smidt-Straße 74-76, 27568 Bremerhaven, fax: ++49 / 471 / 9 45 44 77 at the price of 16,50 Mark.