Brochure Narda Broadband Field Meter Series NBM-500 - NARDA - #2

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2 Protecting humans and the environment from harmful effects is less concerned with things that occur naturally, but much more with problems that we have caused ourselves, such as noise, dangerous materials, electromagnetic radiation and radioactivity. Producers, equipment operators, employers, safety representatives, workplace safety bodies, and authorities are faced with great responsibility. The obligation to provide protection ranges from the workplace through to the public domain and even into the private sphere – in other words, the whole environment. Subjective senses can provide protection: We can hear noise, feel vibrations, and smell chemicals – at least to some extent. So we can avoid these dangers, or take preventive action. But we cannot see, hear or smell electromagnetic radiation. That may make us feel nervous. But to make an objective assessment of the problem, we need to be able to measure the effect. Measurements are thus unavoidable. National and international bodies have specified frequency- dependent limit values to provide protection from damaging exposure to electromagnetic radiation. In this regard, the permissible field strengths for the occupational environment are usually higher than those for the general public. That is because those who routinely work in electromagnetic fields are trained, MEASURING SAFETY *) High frequency electric and magnetic fields with frequencies up to 300 GHz are also termed nonionizing radiation (NIR), which is different from ionizing, “radioactive” radiation.