PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Weather Radar left on
View Single Post
Old 7th Apr 2005, 11:06
  #8 (permalink)  
effortless
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Under the clag EGKA
Posts: 1,028
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
What we work to in health and safety:

Microwave radiation is insidious. It cooks watery parts of your body. Vulnerable areas are the eyes, kidneys and liver. The brain is also vulnerable but this has a very much lower water content so takes longer to cook. Symptoms may occur quite soon but effects are often cumulative. I understand that kidney and liver damage in this instance is not permenant unless it is severe. In any event kidneys need to be fifty percent damaged to show altered creatinine levels which is a major measure of function. Genetic level disruption is harder to establish and, as far as I can see, requires long term exposure. You are more at risk from high altitude flying. The highest risk, we are told, from low level exposure, is that of cataracts. You would need quite a dose to have kidney or liver damage.

Under the UK health and safety regulations I would have thought that you were obliged to report this. It is certainly in your interests to do so. I work partly in the health and safety industry and part of my brief has involved close proximity to cell masts. I know that these run on a higher wattage but we are not allowed within one metre underneath or to the rear of a transmitter. These are similarly directional to a radar installation. Anyone working in this situation can ring the controller and have the cell turned off and this is done without question. That is how seriousely this is taken.

Always report incidents is the rule but of course we do use our own judgement.
effortless is offline