Posted By Rachel West Hello: It is difficult to use gloves to prevent engineers from getting shards embedded in them as they need to maintain their dexterity whilst carrying out splicing operations. Examination gloves are disposable and don't have abrasion and penetration resistance ratings. You need to rely on training and supervision and engineering provisions where possible. You will also need to have a decent waste disposal set up (fibre optic sharps should be disposed of as clinical waste). The risk unfortunately still remains quite high. Laser safety specs would be required on optical equipment above class 1 or class 1M. In the case of class 1M equipment, if it is damaged or you are altering the guards on it for maintenance purposes etc. there may be risk of eye injury. Class 1 equipment is intrinsically safe due to power ratings. Your product manuals should give you more information on individual equipment types.