Why EMF Safety?
The term EMF (Radiation) Safety Compliance refers to compliance (of antennas emitting radio frequency waves) in accordance to various RF exposure guidelines. Of these guidelines, the most widely accepted in industry are set and maintained by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). The ICNIRP guidelines specify which levels of exposure are safe for humans to operate in and are referred to by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
These guidelines propose field exposure limits as well as control measures to ensure that no member of the public or worker on site is exposed to radio frequency fields higher than those stipulated by the guidelines.
Compliance in any network is a process and NOT a state. This is because the telcos keep on making configuration changes on their BTS sites as well as the rapid rollout of new technology.
Steps for EMF compliance of a BTS site:
- Identify exclusion/non-compliance zone: Those regions or areas on site which have RF radiation more than the prescribed national EMF limit.
- Implement control measures so that both general public as well occupational team shall be adequately warned before entering the non-compliance zone.
- Document the process in form of EMF Compliance Report and Certify the Site.
- Redo the EMF Compliance process for configurational or any changes on the site.
