Fiber Optic Resistant Lab Coats

I doubt that the fibers are getting through the Tyvek, too. Something in how your workers utilize their issued Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is wrong. This might be because they take short cuts to meet the production demands, or it might be because of some workers simple laziness or lack of care. (Remember an unsafe worker puts at risk everyone around them.) It maybe because you have insufficient or incorrect PPE for the type of work you're doing with optical fibers.

What you have right now is a mystery in how these fiber optic shards are getting past your PPE. Possibly the climate of the Dominican Republic is too hot for people to wear constantly. When they take the Tyvek coats off, to cool down, shards are getting inside the coats. When the coats are worn again the shards get driven into the street clothes underneath. Possibly in your cutting or cleaving process you're workers do not have the proper tools to control the cut fiber remains.

Examine some coats to see if holes are present in the material. Examine the inner and outer surfaces of a used coat to see if fibers are present. Examine your operation methods not just for the quality of your end product, but for hazardous material (fiber shards) production and control procedures. Examine how well your staff comply with these procedures and if the procedures are suitable for your operations environment.

Good Luck, you have a tricky problem to solve.

It sounds as though the operation has a waste material containment problem. Stop the cause of the problem, not the symptoms. Then, personal protective equipment would be unneccessary. What happens to the fibres that the operatives breathe in (rhetorical question)?

So, how about a suction line near where the fibres are produced and a cyclone or a filter to catch these fibres?

The fibers are sticking to the tyvek, and when they take the tyvek coats off, there is a little cloud of tiny bits of fibre glass. These settle on the street clothes.

I solved my fume problem with a down draught table, which also worked really well for grinding swarf. There are many companies who make them, so please do not think that this link is an endorsement in any way. In fact, I actually made my own, I AM a metal worker after all.

I used a piece of knit fabric as the surface filter, and vented it outside. Cheap solution to a potentially dangerous problem.

This would not work, of course, in a shop which would use fiberglass chop to make fiberglass bodies for, say, boats. But for bench work there is nothing better. (Soldering electrical components became a joy instead of a smokey teary experience.)

redfred is on the money...I think the others are thinking the fibers as dust - it is not. The OP referred to fiber optic cable. Correct me if I'm wrong... what is happening is that the workers are cleaving the optic fiber for either splicing, fusing or terminating to connectors. Cleaving is required to get a perpendicular cut on the fiber end which leaves about 15 to 20mm of glass fiber end as waste.

The first and foremost procedure we have at our workplace is that the workbench is clean before the work starts. If the bench is not free from fiber, they are not to start anything. Our policy is that the person that used the bench last is to ensure the work area is clean when they finish - even if its the same worker starting the next day - clear the bench at the end of the day/job/task. That way no 'left-over' fiber will contaminate the next workload.

The next logical question to ask is where are the workers supposed to dispose of the 'off-cuts' in the first place? We provide a sharps bin (yes like the ones that needle users supposed to use) to empty the small cleaver. Then dispose of it accordingly (incineration).

I would recommend a static mat or bench that will 'attract' the fiber off-cuts when they fall of the cleaver. Whatever you do, take it seriously. Loose fiber is dangerous and you should surely know that it is a danger waiting to happen. And it could be you getting the glass fiber stuck into your skin when the workers are walking around.