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Handling during shipping, storage, and assembly should include a weather protective shipping container, protective packing of loose parts (i.e. optical connectors, and fiber optic cabling), temporary storage in a mild and clean environment (possibly wrapped or placed in plastic bags), and proper tooling for final assembly and coupling (special, soft surface pliers are an available coupling tool). The assembled un-mated components should be handled with reasonable care to prevent contamination of mating surfaces and/or threaded couplings as applicable; protective end caps are normally supplied. Optoelectronic components, e.g. laser diodes that are Electrostatic Discharge sensitive devices, should be handled according to the appropriate ESD guidelines (see Library). ESD is a known contributor to both catastrophic and gradual degradation (latent defects) failure mechanisms.  Lenses used on optoelectronic devices need to be handled with extreme caution following the storage guidelines provided by the manufacturer.