Beryllium is a material favoured for plasma facing components in fusion reactors such as ITER. However, as a toxic material the safety aspects of beryllium handling need careful consideration. Beryllium has been used on a large scale since 1988 in JET, with more than 3000kg in the torus at one time, in the form of tiles and evaporators. The degradation of tile surfaces during plasma operations and the beryllium evaporated deposit produce dust particles that can mobilise to create potentially harmful exposures. Over 18 separate manual vessel interventions have been conducted since beryllium was introduced. Considerable operational experience has been gained over the last 14 years working in beryllium contaminated atmospheres, and handling beryllium contaminated materials, whilst minimising worker exposure. Although few solid tiles are used for current first wall configurations, a stringent regime for worker protection was developed for JET operations, and maintained extremely low exposures. In the period 1988 to 2001, more than 81,000 personal exposure assessments were carried out. These show that when account is taken of the respiratory protection worn, 99.98% of exposures are below the statutory exposure limit of 2mg/m3 (8-hr TWA). More than 1200 beryllium workers have been engaged on JET in this period. To date no identifiable beryllium health effect has emerged in any of the JET workforce. The regulatory exposure limit for beryllium is likely to be reduced from 2mg/m3 to 0.2mg/m3 in coming years. Future fusion devices will encounter even more challenging conditions involving the control of beryllium. JET continues to provide facilities well suited to test beryllium components and develop beryllium handling techniques.