Further to the Autumn 2006 newsletter article entitled 'Bad Vibrations', the use of 'Hand Arm' Vibrating tools is an everyday occurrence for a lot of members’ employees.

To comply with The Control of Vibration at Work Regulations 2005, the members may find the following useful:

What is Hand Arm Vibration?

Hand Arm Vibration (HAV) is measurement of vibration experienced by the operator in the use of hand held tools/power tools.

Measuring Hand Arm Vibration

The Control of Vibration at Work Regulations 2005 requires employers to measure the vibration levels an employee or employees would experience using a vibrating hand tool over an average 8 hour period. In principle this might seem easy to do, but in practice the exact measurement of vibration is not easily achieved. For example, a drill with a masonry bit used to drill concrete will produce a given level of vibration, change the type of drill bit or the material to be drilled into will result in different a level measured!

The cost of employing a specialist company to measure the vibration levels of hand tools can prove to be expensive and, levels measured will only be applicable to the activity the tool was used for when the measurements were taken (and also the employee using it!).

Where employees carry out the same tasks day in day out using the same vibrating tool/s on the same material/s (construction, factory and manufacturing environments) specialist measurement is best advised as the measured levels are less likely to change significantly.

This is the shortened version of a Hand Arm Vibration article prepared by one of our Health and Safety consultants. Should you wish to read more, the entire article can be downloaded from the existing clients area of the mhl support website. www.mhlsupport.com