Are Your Employees at Risk for Vibration Injuries Now?
Plus Preventative Measures Employers Can Take
Proactive employers think about how to keep their staff healthy, safe, and productive. Typically, their focus is on machinery and heavy equipment, heavy lifting, chemical exposure, and other critical dangers. Vibration exposure usually falls low on the list, if at all. However, the risk for vibration injuries is just as critical for both employees and employers.
The truth is that constant or regular vibration exposure can lead to serious health problems.
- Nerve and tissue damage
- Vascular disorders
- Back pain
- Carpal tunnel syndrome
- And more
Vibration exposure falls under two different categories: whole-body vibration and hand-arm vibration (HAV). Each type of vibration exposures has different causes, affects different areas of the body, and displays different symptoms.
Whole-Body Vibration
Whole-body vibration, as the name suggests, affects the entire body and typically results in back pain. This syndrome can be caused by repetitive use of equipment (e.g., jackhammer, chainsaw, etc.) and frequent driving or riding in motorized vehicles (e.g., off-road vehicles, fork trucks, lawn mowers, etc.). A person can also experience whole-body vibration by standing on vibrating floors.
Hand-Arm Vibration (HAV)
HAV exposure occurs with frequent use of hand-held power tools that vibrate (e.g., power sanders, grinders, drills, etc.). This syndrome can result in a variety of health issues, including Raynaud’s syndrome (white finger) as well as decreased grip strength, dexterity, and hand sensation.
Vibration-related injuries can be common in industries that require outdoor work.
- Construction
- Transportation
- Roadwork
- Farming
- Forestry
- Shipping
- And more
Measures Employers Can Take to Protect Employees
Currently, OSHA and the United States do not have any written standards regarding vibration exposure. But that doesn’t mean that employers don’t need to be vigilant.
Your employees are your business. So, not paying attention to the risk for vibration injuries now will mean additional future workers’ compensation costs, sick time, insurance costs, downtime, and training.
The risk of whole-body vibration exposure can be reduced by providing vibration isolation and suspension systems between the operator and the source of vibration.
HAV can be more challenging to control, but you do have options available. We recommend employee education; purchasing tools with better ergonomic design; reducing exposure time through job rotation, decreased task duration, and rest periods; as well as proper tool maintenance. These early prevention efforts can help preserve employee health and well-being and reduce the occurrence of chronic conditions and adverse health effects.
How to Know If Employees Are At Risk for Vibration Injuries
The easiest way to determine if your employees are at risk for vibration injuries is to measure vibration output in both magnitude and direction.
- Vibration Magnitude: Vibration magnitude is measured in a unit of acceleration, meters per second, squared (m/s²), and entered into an HAV calculator. So, a measurement of 3 m/s2 means that the hand is accelerating at a rate of 3 meters per second. The European Directive establishes 2.5 m/s2 as the action limit and 5.0 m/s2 as the maximum exposure limit for all European Union member countries.
- Exposure Duration: Once the level of vibration is determined, the evaluation identifies the individual’s exposure to vibration. A sample work period is factored in the production rates to determine the most repetitions required in a typical eight-hour shift.
McClure Ergonomics is currently seeking further education directly from world leaders in the United Kingdom. It is our goal to incorporate this field of study into our focused service offerings. Soon McClure Ergonomics will be able to perform a comprehensive Work-Task Analysis to determine any risk for vibration injuries. See our article on Ergonomics and the Surprising Effects of Hand Vibration for more details regarding how we calculate your HAV risk.
What About Anti-Vibration Gloves?
Several different types of anti-vibration gloves are currently on the market, though their effectiveness has not yet been fully proven. As we await further studies regarding anti-vibration gloves and their protection of the hands and fingers, we recommend using these gloves as a supplement to other preventative measures.
Worried about what vibration exposure can mean for your business and staff?
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