Posted By Seamus O Sullivan Hello everyone, I am a trainer and could use a little help in the following area...... Could anyone please give me details of expected levels of mechanical vibration from various pieces of equipment used in construction, I know the effects of the vibration, its causes etc, but I need to have specific examples of equipment, also examples of max operating times. Also any information on how equipment levels vary when the equipment is not maintained correctly would be great. Also the difference in levels between older equipment & newer equipment would be great. Many thanks Seamus

Posted By Dave Daniel Hi Seamus: The one major problem with vibration is that actual exposures are so difficult to predict accurately. There is some work within the construction industry to get some levels for HAV produced - See the HSE construction web pages, but years ago on foundry fettling benches we found that levels could change by 100% just by the way the operator held the grinder, and more recently even claimed "low vibration" tools produced more vibration than other tools. Having a tool where the trigger has to be held down means you hold the tool more tightly than one where the tool stays on all the time, for example. Wear and tear comes on top of this of course and again can have major unquantified change to the actual exposure level. This relates to HAV. I guess whole body issues will be similar - for example Mr FatBuilder will no doubt get more vibration transmission through his seat than Mr ThinBuilder, because he squashes the seat cushion more! I don't have an answer to this one. The Regulations were brought in with the understanding that huge programmes of costly measurement would not be expected and that to a large extent "manufacturer's data" would be the primary data source (see HSC meeting minutes). All you can do is accept that measurements will have a high degree of real-time inaccuracy unless you engage in huge programmes of measurement and research. Taking "worst-case" scenarios seems likely to result in very small periods of use.

Posted By Seamus O Sullivan Hi Guys Thanks for the responses. Seamus