Posted By Ian Goldsmith Dear all, Please can someone offer me some advice. I have recently introduced health surveillance for my work force . On post surveillance interviews it has come to light that some of my work force have been diagnosed with white finger vibration from other occupations and have received compensation for the condition. My worry is, can i still allow them to continue using vibratory tools even if they are only exposed to below Exposure Action Level or can they continue working to the Exposure Limit Value with control measure in place. Any advice on this matter would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks Ian

Posted By SNS We have discussed this with our OH Doctor and halved the exposure limit for those diagnosed as affected, and taken them away from the most highly rated tools completely e.g. nail gun, air chisel etc. Also stepped up the monitoring to ensure that our limits are not exceeded. Appears to be a workable way ahead for us. Regards, S

Posted By Ian Goldsmith Dear all, thank you for your time and advice, it is very much appreciated. Ian

Posted By Dave Daniel Ian - I had exactly this scenario with a polisher working for one of our clients. There was little or no opportunity for redeployment or job rotation and the stark choice was ill-health dismissal. Interestingly the decision was sparked by the doctor who'd been doing surveillance for several years who decided enough was enough.. On questioning we found that he had never conducted any objective tests and couldn't say whether the condition was worsening or not (Grrr!). So much for "health surveillance"! The employee now goes to the HSE labs in Sheffield for proper objective testing every year and has remained in his job with no measured deterioration for the past 3 years, despite his chain smoking and beta-blockers (!!). Moral is if you are going to do health surveillance, make sure it is objective, not merely a nice chat with a well-paid doctor at your firm's expense.

Posted By Ian MacAskill In a previous employment where this was a big concern, we were informed that the damage done by the "acceleration / deceleration / frequency / distance traveled" to the blood vessels was cumulative and non reversible. It would therefore follow that further exposure would lead to further deterioration of the exposed persons condition. I am sure more knowledgeable persons could comment with more technical detail.