Hi, Are any of my colleagues out there able to advise if they are aware of any 'whole body vibration' issues associated with operatives within the vicinity of this item of plant? I am specifically looking for exposure to operatives at ground level (not plant operators)! Thanks in anticipation. Simon

Hi Simon, In theory yes it is a possibility. In order to answer the question, you would need to consider the material and layout of the floor. for example is it ground floor or an upper level, is it concrete on original foundations or is it an aesthetic flooring over the original floor and find the vibration magnitude of the machinery.

Hi Simon, In the case of civils (my field also), whole body vibration is an issue from plant and equipment, the surfaces that the plant often operates on is a compacted temporary one (i.e. not designed to disperse or route vibration). You can get the vibration magnitude of all plant from the manufacturer (its also usually in the handbook) it is an m/s2 figure, there are a wealth of calculators and apps on the internet that will convert that figure to an exposure time ( be careful to differenciate for hand arm vibration and whole body). What you have to bear in mind is that in this case you are not directly looking at the vibration of the equipment and its effect on the user more the vibration around it. So distance from operating equipment is your first consideration Large items of heavy plant would not usually operate in close proximity to people and this is ultimately your best control measure As with most things it comes down to risk assessment, in this case how long is the exposure and is it prolonged, whats the magnitude and what controls do you have in place (segregation, awareness etc) if I am right a sheepsfoot usually operates on soil type materials which would not create enough vibration to be overly concerned. We operate a 10m exclusion zone around operating plant (this was to avoid working in close proximity to the plant, but if you stand 10m away from the plant you will notice that the ground vibration is drastically reduced). I dont feel that you need to go into geophysics etc, do a risk assessment, keep a good distance between the machinery and the ground workers and a good old toolbox talk to raise awareness.

Whole-body vibration is of course primarily concerned with operators of ride-on or stand-on machinery, and the standard kit for measuring this is a cushion-like affair with embedded tri-axial accelerometers. I guess in theory it would relatively easy to take measurements of someone standing in the vicinity, but then again I suggest this would be very difficult to equate to any sort of realistic exposure level - these people presumably aren't standing still for appreciable periods,and the interface therefore is entirely dynamic? Some sort of empirical process could determine a safe radius, however as has been suggested here already, that's probably already covered by rules associated with safe physical seperation between men and machines.

No problem Simon, If you need anything else let me know.