Rank: New forum user 
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Hi all I would like to get some advice if anyone has experience on exposures to hand arm vibration. Our staff are currently being monitored from hand arm vibration exposure as they are using a number of power tools such as strimmers, hedge cutters, pruners and leaf blowers. When some of these reach their exposure time (which they record in a log book) the department then assigns them other duties with no vibration exposure. Currently this could include operating equipemnt such as ride on mowers (which are not tagged for their vibration ratings). Being aware that ride on machinery could give some exposure to hand arm vibration, I am concerned that this could still lead to exposure. The questions I have are (1) Can Whole body vibration add to the burden of hand-arm vibration (as the hand and arms may also be imapcted via the whole body)? (2) does anyone have any experience of ride on equipment, giving exposure to hand arm vibration, say through the steering wheel or controls, that would be enough to warrant exposure being monitored? At the moment, I am of the thought that we should take some initial measurements to see if the values are significant but the resistance I recieve internally is that monitoring of HAV or WBV from such ride on equipment is not done in smilar organisations to ours. I appreciate your thoughts. Regards P
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Rank: Forum user
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Hello PBacca,
According to HSE, WBV is caused by 'vibration transmitted through the seat or feet'. With this in mind, have you considered suspension seat for the ride on mowers - we have our fleet of FLTs fitted with upgraded suspension seats and the feedback from the operators have been positive.
HSE does have a further list of controls but they also say that 'further study is needed on the impact of WBV. What does the history of ill health regarding your employees show? This could indicate there may or may not be a problem - but then you also have to look at the quality of reporting on these issues to be confident of using the injury / ill-health data to inform any policy. Perhaps the best thing to do is nothing at this stage or alternativelyto convince the board to be the forerunners in your industry and for them to show a real commitment to their employees health.
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Rank: Super forum user
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Rank: Super forum user
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Hi PBacca, if you want to do some assessments and there is not enough info out there for your needs, how about contacting a company providing either the measuring kit or solutions ( seat suspension etc) and seee if they'd be interested in using you as a research resource and strike up sort of agreement on what and how to do the tests etc. perhaps showing the company is leading rather than following may help the message get through to your bosses.
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 1 user thanked Acorns for this useful post.
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