The Regulations on risk assessment
The 2005 regulations require employers who carry out work which is liable to expose employees to risk from vibration to undertake a risk assessment which
must assess daily exposure to vibration by:
- observation of specific working practices;
- reference to relevant information on the probable magnitude of the vibration corresponding to the equipment used in the particulary working
conditions;
- if necessary, measurement of the magnitude of the vibration to which the employees are liable to be exposed;
- the employer shall assess whether any employees are likely to be exposed to vibration at or above an exposure action value or above an exposure limit
value.
The risk assessment shall include consideration of:
- the magnitude, type and duration of exposure, including any exposure to intermittent vibration or repeated shocks;
- the effects of exposure to vibration on employees whose health is at particular risk from such exposure;
- any effects of vibration on the workplace and work equipment, including the proper handling of controls, the reading of indicators, the stability of
and the security of joints;
- any information provided by the manufacturers of work equipment;
- the availability of replacement equipment designed to reduce exposure to vibration;
- any extension of exposure at the workplace to whole-body vibration beyond normal working hours, including exposure in rest facilities supervised by
the employer;
- specific working conditions such as low temperatures;
- appropriate information obtained from health surveillance including, where possible, published information.
The reuglations require that the risk assessment is regularly reviewed.
The employer is required to record the findings of the risk assessment and the measures taken as a consequence of those findings.
HSE guidance on risk assessment
The Health and Safety Executive has published guidance on carrying out the above risk assessment, it recommends that employers should:
- find out from their employees and their supervisors which, if any, processes involve regular exposure to vibration;
- see whether there are any warnings of vibration risks in equipment handbooks;
- ask employees whether they have any of the HAVS symptoms and whether the equipment being used produces high levels of vibration or uncomfortable
strains on hands and arms.
The guidance points out the importance of discussing hand-arm vibration with all interested parties including trade union or employee representatives.
The HSE states that the person undertaking the risk assessment should be familiar with the HSE guidance, have a good knowledge of the work processes used
in the business and be able to collect and understand relevant information. They should also be able to develop a plan of action based on the findings of the
assessment.
The person carrying out the assessment will need to:
- make a list of equipment that may cause vibration, and what sort of work it is used for;
- collect information about the equipment from equipment handbooks (make, model, power, vibration risks, vibration information etc);
- make a list of employees who use the vibrating equipment and which jobs they do;
- note as accurately as possible how long employees’ hands are actually in contact with the equipment while it is vibrating – in some cases
this ‘trigger time’ may only be a few minutes in several hours of work with the equipment;
- ask employees which equipment seems to have high vibration and about any other problems they may have in using it, eg its weight,
awkward postures needed to use the tool, difficulty in holding and operating it;
- record the relevant information they have collected and their assessment of who is likely to be at risk.
