DPA Technologies
This Power Point presentation is a layman’s
guide to the symptoms and effects of both
“White Finger Vibration” and “Carpel Tunnel
Syndrome” (More commonly known as RSI or
Repetitive Strain Injury)
Both of these ailments can arise from
prolonged exposure to high vibration levels.
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European Law
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The European Physical Agents (Vibration)
Directive (2002/44/EC) this is European Law,
every country that is a member of the European
Union must obey and conform to protect workers
from the adverse effect of operating high
vibration tools etc.
The UK passed The Control of Vibration in the
Workplace act on the 6th July 2005, there was a
moratorium granted for old tools until the 6th July
2010.
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Health & Safety at work
Health & Safety issues appears to have been somewhat
demonised in the press lately to make it seem that our
everyday life is totally controlled by it,
However Health & Safety is about protecting not just you
but other workers as well.
A workplace can be very dangerous area we all have a
“Duty of Care” not only to ourselves but also other people.
Accidents are much more than just cutting your finger they
can be something you are doing now that can effect your
life in twenty years time.
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Health & Safety
50 plus years ago people were working unprotected with
“Blue Asbestos”” unaware of the long term dangers that
handling this involved, people died at very young age
because they were unaware of the potential dangers.
Hand Arm Vibration may not kill you but it could seriously
effect the quality of your life in future years, it can stop you
doing every day things you take for granted.
Do you play Golf/Tennis/ Darts go fishing etc all these
things could become difficult if not impossible to do if you
ignore the effects that HAV can have on you
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Health & Safety
So what is White Finger Vibration
It is a medical condition known as “Raynauds Disease”
which is caused by restriction of the blood supply to the
extremities, usually the fingers and toes
An attack may be accompanied by significant pain,
numbness and a tingling sensation, the fingers etc can also
go into spasm.
The numbness is due to an intermittent supply of blood to
the affected area, in the early stages the condition is not
severe, however prolonged exposure could result in the
loss of fingers or toes.
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Symptoms White Finger
The symptoms to be aware of are;
(1)
Tingling in the ends of your
fingers
(2)
Loss of feeling in your finger
tips
(3)
White patches anywhere on
your hands (see Photo)
(4)
Coldness in your hands
All these symptoms are an
indication of exposure to
excessive vibration
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Symptoms CTS
Another symptom of exposure to excessive vibration is a
medical condition known as “Carpal Tunnel Syndrome”
(CTS) this is caused by compression of the “Median Nerve”
in the wrist leading to acute pain, this is sometimes referred
to as “Repetitive Strain Injury” (RSI)
CTS can be contracted by excessively using any object
repetitively, in the 1990’s we saw a significant rise in CTS
cases due to the rapid expansion in office jobs the use of
computer etc.
It could also be caused by repetitive actions such using a
paint brush, the flexing of the wrist back and fore long term
can lead to this condition.
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Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Cross section of the wrist
The yellow section is the Median Nerve surrounded by the
Carpal Tunnel
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Trigger Time
All hand held power driven machines produce vibration,
from your Electric Toothbrush to an Pneumatic Road Drill,
the difference being you may use your electric toothbrush
for a maximum of 3 minutes per day but a road drill could
be used for 4 or 5 hours.
Therefore one of the most important elements we have to
always consider is how long is the operator is actually
going to have the machine running or “Trigger Time” this is
in a 8 hour day (A8) actually running under normal use
would probably be no more than 50% or 4 hours.
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Measuring HAV
We measure the vibration emitted from a tool by attaching
the operator to a piece of sophisticated monitoring
equipment in the form of a Larson-Davies HVM100.
We can then accurately measure and record the vibrations
the operator is being subject to during an actual work day.
This is not done on a bench but on the shop floor under
“Real Time Operation” with a minimum of three tests per
Tool. The HVM 100 uses three electronic transponders to
very accurately measure vibrations transmitted through the
tool into the hands (or Hands) over three different axis this
is known as “Tri Axis Reading”
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Larson Davies HVM100
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