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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

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 VibrationIt 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 amedical 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 referredto as “Repetitive Strain Injury” (RSI)CTS can be contracted by excessively using any objectrepetitively, in the 1990’s we saw a significant rise in CTScases due to the rapid expansion in office jobs the use ofcomputer etc.It could also be caused by repetitive actions such using apaint brush, the flexing of the wrist back and fore long termcan 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 HAVWe 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