The Control of Vibration at Work Regulations 2005 require employers in Great Britain to assess and control risks to employees from hand-arm vibration and whole-body vibration. The duties include controlling exposure, observing statutory exposure limit values, providing information and training, and arranging health surveillance where the regulatory conditions are met.
Hand-Arm And Whole-Body Vibration Require Different Assessments
Hand-arm vibration is vibration transmitted into the hands and arms, commonly through powered hand tools, hand-guided equipment or materials being processed by machines. Exposure can cause hand-arm vibration syndrome and carpal tunnel syndrome.
Whole-body vibration is transmitted through a supporting surface, normally a seat or the feet. It can arise when driving or operating mobile machinery and vehicles, particularly where work involves rough surfaces, shocks or jolts.
Employers need to identify which form of exposure applies because the Regulations set different exposure action values and exposure limit values for each.
Exposure Action Values Trigger Further Duties
Daily vibration exposure is expressed as an eight-hour energy-equivalent value, A(8).
For hand-arm vibration, the daily exposure action value is 2.5 m/s² A(8). The daily exposure limit value is 5 m/s² A(8).
For whole-body vibration, the daily exposure action value is 0.5 m/s² A(8), while the daily exposure limit value is 1.15 m/s² A(8).
The action value is not a safe level that employers should aim to stay just below. Where employees are likely to reach or exceed it, the Regulations require a programme of organisational and technical measures to reduce exposure. Exposure must also remain below the applicable limit value.
Risk Assessment Must Reflect Actual Work
Where employees may be exposed to vibration, employers must make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the resulting health and safety risks.
The assessment needs enough information to determine employees' daily exposure and identify the measures required by the Regulations. Relevant factors include the magnitude, type and duration of exposure, exposure to intermittent vibration or repeated shocks, information supplied by equipment manufacturers, working conditions, and the availability of equipment designed to reduce vibration exposure.
Employers do not necessarily need to measure vibration directly in every case. Exposure can be assessed using reliable information about vibration magnitude together with realistic information about how long equipment is actually used. Measurement may be needed where suitable information is unavailable or uncertainty prevents a reliable assessment.
The assessment should be reviewed when there is reason to believe it is no longer valid or when there has been a significant change in the work to which it relates.
Exposure Must Be Prevented Or Reduced
Employers must eliminate vibration risk at source where reasonably practicable. Where elimination is not reasonably practicable, exposure must be reduced to as low a level as is reasonably practicable.
Once an exposure action value is reached or exceeded, the employer must establish and implement a programme of technical and organisational measures. This can include using alternative working methods, selecting equipment that produces less vibration, maintaining equipment, improving workplace and workstation design, and limiting the duration and intensity of exposure.
Work schedules and task organisation can form part of the control programme, but controlling time alone should not substitute for available measures that reduce vibration at source.
If an exposure limit value is exceeded, the employer must take immediate action to reduce exposure below it, identify why the limit was exceeded and amend controls to prevent recurrence.
Information, Training And Health Surveillance
Employees exposed to vibration risks must receive suitable information and training. This should cover the risks identified by the assessment, measures taken to control them, the exposure action and limit values, how to recognise and report signs of injury, and safe working practices that reduce exposure.
Suitable health surveillance must be provided where employees are exposed to vibration and the regulatory conditions for surveillance are satisfied. Its purpose is to identify adverse health effects at an early stage and allow action to be taken.
Health surveillance findings may also require the employer to reconsider the risk assessment and existing controls.
Common Compliance Gaps
Problems can arise where assessments use equipment vibration figures without establishing realistic trigger times, or where old assessments remain unchanged after tools, processes or working patterns have altered.
Another weakness is treating the exposure action value as the boundary between acceptable and unacceptable exposure. The duty to reduce vibration exposure as far as reasonably practicable applies to the risk itself, while reaching the action value triggers further specified measures.
Health surveillance can also become disconnected from operational control if symptoms or findings do not lead to a review of exposure and working arrangements.
Manager Checklist
- Identify work involving hand-arm vibration and whole-body vibration separately.
- Confirm that exposure assessments use realistic equipment-use times and suitable vibration data.
- Compare calculated daily exposure with the correct action and limit values.
- Check that exposure above an action value has triggered a documented control programme.
- Verify that equipment selection, maintenance and working methods reduce vibration where reasonably practicable.
- Confirm that employees understand symptoms, controls and safe equipment use.
- Review whether health surveillance is required and whether findings feed back into risk control.
- Investigate any exposure above a limit value and take immediate corrective action.
FAQ
Does staying below the exposure action value mean no further control is required?
No. Employers must assess the risk and reduce vibration exposure where reasonably practicable. Reaching the action value triggers specified additional duties, including a programme of technical and organisational measures.
What is the hand-arm vibration exposure limit value?
The daily exposure limit value for hand-arm vibration is 5 m/s² A(8). Employers must not routinely plan work that exposes employees above this value.
Does every vibration assessment require measurements?
No. A suitable assessment may use reliable vibration information and realistic exposure times. Measurement may be needed where adequate information is unavailable or the exposure cannot otherwise be assessed reliably.
What happens if the exposure limit is exceeded?
The employer must take immediate steps to reduce exposure below the limit, establish why the exceedance occurred and amend the control measures to prevent it happening again.