Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS)

It is estimated that up to 300,000 working days are lost each year in the UK due to hand-arm disability related absences. The costs to industry of these absences and compensation payable for this condition are considerable. The Health and Safety Laboratory (HSL) can help reduce these costs by providing a comprehensive health surveillance package.

What is HAVS?
Regular exposure to vibration from hand-held tools can cause several kinds of injury to the hands and arms. Together these injuries are known as 'hand-arm vibration syndrome' (HAVS), though other names are sometimes used by industry, including 'dead finger', 'dead hand' or 'vibration finger'.

HAVS is a general term embracing various kinds of damage:

• damage to nerves leading to numbness and tingling in the fingers and hands, reduced grip strength and dexterity, and reduced sensitivity both to touch and temperature;

• vascular disorders generally known as 'vibration-induced white finger' (VWF) causing impaired blood circulation and blanching of affected fingers and parts of the hand;

• musculoskeletal damage leading, for example, to pain and stiffness in the hands and joints of wrists, elbows and shoulders.

Health surveillance for HAVS
Health and Safety Executive Guidance (HSG88) recommends a preventative approach to control the risk of injury. Such programmes include health surveillance under the direction of a qualified medical practitioner. Health surveillance assessments, in line with HSG88, use a standardised questionnaire and simple tests, with more detailed objective test methods available to help in the assessment of either the progress of disease or regression after removal from exposure.

What HSL can offer
HSL offers a comprehensive service for the health surveillance of vibration-exposed workers comprising:

• a clinical assessment by one of our fully trained physicians.

• a summary staging based on the Stockholm Workshop scale.

• a panel of objective tests carried out by our fully trained technicians including:

vibration perception threshold (VPT) - a measure of sensory nerve damage;
thermal asthesiometry (TA) - a measure of an individual's thermal threshold to assess sensory nerve damage;
cold provocation test (CPT) - a measure of the rewarming times of the fingers to assess vascular damage.

Upon completion of the assessment a full report is sent to the referring doctor within 15 working days of the appointment.

Benefits of our service
We deliver a reliable, friendly and efficient service based upon:

• a number of years' experience in the field. Our HAVS Unit was established in May 1998 as a pilot centre to develop the protocols for the assessment of coal miners. We have since assessed over 8,000 referred cases for the Department of Trade and Industry and other customers;

• highly trained medical and technical staff;

• up-to-date knowledge and expertise underpinned by a planned programme of practical research in hand-arm vibration.

We can also offer practical training sessions for occupational health and safety professionals.

Management and evaluation of exposure to vibration
HSL has a team of vibration specialists with extensive experience in workplace exposure to both hand-arm and whole-body vibration. They can carry out assessments of vibration exposure and advise on measures to manage exposure, including the selection and use of power tools and suspension seats.

Further Details
Contact our Business Development Unit by telephone (+44) 01298 218218, fax (+44) 01298 218822 or email hslinfo@hsl.gov.uk.

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