Page 1 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.

Page 2 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 6 th July 2005, there was a moratorium granted for old tools until the 6 th July 2010.

Page 3 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.

Page 4 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

Page 5 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.

Page 6 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

Page 7 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.

Page 8 Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Cross section of the wrist The yellow section is the Median Nerve surrounded by the Carpal Tunnel

Page 9 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.

Page 10 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”

Page 11 Larson Davies HVM100