Choosing powered hand tools to reduce vibration risk

This guidance is specifically about using the information that is supplied with powered hand tools to reduce the risks from vibration.

There is separate general advice for employers on hand-arm vibration.

What to expect from a good supplier of powered hand tools

A good supplier of powered hand tools will:

recommend a range of tools suitable for the job that are state of the art design (including vibration design)
provide a clear description of the vibration risk you will need to manage
provide instructions on how to use each tool without risk of vibration injury
report the vibration emission according to the European Standard

Information available about vibration before I buy a tool

Many suppliers supplement the vibration information in the instructions with further vibration information in other literature, passed on during training courses, and on websites. Most of which is available before you buy tools.

The law requires that the information is supplied with the tool, and information on vibration emissions contained in the instructions should appear in any sales literature that describes the performance characteristics.

Declared vibration emissions

Ask the supplier if the declared vibration magnitude can be used to compare the vibration emissions of tools.

Ask the supplier if the declared vibration emission is reliable for estimating the likely vibration exposure of the user during normal use.

If the declared vibration is not claimed as suitable for estimating the vibration emission, there is residual vibration risk and the supplier should be able to supply some further information that describes the vibration risk that you (the employer) need to manage.

Ask the supplier for information that describes the vibration risk that you need to manage.

Vibration information a supplier should provide

Your supplier should be able to provide powered hand tools that have:

Had vibration reduced to a minimum at source (compromising with other safety and design features where appropriate);
Information that makes you aware of the vibration risk that you will need to manage – this may be the vibration emission declaration alone or in combination with other information that makes clear the risk from vibration;
Information on how to use the tools in a way that avoids risk from vibration
A declaration of the vibration emission according to Standard tests

You should use this information to plan control of the vibration risk for your employees.

You may need to supplement information provided with the tool if it is not clear that risk is under control in your circumstances.

How you can use declared vibration emissions

The declared vibration emission has generally been good for comparing the vibration emissions of similar power tools.

Many tools have similar vibration emissions but the Standard test results help you pick out the tools that have unusually low or high vibration.

Test data from early Standards often under-represented vibration risk but current work to revise the Standard tests should result in declared emission values that are both comparable between tools and indicative of the likely vibration during normal use.

What constitutes a good purchasing policy for low vibration tools

First you should compile a shortlist of tools that are suitable for the job.

Once you have a shortlist of tools that are efficient and acceptable to the people expected to use them, you should identify and avoid unnecessarily high vibration models.

You should then plan use of the tools so that exposure to vibration is reduced so far as is reasonably practicable.

Using times and vibration magnitudes for a vibration risk assessment

You need to know who is at risk from exposure to hand-arm vibration sufficient to plan for control of that risk.

Exposures vary from day to day and from person to person according to the detail of the work and the techniques of individuals. Nevertheless, the magnitudes of vibration from the tools used and the durations of use in a workplace make vibration exposures fairly repeatable.

Use of tool timers

You need to measure the likely range of trigger times for the processes that are undertaken so you have sufficient information to decide if exposures are likely to exceed the exposure action value.

You should plan for exposures to be as low as is reasonably practicable - you do not need the precision that tool timers offer to do this as part of your assessment of vibration exposures.

Tool timers may be useful for:

helping quantify trigger times during exposure assessment
estimating exposure for multiple tool use and complex systems
auditing the success of planned controls
keeping a record of likely exposure

But, tool timers have limitations and you should be aware that:

vibration sensors do not measure the vibration - just the time the tool is powered up
estimates of vibration are based on a pre-programmed value of vibration emission
even a complex system will only work if all tools are programmed into it and all tool users comply with the instructions for use
exposure is more sensitive to vibration magnitude than duration of use
using them might discourage adequate planning for exposures to be as low as is reasonably practicable
it’s hard to capture exposures for multi-tool users