Health and Safety
Executive / Commission
Vibration at
work
Attendees: Phil Burgess (HSE), Brian Hughes (Shepherd Construction), Terence Libby (ATA Grinding), Walid Hussain (Hilti (GB)), Paul Brereton (HSE), Tony Hoyland (HSE), Peter Henske (A&M Power Tools), Paul Corrigan (Black & Decker/Dewalt), Andrew Bowden (Makita (UK)), Peter Houldridge (Complete Hire Services), Andrew Howells (Wacker), Geoff Flather (Trelawny), Greg Bordiak (BCAS), Robert Allen (GE Equipment Services), Peter Alford (JCB), Ingemar Johansson (Atlas Copco), John Maughan (Atlas Copco), Kevin Minton (HAE), Andrew Simpson (Belle Group), Damian Ransome (Hire Centre), David Edwards (OPERC), John Mercer (BeA Fastening Systems), Stuart ? (?), Mark Turnbull (Speedy Hire), Andrew Thompson (HSE), Eric Streuli (Bosch Power Tools), David Smeatham (HSE), Alan King (MacDonald Group).
Apologies: Tony Wheel (Construction Confederation), Mark Owen (Shepherd Construction), Leo Beirne (HSE), Alain Skelling (Power Fastening Association)
The meeting was based around an agenda circulated prior to the meeting.
Meeting opened and attendees were welcomed and the agenda presented to the group.
The group discussed the draft terms of reference circulated prior to the meeting. It was agreed to use the statement below:
To establish a working group with the aim to produce a HAVS management system for the construction industry that will include:
Initial objective is to provide a database of vibration values to inform end-users of the potential risk.
The group discussed the need to have strong representation from manufacturers, hirers and for the end-users. It was emphasised that the drive for the group should come from end-users to ensure the adopted system meets their needs. Due to the large number of potential representatives from the manufacturers it was decided that they would form a sub group to discuss issues and then feed the information to the working group. It was thought that this would provide a more balanced working group and also provide better communication with in manufacturers.
The agreed format of the working group was (Phil is this correct?):
The group discussed the status of the current database managed by HAE. It was agreed that the data in this database was not reliable enough to enable end-user to carryout exposure estimates. However, the data did assist end-users during the selection of tools. A statement will be prepared by HSE stating acceptable use of the database and caveats. The statement would also state the intention of the working group to establish a replacement system providing information on risk management.
The group discussed the suitability of available vibration data (including emission tests conducted to the new ISO8662 and EN60745, independent testing and in-use data provided by manufacturers) and verification to ensure the data in the replacement database was suitable for an initial risk assessment. It was agreed that in the short term, to bridge the period whilst new standards providing data indicative of real use were being developed, the working group should establish acceptable test procedures to provide indicative data for specific applications.
The minutes of the meeting will be distributed with a draft press release approximately 10 days after this meeting. This will be distributed to the people attending the meeting, those who attended the Forum in November and those who expessed an interest in this work.
The next working group meeting will take place 31 st March 2006 at the HAE The manufacturer’s group will meet prior to this.