RR1163 - The effectiveness of British Standard BS EN ISO 28927-11:2001 concerning the vibration emission of stone hammers
Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS) is a painful and disabling disorder of the blood vessels, nerves and joints, caused by exposure to hand transmitted vibration, often from use of power tools. HAVS is preventable, but once damage is done, it is irreversible.
The Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008 require manufacturers to minimise machinery vibration risk and declare vibration emission. British standard test codes can be used for this declaration. Manufacturers must also provide information to enable any residual risk (after minimisation by the manufacturer) to be assessed and effectively managed. The information should identify any gap between the risk indicated by the declared vibration emission and the likely actual risk during use: however this information is often missing.
This report will be of interest to standards makers and technical specialists dealing with hand-arm vibration emission standards. It describes work carried out up until 2013 to investigate BS EN ISO 28927-11:2011, a British Standard that defines a vibration emission test code for stone hammers.
The research shows that different techniques for using stone hammers can result in wide variations in vibration magnitudes. The variations suggest test reproducibility may be poor, but in the absence of comparable manufacturers' data this could not be assessed.
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