Whole lotta shakin' goin'on

A study of site managers, foremen and operatives shows that firms are failing to protect at-risk workers from hand-arm vibration. A survey of nine companies revealed that, on average, people only knew roughly a third of the facts necessary to carry out adequate risk assessments, despite this being a requirement of the Control of Vibration at Work Regulations 2005. Site managers were no more knowledgeable than foremen or workers.

The research

Different trades were selected, based on perceived risk levels, to give a representative sample. All the high-risk trades were represented in this research.

Semi-structured interviews, based on the HSE’s Guidance Note L140 published to aid compliance with the regulations, were undertaken with site managers, foremen and workers. Questions were generally structured to require one word or short sentence answers. Each person received a percentage score relating to the proportion of questions answered correctly.

The smallest project visited was valued at £132m. On the larger value sites, there are more staff. Having these large management and supervisory teams within the subcontract companies meant that more attention was paid to effective health and safety management. On small projects with few staff, certain tasks were not done.

The results can be seen in the graphs (above and above right). When comparing scores by job title, the average results show that there was very little difference between manager, foreman and operative. It would be expected that the information flow from manager to foreman to operative would mean that levels of knowledge are highest in managers and lowest in operatives. But this was evident in only one company.

Comparing the trades, those possibly considered to be high risk showed better compliance than the lighter trades. The only plausible reason for this is the perceived level of risk rather than the reality. Most of the electricians spoken to seemed surprised that they were even at risk, citing ‘road gangs’ using heavy breakers as the only workers who needed to consider hand-arm vibration as an issue.

At operative level, the existence of risk assessments and method statements was evident, although the quality was poor. Most companies appeared to rely heavily on the use of gloves in lieu of undertaking detailed and comprehensive risk assessment. This is despite the evidence that anti-vibration gloves are ineffective and unsuitable for the construction industry.

Only three of the 10 operatives interviewed were partially aware of the maximum exposure times.

Most companies confined their training to either toolbox talks or method statement briefings. The level of knowledge displayed by supervisors was very poor, which led to poor method statements and risk assessments

The HSE serves few Improvement Notices and Prohibition Notices for the construction industry. This low level of enforcement is not sufficient to adequately influence such a large industry into taking better care of its workers.

None of the companies questioned understood the need for health surveillance or when it was mandatory. Of the 10 companies questioned, only two had any formal system for health monitoring. Of these two, one had found operatives currently suffering from hand-arm vibration, but had done nothing to protect these workers.

One operative stated that he had hand-arm vibration in three fingers of one hand. His company knew this and had taken him off site operations and made him a driver of one of its 20-tonne vehicles, but a vibration risk assessment had not been carried out for his new role and the worker was offered no further health surveillance.

Six companies claimed to undertake some form of pre-start medical questionnaire. However, this was not substantiated by workers as none of the interviewees claimed to have undergone any form of medical surveillance. One company did show its medical questionnaire to the interviewer, but it did not mention hand-arm vibration.

Recommendations

A multi-faceted approach is needed. The Major Contractors Group (MCG) represents the UK’s large construction companies with members carrying out more than £20bn worth of construction work each year. Most of the MCG members undertake a form of subcontractor accreditation prior to awarding contracts. Subcontractors keen to work for MCG members will be influenced to adapt to the new changes, thereby spreading the influence through the supply chain.

However this method of ‘osmosis’ is unlikely to reach to the smaller companies as they are keen to reduce costs, and do not have access to professional health and safety advice. Faced with possible claims from previous employees suffering from HAVS, small companies will be likely to liquidate.

The MCG has been working with Loughborough University and the Off-Highway Plant and Equipment Research Centre to engage suppliers in adopting HAVTEC (Hand Arm Vibration Test Centre) independent testing of hand-held power tools. The resulting data provides free and independent information about the likely risk to workers for each tool. Better use of this available data is needed.

Due to the transient nature of the workforce, much of the management of health is left to the individual. The MCG has developed occupational health self-assessment proformas for musculoskeletal disorders, hand-arm vibration, noise-induced hearing loss and dermatitis. These proformas should be provided to the supply chain workforce on MCG projects to facilitate management intervention by their employers. This may assist in the long term, however, workers may fear losing their jobs if they confess to health problems.

In conclusion

A combination of the lack of HSE enforcement, long latency periods for HAVS, poor knowledge, lack of time, transient workforce and lack of health surveillance via an industry wide system, all lead to problems in complying with the Control of Vibration at Work Regulations.

This research targeted companies considered to be at the better end of awareness with respect to hand-arm vibration. But given that people at these companies knew less than a third of the facts about hand-arm vibration, it seems likely that overall industry knowledge will be much lower.