Havspro vibration safety system protects council workers

Many tools and equipment used by the department create vibration such as hand and ride-on mowers, leaf blowers, strimmers, and chain saws.

The council wanted to be able to accurately record and monitor exposure to hand arm vibration syndrome and whole-body vibration to protect its workforce.

Under the Havspro system, sensors are placed on the vibrating surfaces measuring hand-arm, and whole-body, vibration. It detects when Health and Safety Executive, daily, or individual limits to exposure have been reached.

Live email or text alerts provide real-time warnings in cases of a breach so the council can take action.

Darran Solley, parks and open spaces manager, said the system assisted in measuring performance, but could also, “provide us with information on specific pieces of equipment, and the actual vibration being produced by different equipment which, is not always as the manufacturer has specified.

“This informs us on how we can rotate tool usage, or whether a piece of equipment is defective and producing excessive vibration which, again, impacts on how we complete tasks.”

Solley said the system supported business cases to procure new equipment to reduce or remove vibration exposure. He added: “The operatives are very supportive, too. Havspro sensors are seen as an additional piece of PPE that is there to protect both the staff and the authority.”