Hand-Arm Vibration Personal Exposure Measurement
The Regulation on Protection from Vibration-Related Risks indicates the minimum conditions to be taken to ensure that workers are protected from health and safety risks that may arise as a result of exposure to mechanical vibrations.By hand-arm vibration in this legal regulation, it means mechanical vibrations that, when transferred to the hand-arm system of the employee, pose a risk to the health and safety of the employee and cause especially bone, joint, vein, nerve and muscle disorders.
According to the provisions of the regulation, exposure limit values and exposure action values are as follows:
• For hand-arm vibration,
Daily exposure limit value for eight hours of work: 5 m/s2.
Daily exposure action value for eight hours of work: 2.5 m/s2.
• For whole body vibration,
Daily exposure limit value for an eight-hour working period: 1.15 m/s2.
Daily exposure action value for eight hours of work: 0.5 m/s2.
As can be seen, the regulation has kept the hand-arm vibration values higher than the whole body vibration values. If attention is paid, two values are mentioned in terms of employee exposure in the regulation: Exposure action value and exposure limit value.
• The exposure action value is the value that, if exceeded, will expose workers to these vibrations and should be kept under control.
• The exposure limit value is the value at which employees should not be exposed to a vibration above this value under any circumstances.
In establishments where employees are exposed to mechanical vibrations due to their field of activity, employers are obliged to conduct a risk assessment study to determine the level of this exposure. For this, hand-arm vibration exposure measurements should be made in the workplace. These measurements are made in accordance with the Regulation on Laboratories Performing Occupational Hygiene Measurement, Testing and Analysis. Measurements of workers' exposure to hand-arm vibration are explained in the annex of the regulation titled Hand-Arm Vibration (Annex 1).
Accordingly, the following standards are taken into account while conducting the exposure assessment:
• TS EN ISO 5349-1 Mechanical Vibration - Measurement and Evaluation of Manually Transmitted Vibration Exposure to Persons - Part 1: General Rules
• TS EN ISO 5349-2 Mechanical Vibration - Measurement and Evaluation of Hand-to-Body Vibration Exposure to Persons - Part 2: Practical Guide for Making Measurements at Workplaces
