Whole Body Vibration Personal Exposure Measurement
The Regulation on the Protection of Employees from Risks Related to Vibration determines the minimum conditions to be taken to ensure that employees are protected from health and safety risks that may arise as a result of exposure to mechanical vibrations. By whole body vibration, the regulation refers to mechanical vibrations that, when transferred to the whole body, pose significant risks to the health and safety of the worker, causing discomfort and trauma, especially in the lumbar region and spine.According to this regulation, exposure limit values and exposure action values are as follows:
• For whole body vibration,
o Daily exposure limit value for an eight-hour working period: 1.15 m/s2.
o Daily exposure action value for eight hours of work: 0.5 m/s2.
As can be seen, the regulation kept the whole body vibration values lower than the hand-arm vibration values. In the regulation, two values are based on employee exposure: Exposure action value and exposure limit value. The exposure action value is a value that, in case of exceeding, requires that the risks that will arise due to these vibrations be controlled by the employee. The exposure limit value is a value that employees should not be exposed to vibration above this value.
In order to determine the level of mechanical vibration to which the employees are exposed, employers are obliged to carry out a risk assessment study at the workplace and to have personal exposure measurements of whole body vibration according to the results. These measurements are made in accordance with the Regulation on Laboratories Performing Occupational Hygiene Measurement, Testing and Analysis. Employees' whole body vibration exposure measurements are explained in the annex of the regulation titled Whole Body Vibration.
Accordingly, the following standards are taken into account when making the exposure assessment:
• TS EN 1032+A1:2011 Testing of Moving Machines for the Determination of Mechanical Vibration - Vibration Emission Value
• TS ISO 2631-1 Mechanical Vibration and Shock - Evaluation of Whole Body Vibration Exposure - Part 1: General Rules
