EQUIPMENT
Statutory
Instrument 2005 No. 1093
The
Control of Vibration at Work Regulations 2005
5-(1) An
employer who carries out
work which is liable to expose any of his employees to risk from
vibration
shall
make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risk created by that
work to the health and safety
of those
employees and the risk assessment shall
identify the measures that need to be taken to meet the
requirements of these
Regulations.
FHA
do Absolutely Nothing
........................................................................................................................................................................
He started in June 2006
finished in September!
FHA Maintenance Team and Health and Safety where Personal Safety Equipment is concerned.
Minutes of Previous Team Meetings
4 May 2001 (BM, Not yet Employed)
10.3 R Stimpson enquired whether he could sharpen the mower blades himself saving money for the Association.
It was agreed by team that this would not be possible as the balance of the blade could be affected.
(An unbalanced blade, would cause more vibration. Did anyone know then, what vibration causes?)
31 Aug 2001 (BM Absent)
PPE
5.5.1 DH requested ear defenders for the 'Swansea' van. This
appeared to be a sensible item for all caretakers to receive.
SF to obtain price and refer to 5.4.4.
5.5.2 AL requested eye protectors. This appeared to be a sensible item for all caretakers to receive.
SF to obtain price and refer to 5.4.4.
The maintenance team, had been in existence at least 2 years as far as
I know, using mowers, strimmers and blowers without essential PPE!
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (from RMS Vibration Test Laboratory for the Health and Safety Executive 2003 )
The portable, engine-powered strimmer is identified as a type of machine whose operator can be
subjected to large magnitudes of hand-arm vibration. This is shown to have two sources. One is the
engine. The other, more important on those machines with the worst vibration, is the rotation of an
out-of-balance component, in this case the cutting head.
Five points are also suggested whereby maintenance of strimmers could help to reduce operator
exposure to vibration:
Engine tune should eliminate misfiring
Engine tune should limit possibilities for over-speed operation
Operators need to be observant for incorrect operation of automatic heads, which should be
tested during routing servicing.
Operators need to be observant for increased unbalance of heads, which should be tested
during routing servicing
Anti-vibration mounts should be renewed regularly.
Similarly, the elimination of heads with severe unbalance, which is the main problem highlighted by
this study, needs either operator vigilance or a suitable test for the maintenance agent to use to check
this at service intervals.
The machinery were never serviced or employees had any training in their use and were never told about the problems of HAVS
A typical
broken guard on a strimmer. It may not look to bad, but the blade,
that cuts the strimmers cord is missing. Uneven lengths of cord increases the
vibration of the strimmer
A typical hedgecutter, Can be lethal. This is a hedgecutter with the
two bolts needed
The one I was given by JB had one bolt and a plastic tie holding
it.
I was told to
cut the shrubs with the hedgecutter. I saw it was broken it was held
together by one bolt and a plastic tie.(I told JB, when I had
repaired it a couple of months earlier, I had emphasised on the
importance of checking the tightness of the bolts regularly.I had
even left a spanner in the van for the job.
I saw it was not safe
to use, but knew from past experiences (see....) that if I objected on
safety grounds, that it would be seen as an excuse to avoid work. I
tried to start the hedge cutter (not with any enthusiasm ) but JB could
see it was not starting and then came over and started it. I then
carried it by the handle, towards the shrubs and after three
paces the plastic tie moved and the handle came loose. If that had
happened whilst I was cutting the shrubs, I could have suffered a
serious injury.
A kitted out new recruit,
He is wearing safety glasses.
The picture on the right is not of
a Fha worker