Some of the higher HAVS risk occupations includes
in the fields of construction, sheet metal work, welding, automotive repair and
electrical work. However, even professions in the medical and dental fields
carry some risk, due to the prevalence of machinery that produces high
frequency vibrations that may not be as profound as a jackhammer unless you
have a particularly sadistic dentist but sustained use of such machinery can be
debilitating nonetheless. If a job requires the regular use of any machinery
that vibrates at all, the potential exists of developing HAVS to some extent or
another. It’s estimated that as many as two million or more workers are exposed
to some level of workplace vibration of some sort. To those workers, about half
can expect to experience some HAVS symptoms. Anti vibration gloves are a
special type of gloves or personal protective equipment (PPE) that reduce the
effect of harmful vibration the equipment or machine transmission to the hands
of the workers. These gloves are made by using additional layers of vibration
damper viscoelastic urethane polymer (Sorbothane) materials at the palm and
finger areas of the gloves. They can absorb a limited range of frequencies of
the vibration that is responsible for white finger syndrome. Companies may
perform an audit of their work environments to determine whether vibration
equipment poses a risk to worker health and how significant that risk may be.
Calculating those risks takes into account the level, or vibration amplitude,
of various equipment that may contribute to HAVS. The threshold vibration value
is deemed the acceptable risk level workers can be exposed to with the least
chance of developing HAVS. Many tool and equipment manufacturers disclose and
provide vibration emission safety guidelines with their products, making it
easier for businesses to research and calculate their associated risks. There
are many factors that influence the measured transmissibility of these anti vibration
gloves and the potential that a glove has to provide protection to the wearer.
These factors include the effect of different directions and different
frequencies of vibration and how they interact, the differences in
transmissibility between the palm and the finger, and the variations due to
different forces applied to the glove and due to different physical
characteristics of the wearers. Anti-vibration gloves can reduce vibration
components at very high frequencies, especially when a low hand coupling force
is applied. Other ways of controlling vibration exposure, such as eliminating
the need for the exposure, using low-vibration machinery and minimizing
exposure times are far more likely to be effective and ought first to be
adopted.
Many factors such as the vibration spectrum
of a power tool, the main direction of the vibration, the transmissibility of
the glove in that direction, the physical characteristics of the wearer and the
posture and amount of force applied by the wearer to the vibrating surface will
all be combined to define a level of transmissibility which is specific to that
set of circumstances. The tool vibration spectrum and biodynamic responses
themselves are also influenced by the hand forces, vibration direction,
operating styles, working materials and individuals. Therefore, the factors
influencing the assessment, performance and effectiveness of an anti vibration gloves are interrelated and their interactions may be complex. The large number
of influencing factors and their interactions make it very difficult to
accurately predict or measure the actual individual performance of a glove.
