IIAC review of hand-arm vibration syndrome recommends extending the list of tools in Schedule 1 of prescribed disease A11
Council says that its proposal has been drawn up in light of recognition that the current prescription may not reflect modern working practices
The Industrial Injuries Advisory Council (IIAC) has recommended extending the list of tools in Schedule 1 of prescribed disease A11.
The IIAC says that, having becoming aware that the prescription of PD A11 may not reflect modern working practices, it carried out a review of hand-arm vibration syndrome and found a paucity of good quality epidemiological studies for extending the list of prescribed occupations for the condition.
However, having also consulted with external experts with knowledge and experience of vibrating tools and the potential to develop hand-arm vibration syndrome, the IIAC says that it has drawn up an extended list of vibrating tools to replace the existing list.
The revised wording of PD A11 as recommended by the IIAC is set out at Appendix 1 of its report –
Conditions due to physical agents
(a) Intense blanching of the skin, with a sharp demarcation line between affected and non-affected skin, where the blanching is cold-induced, episodic, occurs throughout the year and affects the skin of the distal with the middle and proximal phalanges, or distal with the middle phalanx (or in the case of a thumb the distal with the proximal phalanx), of:
(i) in the case of a person with 5 fingers (including thumb) on one hand, any 3 of those fingers, or
(ii) in the case of a person with only 4 such fingers,
(iii) in the case of a person with less than 4 such fingers, any one of them or, as the case may be, the one remaining finger, where none of the person’s fingers was subject to any degree of cold-induced, episodic blanching of the skin prior to the person’s employment in an occupation described in the third column in relation to this paragraph, or
(b) significant, demonstrable reduction in both sensory perception and manipulative dexterity with continuous numbness or continuous tingling all present at the same time in the distal phalanx of any finger (including thumb) where none of the person’s fingers was subject to any degree of reduction in sensory perception, manipulative dexterity, numbness or tingling prior to the person’s employment in an occupation described in the second column in relation to this paragraph, where the symptoms in paragraph (a) or paragraph (b) were caused by vibration.
Any occupation involving
Tools and processes which are associated with significant exposure to hand transmitted vibration including any hand-held, hand-guided or hand-fed, powered machine (e.g. pneumatic, hydraulic, electric (wired or battery) or internal combustion engine) that:
(a) is fitted with an abrasive or polishing attachment for the purpose of material removal (e.g. grinders, sanders) or finishing (e.g. polishers including floor polishers); or,
(b) is fitted with an attachment such as a cord (e.g. strimmer), blade (e.g. jig saw, cut-off saw, hedge trimmer, brush cutter, etc.) or cutting bit (e.g. woodworking machine or router) for the purpose of cutting, trimming or removing material; or,
(c) is fitted with an attachment such as a drill bit (e.g. rotary hammer) vibrating needles (e.g. needle scaler), scabbling head (e.g. scabbler), tines or spikes (e.g. aerator, scarifier), chisel, pick, spade (e.g. breaker, demolition hammer) for the purposes of making a hole in, or through, or otherwise breaking or removing material; or,
(d) is fitted with a rotating socket, driver bit or other attachment for the purpose of fastening or unfastening a component (e.g. wrench, ratchet, nut runner, impact driver, rivet gun, etc.); or,
(e) is fitted with a ram, plate or roller for smoothing or compaction of material (e.g. plate compactor, trench rammer, sand rammer, concrete screeding machine); or,
(f) which propels or expels a fluid (air or water) for the purposes of cleaning or moving dust, dirt and debris (e.g. leaf blower, water jetting lance); or,
(g) which has a vibratory action for the removal of air from concrete (e.g. concrete poker).
For more information, see Hand-arm vibration syndrome and assessment of vibration exposure from gov.uk