“Training is essential to ensure the customer knows how to get the best performance through regular maintenance”
Ian Howard, Managing Director, Dennis comfortable.
Noise and vibration reduction are issues close to the heart of managing director, Ian Howard, who is keen to reveal the dangers. “We continually look at ways to improve health and safety on all of our existing products, and this is an integral part of new product development,” he confirms. “Taking noise and vibration as
examples, we now utilise Honda’s latest low noise, low vibration engine type, Q9. While this engine is more expensive than the standard version (Q4), noise is dramatically lower. The Q9 looks no different, but the porting for exhaust gases and other internal features have made this significant reduction.” Honda has spent millions of pounds on this type of improvement, driven by the strict emission laws in US states such as California, Ian says. “Lower noise also means lower vibration, so this choice to uprate by us means less vibration in the machine that we have to isolate from the operator.”
Sounds simple enough but, as Ian contends, the real work goes on behind the scenes and end users may be unaware of the level of specialist input ploughed into such improvements. “Solving vibration is a complex science.
We have spent a considerable amount of time with external consultants, including universities and QuinetiQ, a company who provide research, technical advice, technology solutions and services to customers in core markets of defence and security.” “These findings give us a better understanding of the issues and solutions concerned. It is essential to keep the machine user friendly and without compromise in performance. Our handlebars are now all designed with low vibration as the key focus.” Dennis conduct a number of research and development initiatives into health and safety, and projects planned for 2010 include working on engine vibration reduction.
“If we can further limit engine vibration, we can reduce the machine vibration experienced by the operator. The big problem is that the frequency of the harmful vibration is exactly the frequency of the internal combustion engine used on pedestrian and ride-on machinery, but we have no alternative technology to use in a cost-effective way.” Their studies have revealed that
regular maintenance of products is essential, demonstrating that items such as worn bearings can dramatically increase noise and vibration on machines. “Training is essential to ensure the customer knows how to get the best
and so there is no appreciation of potential injury if the machine is misused. On the other hand, many accidents are caused by a blasé attitude. Compulsory training is essential to everyone.”
But noise is not really the issue for operators, argues Harry Handkammer, Managing Director of Countax. “The whole thing has gone far enough.
We don’t have a noise pollution problem. When was the last time you heard a chainsaw?” Harry questions the very definition of noise. “In Germany, you cannot mow the lawn on a Sunday because it’s a day of
performance through regular maintenance, as well as long life and minimal noise and vibration from the machines,” Ian argues. Part of the secret of sound health and safety in the workplace lies in manufacturing “strong, well-built machines that perform their design function with comfort and ease of use”, he adds. “Effective health and safety training on how to operate pedestrian machines is essential. Safe, easy to use and comfortable controls are vital. If you develop a safety lever that everyone finds difficult to use, all you end up with is elastic bands or tape on the handles. It’s a fine balance.”
“Many of our operators are familiar with our machines and have respect for them. Some youngsters have never operated anything like a mower before,
rest there, and people see it as intrusive. Here, we love the sound of grass being mown, don’t we?” Which, he argues, is the whole point. “Guidance on noise emission levels is designed with “the neighbour” in mind, not the operator. Vibration levels on machinery and hand tools present a different challenge, he believes. “White finger is serious and is incurable - nerve endings in your fingers die. It can develop quite quickly too. So, controlling vibration levels is one of the forms of legislation that really matters.”
He is acutely worried about the dangers of conditions such as white finger. Legislation may be tightening, and health and safety elements on machinery and equipment improving, but other issues blight the industry and put operators at risk, possibly without them even being alive to the dangers. EU directives are largely dictating the way forward for safe practices, but product coming into Britain from outside Europe may not be as safe as the manufacturer claims. “This is the single biggest issue we face,” Harry insists. “No regulations govern the importation of products. They may carry a C mark and, on paper, meet all regulations but, when tested, emission levels may be above legal limits and that, too, is becoming a major environmental factor.” Moves are afoot to develop global legislation, but there are snags. “In the US, no noise legislation exists at all. Mowers there, for example, may be twice as loud, so they are not going to speed the introduction of controls, are they?” The reality is clear - if machinery and equipment tick the boxes, it is seen as meeting standards, he says. “We are policing documentation not product. That’s why it is so important to conduct independent tests over here. The Vehicle Documentation Authority will check the paperwork, but not the product itself.” UK manufacturers such as Countax are bearing the brunt of laxness abroad, says Harry, who is conscious that his protestations could sound like sour grapes. “It’s not a level playing field. We spend a lot more money making products that meet legal limits. For example, the costs of making a quiet ride-on tractor are extremely high. You’re looking at double skin bonnets and soft joints and, to do that, is expensive. We are losing £250,000 a year off the bottom line in such added costs.” Countax employs Fivesquared to conduct regular checks on products and to supply vibration data for the machines and tools they supply here. “There’s a document for every product we sell,” he
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