HAND/ARM VIBRATION
organisations – has been unable to effectively combat the risks associated with exposure to repeated collisions, introducing concussion ‘protocols’ that have largely been regarded as unsuccessful and difficult to manage.
In both rugby and heavy engineering, exposure to risk from shock and vibration persists without adequate mitigation. Workplace culture in both sport and environments like construction sites are not conducive to athletes or workers stepping away from their tasks to proactively diminish their chance of long-term injury. Moreover, individuals across such industries may find so-called solutions to these problems inconvenient or simply unimportant. This attitude is particularly
likely to prevail when the lasting effects of conditions like HAVS and other musculoskeletal, degenerative diseases aren’t known or fully appreciated while they’re developing. This lack of awareness is exactly why it’s crucial to take a proactive, preventative approach to these hidden threats.
THE GAME PLAN The reality of the heavy engineering workplace, not
unlike a rugby pitch, is that any controls put in place to actually, meaningfully remedy a worker’s exposure to risk from vibration, cannot be strictly retrospective in nature. ‘Protocols’ designed to address injuries and exposure after they’ve happened are simply inadequate to address the risks posed by these workplace threats.
A proactive, preventative approach to controlling exposure to risk from shock or vibration must exist, in the very first instance, in order to have any chance of being effective. Concussion protocols in rugby aren’t as effective at preventing damage caused by collisions as changing the rules of the game would be, because protocols don’t prevent collisions. Less opportunity for dangerous contact, however, does. Similarly, in heavy engineering workplaces, no amount of record-keeping will prevent workers from exposure to vibration from tools or equipment. Tool and task rotations, real-time exposure alerts and more effective workplace controls, will. To put it simply: to win the battle against HAV, you have to change the rules of the game.
A HUMAN APPROACH TO WORKPLACE RULES Changing the rules for how we address workplace
health – and taking the conversation from a damage control-focussed dialogue to a preventative approach – requires adaptation, innovation and an attitude adjustment. Heavy engineering workers – similar to athletes on a team – are a human workforce. As such, they have an incredible capacity to adapt and adjust. A tool like HAVwear is about more than monitoring exposure to HAV; it’s about getting in control so that you can work to keep your workers safe and healthy. As Keith Prince, Health, Safety and Environment Leader for Infrastructure at Laing O’Rourke said: “[HAVWEAR] gives us confidence that we are planning our work safely and predictably and not overexposing people to risk.”
In the same way that rugby is considering changing the rules of the game to reduce the risk of dangerous contact, heavy engineering must change the rules of its own game so that keeping workers safe is automatic, not an afterthought. Doing that will require innovation, but that shift is anything but aspirational: the innovation is here, and it’s now. HAVwear identifies risk from exposure, in real-time, and Reactec Analytics tell you exactly where attention is needed so that you can refine your controls, reduce your risk, and protect your workforce. Now, and for the future.
www.reactec.com
twitter.com/TomorrowsHS 27
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52
