HAVS & HSE updates

There is some news from the HSE, however, that should help to clear up the question of whether you can apply a 'correction factor' to manufacturer's data to make it more use in the real world.

The HSE previously issued guidance to say that doubling the figure given by manufacturers would give a sufficient margin to compensate for real-world variation. This guidance has now been withdrawn. Simon Bull at Castle Group believes the reason for this is two-fold: Firstly, testing has shown that manufacturer's data can be as far over-estimated as it can under-reported, so 'doubling' isn't actually a fair representation. Secondly, manufacturers are now trying to give some real-world versions of the data, where doubling would be inappropriate in the first place and knowing where to apply it – or not – would be unsatisfactory.

The fact remains that measuring the level of vibration on a tool is still the only way to know for sure. Even if you don't believe that, it's certainly the only way to give you any hope of being able to defend or mitigate claims in the future. We know this because litigation courts will not accept manufacturer's data unless you measured it yourself - therefore, you lose before you've begun!

Castle Group has a new tool-testing service, which is cheaper than its full-reporting surveys.