Programme 02 · Control of Vibration at Work Regulations 2005
Hand-arm vibration (HAVS) health surveillance
HAVS is progressive, disabling and irreversible once established. It is also easy to catch early, which is why the law requires surveillance for anyone regularly exposed to hand-transmitted vibration, and why the programme is built as a tiered screen rather than an annual medical.
Early symptoms may improve if exposure falls. Established vascular disease does not. That asymmetry is the whole argument for annual screening.
The duty
What the Vibration Regulations require
The Control of Vibration at Work Regulations 2005 set an exposure action value and an exposure limit value for hand-arm vibration, both expressed as an eight-hour energy-equivalent average, written A(8). Health surveillance is required for workers likely to be regularly exposed at or above the action value, and for anyone otherwise at particular risk.
| Value | Level | What it means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| Exposure action value (EAV) | 2.5 m/s² A(8) | Introduce a programme of control measures and provide health surveillance for those regularly exposed at or above it |
| Exposure limit value (ELV) | 5 m/s² A(8) | Must not be exceeded; if it is, take immediate action to bring exposure below it |
Who is in scope
Tools and tasks that commonly reach the action value
- Breakers, road breakers, demolition hammers and needle guns
- Angle grinders, cut-off saws, disc cutters and chipping hammers
- Impact wrenches, riveters, nut runners and impact drivers
- Chainsaws, brush cutters, hedge trimmers and strimmers
- Sanders, polishers, scabblers and concrete pokers
- Hand-held or hand-guided plant, including compaction plates
Cold and wet working conditions and a tight grip all increase risk, which is why the same tool used outdoors in winter is not the same exposure as indoors in summer.
The programme
The five-tier system
HAVS surveillance is deliberately structured so that most workers most years need only a short questionnaire, and clinical time is spent on the people whose answers warrant it. HSE guidance describes five tiers.
- Tier 1 · Baseline questionnaireA short screening questionnaire when a worker starts vibration-exposed work, establishing their starting point and identifying anyone already symptomatic.
- Tier 2 · Annual screening questionnaireThe routine annual screen for everyone in scope. Most workers stop here, and it can be administered by a trained responsible person.
- Tier 3 · Assessment by a qualified personTriggered by a positive screen. A structured HAVS assessment, usually by an occupational health nurse with relevant training, staging any symptoms and advising on the worker's continued exposure.
- Tier 4 · Formal diagnosis by a doctorWhere the assessment indicates it, formal diagnosis and staging by a doctor qualified in occupational medicine, with advice to you on fitness and controls.
- Tier 5 · Optional standardised testsAdditional objective testing, used selectively where it will change the decision rather than as routine.
Symptoms are staged on the Stockholm Workshop scale, separately for the vascular component (the blanching or "white finger") and the sensorineural component (numbness and loss of fine touch), because the two progress independently and matter differently for the work someone can safely do.
Why it matters commercially
HAVS is reportable, and claims follow
Hand-arm vibration syndrome and carpal tunnel syndrome arising from vibration are both reportable to the enforcing authority under RIDDOR where the criteria are met. HAVS is also one of the most litigated occupational diseases in the UK: the injury is well characterised, the exposure is documentable, and the absence of surveillance records is close to indefensible in a civil claim.
Put plainly: the surveillance record is the evidence that you found the problem, acted on it and managed the exposure. Without it, the argument becomes what you should have known, and the answer tends to be "everything".
How Polarisk runs it
The programme, without the administration
The duty is mapped
Roles map to HAVS surveillance on the exposure criteria, so the list of who is owed an assessment is derived rather than remembered. Workers who need none are evidenced as such.
Each worker answers privately
A single-use link, bound to that person at issue and spent on use. Your organisation's own account is refused at the answers.
Protocol triages, a human judges
Responses are scored against the protocol and drafted for review. A registered clinician reads every case and signs under their own name and registration number.
The cycle runs itself
Due dates, reminders and lapse tracking are handled. You are told who has not answered, by name, while there is still time to act.
Evidence is generated
The audit pack comes from the live record: duty map, completion by site, certificate register and the sign-off trail behind each judgment.
Appointed-Doctor streams
Asbestos, lead, ionising radiation and compressed air require an HSE Appointed Doctor. We do not run those, and will say so rather than quote for them.
Questions
Common questions
Do we need HAVS surveillance for everyone who touches a power tool?
No. It applies to those likely to be regularly exposed at or above the exposure action value of 2.5 m/s² A(8), and to anyone otherwise at particular risk. The practical difficulty is that employers routinely misjudge who that is, because A(8) depends on tool magnitude and genuine trigger time rather than on how long a tool is in someone's hand. A defensible exposure assessment comes first; the surveillance list follows from it.
Can our own staff run the annual questionnaire?
Tier 2 screening can be administered by a trained responsible person within your organisation, which is what makes annual coverage affordable at scale. What cannot be delegated is the interpretation: a positive screen must route to a qualified person at Tier 3, and formal diagnosis at Tier 4 is a doctor's. On Polarisk the routing is automatic, so a positive answer cannot sit in a filing cabinet.
What is the Stockholm Workshop scale?
The standard staging system for HAVS. It grades the vascular component, meaning episodes of finger blanching, and the sensorineural component, meaning numbness and loss of fine touch, on separate scales, because they progress independently. Staging matters because it drives the advice on continued exposure: early stages often allow continued work with controls, while advanced stages generally do not.
Is HAVS reversible if we catch it early?
Early sensorineural symptoms may improve if exposure stops or falls substantially. Established vascular disease generally does not reverse. That asymmetry is the whole argument for annual screening: the point of the programme is to find people while the answer is still a change to their work rather than the end of it.
One of our people has been diagnosed. What do we have to do?
Act on the clinical advice about that individual's exposure, review the risk assessment and control measures for the task, consider everyone else doing the same work, and report it under RIDDOR where the criteria are met. Polarisk raises the review and reporting questions with the outcome, and holds the record of what was decided.
Start here
Find out what you owe before an inspector does
Four questions about your workforce and its exposures. You will get an estimate of the assessments owed each year, by programme, and where your current arrangement leaves a gap. No sign-up and no personal data.