How the Hazard Manifests Itself
Discuss about the Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome in the Construction Industry.
Occupational health is the branch of medicine that is concerned with managing, preventing and treating illnesses or injuries that occur in the work environment (Baum, 2016). According to Colby and Corwin (2017), the term occupational ill health encompasses the ill conditions that workers bring in to the work place as well as those either caused or aggravated by the work environment. Occupational health conditions may be noticed shortly after occurrence but in most cases, they take a long time to develop (Maddux, 2016). Consequently, continuous monitoring may be important to help identify these conditions. Kelloway, Francis, Gatien and Belcourt (2017) argue that some of the health issues of the work place may be treated and cured if identified early enough. Some can only be prevented from worsening while others are terminal (House et al, 2014). Since there are a lot of people who work) in every country/nation, occupational health and safety is an important consideration. Governments have developed regulations towards ensuring safety of workers. This essay focuses on the emerging occupational health issues in the construction industry. How the hazard manifests, the legislative requirements relating to the hazard, standard industry practice relating to elimination or minimization of the health hazard and its effectiveness are going to be discussed. More specifically, hand arm vibration is going to be discussed.
Vibrating hand-held power tools are frequently used in the construction industry. As demonstrated by Carlsson and Dahlin (2014), continuous exposure to such vibration has been shown to cause a condition known as hand-arm vibration syndrome. The condition affects the arm, fingers and the hand and can result to permanent damage in the long run. The probability of one developing the problem is directly proportional to exposure to vibration (Griffin, 2012). The syndrome manifests itself in three ways. One, it may cause neurological injuries. The early symptoms for such injuries include numbness in hands and fingers. When fully developed, the damages are irreversible causing increased rates of disability. House and Thompson (2017) demonstrate that during this stage, the affected person finds simple tasks such as pouring water in to a glass extremely difficult. Another common neurological manifestation of this condition is the carpal tunnel syndrome.
The second way in which this health hazard manifests itself is as vascular injuries. This is brought about by injuries to the capillaries causing them to constrict. This condition causes the hand to whiten/turn extremely pale especially when one is exposed to cold (Goetsch, 2011). When the capillaries constrict, some parts of the fingers or hand become numb since blood is not being supplied to the areas. When vasodilation starts, and blood can be circulated to the parts that had turned pale, the affected person experiences discomfort and pain in the affected parts of the fingers/hand (Fulford and Standing, 2014). Thirdly, are musculoskeletal injuries. These may take several forms including tendonitis and arthritis. They often result in impaired grip force, reduced movement of the hand and arm, and pain. As indicated by Sorenson and Barbeau (2015), there is no sufficient scientific evidence to explain why the hand grip becomes impaired, but it might result from injuries of nerves and muscle structures.
Legislative Requirements
The chance of developing the conditions listed above vary considerably between individuals. Some individuals develop the conditions after a few years of vibration exposure while others may work for many years without any problem (Poole, Mason and Harding, 2016). When the injury caused by vibration is fully developed, it cannot be reversed (Reese, 2015). This means that even if the affected individual were to cease using the vibrating devices, no medical or surgical interventions would cure the condition. Lawrence (2017) demonstrates that these types of injuries mostly affect the working age population (young or middle-aged persons) and the effects can de debilitating.
Worldwide, governments have demonstrated continuously a commitment to achieve a construction working environment that is free from disease and injuries. This is through establishing legislation on the same. This is mainly done through establishing performance objectives that are generalized and enforcing a system of clearly identified and stated responsibilities to encourage more regulation of self when it comes to industries that deal with construction activities (Zhou, Goh and Li, 2015). Most countries have legislation that regulates how the operation of the construction companies and entities is performed. For instance, a law that forces persons such as contractors and installation equipment handlers to adhere to good engineering practice. In the United States, agencies such as Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) are mandated with ensuring safety in the construction industry. OSHA, which is a government agency ensures this by developing strict regulations which enforce safety on construction sites.
In Australia, the Work Health and Safety Act of 2011 outlines the legislation relating to occupational health and safety. According to Australia (2011) the act includes safety in the construction industry. Section 26 of the act outlines the duties and responsibilities of persons who conduct business or activities that involve installing, constructing or commissioning plants or structures. The section stipulates that such a person (with the duties outlined above) must ensure that to the greatest extent in far as it is reasonably practicable that the plant or structure to be installed, commissioned or constructed does not pose any health hazard or risk to the categories of people that are going to be discussed next. The first group of people is those who are directly involved in the construction or installation of the structure or plant. Secondly, those who use the structure or the plant for purpose for which it was constructed, commissioned or installed. Thirdly, who carry out activities that are reasonably foreseeable at a work environment in relation to the appropriate use, dismantling, decommissioning, demolition or disposal of the plant/structure. The final group of people is those who might be at the vicinity of the structure.
In most regions of the world, there are no regulations that are specifically developed for vibration. However, government agencies such as OSHA provide advice on workers using vibration tools on how to protect themselves and prevent developing Hand-arm Vibration Syndrome (Van, 2016). Such advice mainly relates to minimisation of risk and is going to be discussed next. One such advice is use of antivibration tools. According to Australia (2012), these can be designed or mounted in ways that will help achieve reduction in vibration. For instance, use of anti-vibration chain saws achieves reduction of vibration by up to a factor of 10 (Sousa, Almeida, and Dias, 2014). Secondly, is use of anti-vibration gloves. Thirdly, is employing working practices that are safe. These include periodically taking rests to avoid continuous exposure, avoiding using tools that are faulty and visiting a doctor for advice in case any sign of vibration disease. Fourth, is educating employees about HAVS, how it occurs and how to control it. According Sauni, Toivio, Pääkkönen, Malmström and Uitti (2015), such a move would raise awareness and potentially reduce cases of HAVS.
Standard Industry Practice Relating to Elimination/Minimization of the Hazard
There are some threshold values for exposure to hand-arm vibration that have been set. These have been developed by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH). The levels of exposure that have been found to be safe is vibration that has acceleration of 5 metres/sec2 for a period of 8 hours daily. Bovenzi (2016) argues that within this level of exposure, most workers can work on smoothly without being at risk of developing HAVS. Studies have revealed that the above-mentioned level of exposure is very effective leads to insignificant number of cases of HAVS.
Conclusion
Occupation health is the branch of medicine that is concerned with health concerns of the work environment. Health conditions of the work environment may be noticeable after only a few years of exposure while others may take decades to manifest themselves inform of signs and symptoms. Some can be cured when identified early enough while most are irreversible once fully developed. Hand-arm Vibration Syndrome is condition that is associated with use of vibrating tools. Such tools are most commonly used in the construction industry. The condition may manifest itself in three ways. It might occur as neurological injuries, vascular injuries or musculoskeletal injuries. The effects can be extremely debilitating. Governments worldwide have set legislation to regulate how construction industries carry out their activities to ensure safety. OSHA, for instance, is a government agency that is mandated to ensure safety of workers. In Australia, the Work Health and Safety Act has been established to address safety of workers. The 26th section addresses safety in construction industries. Around the world, there aren’t any regulations relating to vibration and HAVS but agencies such as OSHA offer advice on how to minimise the effects of vibration. The American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) have established a standard industry practice relating to elimination of HAVS. This is an exposure to vibration of 5 metres/ sec2 for 8 hours daily. Most workers don not show any sign of HAVS when exposed to such vibration over a long period.
References
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