Customer Case Study

Managing Hand Arm Vibration Risk for Caterpillar

Abbey’s Vibration Management Programme helps to monitor and eliminate the risks posed by Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS).

About Caterpillar

Caterpillar are a global leader in manufacturing heavy-duty off-road and construction equipment. They have a significant manufacturing presence in the United Kingdom with 10 sites, and over 10,000 employees.

Their site in Peterlee specializes in the design and manufacture of articulated trucks. These trucks are used in various industries, including earthmoving, mining, and quarrying.

The Challenge

Protect employees from hand arm vibration syndrome during the manufacturing process.

Safeguarding against hand-arm vibration in manufacturing is crucial to prevent serious health issues such as Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS) and carpal tunnel syndrome. Prolonged exposure to vibration from tools and machinery can lead to irreversible damage to blood vessels, nerves, and muscles in the hands and arms.

Our Solution

Provide expert advice, monitor, test and improve continually.

1) Expert consultants

With over 50 years industry experience our team of HAV’s experts are certified by the Industry of Acoustics to consult and advise on Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome. We stay up to date on all the latest regulations, meaning our customers can rest assured that we are keeping them compliant and protecting their operators from illness or injury.

2) Unique 12 step programme

Abbey’s Vibration Management Programme helps to monitor and eliminate the risks posed by HAVs. Abbey’s dedicated service uses a 12-step programme to capture any HAVS based risks. We worked alongside the customer at every stage, creating and maintaining an asset register, conducting testing on tooling and consumables as well as carrying out maintenance to keep tools performing within the regulations.

3) Continual assessments and reporting

We make regular visits to the site to carry out testing and maintenance and after each site visit a detailed report is created including the vibration magnitude and exposure limit values of individual tools. These learnings are then built into an action plan for future maintenance and also form part of our programme of training to raise operator awareness around safety in use and tool maintenance.

Conclusion

At Abbey, our experts and trained and stay up to date with all legislation and we work with a multitude of manufacturers to create tailored, expert advice and services around vibration management based on HSE standards.