19th November 2021Products

Using STIHL Connected to Monitor Hand Arm Vibration Exposure

STIHL connected is used by professionals to help keep on top of tool maintenance and to manage a fleet of tools. It means you can easily see which machines are used and more importantly, for how long. This information is particularly useful when considering hand-arm vibration if you are a professional user of power tools, who uses tools over longer periods of time.

Monitoring hand-arm vibration is incredibly important as long-term use of a power tool can result in hand arm vibration syndrome which can lead to tingling, numbness and long-lasting effects such as ‘white finger’, a condition caused by reduced blood flow to the fingers over long periods. Therefore, daily exposure (the time you spend using a machine) is something you should be keeping a very close eye on.

The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER) here places a responsibility on people and companies who own, operate or have control over work equipment. PUWER also places responsibilities on businesses and organisations whose employees use work equipment, whether owned by them or not. This includes making sure machinery is suitable, safe, used by trained people and accompanied by suitable health and safety measures.

So how can STIHL connected help you monitor hand arm vibration?

Machine working time is often an estimate; in studies, professionals often over estimate how long they have worked with a machine for, forgetting about the time it took to set up, tidy up, check the work or have the all-important coffee break! Using actual data recorded by STIHL connected data can help give you a true picture and monitor this more closely.

You can also monitor working time while you are on the job. Opening the STIHL connected App near your STIHL machine whilst working can show the daily working time and give you the details of how much a tool has already been used that day.

Using this data can help give you a better idea of whether that tool is really suitable for the job, how long it is being used for and if you could benefit yourself or your workers by using a lower vibration tool.

Often, as you move up the range of tools you can find a machine with lower vibration and sometimes even more power, which will hopefully have a double benefit of getting the work done more efficiently, whilst limiting exposure to machine vibration.

Many companies have their own tools, but the HSE have a useful hand arm vibration calculator you can use to work out what measures you might need to take and whether you are using the best tool for the job. Here’s our suggestions:

Download the Hand Arm Vibration calculator from the HSE website. This tool is really effective and tells you if you need to take any measures to reduce vibration.
Vibration data can be found in the instruction manual, the STIHL catalogue, the STIHL App or on the STIHL website. Keep this information handy as you’ll need to add it to the vibration calculator.
Add your data from STIHL connected or the best estimate of your machine working time for the day, so you know if you need to take any action.

STIHL connected can really help you get the most accurate data when considering this important aspect of your job. Find out more about STIHL Connected at your nearest STIHL Approved Dealer or in our video: