HAVS: Risks, Symptoms, and How to Prevent It

Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome, or often known as HAVS, is a condition that occurs from long term usage of hand held tools and machinery.

This serious and often irreversible condition affects thousands of workers across the country every year, mainly across construction, manufacturing, utilities, and maintenance industries.

Understanding how HAVS develops, how to spot the early signs, and how to prevent it is essential for protecting workers and meeting legal responsibilities.

What Actually is HAVS?

As we stated earlier, this is caused by repeated exposure to hand-arm vibration. It affects the blood vessels, nerves, muscles and joints in the fingers, hands and arms.

The problem with this condition is that it may not be noticeable at first. You could operate relatively ‘problem free’ for years until symptoms start showing.

And once HAVS has been diagnosed, it cannot be cured, only managed.

One of the most recognisable symptoms is Vibration White Finger (VWF), where blood flow to the fingers is reduced, causing them to turn white and numb, particularly in cold conditions.

How is HAVS Caused?

We know that repeated exposure to vibration causes HAVS, but let’s go one step further.

This is most prominent in situations where exposure is poorly controlled, common contributing factors include:

• Prolonged daily tool use
• High vibration levels
• Poorly maintained equipment
• Cold or wet working conditions
• Tight grip or excessive force
• Long-term exposure over months or years

This risk only increases as the daily vibration exposure accumulates. People often working with hammer drills, angle grinders, powered sanders, chainsaws and other high vibration tools are most at risk of HAVS.

What to Look Out For

HAVS symptoms vary in severity and often develop gradually, it’s important to keep an eye out for early symptoms if you or staff often work in environments where HAVS is common.

Early symptoms:

• Tingling or numbness in fingers
• Loss of sensitivity
• Reduced dexterity

These are almost the most important ones to spot, as you can prevent serious HAVS developing before it is too late.

Advanced symptoms:

• Loss of grip strength
• Pain in hands or arms
• Joint and muscle damage
• Fingers turning white (VWF / Raynaud’s Phenomenon)

Is There Any Treatment?

Unfortunately, there is no cure for HAVS.

Medical treatment often focuses on managing the symptoms, rather than reversing the damage. In advanced cases, workers may need to stop using vibrating tools altogether.

Because it is completely incurable (for now) the only way to avoid HAVS is through early intervention.

So, How Can HAVS Be Prevented?

Preventing HAVS requires a combination of engineering controls, management practices, and worker awareness.

Some of the main methods are actually very simple.

• Simply selecting low vibration tools means that you or your staff are exposed to lower levels of vibration
• Keeping tools properly maintained is another easy way to make sure that you’re lowering your risk of HAVS.
• Education of staff on the risk and symptoms, encouraging them to check for symptoms and encourage relaxed grip techniques.

However, arguably the most effective way is through monitoring yours, or your team’s vibration limits. And this can be done with equipment like an SV 106D.

This is a high accuracy monitor that can track both hands levels of vibration to give you actual quantifiable vibration levels.

This means you can report, manage and limit the levels of vibration your staff are going through, which gives you all the data you need to protect from HAVS effectively,

HAVS is preventable, but only if vibration risks are properly understood and managed.

The number of people diagnosed with HAVS has been decreasing year on year, and this is because of accurate measurement, early reporting, and sensible control measures.

Monitoring vibration levels protects workers and ensures long-term compliance with health and safety regulations.

Find out more about the SV 106D on our website.