I’m a huge supporter of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), and its work is normally excellent. However I wanted to urgently flag a concern I have over its ‘new’ HAVS calculator, which you can download from the HSE website.

Instead of the space for the make and model number, It now has a drop-down selector for equipment, indicating a range of vibration for each. This range is based on extensive testing that the HSE has done on a wide range of tools and a wide range of activities. It has even calculated the typical vibration magnitude (the 75th percentile). The idea is that you can use this information to critically assess what the manufacturer tells you.

So far so excellent. But crucially, the spreadsheet picks this typical figure and slots it into the calculation for you. Unless you put your own figure in based on your own assessment of the actual tool you are using, the calculation will be done using the HSE’s ‘recommended’ value.

If your tool happens to be at the high end of the range, you could be massively exposing the worker.
 

 

The image I use is a worked example for a reciprocating saw. The typical value (18m/s²) was accepted – but the tool picked up (and the task undertaken) has a magnitude at the top end of the range (27m/s²). A ‘nice safe’ 32-minute trigger time was recorded ‘well away’ from the exposure limit value (ELV). The reality would be a breach by nearly double.

I don’t like to criticise the HSE which, as I say, is normally excellent. But it seems as though this spreadsheet has been broken by someone trying to be helpful, and I’d recommend using it with extreme caution for the time being.