September 17, 2018
In order to prevent workers from experiencing HAVS, to comply with the European Directive 2002/44/EC, and to prioritize best practice, you should consider tools with an autobalancer. This will help to reduce vibration levels and operators’ fatigue, thereby ensuring users’ safety while improving productivity and profitability ratios. Additionally, the extra cost of the autobalancer is quickly compensated by the decreased abrasive consumption and the increased productivity.
Always remember the easy steps that can be taken to reduce the risk of HAVS: choose a strong tool with short trigger time that is right for the job, keep hands warm, take breaks on a regular basis and alternate between stressful and less stressful tasks and grip positions.
Quite simply, an autobalancer stabilizes a tool. An autobalancer is a disk, such as ball bearing, with freely moving balls inside that is fixed onto the output of the tool as a flange, and spins at the same speed as the tool’s output. While spinning, the balls compensate for any abrasive imperfection. Their fast rotation creates a gyroscopic effect that balances the tool, greatly reducing any vibration.
An autobalancer is considered as one of the best anti-vibration options for power tools, not only because ergonomics are improved but also because operators’ fatigue is reduced and consequently the risk of injury decreases. Moreover, users can work with these tools for longer as they reach their maximum limit of vibration later than when they work with tools that do not include this feature.
By choosing a tool with an autobalancer there are many benefits:
Let’s look at an example and compare the CP3650 grinder (without an autobalancer) against the CP3650-120AB5VK grinder (with an autobalancer). The autobalancer reduces vibrations from 7.5 m/s² to 4.5 m/s², and since the time of use is proportional to the square of the vibration value, this has a strong effect on how long you can grind safely!
| Time to reach action value | Time to reach limit value | ||||
| Tool - grinders | Vibrating magnitude, m/s2 |
Hours | Minutes | Hours | Minutes |
| CP3650-120AB5 | 7.5 | 53 | 3 | 33 | |
| CP3650-120AB5VK | 4.5 | 2 | 28 | 9 | 53 |
The grinder with an autobalancer can be used for 2 hours 28 minutes before taking adjustments to improve the workstation in order to comply with the directive EU 2002/44/EC, and almost 10 hours before reaching the point when users need to stop using the tool for the day. This means operators can grind for three times longer than when using a tool without an autobalancer.
In addition to using a tool with an autobalancer to limit vibrations, operators should consider tools with anti-vibration side handles, wear vibration-reducing gloves and work will well-maintained tools.
Disclaimer: This article is neither a magnum opus control exposure to hand-arm vibration nor legal advice for your company to use in complying with your local regulations. Instead, it provides background information to help you better understand how to address some important points. This information is not the same as legal advice, where an attorney applies the law to your specific circumstances, so we insist that you consult an attorney if you’d like advice on your interpretation of this information or its accuracy. In a nutshell, you may not rely on this paper as legal advice, nor as a recommendation of any particular legal understanding.
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