Reactec HAVmeter battles Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome
Reactec, the Edinburgh University noise and vibration spinoff company has launched its pioneering electronic monitoring and protection HAVmeter in response to the 1000 new cases of Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome reported each year to the Health and Safety Executive and an estimated 2m workers in the UK being at risk. It is widely accepted that stringent measures are required to protect heavy duty tool operators from HAVS.
Established in June 2001 as a spin-out from the University of Edinburgh, Reactec is a high growth company working in the engineering sector and dedicated to creating new possibilities in the field of vibration control and monitoring. The HAVmeter is the first device in the world that can record the workers’ exposure and alert employees when they approach their legal vibration exposure limit. It does this by giving power tool users a running total of their vibration point’s exposure throughout the day and warning them before high exposure levels are reached.
Designed and developed over the last three years in close collaboration with major global construction companies, public bodies and local industries, the low-cost ground-breaking device has widespread implications for protecting the health and safety of million of workers within the construction, highways, manufacturing and automotive sectors.
And the device is being manufactured in Scotland by CTS in Blantyre Industrial Estate, outside Glasgow.
Reactec MD Mark-Paul Buckingham said, “The launch of the HAVmeter means that, for the first time, organisations can access crucial real-time information on individual exposure rates to Hand Arm Vibration. Reactec has invested significantly in developing a system that meets the demanding needs of various industrial sectors.
“The HAVmeter will provide those organisations that adopt it with a significant return on investment. That’s why our first production run has been almost entirely allocated by customers placing pre-orders.”
The device works by providing visual warnings to the operator when they are approaching prescribed maximum daily exposure levels as set by the Health and Safety Executive. As such, it increases the accuracy of health and safety data and eliminates the need for operators to complete laborious daily paper-based records of vibration levels.
Following a two year collaboration with Tarmac, incorporating extensive on-site testing of the system, the HAVmeter is currently being rolled-out across the UK by Tarmac’s National Contracting division. This national roll-out will ensure the device is used by over 1000 Tarmac employees nationwide. Further that the company is currently piloting the devices overseas, as far as New Zealand.
The system features four main components:
- a durable, colour-coded tool tag on each piece of equipment;
- a magnetic swipe card for each operator;
- the rugged HAVmeter, which is both dust and water proof,
- a base station which will incorporate up to eight individual HAVmeters.
Features of the HAVmeter design include
* Tri-axial Accelerometers for measuring Vibration Levels
* Low power operation from Rechargeable Battery
* Contactless inductive power transfer battery charging
* Contactless wireless data download with the Base Station
* RFID Tag Reader (used for tool identification)
* Small form factor
* Smart Card Reader
* LCD Display and Keypad
* Memory Card Interface
The Base Station acts as the recharge and data interface unit, providing docking for up to eight HAVmeters and wiretless recharging of the device.
Source: http://www.reactec.com/Hand-Arm-Vibration/HAVmeter.html
Web: http://www.ctscorp.com/locations/sct_gls.htm
http://www.tarmac.co.uk/