EXPOSURE TO HAND-ARM TRANSMITTED VIBRATION AT FOREST NURSERY AND THINNING

The Directive 44/EC from 2002 – On the Minimum Health and Safety Requirements Regarding to Exposure of Workers to the Risk Arising from Physical Agents: Vibration , became obligatory for all EU member-states after 2014. As it is well known, it sets limits for the worker’s exposure to hand-arm transmitted vibration at 2.5 m/s 2 (action value), i.e. 5 m/s 2 (upper limit value). It is also known that daily vibration exposure shall be expressed in terms of 8-h energy-equivalent frequency-weighted vibration total value A(8). In order to determine the level of daily exposure two parameters have to be measured: frequency-weighted r.m.s. acceleration value and the total daily duration of exposure to the vibration (Suchomel et.al., 2010). When the work consists of several activities with different vibration magnitudes, in order to determine the daily vibration exposure A(8), the frequency-weighted r.m.s. acceleration value for all single activities and duration of all individual vibration exposure should be measured according to ISO 5349-1:2001. The paper reports the results of measurement of the chain saw operator’s exposure to vibration at forest nursery and thinning.