Saint-Gobain Construction Products UK Limited fined £509,000 after 3 cases of hand arm vibration syndrome

 Saint-Gobain Construction Products UK Limited, a large foundry in Telford, was fined £509,453.(inc.costs) after a number of its workers were diagnosed with hand arm vibration syndrome (HAVS).

The circumstances were:

• Three employees were diagnosed with HAVS in 2016.
• The employees used tools such as hand grinders, air chisels, spindle grinders, and earlier on in their employment, jackhammers to finish cast iron drainage products.
• One of these had been using vibrating tools at the company since 1989.
• Until 19 December 2017, the vibration risk assessment did not identify each employee’s daily exposure to vibration.
• Also, it did not measure cumulative exposures of using different vibrating tools throughout a shift.
• There was inadequate health surveillance in place.
• Employees were not made aware of HAVS and its symptoms. 
• Despite health surveillance notifying the company of a HAVS diagnosis, the company had failed to take effective action to adjust the affected worker’s job. 
• This meant that staff continued to be exposed to excessive vibration.

The HSE inspector said:
“This was an established multinational company that had the resources to protect its workers from the effects of excessive vibration, but failed to do so over a long period of time. All employers have a duty to provide effective measures to ensure the health of their staff is not seriously or permanently harmed by the work they are asked to do.”