Diagnostic Criteria and Staging of Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome in the United Kingdom

Abstract

In the United Kingdom the diagnosis of Hand-arm Vibration Syndrome varies depending on the purpose of that diagnosis. The criteria differ in three situations. More than 100,000 miners and ex-miners with claims for HAVS have been examined using a Medical Assessment Process which included the use of standardised tests. This contract is unique but it has had significant effects on the two other processes. The Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit Scheme provides a benefit that can be paid to an employed earner because of an accident or Prescribed Disease. New recommendations have been published to remove the anomalies in the present format for assessing HAVS. If implemented the new scheme will recognise the Stockholm Workshop Scales and workers with neurological problems will also be compensated. The Health and Safety Executive will issue new guidance in the near future on the hazards of hand-arm vibration. Health surveillance in the workplace will be fundamental and the HSE propose a tiered approach with levels 1 to 5. Specialist occupational nurses and doctors with training in the diagnosis and assessment of HAVS will be needed for levels 3 and 4. Only at this level may a diagnosis of HAVS be made. The Medical Assessment Process has demonstrated that it is possible to examine a large number of claimants in a standardised manner. The IIAC and HSE recommendations contain very important improvements on the existing positions in the UK and it must be hoped that they will be implemented in the near future.

Noise-induced gastric lesions: a light and electron microscopy study of the rat gastric wall exposed to low frequency noise

“…These lesions were similar to those disclosed in other vessels, arteries, veins and lymphatics exposed to this kind of noise (17,35,47) . Arterial lesions in the gastric submucosa were also similar to those reported in the "hand-arm vibration syndrome" that is a well known occupational disease related with the use of vibrating tools (37) . Although joint (40,56) and neural (22,32,51,52) lesions are important, the syndrome seems to have a vascular pathogenesis.…”

The Characteristics of Vibrotactile Perception Threshold among Shipyard Workers in a Tropical Environment

“…The evaluation of VPT in the fingers is one of the basic methods for early detection of peripheral neuropathies in the upper extremities in workers who are exposed to HAVS. Although the VPT method is not a gold standard in determining the effect of HAVS, it is one the most accurate methods available for detecting a sensor-neural change compared to other methods [6][7][8][9] .…”

Vibration-induced white finger syndrome and carpal tunnel syndrome among Finnish metal workers

“…In clinical studies the prevalence of vascular symptoms among exposed workers has varied, for example, from 9 to 51.9% (Bovenzi 1998b). We used the slightly modified international criteria for VWF (Pelmear 2003;McGeoch et al 2005) that are also used by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health. Nevertheless, an underdiagnosis of VWF in Finland seems inevitable with respect to the official Finnish Register of Occupational Diseases as we found about the same number of cases among the 285 workers as are reported for the whole country annually.…”