Frequency weightings for hand-transmitted vibration: results of the Ottawa workshop.

In this collection of papers we have read about a range of research being applied to understanding the relationship between exposures to hand-transmitted vibration and injury to the hand and arm. These include laboratory studies designed to investigate specific human physiological and psychophysical responses or to determine biodynamic models for the hand and arm; animal surrogate studies to investigate damage mechanisms; and workplace studies seeking to demonstrate empirical relationships between exposures and apparent effects on the worker populations. The presentation of these papers, and the related workshop held in Ottawa in 2011, were brought about by a desire to improve the assessment of health risks from handarm vibration exposures. Currently these risks are evaluated in accordance with International Standard, ISO 5349– 1:20011), and key to the application of this Standard is the frequency weighting Wh as defined in ISO 8041:20052). Within the International Standards and research communities there has been for some time an acknowledgement that Wh did not represent risk well for some machine types, and a desire to develop a frequency weighting that was more effective, particularly for vascular injuries. For this reason the ISO working group responsible for the ISO 5349 Standards proposed some candidate weightings for consideration in October 2008. The Ottawa frequency weightings workshop, held as part of the 12th International Conference on Hand-Arm Vibration, and this special edition of Industrial Health represent the best information currently available to inform this debate.