Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS) affects millions of workers worldwide who use electric, gas and pneumatic power tools or stationary tools that transmit vibration to the worker’s hands. Long-haul drivers, heavy equipment operators or persons driving various utility vehicles also risk developing these disorders.
These workers are found in virtually every industrial classification but especially in manufacturing, mining and construction. As the use of vibrating equipment has increased in recent years, so has the incidence of various HAVS disorders. Vibration exposure can result in circulatory and nerve damage that is painful and permanent. The development of HAVS may be gradual or a person may begin to feel tingling or numbness of the fingers within a few weeks.
For most HAVS disorders, there is no medical cure. It is obvious, therefore, that protecting workers and removing hazards is critical.
Wearing gloves to protect from vibration would seem to be an obvious solution, but simple fabric or leather gloves have basically no effect on vibration exposure. When sponge or foam materials are incorporated into gloves, they are inefficient at damping vibration. Visco-elastic materials perform better, but are still shown to be relatively inefficient, in some cases even amplifying vibration through human resonance. Hundreds of items are erroneously or deceptively labeled “anti-vibration”, but without testing and certification, those claims of reducing vibration are shaky at best.
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Believing that a material could be developed to meet the testing standards applied to vibration reduction materials, Chase Ergonomics, Inc. worked for more than two years with researchers in the United States and Scandinavia to develop what has become Gfom.
This multi-part vibration-reducing pad was tested extensively in an independent European testing lab, enabling it to be CE-certified for its unique ability to reduce harmful vibration frequencies to levels specified in the ISO (International Organization for Standardization) vibration-glove testing standard.
The ISO standard has been approved and adopted by both the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the ASA (Acoustical Society of America) and as of 2007, is now numbered ANSI S2.73-2002 / ISO 10819: 1996 (R2007). This certification requires that material contained in a glove labeled "anti-vibration" must reduce vibration in the middle (31.5 - 200 Hz) and high frequency (200 - 1250 Hz) ranges produced by many power tools. The ISO/ANSI standard details the testing methods to be used, and the results that must be achieved by a glove claiming anti-vibration properties.
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