How Reactec engineers risk right out of the workplace

Guesswork doesn’t work.

Historically, companies have used generalised, imperfect data sets to inform their mandatory action plans with regards to HAVS. As a result, companies implement generalised, imperfect plans with alarming frequency, to their physical and financial detriment. The plans aren’t just imperfect, they’re woefully inadequate: when it comes to estimating typical HAV exposure risk, data demonstrates that companies may underestimate the risk of those most likely to develop HAVS by a staggering 76 percent.

Course-correct with confidence.

Relying on generalised or incomplete data to implement a HAVS action plan simply doesn’t give you the information you need to adequately understand your workplace risk exposure. It’s a bit like training for a marathon without an exercise monitor: if you embark on a training plan to run 26.2 miles but you have no data to inform how far you’re running or how fast, your assessment of your own progress will be incomplete, inaccurate and strictly retrospective. If you wear an exercise monitor, however, you’ll be able to view your running stats over time and better understand – and refine – your training behaviours. If, for example, you learn that your pace is consistently slower on warmer days, you could reasonably assess that your body performs better in cooler temperatures. From this information, you could make simple changes to increase your performance and avoid unnecessarily draining workouts: You could work out in the early morning or later at night when the weather is cooler, you could plan less challenging workouts on warmer days, and you could plan future races around cooler training times and seasons.

It’s a bit like training for a marathon without an exercise monitor: if you embark on a training plan to run 26.2 miles but you have no data to inform how far you’re running or how fast, your assessment of your own progress will be incomplete, inaccurate and strictly retrospective.

With reliable, holistic data about your individual worker’s behaviours, you’re not left to guess at how you can improve workplace safety and productivity. Robust, representative data collected and analysed over time is the difference between trial and error, and the ability to course correct with confidence. Reactec’s Analytics does the heavy lifting for you: it shows you exactly where you need to take action in order to reduce your exposure risk, a level of insight that can’t be achieved by reviewing guesstimates or generalised data sets.

Imperfect data cannot provide perfect results.

Organisations often turn to manufacturer’s guidelines (reported ‘vibration values’) to determine their mandatory HAV action-plan. Much like an individual’s running style and preferences, the reality is that a tool’s vibration value can vary widely, and it’s often the case that the mean vibration level for an instrument’s intended use far exceeds the manufacturer’s declared vibration value. That means that workers are exposed to a level of vibration that an employer won’t be able to anticipate by relying on manufacturer’s data alone, and that’s without also accounting for operator competency. In one study, a number of two-man teams were charged with completing the same task using the same tools under the same conditions. The resulting data was widely varied: while some workers did not meet the exposure threshold, 50% of users exceeded the threshold (or came within minutes of doing so) and one user nearly tripled the recommended exposure for the task. Such a study highlights the need for individual, personalised risk assessment tools in order to reliably assess and monitor risk for developing HAVS.

Knowledge is power(ed by Reactec).

It’s clear that generalised assessments of risk are inadequate to accurately assess exposure to HAV, and this determination is reinforced by a 300% increase in HAVS-related financial penalties over the last five years. Faulty, incomplete data isn’t a reliable way to prevent risk in the workplace, and the numbers show that it isn’t an effective way to learn how to better protect your organisation, either. The only way to make sure your employees and business are exposed to less risk of HAV is to invest in tools that give you the power to understand and proactively address the issue.

The only way to make sure your employees and business are protected from HAVS-associated risks is to invest in tools that give you the power to proactively address the issue.

HAVWEAR, Reactec’s core technology, is ground-breaking due to its ability to calculate HAV risk exposure points using two industry-approved methods that work together to calculate and report individual exposure risk. Utilising both assumed tool vibration and real-time vibration magnitude calculations, the experience of a single worker can be more realistically assessed, and the data is available when you need it – before exposure compounds and irreversible damage has been done. With the knowledge you’ll get from HAVWEAR, you’ll have the power to refine your processes to more accurately address your actual HAV exposure risk, instead of implementing ineffective plans based on guesswork and inaccurate data. Operator training, tool maintenance procedures, time limit implementation and job/task rotation measures can all be implemented quickly and without augmenting your workforce. Most importantly: these measures will provide actual results because they will be based on actual data.

Intelligent data, smart storage.

Cloud-based Analytics Means Your Data Is Ready When You Are.
Reactec takes prevention engineering seriously, and doesn’t stop at assessing your HAV exposure risk. When it comes to protecting your workforce and your organisation, there should be no risk that you won’t be able to access your data whenever you need it. Smart storage solutions mean that you can access your data wherever you have an internet connection. Reactec’s cloud-based analytics ensure that your reports are ready when you are.

When it comes to Prevention Engineering, Reactec’s HAVWEAR technology not only reduces your workers’ risk of exposure to HAV, it drives down your organisation’s risk of financial penalties associated with non-compliance or legal actions, and it secures your access to the data you need in order to make better, faster decisions.

The bottom line: Reactec will help take you from damage control to in control.

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