An aviation company has admitted multiple safety failings after five employees contracted hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS).
The workers developed the condition over the course of six years, while working at GKN Aerospace Services Ltd’s facility in East Cowes, on the Isle of Wight. The workers, who have asked not to be named, developed advanced symptoms after prolonged use of vibrating hand tools, which they used during the building of engine casings between July 2005 and December 2011.
As a result of contracting HAVS, they have all suffered nerve damage and circulation problems. Their hands become white and dead in the cold and they suffer extreme pain when their hands start to warm. The nerve damage affects their ability to carry out certain tasks that need dexterity, meaning they lack grip and can often drop objects.
GKN’s health-surveillance programme identified that the five employees were suffering from debilitating problems in 2011. However, the company continued as before and still failed to assess the risks and put controls in place to protect the significant number of remaining workers. The firm reported the diagnoses to the HSE, which launched an investigation.
The regulator found GKN had failed to comply with the Control of Vibration at Work Regulations since they became law in January 2006. The firm was issued an Improvement Notice, which gave it a timeframe to make specified improvements.
HSE specialist inspector in occupational health Anne Bartlett said: “Work-related health risks cannot be ignored, or pushed down the agenda. GKN had the resources to protect its employees from the well-known effects of exposure to hand-arm vibration, but failed to do so over an extended period. €
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The firm was issued an Improvement Notice, which gave it a timeframe to make specified improvements.
The company had already had 5yrs to comply, and the risk was known long before the reg`s were introduced? The management reg`s applied long before this as did the HSWA 1974.
Laughable really, unless your the poor sod suffering from their inaction. You`d have thought that the avaiation industry would be leading the way ?
I wonder what thier profits were in the same period