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If you start having problems with numbness, tingling, white finger,towards the end of the day .... then its time to be concerned............. otherwise I really wouldn't be too worried. Hope you're using a good quality strimmer.......... you shouldn't be feeling any vibration through the handles............... and always use ear protection. .
Companies like Stihl publish their vibration figures and consequent 'use and rest periods'. Its one of the reason a lot of large companies and councils use Stihl kit as it gives them a good indication of any potential liability issue.
Cheap loop handle strimmers are worse than a good quality twin handled machine used on a harness.
Its a complicated calculation but Stihls table is here: https://www.stihl.co.uk/en/support-and-contacts/safety/directives-d...*18cro82*_gcl_au*NTUyNjI0ODg3LjE3MjExMDY1NjA.*FPAU*NTUyNjI0ODg3LjE3MjExMDY1NjA.*_ga*MjA2NDk5NTA4Mi4xNzIxMTA2NTU4*_ga_H206FKY3F4*MTcyMTEwNjU1Ny4xLjEuMTcyMTEwNjU3Ni4wLjAuNTQwOTg4Nzc3*_fplc*TUhCZUp4Y0IwVGlsRVJLMWhkTGlOT3lyb0tSWklZYXVCeUZDVnFMU3BEeENpa2FWSEx1MSUyQnNodWdVQXUyMmpLJTJGM09EN0VuS1hyRGJRVlFhUEhLWlJnUGslMkJhRFpnZmNZQ2NPV3JxRmZQQWlVeW1mbk9UQTREMEtPaDdXS1FnJTNEJTNE
After 40 years using petrol strimmers and hedgecutters for weeks on end I would not be concerned and as Graham says if you are using good quality kit it should not be an issue. So if it's not Stihl, Husqvarna or Echo get rid.
It is a genuine risk, but hard to quantify. Even with good kit eg Stihl you definitely can get white finger, we had it happen to one member of staff. It's a good idea to take regular 'breaks'- this doesn't mean a sit down with a coffee, but if you can every so often do something different eg weeding or litter picking for 5 minutes that helps. A break after every 15 minutes is ideal, but if you can't do that, owt is better than nowt as they say.
It does depend on the quality of the individual machine really.As a for instance stihls largest and priciest 2/ brushcutter-the 240 c,has 1 point vibration buffers at the clutch area.If you buy their cheapest clearing saw-same engine power you then get a 4 point system which effectively isolates you from the engine and also the cutting head too.Of course,the clearing saw will be pricier plus over a kilo heavier.
After 15 years of using strimmers, I've started to use anti vibration gloves, with gel pads in the palms and fingers . Only about £20 a pair from all the usual places, and definitely help a lot ! Also use for lawn mowing and hedge cutting, bought some for all the lads
Do you have links anti vibration gloves?
Newer stihl strimmers are definitely better than they were for vibration etc , I used to maintain some larger gardens with a lot bank work which involved a lot of prolonged periods of strimmer use , I ended up with carpal tunnel syndrome in both hands in my late thirties, which both needed operating on , also.its not just the vibration causing problems it's having your hands locked in the same position for a period of time also , so taking regular breaks would be advisable, iam 60 now and would say the operation has helped, but I've cut down on the amount of strimming I do now
Hi,
We've been involved in the grounds maintenance industry for many decades (as well as making grounds-maintenance software, we're also grounds maintenance contractors), and have had extensive experience of controlling the risks of vibrating tools during that time.
As a general rule, if it's a cheap strimmer, it won't have any anti-vibration damping, and will therefore have relatively high vibration coming through the handles. By the same principle, if it's a big expensive professional-grade strimmer, then it will generally have good vibration-isolation mounts, and thereby very low vibration in the handles. For example, some of Stihl's bigger professional strimmers from 20-odd years ago still have industry-leading low vibration ratings in compare with today's machines. Some of husqvarna's larger professional machines today also have very low vibration. Many pedestrian-controlled lawnmowers, hedge-trimmers etc will have much worse vibration ratings than strimmers, but again it depends on the actual model.
What you need to do, is find the manual for the precise model you're using, as it should have the vibration ratings published somewhere in the specifications section. If you can't access the original manual that came with the machine, you can usually find them online if you do a bit of searching. In the manual, you should be able to find the published vibration rating, and if they have it, the "uncertainty" value as well.
I believe the HSE recommend that if you're using the published vibration ratings (rather than measuring actual value), and don't have an uncertainty value, then you need to essentially at least double the published vibration rating, for the reason that older machines will output much higher vibration due to wear and tear on bearings etc.
You can then simply input the vibration figure (plus uncertainty value) into the HSE's vibration calculator (excel spreadsheet), to find out how many hours you can use the machine for.
Here's the link: https://www.hse.gov.uk/vibration/hav/calculator-guide.htm
You're aiming to try to keep it below 100 exposure points a day. If it goes over that value, you need to take additional steps to try to reduce the risks. You must NEVER exceed 400 exposure points in a day.
There are firms who offer a service measuring actual vibration of machinery in use. This can sometimes be a useful approach, and often costs a lot less to hire-in than you would think. However, note that machines often quickly change their vibration rating over time, for example when the engine is not running properly, when vibration damping units break or become worn, or when engine / shaft bearing and other components wear out. Therefore, using the published figures is often as good an approach as any.
It's also important to:
Incidentally, gel-pad anti-vibration gloves are not really recommended by the HSE for the reason that they only offer very limited mitigative protection, as an absolute last-resort measure, and can lull users into a false sense of feeling safe whilst using high-vibration machinery. However if you find they're genuinely beneficial as part of a wider approach to controlling vibration, then that likely isn't doing any harm.
Hope this helps!
Incidentally if you're in any way interested in our software, here are the links for that as well:
https://groundleader.com/
https://toolfleet.com/