Whole Body Vibration Seminar

[250kts]

Carefull, its not what you might first think.

To quote,
The Whole Body Vibration Seminar is aimed at those with owner or a management role in the marine sectors affected by this major health and safety issue. Sectors include military, search & rescue, government agencies, local authorities, police, wind farm, oil & gas, thrill ride, charter and all organisations operating planing boats under 24 metre.

I have no conection with this, but will be going along and thought I would share.

To be held at the RNLI College, Poole 17th & 18th May, for further info see link below

Steve

http://www.frc-int.com/

[250kts]

Went along to the Seminar today.

A good attendance today including RNLI, the Forces, BMF, Nautical Institute, Port of London Authority, several Police Forces, Delta and others. Really, really surprised that I was the only commercial operator who had attended on either day and that the RYA & MCA had both been too busy.

A very valuable experience and feel in a much better position to manage the new legislation and the risk. It was agreed that the values set by Europe are not fit for purpose and that the "Industry" needs to join forces to agree a better base line.

The is an issue that is not going away and doing nothing is not an option.

Steve

[Doug Stormforce]

Originally Posted by 250kts

Went along to the Seminar today.

................It was agreed that the values set by Europe are not fit for purpose and that the "Industry" needs to join forces to agree a better base line.

Do you mean you want to increase or reduce the new guidance/regs?

[250kts]

The first priority must be to change the way it is measured and on the back of this, set a new higher level, with the aim of every operator to bring it down over time.
The present levels were aimed at land vehicles such as tractors & lorries. Real life experiments on planning craft have seen that the limits laid down are exceeded typically after 120 secs and can be exceeded on a boat at rest in the Solent!
Extensive work is being conducted by the US Navy and Canadian's and there is a need for the industry here to come together and have our say through a single body. If "we" dont, the way its measured and the limits are unlikely to be reviewed/changed for 5/6years. In the mean time, any claim for compensation would be based on todays standards.

[karlT]

Surprised the MCA were not present, maybe they are involved at a higher level ??

How do the airlines manage this? Their flying/cabin crew are subject to vibrations both in normal service and during periods of turbulence ??
Could a passenger claim for injuries following a flight that experienced turbulence ??

I think for your passengers as long as you highlight the risks there is not much more you can do. As far as the crew you employ, you may need guidelines for them to follow both for their health and the wellbeing of your clients.

These may include:

Standing / seating arrangements, handholds, applicable speed of operation in defined conditions etc etc

[250kts]

Yep your right, the regs only apply to protecting employees and i have that covered now.

You do owe a duty of care to the clients and lets face it, if your protecting the crew then anyone on the boat should also be at lower risk.

[C2 RIBS]

Hi Steve. I have added to your original post on subject.

We at the Professional Charter Association (PCA) are in receipt of the following direct from the MCA-

"I am contacting you as a representative of your organisation to make you aware that there is a public consultation on the procedure for seeking exemptions under the Merchant Shipping and Fishing Vessels Noise and Vibration Regulations. The following link will take you to the consultation page on the MCA website."

MCA - Current Consulations

I have also attached a covering letter from the MCA's Seafarer Safety and Health Branch with more details of the consultation on, and how to make any comments you may have.

[C2 RIBS]

This appears to be the main document covering the following areas
http://www.dft.gov.uk/mca/vibration_exemption_mgn.doc

The employer shall ensure that workers are not exposed to mechanical vibration exceeding the daily exposure limit value specified below;

(a) For hand-arm vibration - the daily exposure limit value standardised to an eight hour reference period 5 m/s² or
(b) For whole-body vibration – the daily exposure limit value standardised to an eight hour reference period is 1.15 m/s²


To me as a lay person I find all the figures mean very little but exposure to and above these levels may leave us liable to prosecution. There are areas of exemption which can be applied for and the document list them further down
An exemption may be granted; provided that the MCA is satisfied that the state of the art, and the specific characteristics of the ship do not make it possible to comply with the whole body exposure limit value, whatever technical and organisational measures are adopted.

Steve- you attended the seminar, does this all make sense? What else might we have to do or consider doing?

[Tony Hill]

see their link

QuinQuari : Shock Mitigation Testing

Would be interested to hear if anyone has tried the product

Tony

[C2 RIBS]

Tony , nice link, Yes would be good to hear of others involvement, when was this developed?

The main area everyone drives at is seats and possibly some shock reduction foam or floor covering. All appear to have a massive expense but perhaps builders selling to commercial operators need to get more involved as Quinquari have