Case Study
Assisting on-site management of hand-arm vibration.
Shepherd Hire Centre
The Shepherd Hire Centre is an in-house plant department that hires out small tools within the Shepherd Building Group. The Group itself is part of Shepherd Engineering Services, one of the leading independent building services companies in the UK, specialising in the design, installation and facilities management of building services solutions for multi-million pound projects.
The Challenge
Keen to make sure they were dealing effectively with hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS) and following the regulations and HSE guidelines, the Shepherd Hire Centre sought out information from a number of sources. They also brought in an independent company to measure the hand-arm vibration levels on all their tools, with the tests following HSE guidelines.
As part of their response to HAVS, the Hire Centre needed to show relevant information on the tools themselves, enabling the issue to be managed at a site level, and for the site personnel to be aware of the dangers.
“It was about being open with the information because no-one really knew what the hand-arm vibration was,” said Hire Centre Manager, Neil Wharram.
The Solution
The Hire Centre looked at different options for achieving these aims. One of these was identification tags from Ritchey-ID.
Impressed by the mix of product effectiveness, service quality and cost effectiveness provided by Ritchey ID, this was the solution the Shepherd Hire Centre selected. Now, every tool that goes out of the Hire Centre for which vibration would be an issue, such as drills, electric breakers and compaction plates, has a Ritchey-ID tag attached to it.
The Benefits
The tags they use, selected in consultation with Ritchey ID, are tie tags and large flags in a plain white colour.
Neil Wharram said: “They’re pliable and durable. They’re not too big and they’re just the right size – you can easily read the information.”
On one side, the tags have information about the maximum use per day, the points per hour, the vibration value and decibel levels. This means users can see how long they are able to operate a tool for in a working day.
The other side of the tag is used for more general health and safety information to aid safe use of the tools on site, and the printing is indelible for the life of the tag. Neil Wharram commented: “No-one’s ever complained to me that they don’t do the job.”
The tags are printed by Ritchey ID on request. A carefully planned service means all the different tags have a code and the Hire Centre simply order the required quantity using the code system. ,em>“It’s well organised and the system for re-ordering works well,”said Neil.
In fact, Neil find the service reassuringly smooth-running – he knows Ritchey ID are there when he needs them, and when he does need them, he finds them helpful to deal with.
The Outcome
The tags are proving effective on site. Their use has enabled the Hire Centre to achieve its aims of being open with information about HAV and providing the facts to enable the issue to be managed on-site.
In Brief
Ritchey ID provide Shepherd Hire Centre with a reliable, durable, easy to use identification system on-site.
• Products include printed tie tags and large flags + cable ties
• They enable the centre to make sure information about safe use with regard to HAVS and other issues is permanently attached to small tools
• They assist in the free flow of information and the on-site management of HAVS.
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