white finger

[Log-ologist]

Circulatory problems exacerbate the problem. I have no obvious HAVS /VWF problems with 20 years of chainsaw use. Though if I use my long reach hedge trimmer for an hour my fingers tingle like crazy. I now wear ski gloves to keep my hands warm even in summer.

[sycamorephobic]

its mainly after big clean up days of cross cutting with big saws rather than days of just climbing. if it gets even slightly cold half my fingers turn white and lifeless. sometimes have to swing my arm round, pete townsend style to get the blood back in em.

ive never worn gloves so will invest in a decent pair and cut down on the bines mi thinks.

stilts for tree work! haha. thats a great idea. might look like a bit of a prick but will save a fortunate on climbing rack and be a damn site quicker.

[Arbocop]

Hi sycamorphic.

 

i dont know if you are a member of the arb assosiation but we at bts training and the aa, with help from industry and the hse just ran a workshop on the affects of vibration and controls etc.

 

hope you are all aware that there is now legislation that controlsd our exposure to vibration and noise, for more info on that see

 

http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/vibindex.htm

 

if you are an AA member i nthe next news letter ther ewill be an article about the day we ran, if not once the news letter is out if you contact me ill give you a copy of the article.

 

going to the orriginal point about HAVS/white finger, do you work self employed or for someone as if you work for some one go to them now.

 

what you need is proper ocupational health advice, all the stuff said so far is great, smoking drinking etc, but you need ocupational health, they may not necessarilly say you have to give up work, but may just limit what you do.

 

the people we use are

 

http://www.healthinitiatives.co.uk/

 

they are a busniess offering occ health at a very resnoble rate.

 

the other thing is you or your employer must have a n action plan for controlling exposure and seriously change your avs regually keep a good bar sproket and chain on your saw

 

hope that is of help

 

cheers

[Arbocop]

ohh sorry by the way

 

vibration gloves as much good as a chokolate tea pt

[Sevsafe]

ohh sorry by the way

 

vibration gloves as much good as a chokolate tea pt

 

not everyone agrees with this sentiment. the HSE are loath to recommend them because they don't seem to be able to measure their effectiveness

[Sevsafe]

ohh sorry by the way

 

vibration gloves as much good as a chokolate tea pt

 

http://www.hse.gov.uk/vibration/hav/campaign/fabrication/warmclothing.htm

 

I'd say that there's plenty of empirical evidence for the effectiveness of some av gloves etc but as with any hazard the first step should be to engineer it out!

[bob]

i have been watching this thread with interest as i do suffer with the hand job(pun intended) i have been using saws a long time and started to suffer approx 10 years ago and am still using them.

We now regularly change sprockets

monitor bar wear

Sharpen with vib in mind as well as speed and laziness

run upto date saws with vib levels considered for all purchases

have saws vib tested

Buy saws with heated handles

wear gloves

in fact all our saws are been re tested and tagged this friday

Without all this i do not think i would still be able to be a working arborist.

So please think a little before it is too late

[Henk]

Saw interesting STIHL demo recently with an ergometer attached to an MS260. Suggested that ten different users experienced ten different levels of vibration when cross cutting with the same saw, the STIHL boffin's explanation was that different candidates may have gripped the saw with different force. What I noticed was that the really BIG users (more inertial mass) experienced way less vibration... suggesting that the chunkier you are the better. Kind of counter productive if you are having to snake up a tree every day, but reassuring for us lard arsed ground based troglodites. Seriously though, Heated grips help me, and I use occupational health to monitor my exposure, I have no wish to compromise my manual dexterity now or in the future, I live to make and make to live.