A free HAVS calculator that works out hand-arm vibration exposure points and your A(8) value, shows which tool is doing the damage, and tells you how long each one can run before it reaches the exposure action value.
Enter the vibration magnitude for each tool and the time it is actually running. The calculator does the rest.
Enter the vibration magnitude and how long the tool is actually in use — trigger time, not the length of the job. Add a row for every tool the same person uses.
Bar chart showing each tool's share of total daily exposure points against the action value at 100 points and the limit value at 400 points.
Points rise with the square of magnitude, so a tool used briefly can still dominate the day. The last column is how long that tool alone could run before it reaches the action value.
| Tool | m/s² | Minutes | Points | Share | Alone, EAV at |
|---|
Duties under the Control of Vibration at Work Regulations 2005, based on the figures entered.
Anyone regularly exposed to hand-arm vibration needs to understand the risk, the symptoms, and how to report them — and whoever manages the work needs to know how to control it. Envico lists hand-arm vibration courses from independent accredited providers, available online and in the classroom.
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Where the magnitude comes from, and what this tool cannot tell you.
In order of reliability: a measurement taken on your own tools doing your own work; a figure from a reputable published database for that tool type and task; the manufacturer's declared emission value.
Declared values are the weakest of the three. They are produced under standardised test conditions that rarely match real work, and in practice tools in service frequently vibrate harder than the declared figure — sometimes substantially, as tools wear, consumables blunt and materials vary. Treating a declared value as your real-world exposure will usually understate it. The typical figures offered in this tool are indicative starting points for planning, not measurements of your equipment.
It covers hand-arm vibration only. Whole-body vibration, from sitting on plant or driving over rough ground, works on different values and is not calculated here.
It assumes the figures you enter are representative of a normal working day. It cannot know whether your tools are maintained, whether the person is already showing symptoms, or whether someone is at particular risk for medical reasons — all of which affect what you should do next regardless of the number it produces.
No. 100 points is the exposure action value — the level at which duties to control exposure and provide health surveillance are triggered. The legal ceiling is the exposure limit value at 400 points, which must not be exceeded.
If employees are regularly exposed above the action value, yes. It is also required below the action value where someone is at particular risk — for example an existing diagnosis, or a condition affecting circulation in the hands. Health surveillance here means a structured programme run under qualified supervision, not a general health check.
Tingling and numbness in the fingers, particularly at night; fingers going white in the cold and then red and painful as they warm; loss of grip strength; and difficulty with fine tasks such as picking up small objects or doing up buttons. Anyone reporting these should be referred for assessment — the early stages can be halted if exposure is reduced, but established damage is permanent.
Cases of hand-arm vibration syndrome and carpal tunnel syndrome diagnosed in connection with regular use of percussive or vibrating tools are reportable occupational diseases under RIDDOR, once you receive a written diagnosis from a doctor. Reporting duties sit with the employer.
Not reliably, and you cannot count them as a control. HSE's position is that gloves can be used to keep hands warm — which genuinely helps, because good circulation reduces the risk of vibration white finger — but should not be relied on to protect against vibration. Some gloves reduce vibration at certain frequencies while doing nothing at others, and a thicker glove can make you grip harder, which increases transmission.
Buying gloves does not change a single point on this page. Reducing the magnitude or the trigger time does.
No. There is no legal requirement for continuous monitoring or logging of vibration exposure, and HSE has said that routine logging is usually not a good use of anyone's time. What the law requires is a suitable risk assessment and effective control. Once you know a job is above the action value, effort is better spent reducing the exposure than measuring it again more precisely.
Yes. No signup, no email, no account. Everything runs in your browser and nothing you enter is sent to us. Copy the save code or print the page to keep a record.
Exposure points exist so that you can add up vibration from several tools without doing square roots on a site. A tool's points per hour are twice the square of its vibration magnitude. Run a 5 m/s² tool for an hour and that is 50 points.
The whole system hangs on two fixed values. 2.5 m/s² sustained for eight hours comes to 100 points, and that is the exposure action value. 5 m/s² for eight hours comes to 400 points, the exposure limit value. Points from different tools simply add together, which is the entire reason the system is useful — you cannot add A(8) values, but you can add points.
Points depend on the square of magnitude, not on magnitude itself. A 14 m/s² breaker earns four times the points per hour of a 7 m/s² grinder, not twice. That single fact drives almost every sensible decision about vibration.
It means a short spell on a heavy tool routinely outweighs hours on a light one. It means rationing minutes across a team is usually the weakest control available. And it means that dropping one tool from 14 m/s² to 7 m/s² cuts its contribution to a quarter for exactly the same trigger time — which is why buying or hiring better kit beats almost anything you can do with a rota.
Reaching the exposure action value does not make the work unlawful, and this trips up a lot of employers in both directions. It is a trigger, not a ceiling. Passing it means you must reduce exposure so far as is reasonably practicable and put affected employees under suitable health surveillance. Exposures are allowed to sit above the action value provided you can show they are as low as reasonably practicable and surveillance is in place.
The exposure limit value is a different kind of number. It is a ceiling that must not be exceeded. If a working day would take someone past 400 points, the work has to change — a different tool, a different method, the task shared differently. Recording it and carrying on is not one of the options.
Typical magnitudes by tool type, with the points each earns per hour and how long one alone would take to reach 100 points. Every figure is calculated by the same engine that powers the calculator above.
| Tool | Typical m/s² | Range | Points/hour | EAV reached at |
|---|
Roughly in order of how much difference each one makes.
The only control that reduces exposure to zero. Can the work be mechanised, ordered pre-cut, done by a different process, or designed out at the planning stage? Hiring a breaker attachment for an excavator instead of putting someone on a hand-held breaker is the classic example, and it usually costs less than the health surveillance programme it avoids.
Because of the square law this is where the money goes furthest. Check vibration figures in the technical literature before you buy or hire, keep an inventory of what you own and what it emits, and avoid high-vibration models where a suitable lower-vibration alternative exists. A vibration-reduced needle scaler against a standard one can cut the points to a fraction for identical work.
Vibration rises as tools wear. Blunt discs, worn chisels, unbalanced wheels and neglected servicing all push the magnitude up, often well beyond the manufacturer's declared figure. Maintenance to the manufacturer's schedule is a vibration control, not just a reliability measure.
Useful, and the one most employers reach for first — but it is the weakest of the four because it scales linearly while magnitude scales as a square. Halving the time halves the points; halving the magnitude quarters them. Job rotation only helps if it genuinely moves people onto non-vibrating work rather than spreading the same exposure across more people.
Good circulation reduces the risk of vibration white finger, so warm dry clothing has a genuine place. Gloves count here for warmth only. HSE's position is that gloves must not be relied on to protect against vibration, and buying them changes nothing in the calculation above.
What was checked, against what, and when.
Checked against HSE published guidance on 26 July 2026. The following were verified against Health and Safety Executive sources on that date:
Sources. Hand-arm vibration at work: A brief guide (INDG175, HSE) and The hand-arm vibration exposure calculator guidance (HSE). Also referenced: Hand-arm vibration — Control of Vibration at Work Regulations 2005, Guidance on Regulations (L140, HSE), HSE's exposure points ready-reckoner, and HSE's guidance on reportable occupational diseases under RIDDOR.
Contains public sector information published by the Health and Safety Executive and licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. This tool is not produced, endorsed or approved by HSE.
