🤝 Hand-transmitted vibration — measurement at the workplace according to PN-EN ISO 5349-2

Environment PN-EN ISO 5349-2

Overview

STATUS (state of the PKN card on 22.09.2026). PN-EN ISO 5349-2:2004 is CURRENT — the card contains no withdrawal note and no "Replaced by" row. Publication 20-07-2004, technical body KT 157 (Physical Hazards in the Working Environment), ICS 13.160. The card states that the Polish edition replaces PN-EN ISO 5349-2:2002 — the English version; this is therefore the reverse of the more frequent case in which a newer edition is no longer translated.

THE MOST FREQUENTLY CITED STANDARD IN THIS WHOLE PART OF THE DATABASE. Measurement on the database of accreditation scopes (22.09.2026, across all forms of notation, laboratories counted as distinct entities): 315 entries, 172 LABORATORIES. For comparison — the standard with the second-highest number of citations described in this database, PN-77/C-04584 (temperature of water and waste water), has 156. A NUMBER BORROWED FROM ANOTHER ENTRY CARRIES ITS OWN MEASURE AND ITS OWN DAY — which is why we give both: 156 is a measurement of 22.09.2026 across ALL forms of notation, excluding PN-G-04584 (a different standard with a similar number), with the same measure as the 172 above. The entry on PN-77/C-04584 itself gives 158 — the difference of two laboratories comes from the broader pattern used there in the first measurement, not from a different copy of the database. When comparing between entries, both standards must be counted with THE SAME measure and on the same day, because otherwise the comparison speaks about the tool, not about the standards. This means that the entry is potentially read by every seventh accredited testing laboratory in the country.

WHAT THIS STANDARD ACTUALLY MEASURES — AND WHY IT IS NOT A TEST OF THE TOOL. This is the most important distinction of the whole entry. The standard belongs to the ISO 5349 series, in which part 1 gives the general requirements and PART 2 — practical guidance for measurement AT THE WORKPLACE. Its subject is not the machine, but HUMAN EXPOSURE: the text of the standard (clause 1) shows that it describes the precautions necessary to make representative vibration measurements AND to determine the daily exposure time for each task, in order to calculate the eight-hour energy-equivalent value. It applies to all situations in which vibration is transmitted to the hand-arm system: with hand-held and hand-guided tools, with vibrating workpieces and with control devices of mobile and stationary machinery. Practical consequence: the vibration emission value declared by the manufacturer of the tool is NOT a result according to this standard. The manufacturer gives a quantity measured under type-test conditions; the standard concerns what happens at a particular workplace, with a particular material and way of working.

TWO QUANTITIES PER TASK, NOT ONE (clause 4 of the standard). For each task i performed during the exposure time, the following are determined: • the VIBRATION TOTAL VALUE a_hvi in m/s², calculated from three single-axis root-mean-square values of the frequency-weighted vibration (a_hwix, a_hwiy, a_hwiz) — that is, from a measurement in THREE axes, not in one; • the DURATION T_i of this task during the day. The parameter that is reported is the DAILY EXPOSURE A(8), calculated from all the pairs (a_hvi, T_i). This means that the final result is a CALCULATED QUANTITY: the instrument measures acceleration, while the duration of the task is established by observation and interview. Half of the input data therefore does not come from the instrument — and this is the point at which two laboratories can obtain a different A(8) with identical vibration measurements.

WHAT MUST BE IDENTIFIED BEFORE THE FIRST MEASUREMENT (clause 5.2 of the standard). The standard requires the identification of ALL tasks that may significantly affect the daily exposure, not only the one that looks the worst. It lists four things whose omission changes the result: • the SOURCES of vibration — the machines and tools actually used; • the OPERATING MODES of the same tool — the standard gives examples: a chainsaw works at idle, under load when cutting through a trunk and under light load when trimming branches; a drill can work with and without impact, at different speeds; • the MATERIAL being worked on — a road breaker used first on hard concrete and then on soft ground; a grinder used first for removing material, then for cleaning and shaping; • INSERTED TOOLS — a sander with papers of different grit sizes, a pneumatic chisel with different blades. The standard also permits the use of information from workers and supervisors about which situations they think give the highest vibration, and of the manufacturer's emission data — but as an aid to IDENTIFICATION, not as a source of the result.

FOUR WAYS OF ORGANISING THE MEASUREMENT (clause 5.3 of the standard). The standard distinguishes them by what the work looks like, not by the convenience of the measurement. The first two, which the available extract of the text gives, are: (a) long-term measurement for CONTINUOUS work — the task duration is long and uninterrupted, the operator keeps contact with the vibrating surface, so measurements are made over long periods of normal use; (b) long-term measurement for INTERMITTENT work — the duration is long but contains short breaks without exposure, during which the operator does NOT lose contact with the tool or significantly change the position of the hands. The condition in (b) is content here, not a detail: if the operator puts the tool down or changes hands, a continuous measurement no longer describes a single task.

REQUIREMENTS FOR TRANSDUCERS — THREE THAT CHANGE THE RESULT (clause 6.1.2 of the standard). • The accelerometer's OWN RESONANCE FREQUENCY must be more than five times the highest frequency of interest, which for hand-transmitted vibration corresponds to 6250 Hz. For piezoelectric accelerometers the standard indicates a much higher value — preferably above 30 kHz — to limit DC-shift distortion. • The MASS of the transducer: attaching an accelerometer changes the vibration characteristics of the surface to which it is fixed. The lighter the transducer, the smaller the error introduced. With hand-transmitted vibration, where the measurement is made on the handle of the tool, this is not a theoretical remark. • ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS — when working in harsh conditions, humidity and other environmental factors must be taken into account. A NOTE FROM THE TEXT OF THE STANDARD worth repeating, because it concerns a typical mistake: the OWN resonance frequency of the accelerometer must not be confused with the resonance frequency of the accelerometer MOUNTED on the tool. The latter is a property of the whole mounting system and is in practice much lower.

WHAT WE DO NOT GIVE. The available sample extract of the text of the standard covers clauses 1–6.1.3: scope, normative references, terms and symbols, quantities to be determined, preparation of the measurement procedure, and selection and location of transducers. We DO NOT HAVE the further clauses, including clause 8, which describes the CALCULATION of the daily exposure A(8), or the annexes. Everything this entry says about the formula for A(8) itself, about uncertainty and about the report therefore comes from secondary sources or from part 1 of the series — and should be read as such. Nor did we have the text of PN-EN ISO 5349-1, to which this part refers.

HOW MANY LABORATORIES THE TAB WILL NOT SHOW — AND WHY THIS CANNOT BE FIXED WITH A KEY (23.09.2026). The "Laboratories" tab matches the key by the BEGINNING of the value recorded in the accreditation scope. Measurement (23.09, copy of the scopes): the designation "PN-EN ISO 5349-2" stands at the beginning of the value in 273 entries at 135 laboratories — and these are the ones the tab shows. A FURTHER 37 LABORATORIES HAVE THIS STANDARD IN THEIR SCOPE, BUT THE TAB WILL NOT SHOW THEM EVEN ONCE, because none of their entries begins with this designation — and each for one reason (checked: none belongs to two groups): 33 — the designation stands in the middle of the value, after another standard; 4 — a distorted prefix "PN-EN-ISO 5349-2" (a hyphen after the EN element). The portal search engine finds all 37 — both by the full designation "PN-EN ISO 5349-2" and by the number "5349-2" alone (23.09.2026; the search engine looks for each word of the query as a phrase in the text of the scope). They are therefore invisible in the list for this entry, not in the portal. THE CAUSE LIES ON THE SIDE OF THE NOTATION IN THE SCOPE, NOT IN THE KEY: laboratories write both parts of the standard into ONE value, and part 2 then ends up in second or third place — "PN-EN ISO 5349-1:2004 PN-EN ISO 5349-2:2004 PN-EN ISO 5349-2:2004/A1:2015-11" (18 entries), "…5349-2:2004+A1:2015-11" (4), "PN-EN ISO 5349-1:2004 PN-EN ISO 5349-2:2004" (1). No form of the key will cover this: to hit these notations, matching would have to be by CONTENT rather than by the beginning, which is a change in the program, not in the data. The key stays; the number lost is recorded here so that nobody takes 135 for the whole community. THE MEASURE IS ALSO NARROWER THAN IT SEEMS AT FIRST GLANCE, and must be counted carefully: there are more values with the designation in the middle, but some belong to laboratories that DO HAVE a separate entry with the designation at the beginning, and the tab shows them. Only those that do not have a single such entry are lost — and of these, together with those written in another form, there are 37.

Method principle

The operator's work is divided into tasks differing in the tool, the operating mode, the material worked on or the inserted tool. For each task, the frequency-weighted vibration acceleration is measured in three perpendicular axes on the surface through which the vibration enters the hand, and the vibration total value a_hv in m/s² is calculated from them. Separately — by observing the work, not by measuring vibration — the daily duration of each task is established. From the pairs (vibration value, duration) for all tasks, the daily exposure A(8) is calculated, i.e. the energy-equivalent value for eight hours, and it is this that is the reported parameter.

Applications

• Assessment of occupational exposure to hand-transmitted vibration — an employer's obligation for work with hand tools
• Measurements on chainsaws, road breakers, grinders, hammer drills, pneumatic chisels
• Workplaces at which vibration is transmitted through the workpiece (bench grinders, band saws) or through the control devices of machines
• Explaining why the emission value declared by the tool manufacturer does not replace a measurement at the workplace

Key parameters

Standard

Standard number

PN-EN ISO 5349-2:2004 (wersja polska; wprowadza EN ISO 5349-2:2001)

Title (PL)

Drgania mechaniczne — Pomiar i wyznaczanie ekspozycji człowieka na drgania przenoszone przez kończyny górne — Część 2: Praktyczne wytyczne do wykonywania pomiarów na stanowisku pracy

Title (EN)

Mechanical vibration — Measurement and evaluation of human exposure to hand-transmitted vibration — Part 2: Practical guidance for measurement at the workplace

Step-by-step procedure

1. Identifying the tasks

   Identify all tasks that may significantly affect the daily exposure: sources of vibration, operating modes of the same tool, materials worked on and inserted tools. Use information from workers about the situations with the most vibration and the manufacturer's emission data — as an aid to identification, not as a source of the result (clause 5.2 of the standard).

2. Choosing the way of organising the measurement

   Match the way to the nature of the work: long-term measurement for continuous work or for intermittent work in which the operator does not lose contact with the tool. If the operator puts the tool down or changes hands, a continuous measurement no longer describes a single task (clause 5.3).

3. Selecting and mounting the transducers

   Select an accelerometer with an own resonance frequency above 6250 Hz and as small a mass as possible, suited to the environmental conditions. Mount it where the vibration enters the hand. Remember that the resonance of the mounted transducer is much lower than its own and depends on the mounting system (clauses 6.1.2 and 6.1.3).

4. Measurement in three axes

   Measure the root-mean-square values of the frequency-weighted acceleration in three perpendicular axes and calculate from them the vibration total value a_hv for the given task. A measurement in one axis does not give the quantity required by the standard (clause 4).

5. Establishing the duration of the tasks

   Establish the daily duration of each task. This quantity does not come from the vibration measurement — it results from observing the work and discussing its course. Record how it was established: this is the most frequent source of differences between the results of two laboratories.

6. Calculating the daily exposure A(8)

   Calculate A(8) from all the pairs (a_hv, duration). NOTE: we did not have the clause of the standard describing this calculation — check the formula and the method of summation in the standard itself (clause 8) and in PN-EN ISO 5349-1.

7. Report

   In the report, give not only A(8) but also the breakdown into tasks with the a_hv values and durations, and the way these durations were established. The A(8) number alone does not make it possible to reconstruct where it came from or to compare the result with another laboratory.

Required equipment and apparatus

Health and safety (OHS)

• The measurement takes place with the tool running and the operator working — the protective measures appropriate for the given workplace apply, including hearing and eye protection
• Mounting the transducer must not change the way the tool is held or create a risk of snagging — otherwise the measurement changes what it measures and endangers the operator
• The operator must not be asked to work differently from normal in order to "make the measurement easier" — the result is to describe the actual exposure
• Hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS, vibration white finger) develops over years and without early symptoms; a result underestimated by omitting a task is not a formal error, but a lack of protection

Frequently asked questions