Current research status on the occupational hazards of hand-transmitted vibration: a case study in China

The hazards arising from long-term hand-transmitted vibration operations can cause significant damage to the human body. As China is a populous country, understanding the current situation of vibration exposure among workers in various related fields in China holds significant reference value. To this end, this paper analyzes data from core journal literature in China from the 1980s to the present based on the keywords hand-arm vibration disease, hand-transmitted vibration, and occupational exposure. This paper provides an overview of the current status of hand-transmitted vibration hazards, including the distribution characteristics, hazards, and diagnostic methods of hand-arm vibration disease, as well as the deficiencies in these diagnostic methods. It also integrates data on the vibration intensity, frequency, and prevalence of vibration tools to analyze the relationship between the prevalence of hand-arm vibration disease and the vibration intensity and frequency of vibration tools. The results indicate that the vibration tools causing occupational hand-arm vibration disease are primarily found in the mining and manufacturing industries, with rock drilling jobs and positions being dominant in the mining industry and grinding jobs and positions being dominant in the manufacturing industry. The <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mi>A</mml:mi><mml:mo>(</mml:mo><mml:mn>4</mml:mn><mml:mo>)</mml:mo></mml:math> values of grinding tools, jobs, or positions are significantly higher than China’s limit value of 5 m/s 2 for hand-transmitted vibration. The <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mi>A</mml:mi><mml:mo>(</mml:mo><mml:mn>4</mml:mn><mml:mo>)</mml:mo></mml:math> distribution of rock drilling tools is more concentrated, while the <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mi>A</mml:mi><mml:mo>(</mml:mo><mml:mn>4</mml:mn><mml:mo>)</mml:mo></mml:math> distribution of grinding tools is broader. The current diagnostic methods have poor specificity and sensitivity. There is insufficient awareness of the hazards of hand-transmitted vibration. There is no significant correlation between <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mi>A</mml:mi><mml:mo>(</mml:mo><mml:mn>4</mml:mn><mml:mo>)</mml:mo></mml:math> and the prevalence of vibration white finger <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mo>(</mml:mo><mml:mi>P</mml:mi><mml:mo>&gt;</mml:mo><mml:mn>0.05</mml:mn><mml:mo>)</mml:mo></mml:math>, and <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mi>A</mml:mi><mml:mo>(</mml:mo><mml:mn>4</mml:mn><mml:mo>)</mml:mo></mml:math> alone is insufficient to reflect the extent of harm caused by hand-transmitted vibration operations to the human body. Both low-frequency and high-frequency vibrations may be harmful to the human body, and there may be a positive correlation between the fundamental frequency of vibration tools and the prevalence of disease <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mo>(</mml:mo><mml:mi>r</mml:mi><mml:mo>&gt;</mml:mo><mml:mn>0</mml:mn><mml:mo>,</mml:mo><mml:mi>P</mml:mi><mml:mo>&lt;</mml:mo><mml:mn>0.05</mml:mn><mml:mo>)</mml:mo></mml:math>.