Hand-arm vibration exposure: NSW workers compensation guide

Tool make, model, vibration magnitude and actual trigger time. Grip force, posture, material hardness and accessory condition. The task history should quantify force, weight, repetition, duration, posture or exposure rather than rely on a label such as “overuse”.

Construction workers using breakers, grinders and hammer drills. Manufacturing and maintenance workers using powered or pedestal tools. Rosters and role records can identify who performed or observed the same work cycle.

Vibration white finger. Carpal tunnel syndrome. A symptom label does not replace a diagnosis or a reasoned opinion linking that diagnosis to the measured work history.

Tool inventory, manufacturer data and vibration risk assessment. Trigger-time estimate, job sheets and task rotation. Early records should show when symptoms began, changed and were reported, even where there was no single accident date.

• Maintenance, accessory replacement and defect reports.

Tool inventory, manufacturer data and vibration risk assessment. Trigger-time estimate, job sheets and task rotation. The strongest task history connects objective work records with the symptom and treatment chronology.

• Maintenance, accessory replacement and defect reports.
• Cold-work records, PPE and early reports of blanching, numbness or grip change.

Vascular, sensory, neurological and grip findings appropriate to the suspected condition. Symptom pattern by finger, cold trigger and progression after exposure. Medical causation evidence should address the diagnosis, measured work exposure, pre-existing conditions and relevant non-work factors.

• Smoking, vascular disease, diabetes and prior hand injury addressed without assumption.

Trigger time or vibration magnitude is overstated. Tool maintenance and rotation made exposure minimal. The insurer’s written reasons should be answered with evidence directed to the actual causation or eligibility issue.

Medical review should identify whether symptoms are vascular, neurological or musculoskeletal. Work modification may require removal from particular tools, cold exposure or sustained grip depending on clinical advice. Treatment and restrictions should be tied to the accepted diagnosis and the work factor that needs to be reduced or avoided.

Restrictions may identify prohibited tools, trigger time, grip force and cold conditions. A worker may remain unable to use a lower-vibration tool if the diagnosis and symptoms make exposure unsafe. Sustainable capacity depends on the complete shift and repeated exposure, not whether one movement can be demonstrated once.

Any impairment is assessed under the method for the accepted vascular, nerve or upper-limb condition. Vibration magnitude alone is not WPI. The assessment must follow the method for the accepted diagnosis, such as Vibration white finger, Carpal tunnel syndrome, Peripheral nerve injury. WPI is assessed after stabilisation using the NSW method for the accepted diagnosis; exposure duration or pain alone does not set a percentage.

Occupational hearing loss may also require investigation where the same tools produce hazardous noise; it remains a distinct diagnosis and assessment. Any employer-negligence, TPD, CTP, dust-disease or other pathway is separate and depends on its own facts and eligibility rules. Any other compensation or insurance pathway remains separate and has its own eligibility rules.

Organise a task-by-task exposure chronology with weights, repetitions, duration, posture, equipment or contaminant details. Compare the insurer’s written reasons with the medical diagnosis, prior history and contemporaneous workplace records. The purpose is to match the disputed decision to reliable work and medical evidence, not to promise an outcome.