Vibrometry

There are some 8 million workers1 in the U.S. exposed to occupational whole-body vibration (WBV) or

hand-arm vibration (HAV) with resulting severe medical consequences of WBV or HAV exposures (see

text Chapter: Occupational Vibration and Cumulative Trauma Disorders). The ability to measure, quan-

tify, and evaluate the vibration impinging on the human body and relating these results to the disease

processes it produces is essential to understanding both dose-response relationships and methods for

controlling human vibration exposure. The purpose of this chapter is thus threefold: (1) To provide

an introduction to the occupational vibration measurement process; (2) to provide a basic understand-

ing of the occupational WBV and HAV health and safety standards/guides currently in use in the U.S.;

and (3) to demonstrate the interrelationships between these measurements and their respective WBV and

HAV standards/guides.