Anyone whose work regularly involves vibrating hand tools such as breakers, grinders, sanders, drills, chainsaws or compactors.
Hand-arm vibration syndrome is permanent nerve and circulatory damage that does not improve and does not reverse, with loss of grip and dexterity building up over months and years rather than in one day. A breaker can reach the daily exposure action value in around five minutes of actual trigger time.
The pack covers reducing exposure by asking whether a task can be done without a vibrating tool at all, keeping tools sharp and serviced, gripping only as tightly as needed, planned job rotation and breaks, and reporting tingling, numbness or whiteness in the fingers the same day. Whole-body vibration from ride-on plant is a separate risk and is not covered by this pack.
One hazard, done completely, for the whole firm.
The pack also has a theory test answer key. It is supplied separately to the employer, not published in the pack itself, so the test stays a genuine assessment when your own supervisor marks it.
Not required to be compliant, but available where a customer, principal contractor or insurer wants third-party evidence.
You assess your own people in-house using the pack, and send PHW the completed records. PHW checks the records and, where they hold up, issues a certificate carrying a QR code that resolves to a live verification page. The certificate states plainly that the assessment was carried out in-house and verified by PHW. It is not a record of PHW having carried out the assessment itself, and records that are too thin are rejected rather than certified.