Control of Vibration at Work Regulations 2005: What UK Employers Must Do

What the Regulations Are For

The Control of Vibration at Work Regulations 2005 (SI 2005/1093) set out what every UK employer must do to protect workers from vibration exposure — both hand-arm vibration (HAV, from power tools) and whole-body vibration (WBV, from driven plant). This guide focuses on hand-arm vibration, which is the dominant risk on construction, civils, landscaping, and demolition sites.

The regulations cover six employer duties: risk assessment, exposure reduction, health surveillance, information and training, record-keeping, and exemption rules for emergency services. They came into force on 6 July 2005, and they have been the operative framework for HAV compliance for two decades.

This page walks through each regulation in plain English with the verbatim statutory text alongside, so you can match what the law actually says against what your firm is doing today.

Who the Regulations Apply To

Regulation 3 sets the scope. The regulations apply to every employer whose work activity exposes employees (or others, such as agency workers and contractors working on their site) to vibration. There is no minimum-headcount threshold. A two-person bricklaying firm using an angle grinder for half a day a week falls under the same regulations as a 200-strong civils contractor.

Self-employed contractors are also covered — the regulations treat a self-employed person as both employer and employee for the purpose of the duties.

Regulation 4: The Daily Exposure Limits

This is the regulation everyone hits first. Regulation 4(1) states verbatim:

"the daily exposure limit value is 5 m/s² A(8); the daily exposure action value is 2.5 m/s² A(8)"

(For whole-body vibration the equivalent values in Regulation 4(2) are 1.15 m/s² A(8) ELV and 0.5 m/s² A(8) EAV.)

A(8) is the daily exposure normalised to an 8-hour reference period. In practical terms:

Exposure Action Value (EAV) — 2.5 m/s² A(8) (100 exposure points): Reaching the EAV triggers a specific programme of controls under Regulation 6. Crossing this line is not a breach — it's the cue that the law requires you to act.
Exposure Limit Value (ELV) — 5 m/s² A(8) (400 exposure points): The ELV is a legal maximum. Exposure above the ELV is a breach of the regulations and requires immediate action.

For a worked walkthrough of how A(8) is calculated and how exposure points add up across tools, see our guide to how to calculate hand arm vibration exposure and the EAV and ELV quick reference.

Regulation 5: The Risk Assessment Duty

Regulation 5(1) requires every employer carrying out work that exposes employees to vibration risk to "make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risk created by that work to the health and safety of those employees." The assessment must identify the measures needed to comply with the regulations.

Regulation 5(2) lists three acceptable assessment methods, in priority order:

Observation of actual working practices — the supervisor watches the work, records what tools are used and for how long
Reference to manufacturer-declared vibration values — pulled from the tool's data sheet or the HSE vibration database
Direct measurement — using accelerometers or wearable dosimeters; required only when the first two methods are inadequate (worn tools, unusual modifications, disputed estimates)

Regulation 5(3) lists eight factors the assessment must consider:

Exposure magnitude, type, and duration — including intermittent exposure and high short-term peaks
Effects on vulnerable employees (existing musculoskeletal conditions, women of childbearing age, young workers)
Effects on workplace equipment and structural stability
Manufacturer information on equipment
Alternative equipment that reduces vibration
Whole-body vibration exposure beyond normal hours
Environmental conditions (low temperatures aggravate HAVS symptoms)
Health surveillance data and published information

The findings must be recorded and reviewed when circumstances change or the assessment is no longer valid. For the practical walkthrough, see our HAVS risk assessment guide.

Regulation 6: Eliminating or Reducing Exposure

Regulation 6 is the operative duty — what the employer must actually do once a risk is identified.

Regulation 6(1) sets the baseline duty:

"ensure that risk from the exposure of his employees to vibration is either eliminated at source or…reduced to as low a level as is reasonably practicable"

When exposure is likely to reach or exceed the EAV, Regulation 6(2) requires the employer to:

"reduce exposure to as low a level as is reasonably practicable by establishing and implementing a programme of organisational and technical measures"

Regulation 6(3) lists nine specific factors the programme of measures must consider. In plain language:

Alternative working methods that eliminate or reduce vibration
Choice of work equipment with the lowest vibration practicable
Provision of auxiliary equipment that reduces injury risk (e.g., anti-vibration gloves where appropriate)
Appropriate maintenance programmes for equipment, workplace, and systems
Workplace and workstation design and layout
Information and training so workers can minimise their exposure
Limitation of duration and magnitude of exposure (job rotation, trigger-time limits)
Appropriate work schedules with adequate rest periods
Provision of clothing to protect workers from cold and damp

For the practical menu of these in real workflows — tool selection, rotation patterns, maintenance regimes — see our guide to HAVS control measures.

What happens when the ELV is exceeded

Regulation 6(4) sets the stop-and-fix duty when exposure exceeds the ELV. The employer must:

Reduce exposure to vibration to below the limit value immediately
Identify why the limit was exceeded
Modify the control measures to prevent future breaches

Regulation 6(5) creates a narrow exemption for highly variable exposures where the weekly averaged exposure stays below the limit and risk is demonstrably lower — but only with enhanced health surveillance in place. This is rarely relevant for normal construction operations.

Regulation 7: Health Surveillance

Regulation 7 requires health surveillance when:

The risk assessment indicates a health risk from vibration exposure, OR
Employees are likely to be exposed at or above an exposure action value

Surveillance must also be appropriate given (a) a recognised link between exposure and the disease, (b) probable occurrence under the working conditions, and (c) valid detection techniques available. For HAVS, all three are satisfied — surveillance is the default expectation when workers reach the EAV.

Regulation 7 also requires that health records be made and maintained for each employee under surveillance, and that the record be "kept available in a suitable form." For the practical detail on the HSE tier system (Tier 1 baseline screening, Tier 2 annual questionnaire, Tier 3 standardised clinical assessment, Tiers 4 and 5 for diagnosis and management) and how long records must be kept in practice, see our guide to HAVS health surveillance and referral.

Regulation 8: Information, Instruction and Training

Regulation 8 requires "suitable and sufficient information, instruction and training" whenever the risk assessment indicates a health risk or exposure at or above the action value.

The training must cover:

The organisational and technical measures the employer has put in place to comply with Regulation 6
The exposure limit values and action values set out in Regulation 4
The findings and measurements from the risk assessment
How to detect and report signs of injury (tingling, numbness, white finger, loss of grip)
The purpose of health surveillance and the worker's entitlement to it
Safe working practices that minimise exposure
Anonymised collective health surveillance results

Training must be refreshed when work types or methods change significantly, and must extend to non-employees (agency workers, subcontractors) performing work under the employer's vibration-control duties. A 5-minute toolbox talk is a practical way to keep training alive between formal sessions.

Regulation 9: Exemption Certificates

Regulation 9 permits HSE to exempt emergency services activities from the Regulation 6(4) duty (immediate stop-and-fix when the ELV is exceeded) by written certificate. The exemption is limited — HSE must be satisfied the workers' health and safety is protected "as far as possible in the light of the objectives of these Regulations." Civilian construction operations are not in scope.

How HSE Enforces the Regulations

HSE inspectors check four things at a HAVS-related inspection:

Risk assessment — is it documented, recent, and specific to the actual tools and tasks?
Daily exposure records — are workers' trigger times being logged, and do the calculated A(8) values stay below the ELV?
Health surveillance — are workers exposed at or above the EAV in a documented surveillance programme?
Training records — can you produce evidence of induction training and refresher toolbox talks?

A missing or stale risk assessment is the most common improvement-notice trigger for small contractors. Missing health surveillance for EAV-exposed workers is the next most common — it's the enforcement finding small firms most often don't realise they're breaching. HSE's published enforcement approach is set out at hse.gov.uk/vibration/hav/regulations.htm.

What Has Changed Since 2005

The Regulations have not been materially amended in the more than two decades since coming into force on 6 July 2005. Subsequent updates have been to consequential references (e.g., transitioning references from older parent statutes), not to the substantive duties or the EAV/ELV values. Anyone reading the regulations today can rely on the 2005 text as currently operative — the values, duties, and definitions are the same.

HSE guidance under the Regulations has been updated more frequently. The current edition of the Approved Code of Practice (ACOP) and guidance is HSE L140 — referenced from the HSE vibration pages and available via the HSE bookshop. The ACOP carries special legal status: courts treat it as evidence of best practice, so following it is a defence in enforcement proceedings.

Penalties for Non-Compliance

The Regulations are made under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. Breaches can lead to:

Improvement notices — the most common first step. HSE sets a deadline (usually 21+ days) for the duty-holder to fix the breach. Failure to comply is itself an offence.
Prohibition notices — issued when there is risk of serious personal injury. The activity must stop immediately.
Prosecution — for serious breaches or repeated non-compliance. For offences committed on or after 12 March 2015, the Magistrates' Court can impose an unlimited fine and up to 12 months imprisonment (the previous £20,000 cap was removed by section 85 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, commenced March 2015). The Crown Court has an unlimited fine and up to 2 years imprisonment. Mode of trial and maximum penalty are set by Schedule 3A of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, inserted by the Health and Safety (Offences) Act 2008. Sentencing in practice follows the Sentencing Council's health-and-safety guideline.

In practice, most small-contractor enforcement is improvement notices for missing risk assessments or health surveillance. Prosecution is the minority outcome for small-contractor breaches, but HSE does prosecute repeated or serious cases — particularly where workers have developed HAVS through documented multi-year exposure with no surveillance programme in place.

What to Do This Week

If you read the Regulations and your firm is behind on any of the six duties, here's the order to fix it:

Risk assessment — write or update it this week, even in draft form. A weak risk assessment beats no risk assessment by a wide margin. Use the HAVS risk assessment guide.
Daily exposure logging — start today with paper sheets if you have nothing else. The HAVS Log Sheet Template generates a printable sheet pre-filled with your tools.
Calculator — make sure the supervisor calculating A(8) is using a reliable method. Free options include the HSE Excel calculator and our HAVS Exposure Calculator.
Health surveillance — if you have workers regularly at or above the EAV with no surveillance, that's an enforcement risk waiting to happen. Arrange Tier 1 baseline screening within weeks, not months.
Training records — schedule a HAVS toolbox talk for the crew this week, log attendance, and keep the record with your risk assessment.

The regulations have been in force for 20 years. Most enforcement findings are not for novel breaches — they're for duties that have always been there but never got prioritised. Working through the list above closes the most common gaps.

Sources

This guide is for general information only. It is not a substitute for professional health and safety advice.