My story

Below is my story as written by WorkSafe NZ, this story was publish while I was using a prototype watch system. That watch system has been replace by our glove system which is far superior while also fit for purpose. All design by the trial companies and their employees.

A former smelter worker has spent $100,000 of his own money developing a monitoring device to prevent others from getting the little known disabling syndrome he has been diagnosed with. Jason Johnstone had worked with power tools for most of his adult life when his fingers started going numb and pale. He ignored the problem despite dropping dishes and other items as he struggled to hold onto them.

Meeting his future wife, a general surgical registrar from the UK, about a year later, in 2014, he received an unexpected informal diagnosis of Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS), a condition caused by repeated exposure to vibration, causing the nerve endings in the fingertips to go into vascular spasms restricting blood flow. It can also affect joints and be exacerbated by working in the cold or damp and using power tools for extended periods of time. “She knew what it was straight away. It had been all over the UK in the 1990s with coal miners, it had cost companies billions. We’re way behind,” Johnstone said. To stop other workers in industries such as agriculture, forestry and construction falling victim to the syndrome Johnstone has developed a vibration monitoring device using cloud based technology.

He set up the company, Vibration Action, in 2017, and with software and hardware developer ​4Design in Queenstown designed a watch band and dashboard vibration monitoring device. It records hand and arm vibrations while using power tools and machinery, which can then be acted on. Vibration Action founder and director Jason Johnstone's pale fingers show the symptoms of Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome from damaged nerve endings restricting the blood flow.

Formally diagnosed by New Zealand’s leading workplace expert occupational health specialist Professor David McBride he was transferred from his manual Tiwai Aluminium Smelter job in 2014 to an office role. He has since been researching the problem and devising a way of protecting other workers from it as well as raising awareness. Johnstone, who now lives in Dunedin, is one of the very few people in New Zealand diagnosed with HAVS. Symptoms include tingling fingers, numbness, pain, weakness, loss of dexterity and impeded blood flow. If caught early enough HAVS can be reversible, according to WorkSafe, but not in Johnstone’s case, the damage is permanent and “life changing”.

“Business owners must protect their workers. My device makes it very simple and easy to protect employees from over exposure to workplace vibration,” Johnstone said. They can see their employee exposure rates to vibration in real time 24/7, he said. As an operator/trainer at the smelter he had been subject to ongoing vibrations for more than 15 years from driving ATVs on uneven ground and from heavy power tools used to clean carbon from anodes. Like many businesses there was no time limit on working with such machinery.

Previously he had worked as a car painter, panel beater and fitter and welder which also included using some vibrating equipment.

Little information was available on the condition prompting Johnstone to do his own research. Through an Official Information Act request Johnstone found ACC (Accident Compensation Corporation) data on HAVS showed there were only 40-50 cases from 2000-2018 yet 6230 cases were reported in the United Kingdom in half that time. “Even if we consider that the two workforces are similar, based on population statistics the incidence in New Zealand should have been 785 cases in 18 years or 44 cases per year,” he told Worksafe. From 2008 to 2018 ACC data showed there were 5342 cases of carpal tunnel syndrome. Whereas in the United Kingdom there were 2,930.

Johnstone did not think New Zealand doctors appeared to be trained to diagnose HAVS and may be misdiagnosing carpal tunnel instead, hence the numbers. Though according to overseas research vibrations contributes to or causes 40 - 50 per cent of occupation related cases of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. “HAVS may be misdiagnosed because it can start in one finger but progresses to include all fingers, whereas carpal tunnel syndrome does not involve all of the fingers.”

Since leaving the smelter Johnstone has been writing health and safety policies for different companies and building his business. So far he has produced 12 prototypes of his vibration monitors. Delta Utility Services health and safety manager Matt Sadgrove, left, and Vibration Action founder Jason Johnstone sport the vibration monitor prototype on their wrists.

The monitor costs $1 a day to run. No one should work on a low vibration machine for more than eight hours each day and no more than 10 to 30 minutes on high vibration equipment such as a jack hammer, he said. Delta Utility Services in Dunedin is one of the company’s trialling the vibration monitor.

Delta’s health and safety manager Matt Sadgrove said they had been helping Johnstone refine the device and trialled it for the last 18 months. “It’s great.There’s an awful lot of people using vibrating tools.” One of the contracting company’s roles is maintaining green areas for local authorities using rotary hoes and lawn mowers. To ensure workers are not over exposed to vibrations Delta has restructured some jobs and replaced some tools with ones that vibrate less. “It has helped us identify if there are issues and look for different products.” Vibration Action's prototype wrist vibration monitors. He said they had also invested in remote controlled mowers and robots.

“(The monitor) can help us make better choices and prolong a worker’s work life, which is our best asset if we look after them.”

WorkSafe NZ head of innovation Daniel Hummerdal ​said in a statement the trial was a great example of the ingenuity and motivation in New Zealand to create better outcomes for workers. On the WorkSafe NZ website it provides advice and information on the risks of exposure to vibrations. Otago University occupational and environmental medicine associate Professor David McBride said New Zealand needed the device and needed to invest in more research in the area of the workplace hazards of vibration exposure, Worksafe NZ reported.

Johnstone was now looking for investment to further develop the glove system to detect vibration at the point of contact with wrist management to reduce carpal tunnel injury rates.

Hello and thank you for reading my story and learning about the workplace injury called Hand Arm Vibration or (HAVs).

Below is my view only and what I have experience along the way.

The history of Hand Arms Vibration Syndrome HAVs, also known as vibration white finger or dead hand. The symptoms were first detected in 1911 by Professor Loriga in Italy, the link between the symptoms and what cause them wasn’t detected until a study undertaken by Alice Hamilton MD in 1918. She formed her theory through following the symptoms reported by quarry cutters and carvers in Bedford, Indiana. She also discovered the link between an increase in HAV symptoms and cold weather as 1918 was a particularly harsh winter. https://academic.oup.com/occmed/article/68/4/224/5001592 .

Medical professionals in New Zealand think HAVs is not a common injury, I disagree with them since General Practitioners in New Zealand don’t study HAVs while studying to become a General Practitioner unless there are specialize in that field. Furthermore, New Zealand College of General Practicians only teaches carpal tunnel signs and symptoms with no mention of HAVs. Hence the reason why New Zealand has the highest rate of carpal tunnel injuries in the develop world. How bad are we really.

My experience led me to research current figures on HAVS in New Zealand.  According to ACC there were only 40-50 cases of HAVS in New Zealand over 18 years from 2000-2018.  This is unusual because 6230 cases were reported in the United Kingdom in half of that time.  Even if we consider that the two workforces are similar, based on population statistics the incidence in New Zealand should have been 785 cases in 18 years or 44 cases per year.  However, given the higher number of at-risk jobs in New Zealand, including forestry, construction, manufacturing, and agriculture industries, we could argue that the incidence should be higher in the New Zealand population.  Why are actual cases reported so low compared to other countries?

According to ACC data 5342 cases of carpel tunnel injuries occurred over 10 years from 2008-2018 in New Zealand.  If the UK had a similar proportion of carpel tunnel injuries, then there would have been 41857 cases in the same period.  The UK only reported 2930 carpel tunnel injuries.

I am no rocket scientist but looking at the available data we can see that HAVs is coded by General Practitioners in New Zealand as carpal tunnel. Sure, their lack of knowledge of HAVs is a problem but also the major lack of employee exposure data and the grey area of vibration monitoring in which New Zealand health and safety operates in. I started to see the grey area while studying for my diploma in occupational health and safety. Looking in from the outside I could see the kiwi attitude towards the problem. That attitude is I can’t see my hands or fingers missing so therefore there’s no problem. Just like a cancer, we only act when there’s something wrong with our bodies or the problem is in our face. With HAVs, if you are showing the signs and symptoms already it’s too late…

Vibration Action was started to help protect people, it’s that simple. We shouldn’t suffer in life because we work hard with our hands. What kind of retirement is it if you can’t feel or move your fingers, hands, or wrists properly and enjoy life to its fullest.