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Welcome to the Ottawa, Canada 13-17 June 2011 |
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(photos: City of Ottawa)
Instructions for Oral and Poster presenters are now available.
The Final Program is now available.
This Conference is the premier forum for presenting new research, technology, and current challenges of hand-arm vibration exposures. You won’t want to miss the four days of plenary speakers, technical sessions, workshop, equipment exhibits, or posters presented at this event.
For more information, scroll down this page and explore our web site. If you want to be notified as more information becomes available, please click on the Expression of Interest button found in the left-hand navigation bar.
On behalf of the Organizing Committee and others who will be sponsoring and supporting this 12th International Conference, we extend an invitation for you to come to Ottawa, Canada in June 2011.
About HAV 2011
Since 1972 when the 1st International Conference was held in Dundee, Scotland, there has been significant progress in knowledge and public awareness of hand-arm vibration as an occupational health issue. These International Conferences, with their multi-disciplinary approach and plenary sessions, have contributed substantially to the exchange of knowledge among researchers and practitioners around the world.
The adverse health effects of hand-arm vibration were first reported in 1911 by Giovanni Loriga, an Italian physician and inspector of public health. His publication in the Bulletin of Labor Inspectorate described the medical histories of workers who used pneumatic tools in marble quarries, machine shops, and shipyards, together with their symptoms of joint stiffness in the upper extremities, and tingling, numbness, coldness and whiteness of fingers. Similar observations were subsequently reported by a team led by Dr. Alice Hamilton in the U.S.A., in a landmark study of limestone quarry cutters and carvers. Since the 1980s the complex of neurological, vascular and musculo-skeletal symptoms has been known as the Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS).
Since the original reports, our understanding of the epidemiology of neurological and vascular symptoms, and of the pathophysiology of peripheral neurovascular disorders has advanced significantly. These advancements have been facilitated by developments in vibration measurement methods, health effects assessments and exposure estimation techniques. Improved understanding has led to strategies for exposure reduction, improvements in hand tool design, introduction of personal protective equipment, and development of regulations for limiting harmful exposures.
Questions and challenges remain, however. A primary question surrounds the relative hazard posed by different vibration frequencies in causing the neurological and vascular symptoms. The suitability of the so-called "ISO frequency weighting" has been repeatedly challenged, and continues to be an area of investigation.
A second question surrounds the reversibility of symptoms - while early vascular stages have been shown to improve or resolve when vibration exposures are removed, what happens with the other components of HAVS (neurological and musculo-skeletal) is less certain.
A third question surrounds the differing presentation of cases - HAVS is becoming more a neurological and musculo-skeletal complex, because a general reduction in vibration exposures is resulting in decreased incidence of vascular symptoms. Reports are also beginning to appear of similar symptoms in the feet of persons standing on vibrating platforms.
Although all topics related to hand-transmitted vibration will be considered at the Conference, the question of the suitability of the "ISO frequency weighting" will be the focus of a Workshop on the final day of the Conference. This topic is considered most important for this international forum, because any revision to the frequency weighting would have broad ramifications, and would be expected to precipitate major re-assessments of hazardous exposures, regulations for limiting exposures, hand tool designs and gloves.
In summary, this Conference will provide an opportunity for researchers and practitioners around the world, as well as for interested students, to share recent findings, the outcome of their work, and accumulated knowledge in the field. Presentations are invited on all aspects of HAVS, including progress in the field since the last International Conference on Hand-Arm Vibration was held in Ottawa in 1981.