Catch Hidden Risks: Vibration Monitoring for NZ Workplaces
When machinery hums and tools buzz, it’s easy to focus on noise, but the unseen risk of vibration often goes overlooked. In New Zealand workplaces that use heavy equipment, mobile machinery or hand-held power tools, vibration exposure can build up over time and cause serious long-term harm. That’s why a well-designed vibration monitoring programme is essential for protecting your workers, staying compliant, and preserving business productivity.
Why Vibration Monitoring Matters
There are two main types of vibration hazards at work:
Whole-Body Vibration (WBV): affects operators of heavy machinery, vehicles, or equipment where vibration passes through the body, for example drivers of earth-moving machines, forklifts, or concrete-crushing plants.
Hand-Arm Vibration (HAV): affects people using hand-held tools like grinders, jackhammers, saws, and other power tools.
Prolonged exposure to excessive vibration can lead to serious occupational health problems, from lower-back, neck and shoulder pain to musculoskeletal disorders, nerve damage, circulatory issues, and more.
For many businesses, vibration is an “invisible risk”: the machines feel normal, and the tools work fine, yet over months or years, small exposures can accumulate and lead to chronic injury. Without monitoring, you may never know who’s at risk until it’s too late.
What a Professional Vibration Monitoring Programme Looks Like
At Verum Group, vibration monitoring isn’t just a one-off check, it’s a thorough exposure management service designed to give you data, insight, and action. Here’s what it involves:
Personal exposure monitoring (WBV & HAV): We equip employees with advanced sensors during their work shifts to measure real vibration exposure.
Benchmarking against standards: Measured vibration levels are compared against accepted exposure thresholds, helping identify whether workers are over-exposed.
Risk assessment and control recommendations: Based on data, we recommend control measures, this may include engineering controls (equipment maintenance, isolation, better seating/anti-vibration mounting), administrative controls (rotating tasks, limiting exposure time), or specifying personal protective equipment (PPE) as needed.
Ongoing monitoring and review: Vibration risks can change with different machinery, maintenance state, or work patterns, periodic monitoring ensures exposure remains under control.
Taken together, this structured approach protects your people, supports compliance with health and safety regulations, and helps you stay ahead of risk before injury, and liability, occur.
Who Should Consider Vibration Monitoring (And When)
If your workplace involves:
Heavy machinery operators (earth-moving, mobile plant, forklifts, crushers)
Staff using hand-held or hand-guided power tools (grinders, jackhammers, saws, drills, sanders, etc.)
Long hours, repetitive tasks, or rotating workers across vibrating equipment
… then vibration monitoring should be part of your occupational hygiene programme.
It’s wise to schedule monitoring when you change equipment, add new tools, hire new staff, or notice complaints of musculoskeletal discomfort among workers, these are strong signals that vibration exposure needs checking.
Ready to Take the Next Step?
At Verum Group, we specialise in delivering comprehensive vibration monitoring services across New Zealand. Whether you have a small workshop with hand-held tools or a large site running heavy machinery, we can tailor a vibration exposure assessment and mitigation plan just for you.
Don’t wait until aches, fatigue or injury signal a problem. Contact us today to schedule vibration monitoring for your team, benchmark your exposure, and get actionable recommendations on control measures.