R-Link - HAVS

Managing Workplace Hand-arm Vibration

The R-Link watch has been developed to assess and manage hand arm vibration (HAV) risks more easily and effectively.

The R-Link® smart watch is new generation of workplace wearable technology which is designed to help workers monitor the risk of exposure to vibration. R-Link informs the wearer of their exposure levels by calculating and displaying their HSE HAV risk assessment exposure points in real-time. Sound and vibration alerts inform the wearer if their personalised exposure thresholds have been exceeded.

R-Link features ground-breaking technology to simultaneously assess exposure risk using; pre-defined tool vibration magnitude and vibration magnitude sensed by the wearer at the wrist.

Either of these methods can be used to display HAV risk exposure points and both types of data are stored online for analysis by employers.

Benefits

BenefitsFeatures
Wrist worn device for truly personal monitoring experienceReal-time exposure points calculation & display
Support employee behavioural changePersonalised exposure threshold display & multi haptic alerts
Insite to real use risk to compare with traditional compliant assessmentEmployees alerted even if colour blind or wearing hearing protection
Exposure data automatically transmitted onlineIP67 rated with extensive heritage of use in arduous environments
Automatic manager alerts from the Reactec Analytics of excessive exposure33 minute R-Link re-charge
Automatic manager KPI reports from the Reactec AnalyticsLow cost, simple to use and fully automated

R-Link is the successor to our established HAVWEAR wearable which has been trusted by over 100,000 workers in the UK. We've built upon decades of experience in developing risk prevention solutions, and enhanced the powerful HAVS monitoring capability of HAVWEAR, to launch a R-Link and protect your workforce from an entire risk environment, while optimising productivity.

Glowing reviews

Read our case study about how Magenta Living made the switch from HAVWEAR to R-Link to increase their controls for managing exposure to hand-arm vibration

Read Case Study

How it works

The R-Link smart watch simultaneously at all times gathers HAV exposure data based on two methodologies - TEP and SEP. Only one is displayed to the operator - a choice made at a company level. The data is automatically transmitted to the Reactec Analytics by a docking station or RASOR. Within the Reactec Analytics your choice of exposure assessment method will be reflected in the HAV reports to standard users. Additionally your subject matter experts can view both sets of data to gain unprecedented insight to real use HAV risk drivers.

Tool Exposure Points (TEP) are calculated using the HSE risk assessment Exposure Points system, combining the length of time a tool is in use (trigger time) with the vibration value that is programmed on the R-Link Tag. The validity of the value programmed in the R-Link Tag is a responsibility of the employer to be “representative of the tool use by their operators”. A number of sources for the pre-defined magnitude can be used and the HSE will look for justification of choice.

Sensed Exposure Points (SEP) are calculated at the same time by the same HSE risk assessment methodology except that the vibration magnitude is real-time vibration magnitude as determined by R-Link. The R-Link watch takes a precision measurement at the wrist and corrects this measurement for the transmissibility through the hand. This yields a good real-time approximation of actual risks faced. If SEP is used as the sole assessment it should be done on the basis of being confident that the assessment does not under-assess the vibration magnitude. There is ample guidance from HSE on typical tool vibration magnitudes to allow a determination on the suitability of R-Link sensed vibration magnitude.

Watch our R-Link how to user guide video

Watch our short video on how to use the R-Link smart watch for monitoring exposure to vibration when operating power tools.   

Ecosystem

Reactec’s expanded ecosystem allows employer’s to have a real world risk profile of an employees’ exposure to vibration using the advanced R-Link smart watch and cloud-based Reactec Analytics.

HAVS Prevention

Download R-Link capability brochure to learn more about our approach to HAVS prevention

R-Link Proximity Warning System

R-Link builds upon Reactec’s trusted HAVS monitoring capability to offer expanded functionality which alerts the wearer when they are within dangerous proximity to moving vehicles, active machinery, or a restricted area in real-time.

Learn more about R-Link’s proximity warning capability and how we can engineer out workplace risk:

Proximity Warning Capability

RASOR

Add RASOR to your HAV Management Tool Kit

Assigning a RASOR to either a field supervisor or team member, the RASOR will automatically gather live exposure data from all their teams’ health risk sensors within range, including but not limited to Reactec’s R-Link watch.

The RASOR user and remote management will be automatically alerted to any exposure breaches for immediate over the shoulder intervention.

The RASOR transmits exposure data along with location information to the cloud based Reactec Analytics every 15 minutes so remote supervisors can have full visibility of their team’s location and exposure risk levels.

Read how RASOR can help companies achieve greater regulatory compliance while enhancing the health and safety of field operatives and lone workers.

Reactec Training Aid

Optimise in real-time tool operator productivity and risk, with the Reactec Training Aid App

The Tool Training App means supervisors can better manage productivity and risk than previously considered possible.

By combining the RASOR training aid and the R-Link watch, supervisors can proactively optimise tool choices and usage by training colleagues to.

  • Improve operator tool technique
  • Better assess tool condition
  • Ensure the best tool for the job

The tool operator can change their tool technique such as grip, push force, etc to see if the effect increases or reduces their exposure risk.

While standing alongside a tool operator who is wearing R-Link, the RASOR user can view the rate at which the tool operator’s exposure will be accumulated based on the real time vibration experienced by that operator.

Example of variation in exposure from tool use as shown using the training aid.

If the tool under test has the R-Link Tool Tag attached then the Training Aid display will also compare the real time risk against what is expected of the tool via a simple but powerful traffic light visual aid. The visual aid will identify when the sensed level from R-Link is materially different to the tool tag value.

Note the reading is updated approximately once a second and is not a rolling average over the time since activation. This contrasts with instruments designed to measure vibration dose which average the dose from the start of the test and do not allow for real time analysis of technique.

It should be recognised that the R-Link watch real use data supplied to the RASOR is based on R-Link sensed vibration reading. The R-Link watch sensed vibration uses detected signals from a triaxial accelerometer in the device which are adjusted for transmissibility through the hand to give an approximation of the vibration magnitude incident at the hand. The reading as such does not meet the measurement requirements of ISO8041. However, the methodology is extremely consistent and will readily be able to determine relative risk levels for different uses of a tool or differences between tool types.

Contact us

Standards tend to lag technology. Discover what you can do with workplace wearables to better protect the health of your workforce long-term - talk to our workplace wearables experts today about R-Link.

Contact us

Discover what you can do with workplace wearables to better protect the health of your workforce long-term - talk to our workplace wearables experts today about R-Link.

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