Vibration-induced health conditions generally progress slowly. It usually begins as a pain at first. As the exposure to vibration continues, pain can cause major illnesses and diseases. Feeling pain is the first health problem to be noticed and addressed in order to avoid such discomforts.

Some machines and equipment cause vibrations and harm to employees who use them. Vibrations can cause changes in tendons, muscles, bones and joints and affect the nervous system. All these effects are known as hand-arm vibration syndrome.

The complaints of employees affected by this condition are usually as follows: whitening of one or more fingers when exposed to cold, pain and colds during this time, tingling and sensation loss in fingers, loss of light touch, loss of grip strength in fingers and wrist bone cysts. If timely hand-arm vibration syndrome is not recognized and the necessary precautions are not taken, it will progress gradually and its severity will increase over time. Clinical manifestation of symptoms can range from several months to several years.

Another form of vibration is the whole-body vibration. The machines and equipment used may cause a vibration in the whole body, not just in the hand-arm area. This occurs in the form of fatigue, nausea, headache, loss of balance and tremor during or shortly after exposure.

Exposure to whole-body vibration can cause a range of circulatory, intestinal, respiratory, muscle and back disorders. Effects such as body posture and postural fatigue may occur. Many studies have shown that the performances of workers exposed to whole body vibration decrease.

As with other occupational risks, individual sensitivity to vibration varies from person to person. Nevertheless, in the relevant legal regulations, the limit values ​​for vibration exposure are shown separately for hand-arm vibration and whole-body vibration.