NEPSI Good Practice Guide illustrated with PIMEX Videos

PIMEX videos have been developed to illustrate the effectiveness of the NEPSI good practices (see chapter Good Practice Guide) in the reduction of occupational exposure to dust.

PIMEX (PIcture Mix Exposure) is a video exposure monitoring method used in occupational hygiene practice. It is based on mixing pictures from a video camera filming a worker performing its task with a simultaneous measurement of the worker's exposure to dust, comparing whether the task is performed according to the NEPSI recommended practice versus any other practice not reducing exposure to dust. The main idea of the method is to make invisible hazards in the work environment visible and in this manner facilitate their reduction.

PIMEX videos are an excellent visual tool which can be used in the following situations:

  • Training workers;
  • Raising awareness and motivate managers to use safe working procedures or to take measures;
  • Visualisation of a good practice method;

The following task sheets are available in PIMEX video illustration:

  • Task sheet 2.1.10: Good hygiene cleaning clothes;
  • Task sheet 2.1.12: Laboratory work;
  • Task sheet 2.1.13: Local exhaust ventilation;
  • Task sheet 2.1.14: Maintenance, services and repair activities;
  • Task sheet 2.2.1: Cleaning floors;
  • Task sheet 2.2.6: Crushing of minerals;
  • Task sheet 2.2.10: Fettling larger castings in foundries;
  • Task sheet 2.2.14: Glass furnace batch charging;
  • Task sheet 2.2.19: Jumbo bagging;
  • Task sheet 2.2.22: Mixing of materials;
  • Task sheet 2.2.30: Shot-blasting in foundries;
  • Task sheet 2.2.31b: Small bags filling (flours);
  • Task sheet 2.2.36: Water-assisted dust suppression.

Next to the video picture you see a graph and a red bar illustrating the dust concentration in mg/m3.

NB: The measurement of the dust concentration is not about respirable cristalline silica, it is based on a semi-quantitative measurement.What is essential is not the dust concentration value but the relative difference between exposure levels during the recommended practice and another practice.