PIMEX
The PIMEX method ( PI cture M ixed EX posure) describes the synchronous recording and visual representation of workloads and medical data of employees in real time. A work process is filmed with a video camera, at the same time stresses (such as dust, solvents, etc.) but also medical data ( heart rate , heart rate variability ) are recorded and stored synchronously with the video. The data can be called up at any time and is available for further analysis. With the possibility of exposure coursesDirect connection with the current activity of the employee can be used to identify relationships between the work process, the prevailing stresses, but also the specific demands , and to derive measures against unfavorable situations.
In the meantime , measurements of hazardous substances (dust, solvents and cooling lubricant mist ), ergonomic factors both for workloads (climatic factors - temperature, humidity and air speed) and stress reactions (heart rate) as well as physical loads such as noise and thermal radiation have been tested . For many exposure areas there are special direct-indicating measuring systems and sensors that must be selected depending on the substance to be measured.
development
The PIMEX method was developed by Grunnar Rosèn and Ing-Marie Andersson at the Arbetslivsinstitut in Sweden in the early 1980s . Since the system was not subject to licensing, it was used and further developed by scientists in several European countries. At the moment it is u. a. used and further developed in Great Britain by the Health and Safety Laboratory, Harpur Hill, and in Finland by the VTT Technical Research Center of Finland. In Sweden, Finland, Great Britain and the Netherlands the system was only used sporadically, especially in science. At the beginning of the 1990s, the idea and knowledge of the PIMEX came to Austria with the young engineer Hubert Novak. His employer, the Austrian Employment Accident Insurance Fund ( AUVA ), used it for job analysis.
With the advancing development of information technology, PIMEX could be ported to notebook computers. The development in measurement technology also led to smaller sensors that could be used in the workplace without obstructing the test subjects.
Introduction to Germany
In the mid-1990s, the Austrian PIMEX system was also introduced in Germany. A department from the Hamburg Authority for Science and Research played a large part in the spread, both nationally and internationally . The Hamburg Cooperation Office organizes international congresses for the exchange of experiences between PIMEX users. In 2004 she carried out a project (PIMEXPRO) financed by the Occupational Safety and Health Agency in Bilbao to disseminate the method in Germany and Greece. The German occupational health and safety institutions were made aware of the system through presentations and publications. Today the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAUA) as well as individual trade associations (BG BAU, BG ETEM, BGHM) and the IFA have such a system.