PIMEX for efficient working methods in the aluminium industry

July 2006 - December 2012

Background

The HAPPA project has shown that the main part of total exposure for employees mainly happens in short periods of the working-day. This happens when dust and gas concentrations reach high values when the cells are opened for anode changing, by gas skirt changing and many other jobs. The behaviour based attitude of executing the jobs is assumed to give great difference in exposure. The exposure may be reduced considerably by regarding that such high concentrations occur. An educationally good method to analyze the job execution is important to obtain best practice.

In the proposal to framework directives from the Directorate of Labour Inspection in Norway to reduce the numbers of cases with potroom asthma, it is stressed as important to implement best practice and other organizing actions to reduce the exposure. 
PIMEX has been used for production of a general training material focusing on dust exposure control in collaboration with WHO.
More information about PIMEX on: www.du.se/pimex 

ArticArticles:
2014: Visualisation and identification of peak exposure events in aluminium smelter pot rooms using hydrogen fluoride and aerosol real-time portable spectrometers.
Nils Petter Skaugset, Bal´azs Berlinger, Bernhard Radziuk, Håvard Tørring, Ole Synnesa and Yngvar Thomassen
2015: Speciation of fluoride in workroom air during
primary production of aluminium.
Nils Petter Skaugset, Dag G. Ellingsen, Hilde Notø, Lars Jordbekken and Yngvar Thomassen