Electrical Equipment for Hazardous Areas

1 Australian Radio Communications Industry Association Inc. (ARCIA)Unit 9 21 Huntingdale Road, Burwood, Vic 3125 @ARCIAorg This document is protected by Copyright legislation and may only be reproduced initsentirety and withoutamendment or alteration. Electrical EQUIPMENTFORHAZARDOUS Areas [EEHA]A summary of requirements for selection of Electrical Equipment for use onhazardous sites oriented towards suppliers of portable electronic Equipment for Hazardous Areas (EEHA)1 ARCIA 2016| Electrical Equipment for use in Hazardous AREASS ummaryDocumentOverviewDuring the reviewing of this document we identified a number of possibleissuesrelating to theinterpretation of such aheavilytechnical document.

2 One of the major issues was that the technicalnature of the regulations makesit look like we are trying to police the as vendors are simply offering advice; if the client already has foreign certified Equipment and heis happy to use it then that is not an issue for the vendor. Our aim is that as radio industryprofessionals we give correct :Not all Areas are Hazardous even where fuel or chemical are involved, some chemicals andproducts like diesel are not considered explosive. Hazardous /explosive Areas are often relativelysmall and usually highly controlled.

3 In an airport for example the only normally applicable hazardsare around aircraft re-fuellingpoints, not the entire tarmac. Hence your engineers, baggagehandlers, catering staff and maintenance staff generally don t need certified Equipment (confirm thiswith the client, site rules vary significantly).A customer may be using foreign certified Equipment which may not immediately look to becorrectly certified. There area multitude of reasonsfor this which maynotbeimmediatelyapparent to the vendor and it does not mean that it is unsafe.

4 Foreign certified Equipment does nothave higher failurerates;it is simply not what is defined inregulations inAustralia. Customersmayhave alreadydonerisk assessmentson this or had it approved by are not here to fix the client s site hazards or change his/her way of working. We only want toavoid giving incorrect advice. The key seems to be to ask questions of the client, Does your site have any identified hazardousareas? If so What are your site hazards? He/she may have predefined site requirements, ahazardous area classification drawingoralist of Hazardous materials:whatever the answerthenthisdocumentwillhelp you understand theneeds andcorrectprotection levelsrequired for the Equipment you offer.

5 What are you preferences for levels of protection on electronic Equipment ? If the clientdoesn t know then this document will assist you in advising other issues we are trying to solveare: If you have Equipment and you don t know if it is suitable for a specifichazard. If you sell foreign certified Equipment , don t panic many clients will still acceptand there aremethods of having this accepted on some important factor here is that the customerunderstandswhat they are accepting or you mightfind they blame you when the Equipment proves document will not provide you enough information to re-evaluate the client s Hazardous areaclassification, that is a very specialised field.

6 It will also not give you sufficient knowledge to changerisk assessments or Equipment categories. You need to work with what the customer gives you andthis document is intended to show you how to interpret the information providedby the customerand give him professional sound advice on product Equipment for Hazardous Areas (EEHA)2 ARCIA 2016| Electrical Equipment for use in Hazardous AREASWhy is this Necessary?There are Government regulations and workplace safety requirements designed to ensure that anyrisk to personnel is minimised and all of the risk factorsare controlled.

7 Without adherence to theseregulations and associated guidelines there is a possibility of loss of life, loss or destruction of assetsand resultant radio users may need to use communications Equipment in Hazardous environments. It isimportant to understand the most hazards require the use of Equipment which is certified as beingsafe for use in those EEHA ( Electrical EquipmentHazardous Areas ) regulations stem from the likelihood of heatand/orsparksfromelectrical Equipment causing ignition of Hazardous substances. Therehave beena number ofmethods ortechniques developed to either protect againstthe possibility of ignition orto minimise the risk of standards areANZEx;based on,and in many cases identical totheIECE xstandards.

8 IECExis alegallyaccepted form (European)andUSNEC certification,unlessalsotested to IECEx,isNOT accepted withoutprofessional assessment(see Authorised useof ForeignStandards CompliantEquipment Page41)IdentifyingtheHazardandPreventing IgnitionThere are two (2) distinctly separate issues involved; one is the definition of the hazard and theother is theselection of a suitableprotection mechanism to protect againstigniting the first step isto identify and definethe actual hazards areidentified based on an assessment ofrisk of anexplosion.

9 Specificmethodsforassessment are defined instandards. Assessment is done by Hazardous area assessors/inspectorsand apparatusto be used in Hazardous areasare testedand certified to various levelsbylaboratoriesapproved under the standards siteassessorsand the testlaboratoriesare two (2) distinctly different test and issue certificates for their own Equipment (except inATEX;however this is NOTacceptable in Australia, more later on this topic).HazardIdentificationThe hazards (gas and/or dust) areidentifiedand groupedrelativeto their explosivity and isasfollows:Degree of Risk (Zones)The likelihood or probability of the hazard occurring are defined as Zones (in the US system they arereferred to as Divisions).

10 This identifies the likelihood of the hazard occurring, as 0isan area in which an explosive gas atmosphere is present continuously or for long periods orfrequentlyZone 1isan area in which an explosive gas atmosphere is likely to occur in normal operationoccasionallyZone 2isan area in which an explosive gas atmosphere is not likely to occur in normal operation but,if it does occur, it will exist for a short period onlyZone 20is an areain which an explosive dust atmosphere, in the form of a cloud of dust in air, ispresent continuously, or for long periods or Equipment for Hazardous Areas (EEHA)