Place of Ex

Where it belongs to? Fire protection… Worksafety… Electrical, mechanical discipline…?

Interesting topic like if there is hazardous material on its own or resulted by production (even if side effect), it has to be considered and Ex compliance shall be verified and validated. No question on that!

It has to be controlled, regulated and managed. Whose responsibility is it?

Common saying if you ask 6 engineers to do HAC (hazardous area classification), they come with completely different results.

Who has it all? The enduser does. All installations, designs, etc remain at their premises and they have to keep it up and operate, do lifetimetracking and verify / validate all according to designed values.

One just asked me: which is the most strongest documentation of Ex? My answer was very simple, the one which you are doing currently. All important.

Which are the possible ones? Let us take the ideal version: – Ex design chapter (EDC), where you define the basis of design for all other disciplines (electrical, mexhanical, etc) resulting the EPL* OUT OF THE HAC – the same Ex design chapter shall follow up the whole design / purchase / installation / commissioning phase (continuous revisions) – Verification Dossier (VD), where you sum up and list all Ex installations and related docs for later identification and lifetimetracking – EPD (explosion protection documentation), where you validate the operational conditions of your hazardous area site and your operation is based on that. If any update, EPD shall come with revision. Within max 3 years it has to be re-checked.

*EPL – equipment protection level