Standards Update

This update will focus on the importance of standards in the conformity assessment process for Ex equipment and the relationship between TC 31 and IECEx. But first let me take you to a recent personal experience.   Prior to the IECEx meetings in Split, on the coast of Croatia, I skipped a sailing boat with my whole family for a week of sailing around a few of the thousand plus beautiful and often historic islands in the Adriatic Sea.  On the third day on a crossing between Brac Island and Hvar Island the wind rose to a brisk 25 knots and the waves became quite large.  I had reduced sail on the mainsail and the genoa (the sail up the front), but the boat still had an impressive lean with the sea occasionally...

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While the UK was still waiting for the Indian summer to arrive, nearly 150 delegates from all around the world enjoyed fine early September weather in Croatia. Our hosts, the Ex Agency, arranged a magnificent venue just outside Split, where we could take our tea and coffee breaks on a terrace looking out onto the Adriatic. As usual, the IECEx “week” consisted of a number of different meetings. On Monday, the ExTAG Training Day looked at progress with the new IECEx Unit Verification Certificate, as well as the development of the IECEx Competence Certification Scheme. Member certification bodies (ExCBs) shared their experiences. Later that afternoon, all the IECEx assessors who were present in Split met to share issues...

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How important are international standards in the Ex world? How widely are they adopted? Who produces and revises them? How much influence can my country have on the content? How can I get involved? What is Committee TC 31 and why do there seem to be several TC 31s? What standards does TC 31 develop? How can I get my Ex equipment certified to the TC 31 standards? I get these and many other questions as Chairman of International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Committee TC 31 Equipment for Explosive Atmospheres. In this article and subsequent articles I hope to unravel some of the mysteries. First let’s just cover a couple of basics. When I talk about explosive atmospheres, I am addressing flammable substances in the form...

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During the two weeks in Sweden for the IEC meetings in April, we saw winter turn into spring. Ice flows in the harbour and snow piled at the roadside disappeared and were replaced by spring bulbs, and the outside terrace seating of the hotels and cafes came back into use. In the UK we are not used to such a sudden transition, and at last I understood some of the references in the Wallander novels. As usual, we tried to fit in as many meetings as possible to maximise the benefits of people travelling from all over the world, so it was a full programme, but it was good to have the middle weekend free to see the sights and the magnificent museums. My particular interest started with the work of the “Motor” working group. This...

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