HazardEx - Standards

The hazardous world of Ex Marking 20 April 2017

The one subject guaranteed to get everyone hot under the collar is the subject of the marking of Ex Equipment. There is not much disagreement about the need to identify the equipment type, its operational parameters and its manufacturer, but everyone seems to have an opinion on how the hazardous area code should be expressed. ...

IECEx at the Hazardex 2017 Conference 08 March 2017

In the first week of March I had the opportunity to give a speech at the annual Hazardex conference in Runcorn, northern England. My impressions of this conference were very positive and I got the feeling that there was great interest in the IECEx system and its structures and procedures. ...

When new directives hit the fan 22 February 2017

EN 14986:2017 entitled “Design of fans working in potentially explosive atmospheres” was issued in January. Although not greatly different in principle from the 2007 edition, there are enough changes to mean that most fans will have to be reassessed against the new standard before the 2007 edition loses harmonisation status....

IECEx: Certified Equipment Scheme 20 January 2017

One of the most important benefits of the IECEx Certified Equipment Scheme is the global availability of safety products for hazardous areas with a certificate issued by a recognized competent certification body. This creates a certain amount of flexibility, which is very important both for internationally acting manufacturers and end customers....

IEC TC31: Harmony in Frankfurt 21 December 2016

Although it will seem some time ago when this appears in print, this is my first opportunity to report on the IEC TC31 meetings that were held along with the IEC General Meeting in Frankfurt during October. The many meetings of the various Project Teams, Working Groups and Maintenance Teams progressed well. ...

IECEx: A busy few months 15 November 2016

In September and October I had a very busy schedule. The month started with a trip to Umhlanga in South Africa where the annual IECEx Management Committee Meeting took place. More than 120 delegates and observers from 30 countries came together and took some important decisions for the future development of the System. ...

Shedding light on LED luminaires 20 October 2016

IECEx held both technical and organisational meetings in South Africa at the start of September. In his article published in the October edition of HazardEx, the IECEx Management Committee chairman, Thorsten Arnhold, covered a number of the organisational issues that were discussed. So I will deal with one of the technical issues that generated a lot of discussion....

IECEx: The ‘Big Five’ success factors 15 September 2016

The annual meeting of the IECEx Management Committee and the series of meetings of different scheme committees and working groups have just ended. This year the host has been the South African National Committee and the location was Umhlanga, which is very close to Durban at the coast of the Indian Ocean....

‘Business as usual’ after Brexit 15 August 2016

Thorsten Arnhold, chair of the IECEx System, gave a very fair summary in his article last month of why the international acceptance of IECEx Certification should transcend any issues related to ATEX that might arise as a result of the vote in the UK to leave the European Union. I fully support everything he said....

Brexit and the hazardous area market 15 July 2016

In these days it is almost impossible to write a column in an international magazine published in London without a reflection about Brexit. For me as a German European with a wife from a Baltic country and with two adult daughters, one of them living and working in London, this event has a special relevance for our private lives. But also our business lives will be affected by the vote of the British people to leave the EU....