HazardEx - Standards

Trumpism and Brexit – a challenge to the ethos of the IEC 01 November 2017

A good headline, but the words spoken by James Shannon (President of the IEC) require a context. He was giving his introductory address to the IECEx Management Committee meeting in Washington at the end of September. ...

The start of the IECEx season 03 October 2017

Every year at the beginning of August, email traffic and telephone calls inside the IECEx community and the number of working group and national committee meetings rises sharply. This is a good indication that the IECEx Management Committee (MC) meeting and other major annual events will be upon us soon. In 2017, the IECEx MC will take place in Washington DC. ...

Awaiting Autumn 03 August 2017

Because of the editorial deadlines for HazardEx, I am putting finger to keyboard at the start of August, but already looking forward to a busy series of meetings in the autumn. The first meeting of the busy season is scheduled for the last week of September, in Washington DC. ...

Singapore – an IECEx trailblazer 17 July 2017

This time I am writing from Singapore, a city I always like to visit. Every time I come there are interesting changes - beautiful new buildings have been erected, new parks laid out or a new stadium opened. I like the clean streets with all the friendly and industrious people and the quiet evenings on the Singapore River. Unfortunately, I am always in the city on business and must be missing many of the city’s other attractions....

Harmonisation of Standards 03 July 2017

Although many readers may be familiar with the term “Harmonised Standard”, it is a sometimes a concern how little understanding there is of the significance of the harmonisation process. Whether you are a manufacturer anywhere in the world, or a purchaser, an installer or a user of ATEX Equipment in Europe, it is important to understand what harmonisation means to you....

IECEx: Globetrotting and profile-raising 10 May 2017

Dubai, Sydney, Shanghai and finally Hawarden in Wales, these were the destinations of my latest trips as the Chairman of the IECEx System. In each of these locations the growing success of our organisation was apparent, all based on the excellent work of our members. In March, I started my spring tourney in Dubai. ...

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....