ATEX Potentially Explosive Atmospheres Regulations

The use of electrical equipment in potentially flammable atmospheres should be avoided as far as possible. However, there will be many cases where electrical equipment must be used and, in these cases, the standards for the construction of the equipment should comply with the Equipment and Protective Systems Intended for Use in Potentially Explosive Atmospheres Regulations (known as ATEX) and details on the classification or zoning of areas are published by the British Standards Institution and the Health and Safety Executive. 

The Equipment and Protective Systems Intended for Use in Potentially Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 1996 were made by the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, coming into force on 1 March 1996. They implement the provisions of Directive 94/9/EC, the so-called ATEX Directive, and they will be referred to here as the ATEX Regulations. 

As a further complication, the ATEX Directive, enacted in the UK as The Equipment and Protective Systems Intended for Use in Potentially Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 1996 (see Chapter 7) introduced the concept of equipment categories, which will have to be adopted at the end of the transition phase in 2003. In very broad terms these categories are ... 

Directive 94/9/EC (ATEX 95) to approximate the laws of the Member States concerning equipment and protective systems intended for use in potentially explosive atmospheres governs requirements for products intended for the use in explosion risk areas. Directive 1999/92/EC (ATEX 137) on minimum requirements for improving the safety and health protection of workers potentially at risk from explosive atmospheres regulates the minimum requirements for explosion protection at work places and for the safe use of products. The ATEX 95 therefore deals with the properties of the products to be used in explosion risk areas while ATEX 137 regulates their operation and other operational measures for explosion protection. 

In 1994 European parliament issued the ATEX directive (145) on the approximation of the laws of the member states, concerning equipment and protective systems intended for use in potentially explosive atmospheres. The scope, these regulations specifically require protective systems, intended to halt incipient explosions immediately... 

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