Potentially Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 1996

Equipment and Protective Systems intended for use in Potentially Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 1996 248... 

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. 

Directive 1999/92/EC is an Article 137 Directive laying out the minimum requirements for improving the safety and health protection of workers potentially at risk from explosive atmospheres. As such it complements the Article 95 Directive evolved into The Equipment and Protective Systems Intended for Use in Potentially Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 1996. The Directive was adopted by the Council of Ministers on 6 December 1999. 

The Directive relates to work equipment which, as for The Equipment and Protective Systems Intended for Use in Potentially Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 1996, is not restricted to electrical equipment. 

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 ... 

In the UK, the type testing and certification work has been carried out by the Electrical Equipment Certification Services (EECS), which is part of HSE, and by SIRA Test and Certification Ltd. The Equipment and Protective Systems Intended for Use in Potentially Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 1996 will change this, because they introduce a legal requirement for compliance with the Essential Health and Safety Requirements (EHSRs) and the application of the CE mark using the applicable conformity assessment procedures, which may involve the participation of a notified body. This is a complicated area but, in summary ... 

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. 

Legislation concerning flammable solvents is not limited to situations where such solvents are being handled. In addition, equipment manufacturers who supply equipment for use in such situations are also controlled by an extensive array of regulations. These requirements are illustrated by the recent European Directive concerning equipment and protective systems intended for use in potentially explosive atmospheres [26]. This sets out essential safety requirements which will have to be met by equipment manufacturers before a product can be placed on the market in the future. 

Requirements for their safe use and storage were contained in the Highly Flammable Liquids and Liquified Petroleum Gases Regulations 1972 which have been revoked by the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2002. However, they did lay down sound precautions to be taken where highly flammable materials are used and potentially explosive atmospheres arise. Their contents are summarized below ... 

Before electrical equipment is installed in any location where flammable dusts vapours or gases may be present, the area must be zoned in accordance with the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations and records of the zoned areas must be marked on building drawings and revised when any zoned area is changed. The installation and maintenance of electrical equipment in potentially flammable atmospheres is a specialized task. It must only be undertaken by electricians or instrument mechanics who have an understanding of the techniques involved. 

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... 

The main duty on manufacturers or suppliers is to ensure that equipment destined for use in potentially explosive atmospheres satisfies relevant Essential Health and Safety Requirements, which are listed in Schedule 3 of the Regulations. The Requirements relate to three groups common requirements, supplementary requirements for equipment, and supplementary requirements for protective systems. Protective systems are defined as design units which are intended to halve incipient explosions immediately and/or to limit the effective range of explosion flames and explosion pressures. Protective systems may be integrated into equipment or separately placed on the market for use as autonomous systems. 

Employers in control of hazardous areas need to determine the locations and extents of these zones in each of the hazardous areas, an exercise known as hazardous area classification. At present, in 2001, there is no specific legal duty to carry out hazardous area classification, apart from the general duties to carry out risk assessments and, in the context of mines, in Regulation 19 of the Electricity at Work Regulations. However, the Protection of Workers Potentially at Risk from Explosive Atmospheres Regulations expected to be enacted soon, will contain specific provisions relating to area classification and the need to record the area classification information in an explosion protection document. 

These regulations illustrate a trend that is occurring in safety legislation, which is now starting to move from a prescriptive approach with definitions of what has to be done in specific situations to a more risk-based approach where the precautions and actions taken are left to the individual user provided they meet certain risk-based criteria. A proposed European Directive concerning minimum requirements for improving the safety and health of workers potentially at risk from explosive atmospheres extends this concept to all work places where flammable atmospheres may be formed. When adopted, this will require all employers to carry out a hazard assessment to identify whether a flammable atmosphere is likely to exist and, where so, to demonstrate that appropriate technical, organisational and other measures appropriate to the nature of the operation have been taken to minimise the risk. 

The techniques to be adopted to prevent danger when using electrical equipment in the vicinity of potentially explosive or flammable atmospheres have changed over the years and present legal requirements are contained in regulation 6 of the EAW Regulations. 

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