Explosive atmospheres, caused by flammable gases, mists, vapors, or combustible dust, are life-threatening and can cause life-altering injuries for those working in such workplaces. It is vital that industries whereby activities that produce explosive, or potentially explosive atmospheres are assessed, regulated, and conform to a set of stringent measures to maintain the safety of workers. This is where ATEX comes in.
What is ATEX and who implements the legislation?
Essentially ATEX exists to ensure that there are adequate safety measures in place to protect workers and that protective equipment produced, meets minimum requirements for safety. It is the formal name given to two European directives.
- Directive 99/92/EC (also known as 'ATEX 137' or the 'ATEX Workplace Directive') on minimum requirements for improving the health and safety protection of workers potentially at risk from explosive atmospheres.
- Directive 2014/34/EU (also known as 'ATEX 114' or 'the ATEX Equipment Directive) on the approximation of the laws of Members States concerning equipment and protective systems intended for use in potentially explosive atmospheres.”
The word ATEX is an acronym from the words ‘Atmospheres and Explosibles’. For more information on ATEX, visit hse.gov.uk. If a piece of equipment or product has official ATEX certification it means that it has been fully tested and approved for use in explosive atmospheres. If a product or piece of equipment is ATEX-approved it will show the ‘Ex’ logo.
It is the responsibility of national authorities to implement ATEX in the EU by transposing the requirements into their legislation.
What goes into the ATEX inspection checklist?
The process of risk assessment, testing, and certification is vital to comply with and maintain the minimum requirements of ATEX regulations. Of course, with all inspections comes an inspection checklist. The ATEX checklist essentially contains the following:
Audit section
- Area classification
- Area equipment is installed
- Equipment type
- Equipment
- Manufacturer
- Serial number/part number
- Photograph of equipment
- Cable ID
- Tag number
- Ex protection
- Ex cert number
- IP rating
- There is no obvious damage to cables (safe/at-risk/NA)
- Apparatus circuit identification is available (yes/no/NA)
- The apparatus is adequately protected against corrosion, weather, dust, vibration, and any other adverse factors (yes/no/NA)
- Apparatus is appropriate to area classification (V,C,D) (yes/no/NA)
- No undue accumulation of dust and dirt is present. (yes/no/NA)
Inspection
Completion Date Date
Lead inspector name and signature
Repairs and closeout
Repairs carried out by
Repairs carried out
Date repair completed Date
Signature to confirm conformity
What equipment is needed to perform the ATEX inspection?
Any equipment that is used to perform the ATEX inspection should also be designed and manufactured so that it cannot be the source of an electric, electrostatic, or impact-induced spark or arc that would cause an explosive mixture to ignite.
ATEX mobile phones should be used to input inspection form responses, their Bluetooth connectivity means you can connect wirelessly to other devices and share data via GPRS to a server or connect directly with your software system - inside the ex-hazardous area zone.
Protective suits should be worn with electro-static-discharge (ESD) footwear so there is no direct path to the ground and therefore the risk of any spark is minimized.
Workers should also be trained in how to use and maintain their PPEs. Garments should meet the NFPA 2112, 2113, 2014/34/EU and the NFPA 70E standard, which means PPE must resist flash fire and arc flash.
How can Kizeo Forms help you efficiently perform ATEX inspections?
Kizeo Forms is a form builder that can be used to build detailed forms for ATEX inspections. Below we summarise the key benefits of adopting Kizeo Forms.
- No digital knowledge required
Forms can be built in-house by inspection teams without the need for IT or developer support.
- Forms can be completed on ATEX mobile or tablet
Reducing the need for paper forms increases accuracy, and speed to complete and transfer data into digital form later on.
- Completion on or offline
Forms can be completed offline and securely synced to servers once inspections are completed.
- Photographic evidence in one place
Form fields such as the ability to take a photo and include in the response allow for equipment inspection photos to be stored centrally for all staff to access and assess.
- Pre-filled fields increase the speed
The ability to include pre-filled fields and predictive text increases the speed of inspections.
- Security of inspection responses
Inspection form responses are transferred securely onto central servers, with no need for secure storage of physical forms.
For more information on how Reliability Engineer, Huug van Vossen at Actemium successfully integrated Kizeo Forms into his ATEX inspection process, please watch our podcast episode on success stories.
