Lighting Solutions To Hidden Explosive Environment Dangers
Published 24 Feb 2021

Nightstick: a global brand of professional lighting products including flashlights, headlamps and Intrinsically Safe lighting solutions
Explosive Atmosperes & Hazardous Areas
Portable LED Lighting Meeting or Exceeding Industry Standards
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Special thanks to Derek Box at Nightstick for the kind permission to republish
The dangers of explosive environments are obvious in the petroleum and chemical processing industries, but many other industries can create explosive atmospheres that are not as obvious but still represent a serious danger.
Examples illustrating this are facilities that process grains, sugar, metal powders, and wood products. In 2018 grain handling facilities in Nebraska and eastern France were destroyed or seriously damaged by grain dust explosions. In 2008 an explosion wrecked a sugar refinery in Georgia, killing 14 people and injuring another 40. Five workers were fatally injured in an iron dust fire in Tennessee in 2011.
It is essential to understand the conditions that can create explosive environments and the proper equipment required to enter them safely.
The equipment you are using must meet or exceed the standards for the most explosive environment you could face under known or unknown situations. In the United States, intrinsically safe products are tested to the UL 913 5th or 8th edition standards with the UL 913 8th edition being harmonized to the EN/IEC 60079 -01/-11 standard for European Union ATEX certifications and the remaining countries IECEx certifications.
For an explosion to occur, five components must be in place: oxygen, confined space, ignition source, dispersion, and a fuel source. These elements make up the explosion pentagon. The three elements needed for a fire — fuel source, oxygen, and an ignition source — can create a flash fire within a confined space, resulting in the ingredients for an explosion.
Eliminating one of these five elements will prevent an explosion, but eliminating these hazards is not a simple process. Oxygen in confined spaces typically cannot be eliminated. Therefore, managing fuel sources and the use of properly rated equipment to prevent ignition is essential.
As an example, using the ATEX classification system, a Zone 2 environment could quickly become a Zone 1 or even a Zone 0 environment, and your equipment must be rated appropriately as you may not be aware that the environment has changed until it is too late. If you are unsure, analyse the work environment, determine the worst-case scenario, and equip your workers based on that.
The quality of your equipment is vital in explosive environments. You must ensure it is manufactured by a reputable company with documented experience in creating intrinsically safe (IS) products.
The ideal situation would be to purchase all of your IS products from a single manufacturer rather than mixing and matching products from several companies. A single source manufacturer ensures consistent quality and safety across the entire product line. Because of the knowledge, time, and expense required to engineer and produce IS products, a very limited number of companies can achieve this.
About Nightstick
Nightstick is a global brand of professional portable LED lighting products that meet or exceed industry standards. Our products are UL 913 certified for Class I DIV 1 (all gas atmosphere groups) and Class II DIV 1 (all dust atmosphere groups), many with a Zone 0 IIC equivalency rating for use in hazardous environments.
Most additionally carry a Zone 0 IIC ATEX and IECEx certification with T3 & T4 temperature rating, making Nightstick a truly globally intrinsically safe lighting company. From penlights to area scene lights, Nightstick leads with over 50 safety rated LED lighting products.
Contact:
Derek Box
Marketing Manager Industrial
Nightstick
Phone: 469-326-9470
Website: www.nightstick.com
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