What Are the Standards Governing Hazardous Areas Wireless Installations?

The main standards for hazardous area equipment globally are ATEX, IECEx and North American NEC 500/505. For ATEX and IECEx, covering most of the world, the IEC 60079 series of standards are typically used for the approval of equipment installed in hazardous areas. Most national or regional domains derive their own standards from the IECEx standards and issue a version, often identical, as their own national or regional standard. The most frequently used electrical equipment protection standards are:

• 60079-0 General requirements
• 60079-1 Explosion proof enclosures
• 60079-7 Increased safety
• 60079 -11 Intrinsic safety
• 60079 -15 Non sparking, hermetic sealing and restricted breathing
• 60079-18 Encapsulation

Who Governs the Hazardous Area Standards?

In Europe the ATEX directives ensure that every ATEX certificate must be recognised by a notified body.

IEC standards are also already fully accepted in national standards in some other countries as well. This means one IECEx certificate is currently sufficient for the international sale of explosion-protected equipment in the regions of Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Israel. No further national certificate is required. In Europe, only an additional ATEX label and the resulting ATEX certificate is required. In the USA and other regions, the IEC standards are applied with some differences.

The IEC’s standardisation work is organised across 150 Technical Committees (TC) and Subcommittees (SC) with various areas of focus. They are tasked with controlling and creating international standards.

The IEC TC 31 (TC 31) is one such TC, which controls the standards associated with equipment for explosive atmospheres. The IEC TC 31 is tasked with establishing and updating the IEC standard series IEC 60079 (electrical explosion protection) and IEC 80079 (non-electrical explosion protection).

In addition to the ATEX directives, the IEC standards set out the rules all manufacturers of electrical equipment destined for use in hazardous areas must follow.

The TC 31 exists to ensure a uniform set of standards and technical requirements are applicable worldwide in the field of explosion protection. This is intended to reduce the effort spent on certification so the same products can be used globally.

For more information or to see how Extronics can help you with your hazardous area wireless connectivity, please contact a member of our team on +44 (0)1606 738 446 or email us at info@extronics.com.