Electric.ie Jan/Feb 2021

44 ELECTRIC.IE • The Magazine & Website for the Irish Electrical Industry • What standards and documents does an ATEX professional need ? ‒ Written by Kieran Fallon, a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of Engineers Ireland with over 30 years' experience in electrical design and ATEX installations. He sits on the NSAI Committee responsible for Irish & IEC Standards associated with Hazardous Areas (ATEX). Kieran works for the DPS Group, a global consulting, engineering and construction management company. A ny engineer or electrician working on the design or installation of electrical systems needs to be competent. This is especially true when working with potentially explosive atmospheres. It is expected that such an ATEX professional would maintain, or have access to, a reference library including IEC / NSAI standards. The key reference document used to be the ET 105 document, however the National Rules for Electrical Installations in Hazardous Areas ET 105:2011 has been withdrawn for some time now. It has been replaced with a number of separate documents including I.S. EN60079I.S. EN 60079–14 (Part 14) which provides a common installation standard for ATEX installations in Ireland. • I.S. EN 60079-14, Explosive atmospheres - Part 14: Electrical installations design, selection and erection • I.S. EN 60079-17, Explosive atmospheres – Part 17: Electrical installations inspection and maintenance • I.S. EN 60079-19, Explosive atmospheres – Part 19: Equipment repair, overhaul and • I.S. EN 60079–25, Explosive atmospheres - Part 25: Intrinsically safe electrical systems • IEC TS 60079-32-1 Electrostatic hazards, guidance • I.S. EN 80079–36 Explosive atmospheres - Part 36: Non- electrical equipment for explosive atmospheres - Basic method and requirements • I.S. 60079-10-1, Explosive atmospheres - Part 10-1: Classification of areas - Explosive gas atmospheres • I.S. 60079-10-2, Explosive atmospheres - Part 10-2: Classification of areas – Combustible dust atmospheres. • I.S. 10101, National Rules for Electrical Installations • NSAI Initial Inspection Guidance Document (due for publication 2021) I.S. EN 60079-14 The I.S. EN 60079 Part 14, as with the complete I.S. EN 60079 series, deals only with electrical installations, mechanical installation requirements are included in the I.S. EN 80079 series of standards. The installation designer is however expected to be familiar with both electrical installation requirements and mechanical installation requirements. As would be expected, considering its title, Part 14 addresses each of the ATEX protection types under the headings of design, selection and installation. Statutory requirements for substitution, control and mitigation measures which, must be considered under the ATEX worker safety directive, are repeated. Part 14 also defines documentation required for an installation including the Verification Dossier (similar to the Explosion Protection Document in European Community jurisdictions) and ATEX Hazardous Area Classification. Part 14 is explicit on the requirements for documenting an installation and includes sample initial inspection schedules. A comprehensive initial testing document is currently under development and is due to be published early 2021. It will address in detail the requirement that before plant or equipment is brought into service, it must be given an initial detailed inspection. Personnel competency is addressed in Part 14 which requires that those responsible for the design of installations and the installation works associated with them have an in-depth knowledge of the equipment and protection types. It should be noted that work is in progress in the IEC Committees to develop a specific ATEX competency document, IEC TS 60079–44, which will address this subject in more detail. The competency of the designers and installers must be verified, and this verification recorded. Establishing competency and keeping records of same is not unique to Part 14 or ATEX installations and as there are already well-established procedures within the Irish construction industry in particular associated with BCAR, emergency lighting (I.S. 3217) and fire detection systems (I.S. 3218). Setting out the requirements for competency in a specific standard should establish a common assessment of ATEX professional’s training, qualifications and experience. Currently, for installations in Ireland, competency should be recorded on the project test certificate, the typical contents of which are available on the Health and Safety Authority website. However, a template for recording the initial detailed inspections of an ATEX installation is underway. Earthing and bonding are addressed in detail in Part 14. Bonding of cable screens and armour where the only bonding point is outside the Hazardous Area for example a control room, is addressed (the bonding point of the cable must be cross bonded to the earthing system in the Hazardous Area). Electrostatic hazards are not addressed within Part 14 and the ATEX professional must refer to another part of the 60079 suite of documents, i.e. I.S. EN 60079–32-2 and S.R. CLC/TR 60079–32-1. In addition to addressing each type of protection used in ATEX Hazardous Areas, Part 14 addresses Industry News