Where and when do explosion risks occur?

Potentially explosive atmospheres (explosive zones) are characterised by a mixture of air and combustible gases, vapours, mists or dusts and can in principle occur wherever combustible liquids, gases or dusts are manufactured, filled into containers, transported or stored.

Classification of equipment

Equipment is divided into two different classes: Group I comprises equipment for mining, whilst all the other sectors, including the chemical industry, are listed together in Group II. Group II is also subdivided by the letters A, B and C, but these are only used for certain types of ignition protection.

The most hazardous gases are defined in Group IIC. The gases are subdivided into temperature classes (T-classes) in order to take their various ignition temperatures into account. In order to prevent ignition of a gas, the maximum surface temperature of a device must be lower than the ignition temperature of the combustible material. The table below indicates the ignition temperatures of some gases frequently encountered.