Hoses play an important role in hazardous area operations and owing to their direct interaction with moving liquids and powders are especially at risk of becoming electrostatically charged.
Discharges of static electricity from hoses are known to cause the ignition of combustible atmospheres during the transfer of material to or from vacuum tankers and road tankers. Here we discuss the three main reasons why electrostatic discharge from hoses occurs.
JELD-WEN has implemented AMETEK Land’s flue gas analysers and opacity and dust monitors at its door manufacturing facility in Penrith, United Kingdom, to help achieve emissions compliance.
JELD-WEN is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of windows and doors with operations in 20 countries, including five factories in the UK that manufacture timber windows
and interior and exterior doors. The company is seen as a world leader in manufacturing energy efficient products and upholds high standards when it comes to sustainability. JELD-WEN’s door manufacturing facility in Penrith produces 35,000 timber and veneered doors every week, and as a result produces a large amount of wood waste.
Potential risks from contamination of compressed air are taken extremely seriously by the food and drink sector. Mark Whitmore from BOGE sums up the contaminant hazards, their sources and how to tackle them.
Compressed air has multiple uses in manufacturing and processing food and beverages, serving applications such as handling, cooling, freezing, labelling, cutting, peeling, bottle filling and packaging.
EXAIR’s new Gen4 Standard Ion Air Knife eliminates static electricity 30% better at low inlet pressures which saves compressed air and money. Production speeds, product quality and surface cleanliness can improve dramatically.
It eliminates static on plastics, webs, sheet stock and other product surfaces where tearing, jamming or hazardous shocks are a problem. Gen4 products have undergone independent laboratory tests to certify they meet the rigorous safety, health and environmental standards of the USA, European Union and Canada that are required to attain the CE and UL marks. They are also RoHS compliant. New design features include a metal armored high voltage cable to protect against abrasion and cuts, integrated ground connection and electromagnetic shielding.
Pyroban reaffirms its support for businesses in Belgium with materials handling operations in, or near to, zoned hazardous areas at Transport & Logistics 2019 in Antwerp.
At the event from 15th – 17th October, Pyroban’s experts asked visitors ‘Are you active?’, encouraging organisations to rethink their approach to keeping people safe, in, or adjacent to, Zone 2 potentially explosive atmospheres.
Now available from Martindale Electric – leaders in safe isolation and electrical safety – is the new LOK6W, a simple and effective locking off device for Henley and Lucy mains supply cut outs.
Designed to restrict finger access to live contacts and prevent the reinsertion of a fuse whilst maintenance is in progress, the LOK6W is an essential accessory to keep electricians, installation teams and their customers safe in accordance with Electricity at Work Regulations.
Hazardous Area ATEX Inspections: Industry Oversight
Many companies do not give adequate consideration to the condition of their electrical installations in relation to potentially explosive atmospheres, especially within older plants. Whilst most are concerned with ensuring completion of their hazardous area ATEX inspections and demonstrating compliance with the DSEAR regulations, ATEX 137 directive and BS EN 60079-17 standard,
They tend to ignore or forget electrical testing which should be equally considered to the ATEX inspections (BS 7671-part 6 in conjunction with BS EN 60079-14 section 4.1 General Requirements, HSE 2002, HSE: ATEX and explosive atmospheres).
The International Electrotechnical Commission has published a new Technical Specification called IEC 60079-32-1: “Explosive atmospheres - Part 32-1: Electrostatic hazards - Guidance”, which is designed to limit fires and explosions caused by electrical malfunctions within hazardous areas.
It is the first of two documents under the “60079-32” designation and covers a broad range of process scenarios that can
lead to the generation of electrostatic charges, provides examples of what measures can be taken to reduce charge generation and accumulation and outlines how process equipment should be grounded and bonded.
STEGO Heater CREx 020, Compact Thermostat REx 011:
Air as a medium can be malicious to electrical and electronic appliances. Absorption and release of water in the air within control cabinets creates the potential for the formation of condensate. Condensate, in turn, carries out corrosion processes on sensitive components and can freeze at minus degrees. Thermal Man-agement specialist STEGO also offers the right answer for hazardous environments.
With the proven expertise as heating manufacturer for panels & enclosures, STEGO meets the requirements of the Ex industry. The Ex heater series CREx 020 safeguards heating of switchgear and control cabinets as well as measuring devices in explosive atmospheres of zone 1 (gas atmospheres) and zone 21
Many workers in the construction workforce are at continuous risk of a respiratory illness causes by exposure to a harmful dust known as silica.
Exposure to silica dust can lead to a condition called silicosis, which if gone untreated, could lead to fatigue, loss of appetite, pains in the chest and in some severe cases, death. In this article, dust control experts, Dustcheck, discuss the signs of silicosis and how you can protect your workforce against the threat.
What is silica dust?
Silica dust is made up of a number of components including sand, granite, soil and other minerals, which if breathed in can cause fatal respiratory problems. The most common form of crystalline silica is quartz and the two other forms are known as Cristobalite and Tridymite. All three of these may be broken into particles small enough
