The term ATEX is an abbreviation for “ATmosphere EXplosible” The term ATEX is also used to refer to the ATEX Directive 2014/34/EU which covers equipment and protective systems for use in potentially explosive atmospheres. The Directive defines the essential health and safety requirements and conformity assessment procedures, to be applied before products are placed on the EU market. National authorities are responsible for implementing the directive by transposing it’s provisions into legislation, the statutory instrument in Ireland is S.I. No. 299/2007 – Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations 2007.
This legislation coincides with Directive 1999/92/EC, which sets out the minimum requirements for improving the safety and health protection of workers potentially at risk from explosive atmospheres, the statutory instrument in Ireland is SI No. 299 of 2007.
This legislation applies to any company or industry that uses or stores substances with the potential to create an explosive atmosphere. An explosive atmosphere is a mixture with air, under atmospheric conditions, of flammable substances in the form of gases, vapours, mists or dusts in which, after ignition has occurred, combustion spreads to the entire unburned mixture.
The ATEX directive places the responsibility on employers to control and/or eliminate the risks arising from their operations which may contain potentially explosive atmospheres and to ensure that employees have a safe place of work. Employers must also be able to demonstrate that they have taken into consideration the risks for overall protection safety measures, providing evidence for each explosion protection measure implemented.
That’s where AVS come in, we provide a full range of process safety services to encompass the requirements set out in the ATEX directives and corresponding technical specification standards.
Our Process Safety Services