The population of Ex d and Ex Enclosures

Certification requirements.

Following audits on mines and on plants we have numerous finding were EPA is populated / installed without
traceability to an IA certificate. Referencing the regulation, the following:

From Department Mining:

Department of Mineral Resources (DMR), Mine Health and Safety Act No 29 of 1996 and Regulations
(Revised 12th Edition), Regulations Chapter 3

3.37 The employer must take reasonably practicable measures to ensure that all electrical apparatus
used in hazardous area shall be explosion protected and certified by an inspection authority (IA)
certificate issued by an accredited test laboratory.

3.38 The employer shall take reasonably practicable measures to ensure that any type and design of
explosion protected apparatus shall at all times be identified in an inspection authority (IA) certificate
and an identification number shall be allocated to such apparatus by the accredited test laboratory.

3.39 The employer shall take reasonably practicable measures to ensure that explosion protected
apparatus is not used at a mine unless the manager is in possession of a copy of the inspection
authority certificate. The identification number referred to in regulation 3.36 must be clearly and
indelibly marked on the apparatus.

From Department of Labour:

Surface industry is regulated by the Department of Labour (DOL), referencing the applicable clause
in the Occupational Health and Safety ACT (OHS ACT) Regulation 9(2) of the Electrical Machinery
Regulations of the OHS Act (Act 85 of 1993) (Occupational Health and Safety)

(2) No person may use electrical machinery..... unless such electrical machinery, with regard to its
construction relating to the classification of the hazardous locations in which it is to be used, meets
the requirements of a safety standard incorporated for this purpose in these Regulations under
section 44 of the Act.

(3) Every employer or user referred to in sub regulation (1) shall be in possession of a certificate in a
form acceptable to the chief inspector, which has been issued by an approved inspection authority in
which it is certified that the electrical machinery referred to in sub regulation (2) has been
manufactured and tested for the groups of dangerous...

Following the above we have seen a large number of temporary certificates or COC’s from the suppliers.
Some cases had certificates for enclosures bud did not mention any population (certificate was issued with a
U), this meant that the equipment was not fully certified.

The risk of no knowing what population is certified or combination of internal comments raises a significant
risk from an explosion prevention side.

Some of the finding are:

• LED tube in an Ex e light fitting.

• Light switches and PCB’s in Ex e enclosures.
• I.S. to non-I.S. separation in Ex d enclosures.
• Cells in Ex d enclosures.
• Overloading of the supply cables.
• Damage to glands from cable heat.
Implications with the above:
• An ignition was achieved under lab conditions with the driving PCD of an LED tube.
• Overloading resulted in temperature in excess of 100°C on gland entry points.
• Manufacturers of enclosure unaware of modifications / additional components with their equipment.

Summary:
Populations must be categorized as listed below.

Description Who has the authority?

Maintenance This includes all activities preserving the equipment to Competent person
the original certification / approval, e.g.: cleaning,
replacing identical (certified where applicable)
components, e.g electronic cards, transformers (not
soldered), glands, fuses (not soldered), etc.

Repair Repairs include any activity of replacing electronic Under a repair Markscheme
components (soldering required), potting material, (with approval for such a
adherent insulating coating etc. on the boards. repair)
Modification Any action that removes, adds or changes any To be re-evaluated by a test
component or material or safety critical part of the laboratory ONLY
intrinsic safety, e.g. different zener diodes are used as
replacement parts. (Even a change in manufacturer of
the component, although the rating may be the same
is deemed a modification).

Definitions:
Ex d: Flameproof

Ex e: Increased Safety

IP: Ingress protection

ATL.: Accredited test lab.

EPA: Explosion prevention apparatus

IA: Inspection Authority.

U: if a certificate has a “U” on the IA number it indicates that the equipment is incomplete.