Explosion protection requirements in South Africa

What is explosion protection?

Mines and industries where explosive gas, vapour or dust atmospheres may form must be equipped with explosion protected electrical, electronic and mechanical equipment, ie equipment that has an acceptable low risk of creating an ignition source. Since 1950, testing of explosion protected apparatus has been conducted in South Africa by independent laboratories as required by law.

Typical aspects to be considered in such mines and industries include

• classification of potentially hazardous locations (determining the risk of creating an explosive atmosphere);
• selection of appropriate explosion protected equipment (balancing the above risk with the risk of causing an ignition and therefore an explosion); and
• inspection, maintenance and repair of explosion protected apparatus (keeping equipment in a condition that will not increase the ignition risk).

Legal requirements

Requirements for explosion protection as found in South African laws and regulations are summarised below.

Organizations

The following organizations are significant role players in the South African explosion protection industry:

The government:

The Department and Minerals and Energy and the Department of Labour issue legislation to enforce explosion protection in mines and plants where appropriate.

Testing laboratories and certification:

Explolabs and the SABS are Ex testing laboratories.

Product certification bodies:

TÜV Rheinland Quality Services and the SABS operate Product Certification Schemes.

Standards publishing bodies:

The SABS (nationally), IEC (electrical) and ISO (other), and CENELEC (European electrical) and CEN (European other) are major standards producing bodies.

Organization representing all interest groups:

The South African Flameproof Association (SAFA) includes plants and mines, equipment suppliers, legislators and testing laboratories.

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Other web sites / documents of interest

• SAFA
• SABS Standards
• TÜV Rheinland International
• IEC Standards
• IECEx Scheme
• EN Standards
• European New Approach Directives
• Guide to Implementation of New Approach Directives ( PDF document)

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Explolabs Certificate DataBase

The ExploLabs Certificate database is now available on-line.

Please contact Explolabs for more information.

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Published SABS standards

Download the TC 65 Standards' list (PDF format)

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Poster: "Explosion Protection in SA"

An Explolabs poster, in A4 or A3 format on "Explosion Protection in SA" is available for download.

Please contact Explolabs if you would like them to mail you the full-size version.

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