What is Hazardous Areas Technical Services?

Hazardous Areas are present on many sites and are often overlooked, from our experience it has been noted that companies treat hazardous areas differently.
Some examples;

Do not know what hazardous areas are
- People equate Hazardous Areas to safety, asbestos removal, confined spaces etc. which is far from the truth
Have heard of Hazardous Areas with maybe a basic idea but not managed in any way
Know they have hazardous areas and believe it is under control and managed onsite
- Usually mismanaged and not compliant
Know they have Hazardous Areas and want to gain compliance but not in the budget to rectify
Know they have hazardous Areas and manage selected parts of requirements
Know and understand Hazardous Areas and are fully compliant

The problem with hazardous areas is that we are dealing with flammable vapours entering an area that may contain a source of ignition, mainly from electrical equipment.

Depending on the plant, flammable material and many other factors the outcome could be catastrophic with multiple fatalities and plant destruction.

Many are unaware that under the Electricity Act in Queensland it is mandatory to have a Hazardous Area Auditor (accredited by the Electrical Safety Office) to audit and find compliant all “new” hazardous area installations prior to energisation. Coex Training has accredited auditors to complete these audits, we can also have a look at your plant with an internal audit and give you a hazardous area “health check”.

The Electrical Safety Office (ESO) are currently performing random audits on plants that they suspect may have hazardous areas and have been issuing fines, improvement notices and recommendations.

It is Coex Training’s job and passion to assist with all levels of compliance in hazardous areas and take the “monkey off your back”, its what we do.

Our services extend throughout the entire Hazardous Area spectrum both here in Australia and Internationally. We ensure that the Verification Dossier is current and complete and is usually the starting point.

Coex Training also carries out HA Classification to determine your zonal extents, HA electrical design and review, HA installation and inspection, ESO audits, calculations for thermal distribution and ventilation characteristics, Descriptive system documents for IS circuits, put together maintenance schedules etc. We can also train your personnel in all areas of HA, read more here about our services.

The initial discussions are where Coex Training try to find a baseline to work from. This is sometimes the most difficult part of the project to get everybody talking the same language and understanding what is required to gain compliance.

From this point, we can develop a strategy to rectify the issue or organise smaller manageable stages. The latter is a common option that most choose to take.

HA management is a very volatile discipline that requires several different aspects of compliance to ensure the safety and ongoing production of the plant containing hazardous areas and our vast international experience can assist in attaining full compliance.