HazLoc Essential Guides:

European Levels of Protection (ATEX Categories)

& IECEx Equipment Protection Levels

Intertek
Deeside Lane, Chester, CH1 6DD UK

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 European Levels of Protection (ATEX Categories)
& IECEx Equipment Protection Levels

Contents

Contents ............................................................................................................. 1
Introduction......................................................................................................... 1
Europe ................................................................................................................ 3
The ATEX Directives ......................................................................................... 3
ATEX Mark .......................................................................................................... 5
International Electrotechnical Commission............................................................ 7
Conclusions ......................................................................................................... 9
References......................................................................................................... 10
Contacts............................................................................................................ 10
About the Author: Peter Roberts .................................................................... 10

Introduction

All equipment manufactured for use in potentially explosive atmospheres, whether

the potentially explosive atmosphere is gases, vapours and/or mists or combustible
dust must be suitably marked to indicate in what hazardous area of the potentially
explosive atmosphere the equipment can be installed. Hazardous areas are split
into three zones, these are:

• Zone 0
• Zone 1
• Zone 2

The marking on the equipment identifies into what zone the equipment can be
safely installed and used. Historically it has been acceptable to install equipment
into specific zones based on the type of protection e.g. you had to understand the
protection concept to know what zone the equipment being installed could be
located in.

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Table 1: Gases, vapours and mist protection concepts and zone of use

Protection Concept Zones of use

Ex ia 0, 1 and 2
Intrinsic Safety Ex ib 1 and 2
Ex ic 2
Flameproof Ex d 1 and 2
Increased Safety Ex e 1 and 2
Encapsulation Ex ma 0, 1 and 2
Ex mb 1 and 2
Ex mc 2
Pressurization/Purge Ex px 1 and 2
Ex py 1 and 2
Ex pz 2
Quartz Ex q 1 and 2
Oil Immersion Ex o 1 and 2
Type n Ex n* 2

Equipment marking can be broadly divided into three areas of approval, these are:

• Europe (ATEX)
• USA/Canada (FM, UL and CSA)
• Rest of the World (IEC)

In Europe, the European Union introduced Directive 94/9/EC colloquially known as

ATEX (Atmosphere Explosive) which introduced the concept of categories. The
category mark identifies the zones of use that the equipment can be used in.

USA has test houses such as Factory Mutual (FM) and Underwriters Laboratories
(UL) in the USA, in Canada it is the responsibility of the Canadian Standards
Authority (CSA), these test houses test and approve equipment for use in the
hazardous areas used in these countries. The rest of the world comes more or less
under the banner of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) under the
IECEx route of approval. The IECEx have introduced a marking scheme known as
Equipment Protection Levels (EPL’s).

This paper is intended to look at the European and IECEx schemes to identify the
difference and may be the similarities of both schemes.

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 European Levels of Protection (ATEX Categories)
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Europe

In 1994, the European Union introduced ATEX Directive 94/9/EC. The European
Directive 94/9/EC came into use on 23 March 1994 and is mandatory for all
member states and is implemented in the United Kingdom (UK) as The Equipment
& Protective Systems Intended for Use in Potentially Explosive Atmospheres
Regulations 1996.

The ATEX Directives

There has been legislation in Europe since 1976 identifying the testing,
certification and approval of electrical equipment for use in potentially explosive
atmospheres, compliance by manufacturers in the early days was voluntary. The
European Directive 94/9/EC which is also known as ATEX 95 (the 95 refers to the
article number of the Directive, it was originally established under Article 100a so
is sometimes known as ATEX 100a). ATEX 95 deals with placing products on the
market, and putting them into service within the EU. It is to promote the free
movement of goods across national boundaries. It is not directly concerned with
product safety.

There is a second European Directive, 1999/92/EC (also known as ATEX 137) and
this is directly related to safety. Directive 1999/92/EC clearly states that equipment
for use in hazardous zones should be selected by categories (unless a risk
assessment identifies otherwise).

Group and Category

Directive 94/9/EC divided equipment into two groups; this has recently changed to
three with the introduction of the new group recently allocated to combustible
dusts.

The two groups in use at present are:

• Group I
• Group II

The new group for combustible dust which has recently been added is:

• Group III

Group I comprises equipment intended for use in the underground parts of mines,
and to those parts of surface installations of the mine, which is likely to become
endangered by firedamp and/or combustible dust.

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 European Levels of Protection (ATEX Categories)
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Group II comprises equipment intended for use in other places likely to become
endangered by explosive atmospheres. At present two Groups are sub-divided into
five categories, as shown below.

Table 2: Group and Category

Group Category
Group I M1
Coal Mining M2
Group II 1
Surface industries 2
3

For Group I, the categorisation depends on (amongst other factors) whether the
equipment is to be de-energised in the event of an explosive atmosphere
occurring.

Table 3: Group I: Action taken on determination of gas atmosphere above the LEL
and below the UEL

Category Action
M1 Equipment remains functional on detection of gas (firedamp)
M2 Power is isolated on detection of gas (firedamp)

For Group II, it depends where the equipment is intended to be used in and
whether a potentially explosive atmosphere, is always present, or is likely to occur
for a long or a short period of time.

Table 4: Group II: Category and zone of use.

Category Zone Definition of zone

Gas Dust
1 0 20 Hazardous atmospheres are present under normal
operation and for long periods of time.
2 1 21 Hazardous atmospheres may be present under normal
operation but only for short periods of time.
3 2 22 Hazardous atmospheres only present under fault
conditions and only for very short periods of time.

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 European Levels of Protection (ATEX Categories)
& IECEx Equipment Protection Levels

ATEX Mark

After certain cut-off dates (in the UK this date is 1 July 2003) all new electrical
and/or non-electrical equipment installed in a hazardous area in Europe must be
chosen by ATEX category. ATEX manufactured equipment has markings that
identifies the category. The ATEX mark is made up of three components, these
being:

First Component

This is the gas group identified by the Roman numeral ‘II’ or Arial font ‘II’ this
indicates that it is intended for use in a surface industry or non-coal mining
environment.

Second Component

The second identifier is the category. There are three categories:

• Category 1
• Category 2
• Category 3

The categories line up with zones as identified in table 4.

Third Component

This is the explosive atmosphere which could be formed by gases, vapours or

combustible dusts or a combination of both. The atmosphere is identified by G for
Gas or D for Dust. It could also be a combination of both i.e. GD. By putting all the
above together:

II 2 G D
Equipment Group Surface Industry Category Gas Dust
(note no sub group)

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 European Levels of Protection (ATEX Categories)
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Table 5: Levels of Protection (Courtesy of ATEX Guideline: August 2008)

Level of Category Performance of Protection Conditions of

Protection Operations
Group I Group II
Very High M1 Two independent means of Equipment remains
protection or safe even energised and
when two faults occur functioning when
independently of each explosive
other atmosphere present
Very High 1 Two independent means of Equipment remains
protection or safe even energised and
when two faults occur functioning in Zones
independently of each 0,1,2 (G) and/or 20,
other 21, 22 (D)
High M2 Suitable for normal Equipment de-
operation and severe energised when
operating conditions. If explosive
applicable also suitable for atmosphere is
frequently occurring recognised
disturbances or for faults
which are normally taken
into account.
High 2 Suitable for normal Equipment remains
operation and frequently energised and
occurring disturbances or functioning in Zones
equipment where faults are 1, 2 (G) and/or 21,
normally taken into 22 (D)
account
Normal 3 Suitable for normal Equipment remains
operation energised and
functioning in Zone
2 (G) and/or 22 (D)

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 European Levels of Protection (ATEX Categories)
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International Electrotechnical Commission

Following the introduction of the ATEX categories for the selection of equipment
in Europe, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) introduced a similar
scheme in 2006 for countries not part of the European Union i.e. rest of the world.
This scheme is known as Equipment Protection Levels (EPL’s). The Equipment
Protection Levels (EPL’s) are the IEC’s equivalent of the Levels of Protection ATEX
categories.

The EPL’s follow the level of protection indication of a, b and c in line with the
level of protection afforded by the equipment. There are eight equipment
protection levels these are:

Table 6: Equipment Protection Levels: Definitions

EPL’s Group Condition of safety

Ma I Installed in a coal mine, equipment has a ‘very high’ level of
protection, remains energised in the presence of gas
(firedamp)
Mb I Installed in a coal mine, equipment has a ‘high’ level of
protection, equipment is de-energised in the presence of gas
(firedamp)
Ga II Equipment for explosive gas atmosphere. Equipment has a
‘very high’ level of protection, remains safe in normal
operation, expected faults and rare faults.
Gb II Equipment for explosive gas atmosphere. Equipment has a
‘high’ level of protection, remains safe in normal operation
and expected faults.
Gc II Equipment for explosive gas atmosphere. Equipment has an
‘enhanced’ level of protection, remains safe in normal
operation and may have additional protection to ensure it
remains inactive as an ignition source.
Da III Equipment for combustible dust atmosphere. Equipment has
a ‘very high’ level of protection, remains safe in normal
operation, expected faults and rare faults.
Db III Equipment for combustible dust atmosphere. Equipment has
a ‘high’ level of protection, remains safe in normal operation
and expected faults.
Dc III Equipment for combustible dust atmosphere. Equipment has
an ‘enhanced’ level of protection, remains safe in normal
operation and may have additional protection to ensure it
remains inactive as an ignition source.

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 European Levels of Protection (ATEX Categories)
& IECEx Equipment Protection Levels

Table 7: Equipment Protection Levels Criteria

Protection Equipment Protection Performance of Conditions of

afforded Level Protection Operations
Group Group Group
I II III
Very High Ma Two independent means Equipment remains
of protection or safe energised and
even when two faults functioning when
occur independently of explosive
each other atmosphere
present
Very High Ga Da Two independent means Equipment remains
of protection or safe energised and
even when two faults functioning in
occur independently of Zones 0,1,2 (G)
each other and/or 20, 21, 22
(D)
High Mb Suitable for normal Equipment de-
operation and severe energised when
operating conditions. If explosive
applicable also suitable atmosphere is
for frequently occurring present
disturbances or for faults
which are normally taken
into account
High Gb Db Suitable for normal Equipment remains
operation and frequently energised and
occurring disturbances or functioning in
equipment where faults Zones 1,
are normally taken into 2 (G) and/or 21, 22
account (D)
Enhanced Gc Dc Suitable for normal Equipment remains
operation energised and
functioning in Zone
2 (G) and/or 22 (D)

The intention of the concept is to divide equipment into categories of equal levels
of risk and mark the equipment so that a technically competent person can decide
whether the level of risk is appropriate to the location of the equipment.

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 European Levels of Protection (ATEX Categories)
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Table 8: Zone and EPL mark

Zone of Equipment Protection Level Equipment Protection Level

use Gas Dust
0/20 Ga Da
1/21 Gb Db
2/22 Gc Dc

Conclusions

• Both systems are similar, why they didn’t agree on one system is not
known!

• With having two different but similar systems means more confusion to the
persons designing and installing the equipment or systems.

• The purpose of the EPL scheme is that somebody can make a judgement
that in a zone 1 then the use of Gc equipment, which is only suitable for a
zone 2 can be used safely in a higher zone. Likewise for the ATEX
categories by the use of a risk assessment.

• In practice no one person ever has all the information necessary to make a
reasonable risk analysis. The same person is considered incapable of
remembering which type of protection can be usually used in which Zone,
hence the introduction of the ATEX categories and EPLs.

• Too much information is not necessarily a good thing: keep it simple.

• The best that will be achieved is that the ATEX category or EPL’s will be
used as a guide for the equipment to be suitable for the correct zone of
use.

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 European Levels of Protection (ATEX Categories)
& IECEx Equipment Protection Levels

References

1. ATEX Directive 94/9/EC

2. The Equipment and Protective Systems for use in Potentially Explosive

Atmospheres Regulations 1996 SI1996/192: Crown Copyright

3. International Electrotechnical Commission

4. BS EN 60079-14:2008 Explosive atmospheres. Electrical installations design,

selection and erection: BSI copyright

5. BS EN 60079-17:2007 Explosive atmospheres. Electrical installations

inspection and maintenance. BSI copyright

Contacts

Technical Sales

Peter Roberts Asif Akbar

peter.roberts@intertek.com asif.akbar@intertek.com

Intertek, Deeside Lane, Chester, Flintshire, CH1 6DD, UK

Telephone: +44 (0)1244 882590

About the Author: Peter Roberts

Peter started work with the National Coal Board (British Coal) in 1970 as an
indentured apprentice electrician. Following a 4-year apprenticeship he worked as
a mine craft electrician, and then after further additional studies, became a
supervisory electrician and finally qualified as an Electrical Engineer for the mines.
In 1987 he moved from the coal mines to the chemical industry and was employed
as an Electrical Technician and ultimately becoming the electrical inspector for the
150 Acre site with responsibility for the electrical infrastructure both for the non-
hazardous and hazardous areas associated with a top tie COMAH site.

Over his many years in the industry, Peter has worked on all types of electrical
equipment both hazardous and non-hazardous and on a wide range of voltages
from 7.5v dc up to and including 11000 volts. After 15 years in the chemical
industry he joined Epsilon, which has recently become part of Intertek. He is now
one of the Principal Engineers associated with the site services department with
responsibility for on-site work at locations throughout the world. Peter is also
involved as Lecturer/Trainer/Assessor for the UK’s national recognised CompEx
Training scheme.

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 European Levels of Protection (ATEX Categories)
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For more information on specific testing and certification information, please contact Intertek at
1-800-WORLDLAB, email icenter@intertek.com, or visit our website at www.intertek-hazloc.com.

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