ATEX directives : practical concerns

International audienceThe ATEX directives 94/9/CE & 99/92/CE require the industry sector to identify and evaluate hazards and risks associated with combustion explosions of dusts, gas and mists. They require employers to assess the risks of explosions and to provide appropriate worker protection against explosions. Explosions involved in runaway reactions or solvent expansions (ex steam explosions) are not strictly speaking covered by these pieces of regulation but depend on general health & safety at work, chemical substances, or major hazard control (i.e. Seveso) regulations. As a result, workers exposure to explosions and their protection are only partially dealt within the "Explosion protection document" (99/92/CE, art 8). Practical harmonization of regulation and associated governance aspects should involve several national bodies of competent authorities with respective fields of applications. Borderlines between these fields remains somewhat fuzzy making it prone to loopholes that can have serious impacts on workers. New mitigating action is being developed by some EC members. For example, the French silo legislation aiming at regrouping the SEVESO Directive and the Explosive Atmosphere directive (ATEX 137) is being revisited. Similarly, a new piece of legislation regrouping the Chemical Dangerous Agents Directive (CAD) and the ATEX 137 directive, coined as the DSEAR legislation, is being discussed in the UK