DAILY Ex - 24 SEPTEMBER 2026

⚡ DAILY Ex - 24 SEPTEMBER 2026

Explosion Protection | Operational Ex | Global Watch

Today: a genuinely important new IEC 60079 development → what yesterday’s Hazardex agenda tells us → refinery resilience → hydrogen lifecycle research → repair documentation → one practical Operational Ex case.

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▶️ KEY DEVELOPMENT - IEC 60079-46 MOVES FROM TS TOWARDS A FULL INTERNATIONAL STANDARD

CURRENT | IEC - 18 September

A significant development for packaged equipment and skids: IEC 60079-46:2026 - Equipment assemblies has entered pre-release/FDIS, with voting running until 30 October.

The document addresses the design, construction, assembly, testing, inspection, marking, documentation and assessment of Ex equipment assemblies - including assemblies made from individually certified IEC 60079 / ISO 80079 components.

This matters because one of the most persistent Ex misunderstandings is:

“Every component is certified, therefore the complete skid is compliant.”

Not necessarily.

Pump + motor + instruments + junction boxes + piping + control system may each be acceptable individually.

But somebody still needs to consider the assembly.

Operational Ex: this will be particularly relevant when packaged equipment is modified during its lifetime.

https://webstore.iec.ch/en/publication/117098?utm

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▶️ HAZARDEX - YESTERDAY’S PROGRAMME TELLS AN INTERESTING STORY

CURRENT | UK - 23 September

Yesterday’s Hazardex in the Regions meeting at Ellesmere Port deliberately brought together topics including hazardous-area inspection findings, electrostatic ignition, competence, fake certificates, AI and process-safety management.

That combination is important.

Modern Ex management is increasingly becoming more about:

“How do we maintain control of the complete system throughout operation?”

Equipment → people → information → inspection → modification → engineering judgement.

That is Operational Ex.

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▶️ PROCESS SAFETY - WHEN UTILITIES FAIL, THE Ex CONDITION CAN CHANGE

CURRENT | USA

A useful recent example comes from the 275,000-bpd Joliet refinery in Illinois. Floodwater overwhelmed a pump after an electrical outage had already taken the refinery offline; the site subsequently experienced further flaring while recovery continued.

This is not being presented as an Ex incident.

The Ex lesson is elsewhere:

loss of power → loss of utilities → abnormal process condition → shutdown → recovery

can create operating conditions very different from normal production.

For hazardous-area facilities, ask what happens to:

ventilation → gas detection → inerting → extraction → pressurisation → cooling → control systems

during utility failure.

Safe operation includes safe degradation.

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▶️ RESEARCH - HYDROGEN SAFETY IS BECOMING A LIFECYCLE QUESTION

CURRENT RESEARCH | 21 September

A newly published review in the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy examines hydrogen-refuelling-station safety across the full lifecycle.

Equipment failure and human error emerge as primary risk causes, while the authors argue for moving from static qualitative assessment towards more dynamic and integrated safety management.

That direction should sound familiar to Ex professionals.

Designing a compliant hydrogen installation is only the beginning.

Design → commissioning → operation → inspection → maintenance → modification → incident learning.

Hydrogen Ex safety, like conventional Ex safety, has to survive the lifecycle.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360319926038504?utm⁠

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▶️ IECEx REPAIR - THE DOCUMENTATION BEFORE REPAIR MATTERS

SCHEME PRACTICE | IECEx

IECEx explicitly states that a certified repair facility can repair equipment from different manufacturers provided it has access to the necessary documentation, including equipment schedule drawings and previous repair/overhaul records, in accordance with IEC 60079-19 requirements.

That creates a very practical problem for older plants. Motor arrives at workshop. Certificate exists.

But:

original drawings? previous repair history? modifications? previous machining?

Unknown.

The repair decision is only as good as the technical baseline available.

Operational lesson: build the repair history into the Ex asset record before you need the next repair.

https://www.iecex.com/certified-service-facility-scheme/faqs-certified-equipment-scheme/?utm⁠

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▶️ COMPETENCE - OPERATIONS ITSELF IS AN Ex ROLE

IEC TS 60079-44 is useful here because competence is not limited to designers, installers and inspectors.

Its scope explicitly includes people performing producing, processing or servicing functions in hazardous areas, as well as those managing the Ex aspects of a facility.

That means:

Head of Operations does not need to become the Ex designer.

But Operations needs enough Ex competence to recognise: when a decision requires Ex input.

That is a very different - and much more realistic - competence objective.

https://www.iecex.com/certified-service-facility-scheme/faqs-certified-equipment-scheme/?utm

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▶️ OPERATIONAL Ex USE CASE - THE PLASTIC SPACER

PRACTICAL USE CASE

Maintenance removes a section of metallic piping.

During reinstatement, a non-conductive gasket/spacer is introduced.

Mechanically: no leak → pressure test OK → job complete.

From an electrostatic perspective: The change may interrupt electrical continuity that previously existed through the metallic system.

So ask: continuity → bonding → possible isolated conductive sections → charge generation → product conductivity → ignition sensitivity.

A component costing a few euros can unintentionally change an ignition-control barrier.

Mechanical equivalence ≠ Ex equivalence.

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▶️ GOOD ENGINEERING PRACTICE - DON’T JUST INSPECT EQUIPMENT

During your next hazardous-area walkdown, choose one Ex asset.

Then inspect one metre around it.

Look for:

temporary cables

new pipework

plastic components

insulation

painted bonding points

portable electronics

blocked ventilation

dust deposits

temporary structures

recent modifications.

Sometimes the certified equipment is perfectly healthy.

The environment around it has changed.

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▶️ TODAY’S Ex QUESTION

Pick one packaged skid in your plant.

Ask: Who took responsibility for the Ex compliance of the complete assembly? The motor manufacturer? Instrument supplier? Skid builder? EPC? Ex designer? Operator?

If everybody certified their own component, but nobody assessed the interaction of the whole package, there may be a gap between:

certified components

and

a demonstrated Ex-safe assembly.

The emerging IEC 60079-46:2026 makes that question particularly timely.

Daily Ex

Explosion protection is not a collection of certificates.

It is a controlled system whose safe condition has to survive operation, maintenance and change.