DAILY Ex - 5 OCTOBER 2026

⚡ DAILY Ex - 5 OCTOBER 2026

Explosion Protection | Operational Ex | Global Watch

Today’s strongest fresh case is from Scotland: a major fire at a metal-recycling plant yesterday produced repeated explosions during firefighting. Also today: a newly published ISO/IEC 80079 standard for mining equipment, process-safety discussions in Kuwait, and a useful reminder that recycling and waste streams can create hazards that were never present in the original plant design.

▶️ METAL RECYCLING PLANT - EXPLOSIONS DURING A MAJOR FIRE

CURRENT | Scotland - 4 October

A major fire broke out yesterday at the Brookfield Metals recycling plant in Linlithgow. At least six fire appliances attended, a large smoke plume developed over the area, and intermittent explosions could be heard while crews fought the fire. https://www.reutersconnect.com/item/uk-large-fire-in-linlithgow-at-metal-recycling-plant-in-linlithgow/dGFnOnJldXRlcnMuY29tLDIwMjY6bmV3c21sX01UMVNJUEEwMDA4UDE3QU0

At this stage, the material involved and the mechanism behind the explosions have not been reliably established, so it would be wrong to call this a dust, gas or battery explosion.

But recycling facilities present a particularly difficult Operational Ex problem because the inventory can include: metal fines → residual fuels → gas cylinders → batteries → contaminated scrap → unknown materials.

Why it matters operationally: your risk assessment is only as good as your knowledge of what actually enters the process.

For recycling, waste and recovery operations, incoming-material control is itself an explosion-prevention barrier.

▶️ NEW STANDARD - ISO/IEC 80079-38:2026 PUBLISHED

CURRENT STANDARD | IEC / ISO - published 25 September

A genuinely new Ex standard deserves attention: ISO/IEC 80079-38:2026 Edition 2 has now been published for equipment and components used in explosive atmospheres in underground mines. https://webstore.iec.ch/en/publication/79914

It covers Group I Ex equipment and assemblies with EPL Ma and Mb, and supplements/modifies the general requirements of IEC 60079-0. Interestingly, IEC notes that it can also provide guidance for underground applications such as tunnels where firedamp or coal dust may occur. https://webstore.iec.ch/en/publication/79914

Why it matters operationally:

This is a technical revision replacing the 2016 edition.

For existing assets, don't immediately conclude: “New standard → existing equipment non-compliant.”

Instead establish: certificate edition → equipment status → modification/repair history → applicable regulatory scheme → lifecycle requirement.

https://webstore.iec.ch/en/publication/79914

▶️ IEC 60079-0:2026 - WATCH THE TRANSITION, NOT JUST THE PUBLICATION DATE

CURRENT STANDARDS LANDSCAPE

The new IEC 60079-0:2026 Edition 8 remains one of this year's most significant changes in the IEC 60079 series. IEC describes it as the general requirements standard governing construction, testing and marking of Ex Equipment and Ex Components. IEC Webstore

The operational point is increasingly important as new equipment certified against the new edition begins appearing alongside older assets.

A plant may legitimately contain equipment certified against several generations of standards.

That does not automatically make the older equipment unsafe.

Why it matters: an Ex Register should preserve the actual certification basis of each asset rather than silently changing every asset's standard reference when a new edition appears.

https://webstore.iec.ch/en/publication/71519

▶️ PROCESS SAFETY - KUWAIT CONFERENCE CONTINUES TODAY

CURRENT EVENT | Kuwait - 4–5 October

The 13th International HSSE & Loss Prevention Professional Development Conference, organised by the ASSP Kuwait Chapter with involvement from AIChE/CCPS, concludes today.

Senior industry leaders, regulators and process-safety specialists are discussing process safety, operational excellence, risk management and emerging HSSE challenges. https://www.aiche.org/ccps/conferences/13th-international-hsse-loss-prevention-professional-development/2026

Why it matters for Ex:

Explosion protection cannot operate as a separate engineering island.

containment → process control → mechanical integrity → functional safety → hazardous-area control → fire protection → emergency response

are connected barriers.

Operations sits in the middle of all of them.

https://www.aiche.org/ccps/conferences/13th-international-hsse-loss-prevention-professional-development/2026

▶️ NATURAL GAS - SECURITY AND OPERATIONAL RESILIENCE MEET TODAY

CURRENT EVENT | USA - 5–8 October

The American Gas Association, EEI and INGAA Fall Security Conference starts today in Louisville, including meetings of natural-gas security committees and the 2026 Natural Gas Exercise. https://www.aga.org/events/2026-aga-eei-ingaa-fall-security-conference/

This is primarily a security/resilience event rather than an Ex conference, but there is an important Operational Ex connection.

A security event can create:

loss of containment → isolation requirement → shutdown → abnormal operating condition → emergency restart.

Explosion protection therefore needs to remain part of resilience planning, particularly for gas transmission and storage infrastructure.

https://www.aga.org/events/2026-aga-eei-ingaa-fall-security-conference/

▶️ INCIDENT LEARNING - US STEEL CLAIRTON

RECENT INVESTIGATION | USA - not today's incident

The final CSB investigation into the August 2025 explosion at U.S. Steel's Clairton Coke Works remains worth reading.

The accident killed two workers and injured 11 when flammable and toxic coke-oven gas was released and exploded. The CSB identified procedural and operational shortcomings; property damage exceeded $50 million. https://www.powderbulksolids.com/industrial-fires-explosions/csb-releases-final-report-on-2025-explosion

This is included as incident learning, not current news.

The useful Operational Ex message is: temporary operating configuration deserves the same engineering discipline as permanent configuration.

If valves, blinds, bypasses or temporary arrangements change the containment boundary, the hazardous scenario may also change.

▶️ COMPETENCE / REPAIR - “REPAIRED” DOESN'T NECESSARILY MEAN “Ex RESTORED”

An Ex motor fails.

A workshop replaces: bearing // winding // terminal // seal.

The motor runs perfectly again.

But that answers only: “Does it work?”

The Ex question is: “Has the explosion-protection integrity been preserved or restored?”

For Ex equipment, repair needs the appropriate: competence → instructions → dimensional/technical criteria → records → identification → verification.

Functional repair and Ex repair are not automatically the same thing.

▶️ OPERATIONAL Ex USE CASE - NEW WASTE STREAM

PRACTICAL | inspired by yesterday's recycling fire

Production changes a raw material.

The main process is assessed through MoC.

But nobody considers the waste.

The new material eventually reaches: scrap bin → vacuum system → dust collector → waste conveyor → recycling area.

Now the waste stream may have different: flammability → particle size → dust explosibility → self-heating behaviour → electrostatic properties → incompatibilities.

The process change happened upstream.

The explosion risk appeared downstream.

Operational lesson: every MoC should ask: “Does this change alter the waste, vent, drain or emission stream?”

▶️ GOOD ENGINEERING PRACTICE - FOLLOW THE MATERIAL AFTER PRODUCTION

During today's plant walk, don't stop at the finished product.

Follow one material into: off-spec product → waste → filter → dust collector → skip → recycling → disposal.

Then ask: Do we understand the hazards here as well as we understand them inside the production equipment?

Waste handling is often where controlled process material becomes less controlled material.

▶️ TODAY'S Ex QUESTION

Ask Operations: “What enters our plant that we don't completely control?”

Contractor equipment? Returned product? Waste? Scrap? Contaminated containers? Temporary chemicals? Customer material?

Then ask: “Could it introduce a new combustible material or ignition source?”

Because sometimes the biggest Ex uncertainty isn't inside the process.

It arrives through the gate.

Daily Ex

We spend enormous effort controlling known hazardous materials.

Operational Ex also needs to manage the unknowns introduced by change, waste and temporary activity.