Operational Ex: Where We Are So Far

A recap of the Operational Ex series, written from the Head of Operations chair rather than the engineering or certification perspective. It pulls together the pieces covered so far: the top event, operating outside the demonstrated Ex-safe condition, the threats that push a plant toward it, the preventive barriers that hold it back, the ways those barriers quietly degrade, and the decisions that remain with Operations. The thread running through all of it: Ex compliance is not a document but an operating condition that has to be maintained every day.

An infographic with five color-coded columns mapping the explosion safety process from hazards through protection, procedures, and people to consequences, with workers viewing it against a plan.

Over the last posts, I’ve been looking at explosion protection from a slightly different angle: not primarily from the engineer’s or certification perspective, but from the Head of Operations’ chair.

The key message is simple:

Ex compliance is not a document. It is an operating condition that has to be maintained every day.

So far, we have covered:

• The Top Event: the plant is operated outside its demonstrated/documented Ex-safe condition. An explosion is one possible consequence - not the Top Event itself.

• Threats: missing maintenance, dust accumulation, unsuitable equipment, undocumented modifications, competence gaps, contractor activities and ignored inspection findings can all push the plant toward that Top Event.

• Preventive barriers: EPD/HAC, Ex Register, inspections, maintenance, cleaning, competence, PTW, MoC and proper authorization are not administrative extras. They are operational barriers.

• Barrier degradation: even a good Ex system becomes ineffective when actions are overdue, documentation is outdated, responsibilities are unclear, temporary solutions become permanent or findings are simply accepted because “nothing has happened yet.”

• Operational decisions: the Head of Operations needs visibility of the Ex-safe condition, clear prioritisation and escalation criteria - and the authority to STOP when that condition can no longer be demonstrated.

And this is where the daily Ex becomes particularly useful.

It translates Ex compliance from hundreds of pages of standards and documentation into a management question:

What can take us outside our Ex-safe condition, what prevents it, what can weaken those barriers, and what do we do when they fail?

That is Operational Ex.

Operational Ex: Where We Are So Far

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