DAILY Ex - 17 SEPTEMBER 2026

A Head of Operations normally sees hundreds of safeguards around a plant, like ventilation, gas detection, earthing, interlocks, shutdowns, Ex equipment, pressure control, inerting, inspection, maintenance and repair.

All concentrates on production and that is exactly why Operational Ex matters.

On 9 September 2026, three contractor workers were injured following the explosion of an electrical panel on a heavy vehicle inside the Stagno refinery near Livorno, Italy. Authorities are investigating the circumstances. The currently available reporting does not establish that this was an ATEX/Ex incident, so we shouldn’t simply turn an investigation into a conclusion.

What happens to our demonstrated safe condition when maintenance starts? The importance is bigger than PTW. The plant hands over equipment → somebody isolates it → contractors interact → equipment may be opened, disconnected, replaced or adjusted → conditions change → work finishes → somebody decides that the plant can operate again.

For Ex hazardous areas, that chain must also preserve the Ex-safe condition.

Today’s use case shows why - Operational Ex use case - one blocked vent

A recently published safety alert describes maintenance on an electro-chlorination installation. A fire occurred and was extinguished; shortly afterwards, an explosion occurred inside a connected cyclone separator. A subsequent inspection found the hydrogen vent plugged, although the published information does not establish whether that blockage directly caused the explosion.

Electro-chlorination generates hydrogen. Guidance for these systems therefore includes engineered measures such as hydrogen venting, ventilation, gas detection and shutdown arrangements.

Let us check it from the Head of Operations’ perspective: The engineering drawing may show the vent. The HAC may have considered hydrogen. The equipment may be correctly selected. The detector may have a certificate. The maintenance procedure may exist.

None of that proves the vent is open today. This is where documentation meets operation. The real lifecycle is: Design → install → commission → operate → inspect → maintain → modify → verify → continue operating.

If an Ex-critical barrier degrades somewhere in that chain, Head of Operations eventually takes over the decision: Continue? Mitigate temporarily? Raise MoC? Restrict operation? Or STOP?

Wrong comment here: “It has always been like that.”

Today’s Operational Ex question

Choose one barrier protecting against an explosion scenario at your site — ventilation, gas detection, inerting, earthing, an Ex enclosure, an interlock, housekeeping or another engineered safeguard.

"How do we know this barrier is effective today?"

If nobody can demonstrate the answer, that is already useful information for the Head of Operations. Operational Ex is not about making Operations into Ex specialists. It is about giving Operations enough information, competence and authority to recognise when an Ex condition requires a decision.

What Ex-critical barrier at your plant would you test first?