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Title: Understanding Hazardous Area Classifications
Author: Irvin Schwartzenburg
Source: 2017 International School of Hydrocarbon Measurement
Year Published: 2017
Abstract: The need for increased workplace safety has created many regulations over the years and perhaps one of the earliest, most beneficial and yet often confused regulations deals with the prevention of explosions. In the US, the development of a system to classify an area as hazardous, or not, is credited to the early needs of the mining industry. Tragic coal mine explosions around the turn of the century were directly related to companies deploying electrical devices in the mines. While today virtually everyone has a basic common knowledge relating to electrical safety, and to us it seems obvious that electricity can cause sparks, one has to wonder what it was like to the common person over 120 years ago who may have never seen something as simple as an electric light. Thus, the area classification system we know today began with the need to deal with the use of electrical devices such as bells and lights in the presence of hazardous atmospheres found in coal mines rich with methane gas and carbon dust.

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