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Hazardous areas worksites that contain electrical equipment are required by law to comply with all corresponding Australian standards and regulations. If you don’t comply to these standards, not only do you risk the lives of your employees, but your organisation may not be covered by your current insurance. There are hundreds of standards and certifications that you need to comply with in order to avoid hazards in workplaces, but which ones are relevant to Australian businesses? Two of the most common that we hear about are ATEX and IECEx.

What is ATEX certification?

ATEX is the certification required for protection against workplace hazards in the EU. All electrical equipment and protective systems in the EU must meet ATEX health and safety requirements, with many products marketed around the work being labelled as ‘ATEX certified.’

In Australia, equipment that is certified ATEX is not accepted as it is not up to the Australian standard.

What is IECEx certification?

The IECEx Scheme is an internationally-recognised regulation that demonstrates a business’s conformity with IEC Standards. The aim of the scheme is to consolidate global standards in order to provide a singular framework for regulating hazardous and explosive atmospheres on a worksite.

The benefits of the IECEx scheme are shorter certification lead-times and international standardised testing.

In Australia, IECEx certification is accepted, with the Australian standard AS60079 conforming with its equivalent IEC60079 in order to comply.

If you don’t have an IECEx equivalent

If there is no IECEx certified equivalent in place, your business is required by law to have a Conformity Assessment Document (CAD). What this means for your business is that you will need to comply with a conformity assessment for all electrical equipment being used in a hazardous area in Australia.

At Auto Controls, we specialise in providing hazardous area accreditation for workplaces in the Western Australian oil & gas, mining, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, agriculture & hospitality sectors.

We often find ATEX equipment that is not suitable for use in Australia (without a Conformity Assessment Document) when we visit worksites.

To find out if you comply with hazardous regulations in your workplace learn more here.