Reference standards for the right plants’ management are CEI EN 60079-14 and CEI EN 60079-17. They serve as reference for selection, installation and audit of equipment and plants in explosive atmospheres.
Many of the company departments are involved in the process, for which expertise in the Atex sector is required: management, technical office, purchasing department, technicians, auditors, maintenance technicians, document controllers.
One of the main problems is sharing relevant information in every phase of the plant lifecycle among all those involved, in order to integrate the different plant lifecycle stages.
For the plant compliance it is therefore of vital importance to comply with the applicable norms:
- Enumerate each equipment and its accessories;
- Fill in equipment records;
- Assess compliance with Atex marking requirements;
- Archive the relevant technical files for each equipment;
- Archive the initial inspection and periodic testing files of the equipment;
- Tracking a possible non-compliance and assign its management to the staff designated;
- Managing audits’ frequency and deadlines in accordance with Annex A of CEI EN 60079-17;
- Mapping modification and maintenance actions;
- Assemble the Verification Dossier in accordance with CEI EN 60079-14.
The above-mentioned elements reveal the need to identify a key point for the integrated management and collection of information related to electrical systems in explosive atmospheres, which allows an increased efficiency of lifecycle management and ensures real time information availability for anyone at any time.
The web platform Ex-perience is the appropriate tool for this purpose, ensuring the management of every stage of the electrical plants’ lifecycle in explosive atmospheres.
