In the 1600s, the explosibility of methane, hydrogen, and other combustible gases was recognized by the scientific

and industrial community, but few scholars considered the possibility of a dust explosion. (Although a dust explosion
could have occurred several centuries earlier, for example in a boat transporting grain from Egypt to Greece, the first
recorded dust explosion occurred in an Italian flour mill in 1785.) In Europe, coal mining became an important
industry and the dangers from explosions of fire damp (methane) were quickly recognized. However, most miners
and many scientists did not accept the explosibility of coal dust.
It was noted in 1803 that coal dust in passageways had burned and contributed to the flame and violence of a mine
explosion in England. In the 1800s, more evidence that coal dust in the absence of fire damp was explosive was
obtained by investigators of mine accidents and experimental studies.
The pioneering work during the early 1900s of Taffanel in France and Rice in the United States convinced the mining
industry of the danger of coal dust. Full-scale experimental studies of mine explosions began in 1911 in the Bureau of
Mines Experimental Mine in Bruceton, PA.
Studies on the explosibility of other industrial dusts followed the recognition of the hazard of coal dust. During the late
1800s, investigations were made to evaluate the explosibility of combustible dusts and the causes of serious dust
explosions in U.S. flour mills. Formation of the National Fire Protection Association in 1896 gave impetus to the
recognition of the explosion hazard of industrial dusts.
Laboratory experiments on coal and other dusts continue to be made by the U.S. Bureau of Mines, universities,
industry, and other research organizations.

The IEC 60079 series is a compilation of standards that cover all permitted protection techniques for equipment
in potentially hazardous areas. It is maintained by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and has
been generally adopted worldwide. IEC standards form the practical basis for the "Zone" system of
classification, as opposed to the legacy North American "Division" system.
The IEC system has become the basis for international harmonization of hazardous locations equipment. As
many countries have adopted these standards, this has significantly simplified the design and certification of
hazardous locations equipment across the globe. This can represent a significant savings for companies who
intend to market their products both domestically and internationally.
IEC standards have the disadvantage of not being perfectly uniform across all countries. The IEC scheme
permits deviations by country. For example, the United States versions of the standards (the UL 60079 series)
are very similar to the IEC 60079 standards, but are often not identical. Similar issues often exist for specific
countries, especially with regards to documentation and markings. These country-specific changes can result in
difficulties when trying to certify products for multiple markets.
Harmonization is still a work in progress, and there are areas where it is not yet complete. This has and can
lead to some odd requirements or processes for achieving certification. To add to the confusion, both the
United States and Canada still have many, many older installations still operating on legacy schemes, and
customers are still demanding certification to the "old" Division standards. This can make it doubly difficult to
know what standards to apply.
The IEC 60079 series is divided into many individual standards (or "parts"), not all of which are sequentially
numbered. For example, IEC 60079-0 is Part 0 of the standard. Additional parts are introduced periodically and
on an ongoing basis, while existing standards are regularly updated.
The first sections detailed the various construction and design requirements for apparatus intended for use in
explosive atmospheres. There are also sections on repair and system design, as well as specific standards
dealing with intrinsically safe Fieldbus, optical transmission, and performance requirements for flammable and

oxygen gas detection systems.

Note that most of the individual equipment standards do refer back to 60079-0 (Part 0: General requirements).
This markes IEC 60079-0 an essential reference for all types of hazardous locations design.
An often-overlooked detail of hazardous area equipment design is the corresponding ordinary location design all hazardous area equipment must also comply with the applicable ordinary locations standards. In this sense,
hazardous area standards stand "on top" of ordinary location requirements. This is usually not an issue for
companies used to producing specific equipment, but can sometimes be missed when designing new or
unfamiliar equipment.
In the IEC scheme, each type of protection is designated by a letter. In other words, the letter 'code' specifies
what technique(s) were used during equipment design and installation to ensure safety. The letter codes are
always lowercase and are usually written inside single quotes, such as 'i' and 'd', to distinguish them. This can
be confusing initially, but is simple once the letter codes are understood.
A sampling of the more common IEC lettering codes is shown below. Please click on a protection type for more
detail.
Letter

Type of protection used

'd'
'e'
'i'
'm'
'n'
'o'
'p'
'q'
't'

Explosion-proof / flameproof enclosure

Increased safety
Intrinsically safe
Encapsulation
Non-incendive / non-sparking
Oil immersion
Pressurization
Powder filling
Protection by enclosure

Flameproof (Explosionproof) Design (type 'd')

Although "flameproof" and "explosionproof" designs are technically different, they both use the same principles.
They rely on the physical enclosure to contain any ignition in a safe manner. This makes them the only
containment technique concerned with containment, rather than prevention, of an explosion.
Contrary to popular belief, flameproof enclosures are not totally sealed. They are neither completely sealed
against flammable gas entry, nor are they totally sealed against the explosion leaving the enclosure.
Instead, they rely on the correct mating of metal-to-metal surfaces, such as flanges and threads, to quench any
flame front before it leaves the enclosure. By the time the explosion leaves the container, it is too cold to cause
any subsequent ignition outside the enclosure.
Flameproof enclosures may also use other flame barriers, such as metal sinters, to contain the flame front.
Sinters, for example, allow gases to pass through into the enclosure while preventing a flame front from
escaping.
Flameproof enclosures have the advantage of not requiring any limitations on the power or construction of the
electronics inside the device. This makes them highly useful for high-power equipment that cannot be protected
in another manner.
However, in order to contain the significant pressures and temperatures, they often must be constructed of
materials such as aluminum, steel, and heavy glass, which makes them expensive to manufacture. Therefore,
enclosing large pieces of equipment in flameproof enclosures may not be cost-effective. They also often have a
size limitation beyond which they can no longer safely contain an explosion.

Testing flameproof enclosures involves practical testing to determine if an internal explosion causes an external
one, as well as pressure tests several times higher than the actual expected worst-case pressure. This type of
testing is accurate, but time-consuming and costly.

Increased Safety (type 'e')

"Increased safety" is a design technique where the equipment:

does not produce any arcs or sparks in normal operation

does not produce any high temperatures in normal operation

has been been designed to guard against the possibility of arcs, sparks and high temperatures under
specified abnormal conditions

This is typically accomplished by increasing the requirements for insulation, creepage/clearance distances, and
security of connections beyond normal requirements. There may also be additional requirements for
enclosures, terminals, and other parts relevant to ensuring that the equipment is (and remains) non-sparking.
Designs that don't respond to these design principles - such as complex semiconductor-based circuits - cannot
normally be certified as increased safety and are specifically excluded from IEC 60079-7. Typical applications
are therefore restricted to cables, terminal boxes, inductive windings and other relatively simple devices that
can be made safe through the application of increased insulation requirements.
When successful, increased safety devices can be used in Zone 1 locations. Increased safety devices can
therefore substititue for flameproof enclosures in similar hazardous areas. This makes it increasingly popular
for items such as junction boxes because of the relatively easy design and test requirements.

Intrinsic Safety (type 'i')

"Intrinsically safe" is a design technique where the equipment can not, under any possible circumstance,
release enough energy to cause ignition of an explosive atmosphere. In other words, the equipment has been
designed to be "intrinsically", or inherently, safe for use.
Intrinsically safe design is arguably the safest protection technique available. In recognition of this, intrinsically
safe equipment was - until recently - the only equipment allowed inside the very high-risk Zone 0 areas.
Intrinsically safe design has the advantage of removing the cost, bulk, and weight of flameproof enclosures,
because the techniques does not rely at all on the enclosure. It also removes the requirement for tethering a
clean gas source, as with purge/pressurization. This allows the design of lightweight portable equipment, such
as gas detectors, video cameras, mobile phones, handheld computers and inspection instruments.
Intrinsically safe electrical design is very technically demanding, and poses serious restrictions on what is
allowed in the design. Generally, high-power equipment can not be made intrinsically safe, because such
designs contain too much energy. Only low-energy designs are incapable of causing ignition of an explosive
atmosphere.
Intrinsic safety was originally envisioned only for very simple circuits, such as simple process sensors and
transducers, that needed to be inside the hazardous areas. As electrical design complexity has grown, intrinsic
safety has been applied to more and more types of devices. It is now possible to certify very complex designs
as intrinsically safe.
Intrinsically safe design is best pursued from the very first design stages. Attempting to convert an existing

design to I.S. is often difficult, and - in a few cases - may be impractical or impossible. It is important to
remember that not all designs can be made intrinsically safe.

Encapsulation (type 'm')

Encapsulated designs rely on enclosing the electrical circuitry with a permanent covering of insulation. The
insulation separates the electrical components from the explosive atmosphere, preventing arcs, sparks and hot
components from causing an ignition.
Recent changes to the equipment standards have made encapsulation type 'ma' the only other type of
equipment allowed inside of Zone 0 hazardous locations. Previously, only intrinsically safe equipment was
allowed inside Zone 0 areas. At time of writing, however, there were technical barriers to actually adopting type
'ma' equipment, meaning more work is necessary.
Encapsulated designs can be inexpensive and relatively easy to design. However, since the encapsulant is
permanently bonded, the equipment is often not serviceable. Also, components that are moveable or visible,
such as switches and displays, can not usually be encapsulated.
The encapsulant must also pass a significant battery of tests, including thermal endurance and its ability to
quench a flame. This testing can take a significant amount of time at the certification agency.
Encapsulation is often useful for design modues, such as battery packs, thare are difficult or impossible to
design using other techniques. In these cases, only the inputs and outputs of the module need to electrically
protected, as with intrinsic safety, to prevent incendive energy from escaping the potted area.

Non-incendive (type 'n')

"Nonincendive" simply means that the equipment can not cause an ignition under normal operating conditions.
By this definition, a fair amount of "standard" electrical equipment will qualify as nonincendive, without needing
any special design precautions.
This naturally leads to an increased risk of ignition hazard as compared to the other protection methods. In
recognition of this, non-incendive equipment is only allowed in the lower-risk Division 2 and Zone 2 areas. The
operating premise is that it is very unlikely for an explosive atmosphere and an equipment malfunction to occur
at the same time.
Although the nonincendive method operates according to the same general principles as intrinsically
safe equipment, there are vast differences between the two methods. Non-incendive equipment has a relatively
high risk of ignition, and is only allowed in areas where the risk of an explove atmosphere is very low.
Conversely, intrinsically safe equipment is allowed to operate in areas where an explosive atmosphere
is continuously present - which means the risk of the equipment causing an ignition must be extraordinarily
low.
Recent changes to the harmonized standards have placed "intrinsically safe" equipment (types "ia" and "ib") in
the same standard as "non-incendive" equipment (type "ic"). Despite this, the requirements for these types of
protection are quite different. Consequently, to help distinguish between the relative difficulty, some still refer to
type "ic" intrinsically safe equipment as "non-incendive", in recognition of the fact that type "ic" is quite different
from types "ia" and "ib".

Oil Immersion (type 'o')

This technique involves completely immersing the equipment in a suitable oil, in order to exclude the explosive
atmosphere. It is often used for bulky, non-rotating equipment (such as high-power transformers) that would be
difficult to protect by any other method. In some cases the oil might provide cooling as well as insulation.

Pressurization (type 'p')

This technique excludes a potentially hazardous atmosphere through the use of positively pressurized
enclosures or rooms. It is particularly useful for large installations such as control rooms, rotating equipment
such as motors and generators, and for computer systems. The obvious disadvantage is that the equipment
must be tethered to a source of clean purge gas at all times.
This technique is relatively straightforward once it is fully understood, but there are several important
requirements that must be observed. For example, it is often a requirement that fail-safe mechanisms be in
place so that if the positive pressure fails, the protected equipment is automatically shut down. This may
include situations such as opening access panels and doors, which makes equipment access less convenient.
Another hidden meaning is contained in the very name of the protection technique. Specifically, "purge" and
"pressurized" are often taken to be synonyms for each other, but they actually refer to the two different stages
of establishing the purge protection on the equipment.
Finally, purge/pressurized equipment is subject to purge failures or shutdown. In order to re-activate the
system, it is necessary to have some equipment operating in the absence of purge/pressurization protection.
Therefore, most purged systems contain at least a few pieces of equipment that are protected by an alternative
technique, such as explosion-proof or intrinsic safety.

Powder filling (type 'q')

Like oil immersion, this technique excludes a potentially hazardous atmosphere through the use a solid powder
fill. The fill must be performed so that there is no possibility that breaks in the powder insulation could lead to
an ignition hazard.
Powder filling is a relatively uncommon technique, in part because the equipment is difficult to service without
disturbing the powder. It's also not the most manufacturing-friendly technique.

Protection
by
enclosure
(type 't')

This style of protection involves making an enclosure tight enough so that combustible
dust cannot enter. Consequently, protection "by enclosure" is targeted specifically at
explosive dust atmospheres, and is not suited to explosive gas atmospheres.
Protection by enclosure 't' has the advantage of being easy to understand, and - in many
cases - being fairly straightforward to accomplish. It is also a mechanical design
technique, rather than an electrical one, which makes it attractive to electrical designers. It
is also often the case that the equipment enclosure has to be dust-tight for practical
reasons, meaning the equipment may "automatically" conform to type 't'.
It is important, however, not to underestimate the requirements. Many "dust-tight"
enclosures will not naturally meet the requirements for protection by enclosure, and not all
enclosures can easily be made dust-tight. In some cases choosing this protection method

will simply move the effort from the electrical side to the mechanical side, which may or
may not be advantageous. In some cases the design effort and risk may actually increase

Products that use multiple protection techniques are possible (and sometimes even necessary). Note that not
all the protection techiques are allowable in all types of hazardous locations - if you intend to use multiple
techniques, you should ensure they are all allowable for your target area(s).
When doing design work, you will want to ensure you have the correct standards available, including the
correct versions for your target countries & markets. A selection of IEC 60079 series standards are shown
below.
Part

Description

60079-0
60079-1
60079-2
60079-5
60079-6
60079-7
60079-11
60079-13

General requirements for all equipment

Equipment protected by explosion proof / flameproof enclosures (type 'd')
Equipment protected by pressurization (type 'p')
Equipment protected by powder filling (type 'q')
Equipment protected by oil immersion (type 'o')
Equipment designed to increased safety requirements (type 'e')
Equipment designed to intrinsically safe requirements (type 'i')
Equipment protection by pressurized room (type 'p')
Equipment designed to non-sparking / nonincendive requirements (type
'n')
Equipment protected by encapsulation (type 'm')
Repair, overhaul, and reclamation requirements
Material characteristics for gas and vapour classification - Test methods
and data
Intrinsically safe electrical systems
Requirements for intrinsically safe systems
Requirements for intrinsically safe Field bus (FISCO)

60079-15
60079-18
60079-19
60079-20-1
60079-25
60079-26
60079-27

60079-28
60079-29-1
60079-29-2
60079-29-4
60079-30-1
60079-31

Requirements for systems using optical transmission

Performance requirements for flammable gas detectors
Selection, installation, use and maintenance of flammable gas and oxygen
detectors
Gas detectors - Performance requirements of open path detectors for
flammable gases
Requirements for electrical resistance trace heating
Equipment protected against dust ignition by an enclosure (type 't')

The standards are constantly being updated, and not all parts of IEC 60079 will be applicable to your work.
There may also be additional related standards that apply to your specific equipment. Consult with your
certifying authority for guidance on which standards and editions are required.
Go to Protection Techniques.
Go to Certification Standards.
Go to Understanding ATEX.