CHAIRMAN'S ADDRESS - Coke Oven Managers Association

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APPROACH TO THE HAZARDOUS AREA 77CLASSIFICATION - STOIKOUThe first (Article 95 Directive 94/9/EC) sets out to facilitate the freemovement of goods throughout the EU by harmonising the technical and legalrequirements for products intended for use in potentially explosiveatmospheres. It was implemented in the UK by Statutory Instrument No 192,viz: " The Equipment and Protective Systems Regulations Intended for Use inPotentially Hazardous Atmospheres Regulations 1996". This directive cameinto force 1 March 1996 with a 7-year transition period, and will be fullyeffective on the 30 June 2003.The second (Article 137 Directive 99/92/EC) adopts further measuresaimed at protecting workers potentially at risk from explosive atmospheres andduties are placed on the employer. It was adopted on the 16 December, 1999,with a formal date for implementation by the Member States of the 30 June2003, and requires employers to:• prevent and provide protection against explosions• assess explosion risks and draw up an explosion protectiondocument• implement measures to ensure work in explosive atmospherescan be carried out safely• co-ordinate the implementation of health and safety measureswith other employers• classify, zone and mark areas where explosive atmospheresmay occurThe Chemical Agents Directive (CAD) (Directive 98/24/EC) sets out whatemployers should do as a minimum to protect their workers from the effects of"hazardous chemical agents". Any substance (solid, liquid, gas, vapour or dust)that could be hazardous to health or safety because of the way it is used orpresent at work is covered by this Directive. This includes substances that areharmful because they have an intrinsic property which is explosive,flammable, oxidising, toxic, harmful, corrosive, irritant, or because they areharmful as a result of the way they are used at work (e.g. heated).It should have been implemented on 5 May, 2001, however, the HSESafety Policy Directorate decided that because that part of CAD relating toexplosive hazards of chemicals, viz the 'safety' part, overlapped with ATEX,both should be combined to form new regulations. It was also decided toreview existing regulations relating to flammable and explosive substances,
78 THE COKE OVEN MANAGERS’ASSOCIATIONwhich should be subsumed in the work to implement the Directive. One of thebest known of these being 'The Highly Flammable Liquids and LiquefiedPetroleum Gases Regulations, 1972'. The new regulations will be known as'The Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2001'(DSEAR).DSEAR is intended to protect not only employees at the workplace, butalso any other person whether at work or not who may be put at risk bydangerous substances. This includes employees working for other employers,visitors to the site, members of the public, etc.A new Business Health & Safety Instruction No. 6 "Area Classification,Installation, Operation and Maintenance of Equipment for PotentiallyExplosive Atmospheres" was issued in December, 2000, to supersedeW. I. (Engineering) No.18, and take account of the ATEX Directives.Compliance with this new instruction will ensure our present and future legalobligations under DSEAR are met.Sources of Release Data SheetsTable 1 gives an example of a Hazardous Area Data Sheet which includessome of the numerous sources of release at the by-products plant at DawesLane Coke Ovens. The exercise for that area, which has been classified asZone 2 (column 9 – Table 1), was done last year and the exact date is given atthe top of the table. The first column gives a description of all possible sourcesof Coke Oven Gas release at that point of the plant and column No. 2, theiridentification located out on plant. In the third column of the table, the grade ofeach release is stated. In this case, the grade is 'Secondary', which applies whenflanges, connections/pipe fittings, sample points, (relief) valves and vents arenot expected to release flammable material in the atmosphere under normaloperation. Other classifications of the grade of release, are 'Continuous' and'Primary' for cases when the surface of the flammable material is open to theatmosphere continuously or for long periods respectively; the release isexpected to occur again during normal operation. Column No. 4 of the tablegives a number referring to the type of material involved and No. 7 gives itsstate; as already mentioned, all examples presented in this report involve CokeOven Gas.
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CHAIRMAN'S ADDRESS - Coke Oven Managers Association

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