Due to high temperatures and pressures, explosions cannot only cause damage to property and production downtime, but can also pose an immediate danger to the life and health of employees and other persons.

For this reason, legal standards have been drawn up worldwide with the aim of preventing explosions. The European Directive 1999/92/EC “Directive on minimum requirements for improving the safety and health protection of workers potentially at risk from explosive atmospheres” and its respective transposition into national law obliges all companies/businesses in the EU in which areas with potentially explosive atmospheres are present to prepare an explosion protection document. This must identify the hazards, classify the potentially explosive atmospheres and document the measures taken. The systematic procedure used for this and described in the document in a comprehensible manner is also applicable and useful for companies outside the scope of the directive.

This brochure is intended to be a practical assistance for the preparation of the explosion protection document across different national regulations. National regulations may well set higher requirements.