Hazardous Area Installations
The ECA has been in business for over 100 years and for most of this time a substantial number of its members have been involved in Explosive Atmosphere Electrical Installations, now more commonly referred to as Hazardous Area Installations. This work covers explosion danger from both gas and dust.
In the early years, ECA members helped promote Hazardous Area Installation work between themselves and worked mainly to American standards.
However, as the UK started to develop standards of our own, ECA members extended their work to include working with the BSI, other institutions and other learned societies who wanted to develop standards and literature regarding Hazardous Area Installations.
Within ECA ITEC, members are actively involved in the development of BSI, CENELEC and IEC Standards through the BSI committees GEL/31 and GEL31/11 which develop British, European and world standards for electrical Hazardous Area Installations.
With 26 years in the industry, the Secretary of ECA ITEC is a member of a number of learned institutions including the Institute of Measurement and Control. He sits on their Standard Policy Panel with other members of the Institute and relevant trade associations working on dissemination of information such as Hazardous Area standards and other standards which apply to their members. This also includes European Directives.
ECA ITEC is one of the UK's representatives currently working with the IEC on producing Risk Assessments for Hazardous Areas. The ECA has also worked with the Instutite of Petroleum, APEA, and HSE and others on revising the Institute of Petroleum's guide to Petrol Filling Stations which will result in the extensive reduction of HS(G)41.
Within the ECA's Education and Training Department, there is an in-house Hazardous Area training course available on Hazardous Area Electrical Installations. This course is available to members and non-Members alike.
The ECA has also worked with COMPEX to develop a five-day course, which provides the basic knowledge for working on Hazardous Area Installations. The course ends with an exam and only those who are successful are awarded a COMPEX certificate.
ECA ITEC is lead by its Chairman John Redshaw, who started his career in 1955 with ICI and has over 45 years experience of working in Hazardous Areas. ECA ITEC was formed in 1972 as the Control Systems Group originally to look after Instrumentation and Control Systems. As this work encompassed the chemical/petrochemical sector, it was decided to bestow the responsibility for the management of Hazardous Area interests to ECA ITEC to whom it still remains to this day.
ECA members working on Hazardous Areas and all other areas of installation work are assessed by the ECA assessment team. Amongst their ranks are a number of assessors who have had a wide range of experience of working with gas, dust and mining.
Many ECA Members and staff have in-depth experience of working with other national bodies' standards, including the USA, Canada and Germany who are considered to be the other main players in the Hazardous Area Installation world.
Whether you are looking for a contractor to work on a major petrochemical installation or a small petrol station, you can depend on ECA Members who are backed by a team of experts and ECA's quality system, which includes its famous Warranty, Bond and Inspection on Demand.
- A full list of ECA Members who undertake design, installation and maintenance of Electrical Hazardous Area Installations can be obtained from the ECA's Membership Department or on the Member Search area of this website.