Hazardous Area Products

With over 50 years’ industry experience, we are a leading supplier of hazardous area load monitoring solutions, including load cells, load shackles, and load pins, as well as full-scale asset monitoring systems. 

A hazardous area (also known as a potentially explosive atmosphere) is defined as an environment that consists of varied concentrations of flammable gases, vapors, mists or combustible dusts. They are defined in DSEAR as “any place in which an explosive atmosphere may occur in quantities such as to require special precautions to protect the safety of workers”. In this context, ‘special precautions’ is best taken as relating to the construction, installation and use of apparatus, as given in BS EN 60079 –10. Where these elements are present, all equipment installed in such environments is specially designed and tested to meet a range of requirements that together ensure the safety of personnel and avoid potentially dangerous situations resulting from the equipment’s reaction to its surroundings.

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ATEX rating: Atmosphères Explosives Directive 2014/34/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to equipment and protective systems intended for use in potentially explosive atmospheres. 

IEC: The International Electrotechnical Commission is the international standards and conformity assessment body for all fields of electrotechnology.  

To comply with the ATEX Quality Assurance Notification (QAN) and IECEx Quality Assurance Report (QAR) we undergo an audit by SGS Baseefa every 18 months. This is an extensive audit and covers all aspects of the business covered by our ISO 9001:2015 and specifically for the certified products EN 80079-34:2011. 

NA Audits (USA and Canada) 

We are audited by SGS Baseefa on behalf of SGS Suwanee four times a year. These are product–based audits on certified products manufactured since the last audit. 

Division and Zone classification systems 

The National Electric Code (NEC), NFPA 70,[4] as published by the National Fire Protection Association, defines area classification and installation principles. The principles of the NEC Division and Zone classification systems are applied in countries such as in the United States and Canada. 

Specifically, Article 500 describes the NEC Division classification system, while Articles 505 and 506 describe the NEC Zone classification system. The NEC Zone classification system was created to provide multinational companies with a system that could be harmonized with IEC classification system and therefore reduce the complexity of management. 

Class I, Division 1 classified locations 

An area where ignitable concentrations of flammable gases, vapours or liquids can exist all of the time or some of the time under normal operating conditions. A Class I, Division 1 area encompasses the combination of Zone 0 and Zone 1 areas. 

This marking would include: Class, Division, Gas Group(s), Temperature Classification 

Class I, Division 2 classified locations 

An area where ignitable concentrations of flammable gases, vapours or liquids are not likely to exist under normal operating conditions. In this area the gas, vapour or liquids would only be present under abnormal conditions (most often leaks under abnormal conditions). A Class I, Division 2 area encompasses Zone 2 areas. 

ATEX and IECEx certified load monitoring products 

We can design and manufacture load measurement equipment to suit your specific requirements. The company’s hazardous area products are certified by SGS Baseefa – the leading, internationally recognised certification body for explosion protected equipment, delivering IECEx, ATEX and DSEAR standards to customers operating in challenging environments worldwide.

Our hazardous area load cell amplifiers deliver a stronger signal between load cells and load indicators for applications in hazardous areas. 

Designed for ease of installation and commissioning, our amplifiers are used where a robust signals is required or a longer distance transmission is needed between the load indicators and the load cells. 

The amplifiers can be housed in a variety of enclosures to suit different applications, either singly or included in a large enclosure for multiple load cell use. Our DIN rail mounted 2506 load cell amplifier also includes IECEx certification. 

The 2506 amplifiers are available in two versions, namely the 2506A for full-bridge strain gauge inputs from sensors such as load cells and pressure transducers, and the 2506B for quarter or half-bridge strain gauge elements  – which may be used in structural measurements. 

 Intrinsically safe: 

The intrinsically safe 4-20mA internal amplifier is a programmable 2-wire loop powered amplifier which provides the additional features of temperature compensation and linearisation.

Our hazardous area load cells are highly accurate, delivering greater stability and reliability to support customer operations in hazardous areas. 

We supply a wide range of hazardous area load cells, including compression, tension and shear options. Ranging in rated capacity from 10kgs to 3,000 tonnes and above, we can design and commission a solution to meet the requirements of your  specific application. 

The company’s hazardous area load cells can be supplied with either suitable Zener barriers or Exm (encapsulated) that can connect directly to the safe area without the need for any additional interface. 

All of our products are certified to ATEX EN 60079 and IECEx IEC 60079 and are supplied with full environmental protection, hazardous area certification,  and a certificate of calibration. For a load cell to be considered hazardous area certified, it must mitigate the chance of ignition in all elements of its design. The tolerance level for this heightens depending on the device’s zone classification.