The following is a summary of our capabilities in this area:
Several of our engineers have expertise in the field of Hazardous Areas from project delivery, maintenance, dossiers and regulatory requirements through to the dispersion modelling of vapours and gasses.
Our core business is multidiscipline project delivery in process industries particularly Oil and Gas, where most of the equipment in the field is installed in hazardous areas. Our engineers have designed numerous hazardous area apparatuses and integrated these into the process facilities.
Principal Electrical Engineer
"By good design, we can make your next installation safer, lower cost, quicker to implement, easier to construct and maintain, less troublesome to document, and easier to obtain regulatory compliance."
We have long standing relationships with many suppliers and know the capabilities of the products that are available. Whether the project requires an off the shelf product or custom-made assembly, we can procure fit for purpose materials and equipment to meet your project requirements.
We are able to classify hazardous areas to several standards including AS60079.10, API505 and IP15.
However, there are many techniques within these classification standards that we employ to make a right-sized solution to site or project needs. It is not a one-size-fits-all process.
The most basic method is to use simple, generalised methods of zone classification for whole areas of plant. This keeps engineering costs down, and drawings simple, but may result in hazardous area zones that are larger than they need to be.
At the other end of the spectrum, a dispersion model method is the most elaborate option, and can result in a much smaller zoned area. This method can be extremely useful if the plant area is tight.
The most common method is the prescriptive source of release method, which is a useful workhorse for general applications. Importantly, it is possible to use a hybrid of several different methods cleverly in the same plant to get the best of both worlds.
If a piece of equipment is proposed to be reused, relocated or modified, we can carry out assessments and report on the suitability of the proposed work. We can also conduct surveys and reports of existing plant and documentation.
As a past member of the Australian Standards committee, Ray Vella has expertise in the AS/NZS 60074.14 standard.
We are highly familiar with the current Australian Hazardous Area Standards, including the commonly referenced AS/NZS 60079.14
Hazardous Area verification dossiers can be cumbersome, and time consuming to maintain. We will most likely be able to set up an efficient electronic hazardous area dossier using your existing computing systems, depending on what is presently available. Generally, we can do any or all work on hazardous area dossiers, be it gap analysis, amendments, improvements, or anything else that is required.
The interval between periodic inspections of hazardous area apparatuses is an important decision.
Too far apart and you risk equipment degrading and going unnoticed. Too close and the cost of carrying out the inspections becomes prohibitive. In some cases, continuous supervision by skilled personnel is acceptable, and you can go without planned periodic inspections altogether. We can help you navigate these issues and come up with a maintenance program which is safe and cost effective.
We are able to assist you with meeting the requirements of ESV and Worksafe Victoria in regards to Hazardous Areas safety and regulatory
compliance. We can also assist with the creation or modification of an Electricity Safety Management Scheme (ESMS).