Integrating global hazardous location methodologies and technologies in a large capital project

The paper describes how North American and European installation methods and equipment certified to North American and European based standards were blended on a large capital project to achieve enhanced safety while at the same time seeing significant capital and installation cost reductions. The Zone area classification system was used. This enabled the use of equipment certified to either Zone or Division hazardous location standards. Working with the local regulatory authority, traditional mindsets were challenged to enable the use of practices proven in various installation codes, with the fundamental principle of achieving equal or better safety compared to the existing code. The major areas that are discussed are: re-certifying Division type equipment to IEC standards; using European installation concepts for North American certified cables; challenging specific Canadian Electrical Code rules; and costs savings over traditional approaches are quantified.