scope:

This series of guidelines applies to installations in the process industry, such as the chemical and petrochemical industries, especially when they are subject to the German Störfall-Verordnung (Major Accidents Regulation).

The guideline VDE/VDI 2180 Part 1 to Part 5 describes the safety-related concepts of the standards DIN EN IEC 61508 and DIN EN IEC 61511 and their practical implementation in typical applications in process industries. Special aspects of certain applications are not discussed within.

Measures for explosion protection are often an integral part of plant safety concepts in process industries. The performance of comprehensive and detailed risk assessments according to process and plant specific items (e. g. by PAAG/HAZOP analysis) is standard practice for safety technology in process industries and a primary element of the safety management system. This systematic risk assessment also includes an explosion risk assessment. The measures necessary to reach the protection target are determined on a case-by-case basis depending on the damaging consequences and the probability of their occurrence. In the case of process control engineering measures, safety-related requirements can be defined on the basis of the series of guidelines VDE/VDI 2180.

For non-electrical devices (e. g. pumps) to be used in explosion hazardous areas, regulations for bringing such devices onto the market call for an assessment of any supervision functions that may be required. The manufacturer's operating manual for non-electrical devices shall describe the required quality of supervision functions, in part by means of a Safety Integrity Level (SIL). Users of nonelectrical devices shall use suitable devices to implement the requirements for supervision functions with consideration of the risk assessment.

This guideline is the link between the topics functional safety and explosion protection. It illustrates possibilities for establishing effective relationships between existing intrinsically safe areas, demandoriented risk reduction and the available adequate PCE installations (including possible SIL classification).

The principles discussed in this guideline are not restricted to just process industries; they also can be used for explosion protection in other industries.

Please refer to NAMUR NE 138 for further examples and more detailed explanations on this subject. Specifying defined sample solutions for precise problems is not the object of this Part. Such solutions must be developed by means of individual risk assessments. This Part instead is intended to explain the relationships and to serve as the foundation for such risk assessments.