Last edit: 19/07/2025
The latest edition of IEC 60079-10-1: Explosive atmospheres – Part 10-1: Classification of areas – Explosive gas atmospheres was published at the end of 2020.
This edition was implemented in UK in April 2021. BS EN IEC 60079-10-1: Explosive atmospheres Part 10-1: Classification of areas – Explosive gas atmospheres.
Hereafter are the main changes compared to the previous edition:
• The exclusion from the scope of application for low pressure combustible gases is no longer present in art.1. This aspect is now reported in art. 5.3.2. Basically, nothing has changed.
• The definition of “NE” is more complex and includes:
– Limitations for the explosion pressure
– Limitations for the heat emitted during the explosion
– For gases with pressures above 10 barg a risk assessment is required
– For gases with pressures above 20 barg, NE should not be applied unless a detailed risk assessment allows it
• The minimum speed to be taken for indoor environments (set by the 2nd Ed. at 0.05 m/s) has been removed
• The safety factor k is no longer present in the calculation of the release characteristic used in figure D.1; then, standard allows for a less conservative approach.
• Formulas C.2 to C.6 for the calculation of air flow rates have been modified
• The minimum hazardous distances shown in nomogram D.1 are fixed to 1 m
• The equation of evaporation rate from a pool has been corrected
• The determination of the hazardous distances is no longer feasible using the nomogram for indoor environments at low and medium dilution