In the previous two blogs, we gave a brief introduction to the world of intrinsic safety and dug into the different intrinsic safety classifications and explosive protection classification systems. We unpacked all the technicalities behind intrinsically safe headsets and may have left you more overwhelmed with information. Well, today we will give an overview of intrinsic safety that will serve as a summarization of this complex topic and be a starting point for beginners.

In the previous blog, we discussed how to know whether your industrial headsets are intrinsically safe, and we briefly introduced what it means to be intrinsically safe. As we learned, intrinsically safe products, or headsets, in this case, are meant to keep the user safe when in explosive or hazardous environments. In this blog, we will dive deeper into what these hazardous environments look like and how they are systematically classified into different classes, divisions, zones, etc.

When working in the Oil & Gas or Mining industries, there are certain safety requirements that must be met to use equipment. These work environments are explosive atmospheres where products need to be something called “Intrinsically Safe” or IS for short. What does this mean, and are products such as two-way radios intrinsically safe because they have IS batteries?

The oil and gas industry has turned towards digital communication technologies for more efficient communication, remote monitoring, and real-time asset management on oil rigs and oil fields. This move to digitization has offered accelerated productivity, improved operational efficiency, and provided superior protection to workers in the industry. How do oil and gas companies attain this? They need a communication solution that improves operation safety, reduces operational costs, and manages risk more effectively.

The ways in which workers communicate in different industries have drastically changed in the past year. Specifically, the food processing industry has made major changes in its communication abilities throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. As more industries were shutting down due to stay-at-home orders, the food processing companies were still in full swing, being an essential and critical industry.

COVID-19 has produced a prolonged attack on public life, especially indoor life. Many of the largest super-spreader events took place inside: at a church, in an auditorium, at a conference. The risk of infection in indoors is almost 19 times higher than in open-air environments, according to study from researchers in Japan.

The Communication Industry is changing with the internet of things and businesses are looking for new ways to manage communication and data together to enhance efficiencies in almost all industries.

Many people are unaware of the importance of intrinsically safe headsets and equipment; in fact, many individuals do not even know what the term alludes to. A previous two-part series on this blog spent some time unpacking the technicalities behind intrinsically safe headsets. People who are completely new to the concept may have difficulty understanding some of the more complex aspects; therefore, we have written a short piece to familiarize “beginners” with intrinsic safety.

In the previous blog, we explained what an explosive atmosphere was, and why and Intrinsic Safety Certification is required for your communications headset.

In Part Two we will delve into the Classification System itself and explain how to identify which communication headsets are certified as Intrinsically Safe for the environment you are working in.

As we spend time with our growing portfolio of global Oil and Gas customers, it always amazes me how much confusion exists within the worker population around the requirements for Intrinsically Safe Certification. Some customers believe that a Two-Way Radio is Intrinsically Safe because it has an IS battery.