White Paper IEC publishes state of the art guidance

for the avoidance of hazards due to

static electricity.

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The International Electrotechnical Commission has Although the Technical Specification can be purchased from
published a new Technical Specification called the IEC’s webstore, it will be the responsibility of national
IEC 60079-32-1: “Explosive atmospheres - Part 32-1: standards institutes like the ANSI in the U.S., BSI in the U.K.
and DIN in Germany to administer the circulation of the
Electrostatic hazards - Guidance”. This Technical
document in their respective national territories. The ANSI has
Specification is a guidance document which is the
the document available for purchase from its website.
latest addition to the IEC series of 60079 “Explosive
Cenelec has withdrawn CLC/TR: 50404 and replaced it with
Atmospheres” standards that are designed to limit fires CLC/TR 60079-32-1.
and explosions caused by electrical malfunctions
within hazardous areas. Overview of the Technical Specification:

The 168 page document is the first of two documents to be The Technical Specification is sub-divided into what are
published by the IEC under the “60079-32” designation and is termed “clauses” that highlight the electrostatic hazards
intended to aid the designers and users of process associated with various categories of materials, the hazards
equipment minimise the risk of incendive electrostatic associated with people, including physiological shocks, and
discharges within potentially explosive atmospheres. It what grounding and bonding measures should be put in to
covers a broad range of process scenarios that can lead to practice. The clauses are presented as:
the generation of electrostatic charges, provides examples of 1) The handling of solids.
what measures can be taken to reduce charge generation 2) The storage and handling of liquids.
and accumulation and outlines how process equipment 3) The handling of gases and vapours.
should be grounded and bonded. 4) The storage and handling of powders.
The second part, IEC 60079-32-2, is entitled “Electrostatics 5) The storage and handling of explosives.
hazards – Tests” and outlines test methods to determine 6) Electrostatic problems caused by people.
factors like surface resistance, earth leakage resistance, 7) Avoidance of electrostatic shock.
powder resistivity, liquid conductivity, capacitance and the 8) Earthing and bonding of plant and machinery.
incendivity of electrostatic discharges. There are also several Annexes that provide informative
The stated objective of IEC 60079-32-1 is to provide: material, examples of which include a description of the
various types of electrostatic discharges, the types of
“the best available accepted state of the art guidance for the electrostatic discharges that can be expected from processes
avoidance of hazards due to static electricity”. carried out within potentially flammable and combustible
To date guidance documents that address the ignition atmospheres and the provision of an illustrated flowchart for
hazards of static electricity have either been published by assessing electrostatic hazards.
national institutions like the NFPA or pan-European Owing to the fact that the document is 168 pages long, it
organisations like CENELEC. IEC 60079-32-1 has been would be impossible to provide a comprehensive overview of
collectively developed by a large number of technical the guidance contained in the document in just a few pages.
committees from IEC member countries, making this However, it would be worth touching on guidance related to
document a truly global collaboration. It also builds on the the grounding and bonding of specific processes that utilise
work of national and regional guidance documents portable equipment at risk of static charge accumulation.
addressing electrostatic hazards, including NFPA 77 ,
CENELEC/TR: 50404, BS 5958, TRGS 727 and
JNIOSH TR42.

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IEC publishes state of the art guidance
for the avoidance of hazards due to
static electricity.

The design and monitoring of grounding systems: This on the bag shall be less than 10 Meg-ohm. This means that
section addresses the design and monitoring of systems the conductive fabric or filaments that make up the grounding
dedicated to grounding permanent and portable plant path for electrostatic charges should not have a resistance of
equipment. Permanently installed plant equipment like more than 10 Meg-ohm to the bag’s grounding point. This is a
reactors and pumps will most likely be grounded via the change from CLC/TR: 50404 which recommended a
electrical grounding system for the plant. Electrical fault paths maximum resistance of 100 Meg-ohm.
(and lightning protection paths) are more than adequate to
The safest method of grounding Type C bags is to ensure the
dissipate electrostatic charge to ground.
resistance through the bag is less than the benchmark value
For portable conductive equipment this section recommends set by the standard(s) the site wishes to comply with. If a
that temporary connections using bolts or “pressure-type” grounding system is to be specified, it is important to ensure
clamps are capable of penetrating protective coatings, rust or the system tests the full range of permitted resistance.
product deposits that are typically present on the surface of
The specified resistance range for an IEC 61340-4-4
such equipment, e.g. metal drums. It states that pressure-
compliant bag will be any value under 10 Meg-ohm.
type clamps should be capable of establishing a connection
resistance of less than 10 Ohms to the base metal of the This section states that if Type D bags are used they do not
conductive equipment. need to be grounded, but conductive objects within the
vicinity of the bag must be grounded.
Systems designed to monitor the resistance between
equipment at risk of charge accumulation and earth Road Tankers:
(designated grounding points) should not only be capable of
The precautionary guidance regarding the grounding of road
monitoring the resistance in the grounding circuit, but should
tankers reflects the stated goal of the technical specification
also be capable of drawing attention to any changes in
providing the latest state of the art guidance. Section
resistance. This is to ensure that malfunctions in the
7.3.2.2.3, part C, states that the “earth cable” earthing the
grounding circuit are detected as early as possible so that
tanker should be part of a static grounding system that
inspections and necessary repairs are made in good time.
continuously monitors the resistance between the road
Given that metal grounding circuits should not display a tanker and the designated grounding point located on the
resistance above 10 ohms it would be prudent to specify loading gantry. It states that the grounding system should be
grounding systems that are capable of identifying changes in interlocked with the transfer system to shut down the product
resistance and alerting personnel as soon as 10 ohms in the transfer operation if this resistance exceeds 10 ohms.
ground path is exceeded.
It also states that the grounding system should be capable of
Type C FIBC: recognising when it is not connected to the chassis/tank of
the road tanker. This ensures that situations where the tank of
This section describes which hazardous zones the four bag
the road tanker is not connected to the grounding system, for
types (A,B,C,D) are suitable for use in. The “zones” are based
example, where an operator could connect the clamp to an
on the IEC method of hazardous area zoning classification
isolated metal mud-guard or wheel-nut, will not result in a
which have been adopted in ATEX legislated countries, the
permissive condition for the transfer operation, thereby
U.S. NEC 505 & 506 and the Canadian CEC. It also specifies
eliminating the risk of electrostatic charging of the road
the types of liners (L1, L2, L3) and FIBC bag type
tanker.
combinations that may or may not be used in hazardous
areas. This section heavily references IEC 61340-4-4: Vacuum trucks:
“Electrostatics – Part 4-4: Standard test methods for specific
The precautionary measures for the grounding of vacuum
applications – Electrostatic classification of flexible
trucks state that the truck should be connected to a
intermediate bulk containers (FIBC)” which specifies the
“designated” site earth before proceeding with the transfer
construction, testing and labelling criteria for Type A,B,C,D
operation. A “designated” site earth is a grounding point that
FIBC bags.
has been verified as having a low resistance connection to
Under the requirements of this standard Type C bags must be “true earth” by suitably qualified engineers. These points are
grounded and for those manufacturing or using Type C bags usually identified by tags or labels.
the resistance from any part of the bag to a groundable point

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IEC publishes state of the art guidance
for the avoidance of hazards due to
static electricity.

The guidance states that wherever a designated grounding estimate the charging current generated by the vacuuming
point is not provided and portable ground rounds are operation as very high charging rates are common place with
permitted for use, or there is doubt regarding the quality of the truck vacuumed non-conductive powders.
site designated grounding point, the integrity of that
grounding point should be verified prior to the transfer
Personnel grounding, flooring and footwear:
operation. This means that there should be a way of ensuring Clause 11 provides guidance on minimising the risk of static
that the grounding point is actually connected to true earth in electricity accumulating on people and describes various
order to ensure the charges generated by the transfer scenarios that can generate electrostatic charges on people.
operation do not accumulate on the truck or the hoses It also describes what methods can be adopted to dissipate
connected to the truck. This can be achieved via a truck charge off people, ranging from guidance on flooring,
mounted ground verification system or by engineers with footwear and additional accessories that can be used to
ground testing meters. The resistance between the verified ground personnel working in zoned atmospheres.
grounding point and the vacuum truck should not exceed 10
ohms and it is recommended that this resistance is verified by Conclusion:
a truck mounted grounding system which will automatically Technical Specification IEC 60079-32-1 is probably the most
indicate this to the driver or be verified with an ohmmeter comprehensive guidance produced on avoiding the hazards
(which should be used by a suitably competent electrical of static electricity to date and with the content being
person). developed and approved by a wide cohort of IEC national
This section also states that hoses used in the vacuuming technical committees, represents a cohesive global
operation should be compliant with the section covering approach to controlling electrostatic hazards in the
hoses and hose assemblies. Table 18 in section “7.7.3.4 workplace. This article provides a limited overview of the
Properties and usage of ISO 8031 hose assembly grades”, guidance contained in the document. More information
describes the types of hoses that can be used for materials regarding the material, processes and equipment that can be
with varying electrical properties. susceptible electrostatic discharges, how charging can be
minimised and what additional grounding and bonding
If non-metallic connections are used to ground the truck up to
practices can be put into action are described throughout the
1 Meg ohm resistance between the truck and the grounding
different clauses.
point is permitted. It should be advised that if a 1 Meg ohm
limit is being adopted that the grounding point to which the
truck is connected has a verified low connection resistance to
true earth, of not more than a few ohms. If a 1 Meg ohm limit is
adopted for powder transfers it would be advisable to

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Further information on hazardous area classification and
zoning, their comparisons and differences, explosion
protection techniques, and other factors related to
hazardous locations can be viewed in the Grounding and
Bonding Handbook.
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