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The “Safety When Using Liquid Coatings” collection of examples illustrates hazards when handling surface coating materials and describes implemented concepts used to control them when working with such materials.

However, it is not only aimed at the operators of application facilities. The necessary safety-related equipment when designing new plant and modifications to plant can also be directly derived from the operational requirements.A safety standard has thus been defined here which is to be regarded as a minimum requirement binding on all BASF sites of the EC division worldwide and correspondingly to be complied with. Should country-specific regulations require different specifications, these shall apply, provided the safety level is not lowered as a result.The examples shown are based on European explosion protection regulations and offer assistance in implementing the statutory provisions and technical specifications by means of specific proposals for solutions.

The compilation was carried out in consultation with BASF Coatings GmbH plant operators, plant planners and safety experts. Furthermore, safety experts of BASF SE provided advice during drafting.

The information has been provided to the best ability and knowledge jointly of the editorial team involved and in collaboration with safety experts from the German supervisory authorities of the Münster District Council (Department 55), the Coesfeld Occupational Safety Authority and the Arnsberg Occupational Safety Authority. Nonetheless, protection measures which go beyond the measures illustrated here may be necessary in individual cases as a result of changes in technical regulations or special plant designs.

No claims by third parties will therefore be entertained arising from the use of the explosion protection concept outside BASF Coatings AG as a result of actual or alleged damage or detriments associated with the application of the explosion protection concept.

The main section of this collection of examples is followed by a general description and then a matrix which illustrates the basic operations associated with the relevant process stage, the preferred application fields of certain protective measures and the specific hazards.

This overview enables the hazards relevant to the circumstances in question and possible protective measures to be specifically traced without users having to make themselves familiar with the full content in each case.

This will make it possible, despite the extremely extensive range of examples which is inevitable in the circumstance, to achieve a greater degree of practicability when using the collection for specific issues. The explosion protection concept is intended to provide assistance in the systematic verification of the safety of a plant or plant design.

It can also be used as a module when drafting the explosion protection documents which are a statutory requirement for European Union member states. Sample explosion protection documents for a range of plant types are appended to this explosion protection concept. The drying process has been deliberately included in the explosion hazard assessment even though the temperature conditions in this process stage are outside the legal definition of explosion protection zones. Since, on the other hand, analogous requirements are made on certain zones in the technical regulations for drying equipment, it makes sense to apply this system to this stage of the process, too. In this case, as a result of the diverging conditions, the zones in question are limited to the definition framework of the frequency with which an explosive atmosphere occurs.

When new plant or modifications to plant are being designed, it is always necessary to carry out a case-by-case examination during safety considerations to define the required safety measures. The assessment of the probability of an explosive atmosphere occurring and the resulting classification into zones is always conducted specifically for each plant and is documented in explosion protection documents. The examples listed therefore offer guidance with regard to classification into zones.