It makes sense that you only want to go with the best equipment for the job at hand. But, do you know what the right pieces of equipment are for those situations? Do you know what makes them that way? One of the biggest points of confusion is that around explosion proof lighting fixtures. Many experienced shoppers get confused between these and what are called intrinsically safe light fixtures. Here’s what you’ll want to know.

• Explosions can come from interaction between materials and lights

If you’re in a workplace where you have dangerous or hazardous materials, such as gases or fibres, bringing a light into that space could cause a fire or an explosion if it is the wrong kind of light. You can’t just take in a standard lantern and expect everything to be okay. This is because of the interaction between the hazardous material and the light current itself. This is where explosion proof lighting comes in. These are lights designed to dramatically reduce and hopefully eliminate the risk of an ignition taking place. 

• Intrinsically safe vs explosion proof

There are two main kinds of lights that you can look at for the workplace you’re in. The main competition is between intrinsically safe and explosion proof. What is the difference and why does it matter to you?

Intrinsically safe lighting fixtures are those that don’t physically bring with them enough of a current to possibly cause a spark in one of those hazardous materials. Hypothetically, there would never be enough current to ever ignite the hazardous material even if it stayed there for 5 hours. These are suitable for some hazardous workplaces.

In others, explosion proof is the requirement. In this case, the light is specifically designed so that it would contain the ignition and its explosion within the light itself. The explosion itself would literally happen inside the light. These are, of course, very carefully designed light fixtures that had rigorous certifications to pass before they can be sold as such.

Depending on what zone your workplace is, you may be able to go with intrinsically safe, or you may need to go with actual explosion proof lighting. A lot of it depends on the hazardous material itself, too. 

• Must be certified, trust the pros

You must buy your explosion proof lighting fixtures from a certified vendor to make sure that they are, in fact, explosion proof. After all, hazardous location lighting fixtures are not something that you would ever want to get wrong, otherwise you could potentially be putting someone’s life at risk. 

Since safety is key, getting the right lights is important for your high risk environment. Since lighting is key to, well, everything at work, getting the right kind of light for your situation is going to be as critical as all others safety gear. This explanation — as well as carefully categorized and certified lights — is going to help you get just that so that there is never any need for guesswork when it comes to choosing between one choice of light and another!