Electrostatic ignition hazards in the
Process industry
Abstract
Fires and explosions continue to be triggered by the accumulation of electrostatic charge in
different branches of the process industry. This is the case even though nowadays the
electrostatic phenomena that give rise to ignition hazards in industrial practice are generally
well known. This paper presents various reasons as to why this should be so and draws
attention to the conflicts of interest, which arise, when other requirements need to be met.In
addition, current trends and new results with respect to the assessment of electrostatic ignition
hazards are reviewed. They include (i) incendivity and characterisation of discharges from
insulating surfaces with and without contact to a conductive surface, (ii) incidents affecting the
present assessment of occurrence and incendivity of propagating brush discharges in practice
and (iii) characterisation, measurement method and ignition hazard assessment of modern
packaging systems such as flexible and rigid intermediate bulk containers (FIBC and RIBC).
Finally, the consequences of Directives issued at the European and national levels are
appraised with respect to electrostatic ignition hazards.