ATEX / EEx Equipment Service SOP
An ATEX/EEx equipment service SOP for equipment already installed in a classified hazardous area: certification verification, isolation, inspection, service or repair, and a hard compliance re-verification gate before return to operation.
What the ATEX / EEx equipment service SOP process is
Scanel's Marine Electrical Installation SOP covers a defined scope of electrical work going in for the first time, and the Generator & Electric Motor Maintenance SOP covers ordinary rotating machinery maintenance. Neither applies once the equipment in question is an EEx-rated motor or installation that is already in place in a classified hazardous area and something has to be opened for service. This chart exists for that specific case: an enclosure that was certified as flameproof or increased-safety when it was installed does not stay that way automatically once a technician takes the lid off, and the chart is built so that fact governs every step rather than being a footnote to an otherwise ordinary service visit.
The two decision points carry the real weight of the chart, and they are drawn as equally strict for a reason. "ATEX/EEx certification current and matches equipment?" runs before the enclosure is opened at all: if the nameplate marking, gas group or temperature class can't be confirmed against the equipment as found, the job routes to "Halt job, request missing certification or documentation" rather than proceeding on an assumption that it's probably still the same unit that was installed. "Enclosure restored to EEx compliance (gaskets, torque, flamepath gaps)?" runs after the service work, and it carries the same weight in the other direction: a missing gasket, an under-torqued fastener or a flamepath gap outside tolerance defeats the equipment's explosion protection just as completely as an uncertified nameplate would have, so a non-conformance routes to "Rework enclosure closure to correct non-conformance" and back through the same check, not into functional testing on an inspector's assumption that it will probably seat fine.
Every row also carries a named owner and an hours figure through the built-in People and Workload columns. Cecilia Rourke, Scanel's ATEX/EEx specialist, owns identification, both certification and compliance gates, and the final documentation, so the workload panel can show whether her hours are realistically spread across a week with more than one hazardous-area job booked; Maria Solano's hands-on repair and rework hours sit in the "Field Electrical" lane, and Anders Vane's testing hours sit in "QA / Compliance", so the panel can find each specialty's real load rather than crediting it all to whoever's name is on the job ticket.
What this flowchart covers
In this template
- Identification and certification, from "EEx equipment service request received" through "Identify hazardous-area equipment and zone classification" to "Verify ATEX/EEx certification against nameplate and zone", fixing the equipment's certification before the enclosure is opened
- The certification gate: "ATEX/EEx certification current and matches equipment?" branches to "Halt job, request missing certification or documentation" on any mismatch, looping back through verification once the paperwork is resolved rather than proceeding on an assumption
- Isolation and inspection across the "Field Electrical" and "ATEX / EEx Specialist" lanes: "Isolate equipment and apply lock-out/tag-out" and "Inspect enclosure, flamepaths, gaskets and cable entries" before a single fastener is loosened for service
- Service and the compliance re-verification gate: "Service or repair EEx equipment" feeding "Enclosure restored to EEx compliance (gaskets, torque, flamepath gaps)?", which routes any non-conformance to "Rework enclosure closure to correct non-conformance" and back through the same check rather than a documented exception
- Functional testing, documentation and return to service: "Functional and insulation testing", "Complete EEx service documentation and compliance certificate", "Customer review and sign-off on compliance certificate" and "De-isolate and return equipment to operation"
- Named owners and hours on every row via the People and Workload columns, so the workload BI panel can show Cecilia Rourke's hours clustering across identification, both gates and documentation while Maria Solano's repair hours and Anders Vane's testing hours sit in their own lanes
When to use this template
- You're servicing, maintaining or repairing an EEx-rated motor or installation that is already in place in a classified hazardous area, and need the certification and compliance checks fixed on one chart instead of relying on whichever technician happens to be on site
- A customer's own safety authority, an insurer or an internal auditor wants to see the certification-verification and compliance-verification steps as documented, gated decisions rather than an informal walk-through of the job
- You're onboarding a new field technician or ATEX specialist and need a reference for exactly which checks happen before an EEx enclosure is opened and which happen before it goes back into service
- An enclosure failed the compliance check and had to be reworked, and you want a record of what was found and corrected rather than an undocumented re-close
- You're scoping a hazardous-area job against Scanel's Generator & Electric Motor Maintenance SOP or Marine Electrical Installation SOP and need to confirm this is the one that applies, because the equipment is EEx-rated and already installed in a classified zone
How it works
Replace the lanes with your actual hazardous-area roles
This chart uses ServiceDesk, Field Electrical, ATEX / EEx Specialist, QA / Compliance and Customer. If a separate person independently signs the compliance gate from whoever performed the repair, keep that as its own lane rather than folding the check into whoever happens to be closing the enclosure.
Put your own marking and compliance tolerances on both gates
"ATEX/EEx certification current and matches equipment?" and "Enclosure restored to EEx compliance (gaskets, torque, flamepath gaps)?" both need the actual accepted marking, gas group, temperature class, flamepath gap tolerance and fastener torque values, not just "checked". Write them into each row's comment field so the person verifying isn't relying on memory.
Name who has the authority to call Halt or Non-conforming
Both decisions in this chart are hard stops that cannot be overridden by schedule pressure. Attach a named role, not just a title, to each so there's no ambiguity about who can send a job back to documentation review or send an enclosure back for rework instead of letting it close up wrong.
Set People and Workload on every row before you rely on the BI panel
The workload panel can only total hours for rows that carry them. Fill in People and Workload for each step as you adapt the chart, using realistic effort hours rather than elapsed time, so a week with two hazardous-area jobs actually shows up as a busy week for the right specialist.
Decide what counts as a non-conformance at the compliance gate
"Enclosure restored to EEx compliance (gaskets, torque, flamepath gaps)?" is only useful if the specialist and the technician who did the work agree in advance on what triggers the Non-conforming branch: a gasket that wasn't replaced, a fastener torqued by feel instead of to spec, a flamepath gap outside tolerance. List examples directly in "Rework enclosure closure to correct non-conformance" so the checklist isn't interpreted differently by whoever happens to be on duty.
Frequently asked questions
What triggers the start of the ATEX/EEx equipment service process?
The process starts at "EEx equipment service request received": a customer reports a fault, or scheduled service is due, on equipment that is already installed and certified in a classified hazardous area. That single fact, that the equipment sits in a classified zone, is what pulls in every gate that follows, starting with fixing the equipment's identity and zone before anything is touched.
What happens if the equipment's certification can't be verified?
The "ATEX/EEx certification current and matches equipment?" decision routes a mismatch straight to "Halt job, request missing certification or documentation", and the job is held, not written off. Once the manufacturer's declaration of conformity or the customer's own equipment record resolves the gap, the job goes back through certification verification from scratch rather than resuming partway through.
Why is the compliance check after service as strict as the certification check before it?
Opening an EEx enclosure for service and then closing it back up wrong defeats its protection exactly as completely as an uncertified nameplate would have. A missing gasket, a fastener that wasn't torqued to spec, or a flamepath gap outside tolerance is invisible to a general close-up look, so "Enclosure restored to EEx compliance (gaskets, torque, flamepath gaps)?" is drawn as a hard gate with the same weight as the certification check, not a formality on the way to functional testing.
Who has the authority to call a compliance non-conformance?
In this chart the compliance gate sits with the ATEX / EEx Specialist role, Cecilia Rourke, not with the technician who performed the repair. Naming that authority explicitly is what keeps schedule pressure from turning a rework call into a judgment the person who did the work makes about their own job.
How is this different from Scanel's Generator & Electric Motor Maintenance SOP?
The generator and motor maintenance SOP covers rotating machinery maintenance in general, with vibration analysis and alignment as its own mechanical discipline. This SOP exists specifically for equipment, including EEx-rated motors, that sits in a classified hazardous area, and it adds the certification-verification gate before the enclosure is opened and the compliance re-verification gate after. Use this SOP whenever the equipment is EEx-rated and already installed in a classified zone; use the ordinary maintenance SOP everywhere else.
Does this SOP cover installing new EEx equipment in a hazardous area for the first time?
No. This chart is the service side of Scanel's hazardous-area work: equipment that is already installed and certified, and now needs service, maintenance or repair. Fitting new EEx equipment into a classified area for the first time is engineering and installation work, scoped and approved before this SOP's "EEx equipment service request received" step would ever apply.
