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Tuomas Seilo is a hazardous area ATEX lighting specialist at Atexor – with more than 15 years of experience at Atexor providing specification support for temporary lighting solutions for explosion atmospheres and hazardous areas in the Oil & Gas industry (both onshore and offshore).

Tuomas has responsibility for the international sale and marketing of portable ATEX & IECEx lighting and power distribution systems and developing a global distribution network to serve customers.

Confined spaces are special no matter how you approach them. Simple things like moisture in the air or a metal bar alongside you can become life-threatening.

In this article, we look specifically at the risk of electrocution. I present what low voltage is and how it affects ATEX temporary lighting.

LOW VOLTAGE DEFINED
According to the international standard IEC60364-4, anything below 50VAC (or 120VDC) is low voltage. At that level, you are unlikely to suffer injury if you are exposed to the current.

When I talk here about ‘low voltage,’ I am referring to what is technically classified as ‘extra-low voltage.’ The IEC60364 standard uses this term because it also addresses ‘high voltage’ (over 1000VAC) used, for example, in electricity transmission, and ‘low voltage’ which covers, for example, typical mains voltages in the 110-200VAC range.

But in everyday speak, we typically just use ‘low voltage’ when discussing 50VAC and below.

External URL: https://www.heatingandprocess.com/confined-spaces-present-special-needs-for-low-voltage-lighting/