Posted By Frank Hallett Hi Barry. This is a question that has too many undefined parameters to respond specifically to. Incidentally, if your email address is a clue, I think that I may actually be familiar with your location from an external [4+ years ago] perspective. If you wish to provide further info I shall attempt to respond. Frank Hallett

Posted By Dave Daniel Theoretically, every time the assistant on the perfume counter at Debenhams sprays a sample onto someone she establishes a "flammable atmosphere" since most current aerosols use Butane and every time the kitchen fitter opens his tin of glue or I fill up my company car at a petrol station.... Are your car electrics flameproofed as required by DSEAR??? When did you last see a petrol pump marked with an "Ex" sticker?? Gas central heating boilers are designed to create a flammable atmosphere - the burner wouldn't light otherwise! I don't see anyone suggesting that all these require "zoning" and "Ex" signs. I guess this shows the nonsense in making what was a practicable guideline for petrochemicals into a legal requirement. The HSE, having drafted the Regs, in my experience will not offer any useful advice. It is clear that in practice, zoning and signing transient workplaces is not likely to be sensible or practicable. If all your containers are small cans, the likelihood of flammable atmospheres seems limited to leakage from 1-2 damaged cans at any time and with dispersal I guess you'd be hard pressed to get the needle on an explosimeter to move off its stop a couple of feet from the can. LPG is a heavy "sticky" gas so you'd need to think carefully about ground-level ignition. Zones don't have to be full height. We set a zone for draining fuel from scrap cars at 1m around and 1m up from the ground under the 2m high decontamination rig. All the service electrics were above this level and not flameproofed. (We had the HSE in but no commitment there!) Does this give a useful line of deliberation? At the end of the day I suspect that whatever you do, it will be extremely difficult to challenge your decision, given the absence of any sensible guidance. I believe there is an attempt to write a standard on how you zone things, but I bet they don't consider all the oddball ones.... Dave Daniel Technical Director Practical Risk Managment Ltd