Updated August 2026 · by Dynamic ID S.r.l.
In an area with a potentially explosive atmosphere, everything you carry becomes a question: can this object cause ignition? It applies to clothing, and above all to electronics — smartphones, readers, tags, torches.
This is where digitalising safety most often stalls, and almost always for an avoidable reason: the software is chosen first, and only then does someone realise the device needed to use it cannot enter the area.
| Covers | Who must comply | |
|---|---|---|
| Directive 2014/34/EU (ATEX «product») |
Equipment and systems intended for use in explosive atmospheres | The manufacturer |
| Directive 1999/92/EC (ATEX «social») |
Health and safety of workers exposed to the risk | The employer |
In Italy the second is implemented in Title XI of Legislative Decree 81/2008, requiring area classification, an explosion protection document and equipment appropriate to each zone.
The practical consequence: your supplier gives you certified equipment, but verifying that its category suits your zone remains your responsibility.
| Gases, vapours, mists | Combustible dusts | Presence of explosive atmosphere | Category required |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zone 0 | Zone 20 | Continuous or for long periods | Category 1 |
| Zone 1 | Zone 21 | Likely in normal operation | Category 2 |
| Zone 2 | Zone 22 | Unlikely and short-lived | Category 3 |
So before choosing any device, one question needs an answer: which zone must it enter? A smartphone certified for Zone 2 used in Zone 1 is a non-conformity, not a detail.
Zone classification belongs to your company's explosion protection document. The mapping above is the general scheme: case-by-case verification rests with your safety adviser and the engineer who prepared that document.
It is not the rugged case, as is often assumed. A tough industrial phone and an ATEX certified phone are different things: the first survives drops, the second is built so that it cannot produce the ignition. The criteria are limited available energy, surface temperatures below the ignition threshold, a sealed non-removable battery and no dangerous electrostatic charge.
On the device you will find a marking such as II 2G Ex ib IIC T4 Gb. You do not
need to decode all of it, but three elements should always be read: the group
(II for surface industries, I for mines), the category (1, 2 or 3, to be
matched against the zone) and the temperature class (T1 to T6), which must sit
below the ignition temperature of the substance present.
Here there is structurally good news. Passive NFC and UHF RFID tags have no battery: they contain no energy source of their own and draw power only from the reader's field when interrogated. That is a far more favourable starting point than any powered device.
Two points still need verifying, and they are not formalities:
BLE tags, having a battery, fall squarely under the equipment logic and must be chosen with certification suited to the zone.
The project starts in the office, the software is chosen, the phones are bought. Then somebody points out that those phones cannot enter the plant. At that point there are two roads: buy a second, certified fleet, or — far worse — leave the highest-risk area as the only one outside the system.
The correct sequence is the reverse: start from the most critical zone, choose the device that can enter it, and check that the software runs on that device. The rest of the company can use anything.
What Safety-ID does not do, and it is right to say so: it does not replace zone classification or the explosion protection document. Those remain the precondition, not the result.
Do you have classified areas? Tell us the zones and the devices you already use: we will check together what can go in and what cannot, before talking about software.
This page is informative and replaces neither your safety adviser's assessment nor your explosion protection document.