Irish whiskey and dairy are both exports built on flammable atmospheres: ethanol vapour in the still house and bonded warehouse, and combustible milk powder in the drier. This page is for the EHS and engineering teams who need an explosion proof mobile phone for food, drink and distilling in Ireland. The SAMS IS-04Z1 is designed for Zone 1 and Zone 21 and is being certified ahead of its Q4 2026 launch. The IS-04Z1 is designed around intrinsic safety rather than a flameproof enclosure.
Launching Q4 2026 · certification programme in progress
Irish Distillers, a Pernod Ricard company, makes Jameson and other whiskeys at the New Midleton Distillery in east Cork, a plant whose published capacity runs to tens of millions of litres of spirit a year from pot stills and column stills, with maturation warehouses at Midleton and Dungourney. Ethanol vapour is a gas hazard, and where a warehouse holds many casks the vapour question becomes one of ventilation and classification rather than a single release point. On the dairy side, Dairygold has built new milk drying facilities at Castlefarm in Mitchelstown, and Tirlán has a large dairy site at Ballyragget in Kilkenny. Milk powder is a combustible dust, and Irish industry commentary has long noted that dryers are the usual setting for dust explosions here. Grain intake and malt milling add a second dust problem at distilleries.
The two industries share the hazard of a flammable atmosphere, but the atmospheres are different. One handset has to suit both.
Ethanol falls in a lower gas group than the one targeted by the IS-04Z1, whose marking aim is II 2 G Ex ib IIC T4, so it is covered by design. The temperature class and zone drawn on the distillery drawings are still checked by the site.
Milk powder and grain dust are classified as Zone 21 or 22 depending on how often a cloud forms. The IS-04Z1 is designed for Zone 21, so a technician can move between a still house and a drier without changing handset.
Dairies are washed down often and stills run hot and damp. IP68 sealing is the basis for surviving that, and wash chemicals should be checked with the manufacturer.
Milk supply peaks in spring and early summer, so drier plants run flat out while maintenance waits for winter. A managed fleet of handsets can be extended with seasonal staff and stripped back afterwards.
Food plants control glass, loose items and photography. Camera and application policy can be enforced centrally with Android Enterprise and the MDM console the site already uses.
An operator checks stills, tanks and warehouse bays, photographs a leak and calls the control room. One designed-for-Zone-1 handset carries all three functions.
A technician inspects a drier or a bag house during an inspection window and needs a camera, a torch and the work order, in an area where dust is the hazard.
New still capacity and new drier lines bring construction contractors. They can be enrolled on a restricted profile for the length of the job.
It can be, depending on the cask count, ventilation and the area classification the distiller has carried out. Only the site's own assessment can say, so ask the EHS team for the explosion protection document.
Where a dust cloud can form in normal operation, Zone 21 is the likely classification. Frequency of cloud and layer determines zone, and dairies decide this for each plant.
Many plants control cameras. Because the IS-04Z1 is managed by MDM, a policy can disable the camera in set areas or at set times.
No. SAMS has no customer relationship with them and the IS-04Z1 is pre-launch, with certification in progress.
Tell us the site, the zone and gas group, and roughly how many handsets. The SAMS team replies by email with the datasheet and the certification schedule for Ireland. The IS-04Z1 is pre-launch and certification is in progress, so there is no list price yet; indicative pricing is issued in writing against a stated quantity and site.
Tell us the zone, gas group and operator. We will send the datasheet and the certification schedule for your market.
