Explosion proof mobile phone for Process Industry and New Energy in Norway

Process industry and new energy sites in Norway

Norway's heavy industry grew up around hydropower and the coast. In Grenland, Herøya at Porsgrunn has Yara's fertiliser plants, and Rafnes in Bamble has an ethylene cracker and chlor-alkali production. Metals smelters at Karmøy and Sunndal (aluminium) and at Elkem and Eramet sites (silicon and manganese alloys) make dust and furnace gas. New energy adds carbon capture at the cement works in Brevik, the Mongstad test centre and the Northern Lights terminal at Øygarden, and hydrogen from electrolysis. Each brings a gas hazard, a dust hazard or both inside one fence, which is why a single Zone 1 and Zone 21 handset suits it.

How work is organised and what procurement will ask

Most sites run continuous shifts, with a planned stop every few years on large units that brings in contractors from across Grenland and further afield. Construction projects for capture and hydrogen follow a different pattern, with large contractor numbers during build and small crews once running. Furnace sites run all year with scheduled relines and repairs, which concentrate contractors around the furnace for short, intense periods. Across all of them, the practical questions for a handset are how quickly a visiting contractor can be enrolled and how it is cleaned and returned afterwards.

Each plant owner sets its own supplier rules, and parks such as Herøya add site access arrangements. Whether an Ex device is accepted is decided by the plant's explosion protection document and technical requirements. SAMS has no approval from any of them; ask each plant's procurement and HSE teams.

Norway